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Published: February 3rd 2009
Kung Fu Polar Bear!
Polar Bear Enclosure, San Diego Zoo.It was dark by the time our Greyhound bus pulled into San Diego. The gruelling drive took most of the day and we wanted to just collapse for the evening. It was a transit day that consisted of lugging round our backpacks and sitting on the bus i-podless whilst the we chugged past the barren scenery we had passed on the way into Nevada and then California. We ended up getting a taxi to our hotel, finally arriving after our knowledgeable taxi driver firstly thought we were Australian and then couldn't find our hotel. We eventually found it, embracing the extremely comfortable beds every US motel seem to have, regardless of quality and star rating.
We discovered the next day what an absurdly beautiful place San Diego is. Far from the cold desert snow we had experienced in the past few weeks. The area was sunny, clear and really warm. Temperatures were in the 80's, not bad for early January. We found our bearings using the convenient trolley system (which is actually a tram, but they call it a trolley) that runs around the city and all the way to the border with Mexico. As tempting as it was to
nip across the border we didn't have time to visit Tijuana, the Mexican town that straddles the border. It's meant to be a pretty dodgy place too, which didn't encourage an exploration.
San Diego is famous for its beautiful harbour, warm temperate climate, its zoo and of course, being the place of residence of Ron Burgandy. These formed the basis of our excursions, the first being a harbour cruise. A good portion of the US Navy is based in the San Diego harbour and we got the opportunity to see many of the big ships up close. We first toured the southern end of the harbour, which took us under the mighty Coronado bridge and past many different classes and sizes of ships, the largest and most impressive being the USS Nimitz. The variety of ships was quite surprising, each of them having a specific role in the fleet. Some of the newer boats were angular and fitted with the latest stealth technology. All the boats were held back by a floating fence where random signs warned us that we'd be shot if we crossed over.
On the northern tour we saw more naval sights including submarine pens
that are also stationed here. Our boat wound round the bay and the Coronado peninsular which houses the famous Coronado Hotel (the original Hotel California allegedly). Just outside the submarine pen, many sea lions bask in the sun on floating wooden platforms. They were all crammed onto a small pier and really amusing to watch. As we made our way back to the pier we passed the Nimitz again for a second look before disembarking next to a large cruise ship that was docked.
San Diego zoo was excellent, and probably just pips Australia Zoo as our favourite. Australia zoo has the open Kangaroo enclosures, but San Diego has polar bears! It also has a large variety of animals that we haven't really seen anywhere else, which made it especially interesting to visit. As mentioned though, the polar bears were our personal highlight and we sat watching them for well over an hour. They're incredibly entertaining and such large majestic creatures. Their enclosure features a large tank, which has an underwater viewing area. They like to play in this, which was the best thing to watch them do. For large, powerful beasts they have such grace underwater. They glide
around with such agility and play with each other as if they are docile pets. We wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of them though - their huge, powerful claws and enormous heads evidence enough that we were the right side of the glass.
Another first for us both was seeing the giant pandas, immortalised in Anchorman. Everyone has to be quiet around their enclosure as noise can disturb them. They look adorable though and very cuddly. If they weren't moving and stuffing copious amounts of bamboo down their necks then it would be difficult to imagine that they were real. They resemble any stuffed teddy that you might find in a shop. It was both funny and interesting to watch them just sit and stare back at us whilst eating.
Amongst these two were the usual array of bears, big cats, elephants, giraffes, birds, snakes etc etc which were all in well designed and spacious enclosures. A nice touch in the park is a cable car ride that fly's over the centre of the park, giving riders a birdseye view of the people and animal enclosures below.
We lastly had time to explore the
central city area, which is sprawled next to the harbour. The city is very picturesque and has a definite Latino feel to it, probably because of its proximity to Mexico. It's not a particularly high rise city as all of the buildings can only be built to a certain height because of the nearby airports. But it is an exceedingly attractive place, no area more so than the Gaslamp Quarter.
It is this area that contains a majority of the restaurants, cafe's and bars making it the entertainment centre of the city. The style of the area is excellent and permeates a wonderfully classic, traditional rustic feel. Ornamental shop fronts are bathed in the soft glow of the elegant street lamps. There is quite a trendy vibe in the surrounding bars and an area you'd certainly find Mr. Burgundy hanging out, sipping on a glass of scotch.
After a few days here it was time to move on again and begin our next road-trip which would take us from one end of California to the other. We found our way out of San Diego relatively easily and proceeded back towards LA. We took the coastal road around the
city which took us past Venice Beach, back to Santa Monica and through Malibu. We made our way further up the coastal road to Santa Barbara, where we spent our first night.
Santa Barbara also turned out to be a very pretty place indeed. Oprah apparently really likes it here, and we can both see why. The tree-lined main strip has a very Mediterranean feel as buildings of various ages each maintain a kind of Spanish flavour. The palm-tree lined street of boutique shops and cafe's leads down to the waterfront and a charming pier. The pier is home to many traditional wooden buildings, each built with a nautical flavour and gives wonderful views of the Pacific Ocean which was all very splendid. We wandered amongst these shops for some time, dodging the big birds that waddled around us before heading back into town.
We continued north, still sticking to the coastal road which got really quite dramatic. The road hugged cliff faces as it wound up, down and around hills and mountains. One moment we'd be on the beach in a 'tsunami hazard zone' the next we'd be a the top of a large hill with spectacular
views of the blue waves crashing into rocks below. The road was theatrical to say the least and stayed this way all the way onwards to a town called Monterey.
Monterey is the best place on this coast to do a spot of whale watching, so that's what we did. We booked our boat from the glorious Fisherman's Wharf and were soon enjoying the ocean spray from the bow of our boat. The trip is actually led by a marine biologist, who seemed to really know his stuff. Not that either of us would have known if he had made anything of what he said up! On the way out of the harbour we spotted yet more sea-lions lazing on the rocks, enjoying the sunshine. There were reams of them on the rocks - a few of them were playing in the water but most were motionless.
The next part of the trip was quite incredible. As we sailed out, and got quite a distance onto the water, we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of an enormous school of dolphins. It's hard to describe the feeling but it was quite incredible to be sailing on the boat
Elephant Seal Beach
On Pacific Coast Highway, California with around 500 dolphins jumping around in the water. 500 was our Marine Biologists estimate anyway. There must've been about 15-20 surfing the bow of the boat, reaching impressive speeds in the process. Every so often they would crest at the bow before plunging back in - dozens of them visible just under the surface. They stayed with us for quite some time, enjoying the ride before gradually reducing in numbers. It really was awesome though and one of the highlights of the trip so far.
We next spotted the whales. This time of year it is the Grey Whale that is migrating south to the warmer waters of southern California. They are not as curious of the boats as the Blue Whale, which migrates at a different time of year but are still mighty giants. The first batch we saw were actually being accompanied by some dolphins, the tell-tale puffs of condensation from their blow holes revealing their locations. We saw between 15-20 whales on our boat trip, the sight of their 'flukes' being the highlight. This is when they raise their huge tails out of the water and then slap them against the surface which is a
fantastic sight. On the way back into the harbour we also caught sight of a sea otter (much to Victoria's delight) who seemed to be doing nothing more other than having a thoroughly good time diving in and
out of the water.
We came off the coast at this point and travelled inland to visit Yosemite National Park. The drive was pretty flat and full of uninspiring farmland. The next day we began our drive into Yosemite and the scenery improved dramatically. Lining the outside of the park are wonderfully traditional old towns. The drive into the main part of the park weaves in a lush green valley, next to a river. Despite its beauty, we were reminded a couple of times on this drive how dangerous this environment can be. Lots of sirens and flashing lights at one point signalled a search and rescue team looking for a missing person and at another point a whole section of the road had been re-routed to the other side of the valley as a large portion of the road had been swallowed up by a landslide.
The park is very beautiful, and one of the most popular in the
whole country. Enormous granite mountains loom on each side of a valley that contains large gushing waterfalls, beautiful fresh forestry and alpine meadows. Unfortunately, many of the mountain drives and viewpoints were closed because of the time of year as many of the tracks and trails are too precarious, even for four-wheel-drive vehicles to attempt. The benefit of coming at this time of year however, was that the park was very quiet. Still, exploring the valley and staring up at the large grey lumps of granite was impressive. The explosive mix of the white snow, blue sky, green trees and grey mountains reflecting in clear, still lakes was mesmerising.
We hiked a couple of trails in the park, standing at the foot of some crashing waterfalls and even took time to walk gingerly on a frozen section of lake. We'd watched Bear Grylls the previous evening and so were prepared if we fell in! The visitors centre was also geologically and ecologically interesting and very well setup, much like the other national parks we had visited. They have always been informative and well designed places. We left the park via a different entrance which wound up and out of
the valley, eventually making our way towards the Californian coast again, passing the Napa valley wine region en-route.
We eventually burst back onto the '1' - the coastal road in California just north of San Francisco. This section of the coast was as impressive, if not more so than the last. The weather had stayed with us the entire time, each day the California sunshine warming up the cloudless sky. The blue of the sky met the endless deep blue of the Pacific Ocean which smashed onto the rocks below. We drove slow and savoured the views of one of the most spectacular drives in the world. The road sticks to the hills which fall into the ocean and wind in and out of forestry and up and down valleys.
On the drive north we stopped at one beach which is an Elephant Seal Colony. The beach was almost completely covered with them, it was quite a sight. They grunted and squealed sporadically, the females seemed to be sheltering one or two infants. Occasionally they would also flick sand up over themselves to keep cool in the sun. The males were positively ugly! As their name suggests they
had a small trunk for a nose, which makes them look really odd.
When the '1' ended, we came back onto Highway 101, which is named the Redwood Highway. The road leads to the very north of California and our next destination - Redwood National Park. The road reduces in size many times from a two lane highway to a one-lane windy road through incredibly thick forest. The trees here are tall and thick, but they're not Redwoods. Further north we made our turn-off and headed up into the forest in search of an area called Ladybird Johnson Grove, which is an area home to some of the tallest trees in the world. The grove contains 110,131 acres of redwoods. They used to cover enormous areas of northern California but have been since chopped down and destroyed. These protected areas now remain to showcase these immense trees.
And immense they are. Our first glimpse of a Redwood nearly made us fall backwards. Our eyes followed the fat trunk upfurther and further until we could see the canopy at what must have been over 300 foot. The tree trunks do not compare to the girth of the fat trees
we saw in New Zealand, but their height is staggering. We walked a 1-mile trail amongst these Redwoods and Douglas-Fir trees. On the trail, some of the Redwoods have actually fallen over many years ago with a section of the trunk sawn out with the trail path running through it. The trunks diametre dwarfed either one of us. Some the Redwoods trunks had been hollowed out at the base by fire. The trees are still living and standing and gave us the opportunity to stand inside and look up in dizziness.
We embarked on a final drive through a Redwood Forest where we spotted some Elk and finally a bumpy cliff-top coastal drive in which the beach looked like a tiny golden sliver far below. We turned around and drove south again but this time taking the faster road on the way back. The road would eventually take us to the Bay Area and the city of San Francisco.
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Mum Dad and boys
non-member comment
What a fantastic trip!
Love the pictures Michael especially you climbing on a boulder and what a size it was!! Was that the USS Nimitz in your photo? We have photos of it next to the Ark Royal (which Dad was on) and it is huge compared to our carriers. I think both the Australian zoos and San Diego zoo sound fantastic and the photos of the polar bears and pandas are gorgeous. Where are the cats??? That must have been amazing seeing the dolphins like that . Dad saw a similar thing when on the AR. It is a spectacular sight. Loved the pictures of the Redwoods - knew they would be spectacular. I liked the one of you in the tree. Fantastic blog again.