Week 19: California Dreamin'

Week 19 | September 7 - 13

California Dreamin'

Previously on Aaron's vagabond adventure; 

I spent the week in Yosemite NP visiting a friend and exploring the park. I applied for a job next summer at the Ansel Adams Gallery, did some photo walks, hung out with my friend Kyle, and generally enjoyed the park. I popped over to San Francisco for a day and slept under an overpass like a nomadic troll.

Then I headed down the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Cruz.

Sunday, September 7. Day, 126

Enjoy the Journey 

PCH

This day got its own whole blog post! You can read it here.

Shorter recap; a couple high school friends messaged to ask if I would be coming by Santa Cruz. I hadn't specifically planned to, but could fit it into my route, so I set out for the birthplace of American surfing.

The drive from San Francisco to Santa Cruz should take an hour to 90 minutes. It took me all day! I stopped often to take pictures or just stand and enjoy the ocean air and view.

I shot a few rolls of film, stopped to visit a couple light houses, made a new friend or two, and generally just enjoyed the drive!

In the evening I had dinner with my friends and then went to a park with them and watched fire spinning!

It was a full, and fulfilling day.

Good: Today is the kind of drive I live for! Direct route from San Francisco to Santa Cruz was a little over an hour away, the route along the coast was 30 minutes longer. 

It took me 7 hours to get there. Stopping any and every time I wanted. 

Bad: Apple maps frustratingly kept rerouting me inland. Even though I selected the coastal route. 

Unexpected: Watching and photographing fire spinning at sunset! 

Monday, September 8. Day 127

That’s the Spot

Santa Cruz, CA

The morning was very gray and overcast, it helped me feel better about not waking up for sunrise. I walked down to the wharf with my camera, taking pictures of sailboats in the mist, lots of seals having animated conversations under the pier, and a flock of seagulls. Then I Ran (I Ran So Far Away.)

My friend Sunshine picked me up and we went to The Mystery Spot™.

A silly touristy thing that I’ve been curious about and figured I’d check it out. Sunshine said she’s wanted to go, but hasn’t had any tourist friends to go with, so it worked out great!

The Mystery Spot™ was goofy, it’s basically a funhouse built to trick your perception. Things like making the tall person look short and vice-versa. Make it look like you’re standing at an extreme angle, or standing on the wall. But it was totally worth $10 to see and get to spend the day catching up with my friend. 

From there we went to the beach and checked out a few other local spots like a stone arch in the water and a nature preserve (that was closed on Mondays).

In the evening Sunshine and her husband Sean took me out to their favorite pizza joint, Woodstock Pizza. We sat outside and I got to watch an amazing sunset while eating delicious pizza and hanging with friends.

Does it get any better? 

Daily Listen: Flock of Seagulls, 'I Ran (So Far Away)'

Good: Spending the day catching up with Sunshine. She’s one of those people I might go a couple years without connecting and then just drop right into conversation like we hung out last week. I suppose that comes from knowing someone most of my life.

Bad: I had to settle for watching the amazing sunset from the restaurant. But I made peace a while ago with the fact that I wasn’t going to get every photograph I wanted, and that’s ok. 

Unexpected: There are a lot of ‘mystery spot’ style places but I’ve never been. Got to finally see one. Maybe the original? It was fun, but I think one is enough. 

Tuesday, September 9. Day 128

Cruzin’

Santa Cruz, CA

It rained overnight. For the second morning the sky was gray and foggy. No sunrise photos today. 

I planned to do a hike today but it was drizzling all morning. Instead I parked myself at a spacious coffee shop and worked on my photo backlog. (That blog post about the Oregon Coast still took another week to finish, you can read it here.)

A couple of women sat down next to me with avocado toast and a poached egg on top that looked too good to pass up, so I ordered that for lunch.

I worked through some stuff on my to-do list. Later in the afternoon a haircut seemed like a good idea. I’m genuinely happy with the results. If I was still here in a month I’d go back there.*

At night I went to a bar/restaurant called The Red Room to hang out. 

Good: Solid haircut. 

Bad: I’m trying to finish the blog post from 3 weeks ago but have SO MANY photos to edit from that week, it feels like a Herculean task. 

Unexpected: There was an amazing quartet of young musicians with antique instruments busking downtown. I sat and listened for a while. 

* I'm actually finishing this current post one month later, and am way overdue for a haircut.

Also I'm not too thrilled that the blog updates have fallen a whole month behind.

However, I did post Vansplaining, which I'm glad to have finally finished!

Wednesday, September 10. Day 129

Please do not sit on the sacred rock

Santa Cruz, CA

A friend back home has interesting spots all over the country saved in google maps, and occasionally sends recommendations, or sometimes I ask. She sent me a spot called Land of Medicine Buddha, a retreat outside of Santa Cruz. I planned to visit yesterday but was put off by the rain.

I went today, walked around the huge grounds and stopped at a few stupas. I didn't do a proper hike, but it was nice to get out into nature and the woods. Being mid-week I mostly had the place to myself.

There are fewer photos of The Land of Medicine Buddha than I remember taking, then it hit me that I'd walked around with the medium format film camera all day, and haven't gotten those rolls developed yet.

In the evening I met up with Sean, Sunshine, and her friend for dinner at their favorite Mexican place. Sunshine had been telling me about her BFF all week and it was great to finally meet her! She was cool, as described, and it's too bad we didn't get more time to hang out.

While ordering dinner at the counter, Sean says, “I wasn’t expecting you to still be here.” Me either, buddy! 

And then I had the realization that I'd overstayed my welcome in SC.

It wasn't my plan to take up so many of Sean & Sunshine's evenings, nor to stay in Santa Cruz for 6 days. Hell, it wasn't even in the original plan to visit there at all. But part of the trip is leaving space and letting things play out how they may.

After dinner we went to a local ice cream shop named Marianne's. It had been recommended to me by Kyle before I even came to SC, so I'd been wanting to get there for a while! It lived up to expectations.

Daily Listen: Album 'Between a Smile and a Tear' by Be Svendsen

How do I find this stuff? Something will play on my personalized apple music radio station that catches my ear, and I'll play the album. If I make it all the way through without getting bored or turned off, it goes into the daily listen!

Good: Getting to meet Sunshine’s friend, whom she’s been excitedly telling me about all week! 

Bad: I might be coming down with another cold. 🤧 It’s just mild congestion, and might just be allergies. Wait and see.

Unexpected: The Buddhist meditations resonated with me in ways it hasn’t before - even having visited genuine centuries-old temples in Nepal.

The philosophies of self care, self actualization, and our place as one part of the vast universe align with some of my own non-religious beliefs about myself and my place in the world.

Thursday, September 11. Day 130

Go Birds

Santa Cruz, CA

For several weeks the front wheel on the van had been making a noise and I’d been meaning to get it checked out. However it’s a challenge finding a garage able to work on it (too tall/heavy). And time where I’m in one place long enough to schedule an appointment. Hanging in Santa Cruz seemed like a chance to get it checked out. 

I was bracing for a potentially expensive repair, they took a look and everything checked out ok! The noise is from the front wheels wearing unevenly, due to the van being back-heavy (baby got back!) They did some other checks; wheels, brakes, suspension and it’s all good. They tightened up the exhaust which was rattling. All for under $300. That’s a fair price for peace of mind that the van is in good working order. 

While that was going on I used the time to find a laundromat and get breakfast.

Realizing I’ve been in SC for several days and still hadn’t checked out the Boardwalk I went over in the evening. I walked around and shot a roll of film In the late day light. Watched the sun set on the beach and photographed flocks of birds that couldn’t make up their minds if they wanted to fly or sit. 

Good: The van is in good condition and the checkup was affordable.

Bad: Last night I got run off by some dude who didn’t want me parked overnight on his street. “If you park here then a bunch of vans park here and ruin the view.” Cry me a river, rich dude living on the SC beachfront. So today I intentionally (and legally) parked in front of his house while I walked around the boardwalk for the evening, even though it was a block farther away. The bad is that I’m trying to rise above being petty like this, but I did it anyway. I’ll strive to be better next time. 

Unexpected: I went into the arcade at the boardwalk and found a play card on the floor with $10 credit on it. I played a few games, including skee-ball (I’m at the boardwalk, it’s required!) and then gave the tickets to a dad with a young kid. 

Friday, September 12. Day 131

It’s a gray morning in paradise

LA bound

The mornings in SC have all been gray and overcast. I'm a bit sad I didn't get to see a California coastal sunrise.

Heading south to LA I wanted to take RT-1 down the coast, but a section is closed due to a rockslide and there’s no good alternative. I ended up on the highway. 

That put me in the path of Pinnacles NP. 

I had set aside the whole day to drive the five and a half hours to LA. With no real destination in mind for when I got there. 

I wasn’t excited about spending several days in LA, which is part of why I dawdled in Santa Cruz for so long. My only plans were to visit the Channel Islands NP and see a Phillies-Dodgers game on Monday. Schedules allowing, I’d also meet up with a friend for coffee. 

With more planning I would have realized Pinnacles NP was on the way! But SC and LA weren’t in my original plan. In fact, none of the CA coast was. Originally I was going to head east from Yosemite. But moving my schedule up for Yosemite, and an invitation from an old friend took me to the coast. 

All that to say, I’m kinda winging it! 

I also didn’t look too hard because I was focused on going to Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of LA. That’s only accessible by boat tour and those were mostly sold out anyway. 

So Pinnacles was a welcome surprise! Plus it was less than an hour off the highway, an easy decision to detour. 

More often than not the drive into a national park is a beautiful lead up to what’s ahead. For pinnacles national Park west entrance it was an unremarkable and empty road barely wider than a single lane. It was less than 10 miles into the park but took a good 20 minutes to driving carefully through the narrow winding road. Flanked by yellow grass covered hills and sporadic low trees. There was nobody in front or behind me for the entire drive into the park. There was nobody to greet me at the entrance gate, and a lone car in the visitors center lot. When I left three hours later that car was gone.

Unsurprisingly the visitor center was closed, a sign in the window asked visitors to scan the code and pay the entrance fee - a bit challenging without cell service. I have a national parks pass and disregarded it.

The area around the visitors center was completely quiet and still except for the wire on the flagless flagpole occasionally dinging against the pole. 

Once inside the park, the one lane road didn’t get any wider, but the views changed dramatically; becoming apparent why this land was set aside as a national park. 

The trailhead was another mile up, where the park road ended. There and back I passed one car. 

Before going into the park, a quick online search led me to a recommended hike through a cave. It was a great 3 mile trip with about half a mile through dark and narrow caves. The same article mentioned that a headlamp was crucial, and that was absolutely true. Trying to climb the rocks in the cave while holding a flashlight (or phone) wasn’t a juggling act I wanted to try. 

Overall a nice hike and pretty scenery well worth the detour. 

From there I decided in for a penny, in for a pound and drove around to the other side of the park, to the east entrance. (The two don’t connect, there’s no through-road from one side to the other.)

The east entrance of Pinnacles was the inverse. The drive up was very scenic, but somewhat subdued once inside the park. Though overall more developed than the other side.

The other side closes at 8p, but this side is open 24h and has campgrounds. And campgrounds have showers! 

One hot shower later I headed into the park for night skies photos and to park for the night. Around 9p I realized I’d forgotten to eat dinner. I had a piece of Tillamook cheese and called it a night. 

I did pop out for a bit to take night skies photos. Historically night skies photos is an all-night affair. Find the place, drive there, set up, shoot a bunch of different shots, and head home. Since I was already there, and I know the camera settings by heart, I only shot for about 10 minutes* and then packed up.

Good: Hot shower at the campground. 

Bad: Stopped for breakfast at a random dinner off the highway; The bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich was inedibly bad. I think the oil they used on the griddle was rancid. Thankfully it didn't make me sick!

Unexpected: Pinnacles NP!

* 10 minutes was a guesstimate, but I checked the timestamp on the photos and it was 11 minutes from first shot to last!

Saturday, September 13. Day 132 

Expect the unexpected 

Pinnacles NP -> Kings Canyon NP

Pinnacles park is fairly small, and my parking spot for the night was not very stealthy. When I went to sleep I was convinced a ranger would come knocking. Nobody did. 

It was cold in the morning, the van’s dash showed 49.

A couple cars had joined me in the parking lot, I saw people preparing for a long hike. 

The camp store opens at 9 on Friday and 8 on the weekend. I couldn’t remember what day of the week it was and had to check my phone. 

I’m waiting for it to open while I decide if I want to do a hike or continue on to LA. I'm lacking the enthusiasm to hike in this chilly weather.

Trying to shore up my plans for the coming days but I haven’t heard back from my friend in LA about when she's available to meet up. Also, boats to Channel Islands National Park are all booked up for the next few days. It’s looking like my trip to LA might be just a Phillies game, and I’m debating if that’s worth the detour - leaning towards ‘no.’ 

At Pinnacles I opted for a short hike to try and see California Condors, but couldn’t tell if I saw any or if they were just common vultures. 

Back on the road, I stopped for lunch at a crossroads BBQ joint- where I sat and ate while deciding between heading south to LA or east to more parks. With none of my plans materialized, I opted to head east to Kings Canyon NP. 

Later in the evening on the way to King’s Canyon NP I passed signs along the road for “Rodeo Tonight!” and saw a completely packed parking lot. I made it about 5 seconds down the road and decided to turn around - Kings Canyon will still be there tomorrow! 

I walked into the rodeo maybe 20 minutes before it started. On the way in I could hear the announcers bantering; lots of misogynist ‘wife bad!’ “humor.” 

The rodeo clown took an occasional break from ’wife bad’ to make room for a few homophobic jokes and a more “modern joke” about electric cars. To their credit, I don’t think a single person in the audience laughed at any of them. 

The actual rodeo was entertaining, and more of a “real” rodeo than what I saw in Wyoming in July, which was more for show. The bull riding and bucking bronco were intense. There were a few different several-thousand-dollar prizes for the events. 

Mostly though, I’m here for the people watching and fair food. I enjoyed plenty of both! 

After three rodeo I continued on to Kings Canyon NP. There was an event going on, a ‘star party.’ Where local hobby astronomers set up their telescopes for guests to see far off celestial objects. I stopped to chat with a guy who had his scope trained on Saturn. We talked about the best places for dark skies and astrophotography, he recommended a bunch of places on the west coast that I won’t get to on this trip but jotted down notes for another time. 

My destination for the night was farther into the park, next door specifically in Sequoia NP. A high rock peak called Moro Rock where I planned to see sunrise. At Moro Rock I ran into a young couple who were trekking up to see the stars and the moonrise. That seemed like a good idea so I did the same. Hiking a 1/2 mile basically straight up, at 11:00 at night in the dark (with a headlamp.) My legs burned a little bit from the second steep hike of the day, but it was still very doable.

I stood at the top of the world (6700’) looking out at the lights of Fresno and the faint cloud of the Milky Way. A shooting star cut a brief, brilliant line above me.

I took a few night skies photos, shooting directly towards a brightly lit city. That should not work! But it did. Back at Yosemite I took some photos during a 90% moon, I thought that shouldn't work either. I need to reassess what I think I know about night skies photography.  

Good: Making the decision to skip LA and head east for Kings Canyon felt right. I felt an anxiety lift that I didn’t know I was holding. Nothing against LA, I just didn’t know where to stay or that I could safely leave the van. And my plans mostly fell through. I am disappointed not to meet up with my friend there, though. 

Bad: Got lost leaving PNP, no cell, no gps, and only a quarter tank of gas.  

Unexpected: This is one of those days where there are so many unexpected things, how can I choose just one? 

I think the one that feels the most unexpected in a fun way is stopping to attend the rodeo! This is peak #VanLife, finding random ‘slice of life’ things like this that I could never plan for. 

Peering into the future...

Next week I camp at Joshua Tree National Park, wander through an artist community on the edge of an environmental disaster, visit a giant scorpion in the night, see friends in Tucson and Phoenix, and photograph a huge airplane graveyard. Also it rains a lot, in the desert. Like a lot a lot.

Down the line I visit Sedona, go to a music festival, see the world's biggest hot air balloon festival, catch up with a friend, and hit a few bumps in the road. It's all an adventure!