Comments | drdoug: California! (Slightly less vague plans of doom)

drdoug

California! (Slightly less vague plans of doom)

Jun 12, 2013 20:18

You know how I said I wanted to go see Silicon Valley before it's all over? It's an astonishing phenomenon, absolutely fascinating, and I don't think it can last the way it is for ever, whether because of the Big One (devastating earthquake) or some other more human-precipitated upheaval. And you know how I said I wouldn't be able to do it for at ( Read more... )

holiday, prediction, work

Comments 10

vinaigrettegirl June 12 2013, 20:11:27 UTC

1.5 hrs drive south to Monterey: sea otters (Moss Landing Harbor for wild ones) Cannery Row/Fisherman's Wharf, mucho seafood (also available in less expensive/glam Pacific Grove), dropdead coastal scenery.

Exploratorium :-) so you can suss out in advance for the Daffodils.

Aldabra will know more, of course.

drdoug June 12 2013, 20:18:11 UTC

Ooh, Exploratorium should've been on the list already! It's also very work-related: participatory science learning is definitely one of my official Interests. So really it'd be work, not fun.

surliminal June 12 2013, 22:54:08 UTC

and from Monterey to Carmel?
The acquarium is the other other thing I wanted badly to do..:(

oldbloke June 12 2013, 20:55:24 UTC

I'd want to find the (probably mythical) bit of Big Sur where Brautigan set "A Confederate General", but then I'm a bit odd. And the park in SF that features in Trout Fishing In America.
And then drive like a madman across the desert to Vegas, though Thomson set off from LA, IIRC.

surliminal June 12 2013, 22:52:52 UTC

here is the promised more info - better keyboard, worse brain - god I hate W to E jetlag.. I am so envious.I am buried in a muck of wishing I was stil there ( ... )

magfish June 13 2013, 08:25:37 UTC

I was also going to recommend Muir Woods - we went last time we were in San Francisco and it's a good day out. The trees in Muir Woods are coastal redwoods rather than giant sequoias, but still pretty huge - and it's a lot closer than Yosemite (less than 1.5 hours each way) so much easier for you to do in a day.

Plus you'd get to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge!!

moral_vacuum June 13 2013, 07:31:18 UTC

I approve of your entendres.

nmg June 13 2013, 08:42:35 UTC

I can recommend Santa Cruz (I preferred it to Monterey, which was a bit full-on touristy). The fact that it was the location for much of The Lost Boys is, of course, a coincidence. The campus of UCSC is remarkably pretty, especially compared to the UK where brutalist university architecture is much reviled; seeing lovely concrete in a sympathetic setting and climate was a revelation.

For SF, take a good pair of shoes; it's a good city for walking, but it's bigger than you might at first think (especially if your mental map of the city is based on GTA: San Andreas)

For SF food, Mission District burritos are a must.