We walked among the sculptures at the Rodin Garden at Stanford University. This is the largest assemblage of Rodin sculptures outside of his home in Paris - which we visited while there in 2001. In San Jose, Larry and the girls visited the Tech Museum while I enjoyed a spot in the sunshine with my book. We also swung by Moffett Field, where we fulfilled a long-time desire of Larry's by driving by Hangar 1. This was the home of the airship, Macon, in the 1930's, and has 8 acres of space inside. The sheer size of the hangar was quite impressive. This space is so big, it is known to form fog inside. The highlight of the day, though, was a guided tour of the Winchester Mystery House. Mrs. Winchester, heir to the Winchester Rifle fortune, designed, remodeled, constructed, and reconstructed this place for 30 yeas on the advice of a medium. She was told that the spirits of those killed by Winchester firearms would haunt her if she ever stopped building. This maze of a mansion, so beautiful and massive from the outside, has doors opening to walls and stairs going nowhere. How she and her servants were able to navigate it without getting lost is a mystery in itself.
We drove past the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, and walked out onto the Wharf. A family could spend days there and not run out of things to do: swimming, whale-watching, arcade games, rides, casino, fishing. We had ice cream...because we were on our way to Monterey and Carmel.
The 17-mile drive we took there was so beautiful. The ocean views were breath-taking, and ever-changing, with sandy beaches, rocky shorelines, sea lions and harbor seals, oceanside golf courses, gorgeous homes, and cypress groves all sharing the scenery at one point or another. The Monterey Bay Aquarium took much of one day in itself. We were especially taken with the kelp forest, jellyfish and seahorse exhibits. It must be extremely costly to keep up this kind of museum - must be why the tickets were so expensive!
At Redding, we stopped to walk across the Sundial Bridge. Truly an amazing piece of architecture, it is made completely of glass - and acts as a sundial. Finally, we crossed the border into Oregon and stopped to enjoy the sand dunes at Dunes National Recreation Area. As a native of protected Alabama coastal dunes, I don't really "get" the whole concept of ATVing on massive sand dunes, but boy, is that the thing to do in this area! These dunes are imposing in their size and it would be interesting to take one of the many dune tours available. Sarah and I stayed closer to the car, but Larry and Emily hiked across the dunes to the beach where they saw 8 vultures feasting on a sea lion carcass. Yum yum!
Roadside oddities/curiosities viewed along the road on this trip: burlwood stores everywhere; statue of a woman spilling water over her head from a washing machine ("The Body of Urban Myth"); an uninspiring giant ear of corn; a building in San Francisco with furniture and such exploding out of the walls and windows ("Defenestration"); a Bigfoot museum; Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, Babe at the Trees of Mystery; the Prehistoric Forest with its dinosaur theme; One-Log House in the redwoods area.
No comments:
Post a Comment