holidays

''You liked my picture? :-) This one is of the sea lions basking in San Francisco. I can write a little about where I am and what I have been up to. I have making notes as I go, so I can write a better travel journal when I get home. San Francisco is a beautiful city. Yesterday I rented a bike and cycled out of the city and into wine country. Just out of the city was a beautiful beach, with fine golden sand and piercing blue water. To the right was the spectacular skyline of San Francisco, with points and spires, blocks and pyramids jutting into the flawlessly blue skies.

The many steep hills of the city held as many skyscrapers as the small valleys, giving the city a crumpled-towel effect when seen from distance. To see such a bustling, hectic city from so far away, where the noises and smells can't touch you, is calming - almost like wrapping the city in a glass bubble, like a snowdome. It seemed so strange to have this mass of mankind, in it's invisible bubble, in full view of such a tranquil, beautiful paradise of a beach. Not only that, but to the left of the beach was the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge. All 2 miles of it's majestic span, as though guarding the beach from some unknown enemy.
A true wonder of the modern world, it seemed so unfair that I should be on this gorgeous beach, nestled between the city skyline and the feat of engineering that is the Bridge. Each of the three are worthy of seeing in their own right. More than anything, I think it represented a wonderful mix of man and nature, showing that the two can live side by side, but that man acknowledges that it can never overpower nature.

Later on, after I had cycled round the county, I returned to the bustling city I had been admiring from afar. Here, I began to take advantage the comforts of the urban sprawl once more. The paved roads made it easier for me to walk on, the buildings kept me warm and dry, and the shops and restaurants kept me fed and watered. And then something special happened. There was an earthquake. Not a big one, but big enough to jolt me out of my comfort zone and remind me that humanity is merely a guest of the planet. Nature is in charge here, as it has shown on this city so many times in the past - killing hundreds of thousands and flattening entire neighbourhoods in seconds with it's earthquakes. Today I have just returned from a place that had left me, literally, gasping for air - it was that stunning. I was at a place called Carmel. There, I found another beach. There was a vast expanse of pure, clean, fine golden sand, sloping gently down into a ferocious Pacific Ocean. Swells rose some 20, 30 feet out, and rolled lumberously towards the shore. They would break and rush up the sand, making me run a few times to avoid getting my feet wet. A little farther down the coast, the sand was punctuated by craggy rocks, poking up through the beach and confronting the angry waves.

Occasionally, the sea would garner enough energy to have a real pop at the rocks, and launch itself at the rocks aggressively, sending furious bursts of salty spray far up above the stone and across the sand. As I was stood on these rocks, playing daredevil with the angry ocean, a flock of maybe 50 pelicans swooped over my head so close I had to duck. Their elongated beaks and elegant wingspan marking them out as distinctive immediately. They circled around me, as though sussing me out, then flew down to the ocean lid, skimming the water with their bellies. This sight topped it all off for me. I laughed out loud - here I was, on the edge of a continent, staring out into the largest ocean in the world, seriously the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
Nothing I have experienced, or seen on tv, or seen photos of, has ever been as magnificent as this place. And I was the only person there. Me and dozens of pelicans - a creature so strangely elegant and rare, and I was so privileged as to be surrounded by them in their own home. I turned back to my car and found a massive lake, filled with reeds, where hundreds more pelicans sat, bobbing on the still water. Behind them, in the distance, large, beautiful houses belonging to the movie stars and other rich people, were snuggled into the rocks, looking discretely out over this utopia.
Thankfully, there was no sign of life at these houses, ensuring that I retained my feeling of experiencing this magical landscape all to myself. No words or pictures are enough to describe this place, maybe I can do a better job when I get back.

I'm sorry this has been so long, it was only supposed to be a couple of sentences! If you didn't fall asleep before the end, then I hope I hear from you soon, I like reading your messages. Speak soon xxx Ps - I said I cycled through wine country, this is where Californian wines are made. Hundreds of small wineries. Well I know you like your wine, so I picked you up a little present!''

Tags: lovingletter



Monday September 8, 2008 - 03:59pm (EEST