Erin's Journals

I hope you had a restful weekend. Ours was spent relaxing Saturday and then out cooking and selling hot dogs and burgers on behalf of the Rotary Club of Sidney at a local summer fair. Big fun with great people. I’m so glad to be involved with Rotary in our new home!
 
Back on the road we go in today’s journal and I want to take a second to say if you were away last week and missed our travels, please feel free to go back and enjoy the pictures and stories. It’s a pleasure and joy to share them with you and we’re honoured you want to come along.
 
This was one of our favourite stops: a resort in a tiny spot called Little River in California. We had dinner as we watched at least one orca spouting and splashing nearby; earlier we enjoyed late day scenery of the dramatic seascape.
 

 
We were glad to have shot some pictures in the late day sunlight; the next day we were enshrouded in fog for most of the drive – a theme we’d become very familiar with. More on that tomorrow.
 

 
The majesty of California’s redwoods was brought up close and personal in Leggett, home to some of the world’s tallest and largest trees, where we just had to follow the signs to their “drive-through tree.” I’ll be honest: we wanted to use their restrooms more than to pass through a living tree, but for $10 we got to do both. I mean, when it’s rated #1 (albeit of 2 things to do in Leggett LOL), how could we just drive past, right?
 
Here, an SUV ahead of us had to back out because of its size.
 

 
Did our car make it? (Hint: it’s a MINI.) But we have actual video of us going through. It’s just 25 seconds long if you want to give it a quick look.
 

 
Ooooooh! A real cliff-hanger, right? Thanks, Leggett! 
 
The next and final day of our drive was the most harrowing and I’ll explain why tomorrow. Once again, though, it’s good to be home. 
 
In the meantime, thank you again for sharing some time here. I know that, especially on social media, there are a lot of sites and folks pulling you in different directions and hoping for a few minutes of your time. We don’t take for granted, Rob and I, the fact that you want to be here with us a little bit each day. Thanks again!
 

Hi there! Happy Friday and, before I get to our travels, I wanted to remind you that you don’t even have to leave your own balcony or backyard to see one of the biggest shows of the year.
 
Tomorrow through Monday, the annual Perseid meteor shower takes place with tomorrow and Sunday night promising more than 100 shooting stars per hour. Of course, you’ll want to find a dark spot and, thanks to the new moon tomorrow night, there will be no competition among the heavens. I wish you clear skies and you can learn more from Gary Boyle, The Backyard Astronomer, through this link.
 

 
We were looking to the skies, too, during our recent trip, as our drive from San Francisco to the Napa Valley was just under 90 minutes of late day glory. If, like us, you’ve never been to this part of California but had heard of it forever, I can tell you that it’s quite similar in some ways to the interior of BC and its gorgeous Okanagan Valley, while also reminding a traveller of the Niagara Region’s copious vineyards and endless views of regimented greenery. 
 
After a busy day traipsing through San Francisco, we were delighted to be warmly welcomed as we checked into an inn in the Stag’s Leap District for two nights. The sun was disappearing behind the mountains…
 

 
…but we still got glimpses of the beauty that would greet us in the morning.
 

 
After a wonderful sleep (that finally didn’t require ear plugs) and a full breakfast, we started out to do a little exploring. Seems everyone we met was shocked when we said we weren’t going to visit any wineries; it’s by far the number one activity for people in the valley.
 

 
The folks staying with us at the inn were horse people from Kentucky; they’d flown in for the weekend and rented a limo van to take them from one tasting and Michelin-quality meal to another. That is so not our style: we wanted to wander some streets and maybe eat at a bistro. Besides, the inn stay was quite spur-of-the-moment and I packed for a ball game, a concert and a tour, not some once-in-a-lifetime dining experience!
 
The city of Napa is quite a commercial little spot that’s been built up to accommodate the wine country visitors. Made up of shops and restaurants, it paled in comparison (in our opinion) to nearby Yountville for artistic charm and understated personality.
 
There were lovely little art installations everywhere, including this mushroom “garden” made from river rock…
 

 
…while grapes grow within reach of the town’s sidewalks. Hey – who’s this handsome guy?
 

 
We ended up dining on a rooftop bistro and just taking in a perfect, quiet summer day. And to put a cherry on top, a nice soak in the hot tub at the inn. (Yes, I had to go buy a bathing suit for the occasion – didn’t want to scare the vintners!) Ahhhhh.
 

 
I hope your weekend is ahhhhh-some too, that you get a view of the Perseid show and when we come back (and yes we’re home safe and sound), I’ll share with you tales of the California, Oregon and Washington leg of our trip. We were extremely fortunate not to be anywhere near the massive fires hitting California during our travels; the MINI’s top was sprinkled with ash one morning when Rob was en route to SF due to the Carr fires, but that was truly the extent of our experience. How lucky we were! 
 
We’ll be back here with you on Monday.
 

 
San Francisco is a city so steeped in character that it’s almost impossible to capture it here. But we’ll give it a shot! And yes, I went there without flowers in my hair but found a doorway that worked just fine!
 

 
Home to what’s known as the crookedest street in the world (what? not Pennsylvania Avenue in DC?) a one-way street in a private neighbourhood, Lombard Street has eight hairpin turns. It’s a great walk, a challenging drive and a must-see when you’re in the City by the Bay.
 

 
One of the most whimsical and interesting spots along the bay shoreline is Pier 39. An amusement park vibe fills the air: restaurants and outdoor snack bars abound, there are captivating street performers and, oh yes, this lovely carousel.
 

 
It’s a definite highlight, although the view of dozens of sea lions and seals just lounging in the warm August sun was a treat for many visitors. 
 

 
A vibrant coastline ferries tourists close enough to Alcatraz to get a good view (which is what we settled for last time when we couldn’t get tickets for an actual tour) and there are whale watching boats too. These folks wore plastic ponchos to minimize the ocean spray. Can’t blame ’em!
 

 
We encountered a little taste of home (in more ways than one) while in San Fran, too – a Toronto street car! 
 

 
I was a little disappointed to learn that it wasn’t one of the original TTC vehicles; the city has salvaged street cars and outfitted them to resemble the transit vehicles from various cities known to have them. Still, it was nice to see our own alongside the cars from other countries (like Italy) and several American cities. A lovely little reminder of our commonalities in these times of such vast differences.
 

 
And speaking of a taste of home – and things we have in common – I had a lovely surprise during our visit to Alcatraz. It’s funny: just that morning as we were packing up to leave Berkeley, I almost said to Rob, “I’m going to meet someone from Toronto today.” I didn’t. But that is exactly what happened.
 
As we toured the prison, I was off in my own world listening to the audio guide and a former prisoner describing the dining hall as the “gas chamber,” so nicknamed by inmates because of the cannisters of tear gas poised to drop from the ceiling in the event of an insurrection. I felt a gentle tapping on my left shoulder. And then I felt it again. I turned around to see a pretty face – a woman resembling Madonna just a bit – and she said, “Erin! It’s Gwen!”
 
Sure enough, a lady with whom I’ve been in correspondence over the past several months, a CHFI listener and journal visitor, was on The Rock with her husband and daughter that very day. We hugged, chatted, and took a few pictures. She joked about worrying that I’d think she was stalking me and I said – and I’ll keep saying it ’til I die – I am honoured and very happy when someone comes up to say “hello.”
 
Many a time people have written and said they saw me and were afraid to bother me. Are you kidding? I miss the connection we shared for all of those years. And I am waiting for the hugs and handshakes that accompany next year’s book tour and public appearances!
 

 
So ended our visit to San Francisco. Oh, but not before there was one last moment I’m happy to share: we were coming into the city on one of its many toll roads and – newbies that we are – we were in the Fast Pass lane. Of course, we didn’t have one, only cash, and because the top was down on our MINI, I was able to turn and look back over my right shoulder, make eye contact with the driver next to us and put on my “sad/desperate/pleading” face.
 
You’d be amazed at how that works: when other drivers actually see you as a human being, they’re not so fast just to ignore you and push by. Because that man in the SUV let us in, we paid our and his $4 toll at the booth ahead. They waved “thanks” and on we all went. I loved that moment. I was able to show my appreciation to someone in a real way for doing something nice. And who knows? Maybe they saw the Beautiful British Columbia license plate and thought, Huh. Canadians are OK!
 
Tomorrow: off to parts of California we’d never seen before and a heads up on something you’ll want to see at home this weekend – wherever you are!
 

Before I get to today’s journal, as I lie in bed here in Oregon trying to sort through pictures to share with you, researching things about our trip so that I can pass on facts instead of just thoughts, I am reflecting on the heavy rains that hit so many parts of my former “hometown” last night. I am hoping you were spared the ravages of such a torrential downpour yesterday and if not, that you have the help you need to recover. 
 
Today’s journal is about a place surrounded by water, by design: Alcatraz. 
 

 
The name comes from the Spanish “Isla de los Alcatraces” – Island of the Pelicans – and those big prehistoric-looking birds sure do make themselves known. In fact, with no known predators, birds (mostly gulls, herons and cormorants) on this famous rock in the San Francisco Bay really do have the run of the place! It was wonderful to watch them and dodge their missiles. Here you see them just hanging out on the rock below.
 

 
Of course, the main attraction for some one million visitors annually to this national park is the maximum-security jail that housed prisoners (including Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly) between the years 1934 and 1963. It was a military installation and lighthouse in the 19th century, but when it became too costly to maintain as such, was converted to the famous prison that we’ve seen in so many movies.
 
Rob and I “crammed” for our visit by watching The Rock with Sean Connery, Nic Cage and Ed Harris (an over-the-top shoot-em-up from 1996 with far too thin a plot and no real resemblance to the prison itself), and Escape From Alcatraz, definitely shot on the island and in the actual prison, and starring Clint Eastwood from 1979. 
 

 
I didn’t get a chance to ask, but it would seem the Eastwood movie was an excuse for Alcatraz to get a bit of a sprucing up with a fresh coat of cream and green paint, to look as it would have in 1962. (An occupation by Native Americans reclaiming their land from 1969 to 1971 likely also changed the inside of the prison, as well as the outside, where Parks personnel have made sure that their markings and painted statements have been maintained and restored over the years). But to our eyes, the Alcatraz we saw in the 1979 movie was very much like the one we saw in 2018.
 
I can’t imagine anyone – including those protestors – choosing to make that wind-buffeted island their home. The prison was cold and inhospitable – inside and out – even on a perfect August day. As birds hung on stiff breezes like socks on a clothesline, we shivered in the same prison yard where inmates would play baseball and otherwise kill time during their precious outdoor hours. 
 

 
Included in the $39 cost of admission were boat transportation and a fascinating guided audio tour, available through headsets and in several languages. It was some of the best money we’ve spent as tourists; way better than the $10 we paid to drive through a tree (!) and we’ll show you that later this week or early next.
 

 
Through this narration (which followed a short Discovery Channel film we were offered the opportunity to watch upon entering Alcatraz) we learned of uprisings and murders, thwarted escapes and the dreadful daily rituals and details of life on The Rock. Some of the cells were furnished as they would have been at the time of the prison’s operation, from the trappings of music nights (including the accordion you see on the bed)…
 

 
…to the tools of a would-be artist allowed to indulge in his hobby of painting. (I say “his” because no female prisoners or guards were on the island.)
 
A glimpse into a solitary confinement cell, as well as narration describing how one survived it, was certainly disconcerting. Me, I prefer the airiness of a nice, regular cell, thanks. 
 

 
As for privacy, how about these for showers twice a week? In that cold air (and you can bet the water wasn’t much warmer) I don’t know how much I’d look forward to that. Especially when a knife went missing from the kitchen and, oh yes, they most certainly did, on occasion.
 

 
Fascinatingly, we were informed that for families of the wardens and staff who resided there, life was somewhat idyllic: children took a boat back to the mainland for school every day and enjoyed a unique upbringing on that most infamous island. Now, the warden’s home is in ruins, a victim of neglect and nasty weather.
 

 
There’s no doubt that Alcatraz is as haunting today as it probably was the day they closed it due to the ravages of time and weather on its structure in 1963 – especially in the lower level where Rob and I wandered while others took tours.
 

 
Kudos to the US National Parks Service, its employees and volunteers for the work they do keeping the area beautiful, right down to its gardens.
 
If you do decide to go to Alcatraz, be sure to book months in advance; we reserved our spots three months ago. During our last trip to San Francisco in 2012, we couldn’t get on the island, but took a boat tour around it. This was so much better and I encourage you to see it for yourself if you get a chance, if only for the view of San Francisco! (Inmates said that some nights, if the winds were right, you could hear the laughter and parties happening back in the city, especially on New Year’s Eve. Imagine the loneliness that would invoke!)
 

 
Tomorrow: a chance encounter in the dining hall for Rob and me (a small world story to be sure) plus some favourite photos from San Francisco to share with you. Come on back – enjoy the free tours!
 

Greetings from the road! Since last we were together, we’ve done and seen so much – it’s almost impossible to chronicle it all. So I’ll try to keep it to the things you might find most interesting, and we’ll go from there!
 
10 days from now, Jeff Lynne’s ELO (Electric Light Orchestra for anyone who wasn’t around in the 70s for their days of mega-hits) will be playing in Toronto. I hope that if you’re a fan, you got tickets, because it was an amazing show. And it’s ELO’s first North American tour in 0ver 30 years.
 

 
Quite apart from the $7 US per small bottle of water charged at the Oracle Arena, the experience was like most every other concert. We were 20th row on the floor and I found myself wishing I was closer, but was still grateful even to be there.
 
After an opening performance by the band Dawes (whose lead singer, I’m told, is dating This is Us star Mandy Moore) 13 performers – including three women on strings and a female singer – took the stage at around 9:15 pm. The show was about 90 minutes of great rock and roll memories. Mr. Lynne himself is somewhat of a shy performer, so there wasn’t a lot of banter or movement on stage from the headliner himself.
 
We didn’t expect P!NK-style acrobatics, Beyoncé dance moves or a part of the stage extending into the arena. The sold-out crowd, made up mostly of 50+ aged fans like Rob and me, spent the majority of the night on its feet, dancing, singing along and cheering to hits like “Roll Over Beethoven” (the encore), “Telephone Line” and “Turn to Stone”. The only ELO mega-hit the band didn’t perform (that stuck out to us) was “Strange Magic” and I’m guessing that the high range of that song’s vocals was what prevented it from making the lineup.
 
While Lynne’s not hitting the high notes that he did 40 years ago (few are!) his male backup vocalist filled in a lot of the time. He could have filled in more, in our opinion, but that may come later in the tour. As it was, the band was tight and pitch perfect, and one would never know it was the opening show in the ten-show run. As Lynne pointed out, a lot of work went into preparing for this performance.
 
Just as we were dismayed by the industrial area setting of Oakland-Alameda County’s baseball home (although delighted to see the Jays reward far flung Canadian fans in Seattle with some wins), the Oracle next door had its shortcomings, too. We got to the home of the back-to-back NBA champ Golden State Warriors two hours before the show, so as to enjoy dinner in a restaurant at the stadium, only to find that we couldn’t enter until one hour before showtime. We scarfed down burgers and fries in a wide open public space and watched in shock as a man paid $32US for a double margarita. Sure hope it was a good one and that his Cuervo Gold had actual gold in it!
 
Despite a huge crowd on the train platform, we made it onto the first one that came along after the show and 40 minutes later we were back to the free parking lot at the North Berkeley train station. How nice to be rewarded for taking transit! All in all, we were more than satisfied with the ELO experience and are glad the band gave us a reason to build a trip around a concert.
 
If you’re interested, there’s a great ELO concert DVD out there, as well as a documentary about the band’s founder himself called Mr. Blue Sky. And oh yes, they did that song too – as well as a Traveling Wilburys hit (“Handle With Care”). Here’s the entire set list, if you’re interested. And I’d urge you not to see that DVD before the show: allow yourself to open your musical presents along with thousands of others, rather than knowing what to expect!
 
Standin’ in the Rain (here’s a YouTube link to a performance of this song in Sheffield, England) 
Evil Woman
All Over the World
Showdown
Do Ya
When I Was a Boy (2015)
Livin’ Thing
Handle With Care
Rockaria!
Can’t Get It Out of My Head
10538 Overture
Xanadu
Shine a Little Love
Wild West Hero
Sweet Talkin’ Woman
Telephone Line
Don’t Bring Me Down
Turn to Stone
Mr. Blue Sky
Encore: Roll Over Beethoven
 
The next day, we checked out of our Holiday Inn in Berkeley, situated in a rather rough area of the town but within walking distance of a charming downtown. We strolled the streets and enjoyed live musicians busking, stepped around and past homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks, and took in the college town vibe of this city that has given the world hot tubs (Jacuzzi), lattes, the computer mouse, flu vaccines and the band Green Day.
 
We spent the following afternoon in one of the world’s most famous (now defunct) prisons: tomorrow, we’ll take you to the streets of San Francisco and out on its picturesque bay as we head to Alcatraz. Bye for now from the California coast!