Verse 5: San Francisco Day 2 - The Streets of San Francisco Part 2

Monday 4th January. Awoke early again thanks to the remnants of jet lag and 7am feeling more like 3pm. Aaron’s "getting jiggy with it" housemate recommended we try out breakfast at St Francis Fountain diner on York St and 24th in the Mission area, they also recommended Boogaloo’s but we’d already been there so went for St Francisco Fountains.

 

Very cool original retro, slightly rough round the edges classic diner with booths and tables in the window and staffed by the Kings of Leon. More expensive and not as much choice as Boogaloo’s, good if you want that classic American city diner vibe though – you can tell it’s an institution with locals and it was fun to watch the world wake up and start going about its working day. We even came up with a name for our future band – The GoGo Bats, inspired by some graffiti in the toilets.

 

 

 

Igloo spotted a cheap hairdresser across the road and decided to get his barnet chopped as the Hitler Youth Franz Ferdinand fringe he was sporting was pissing him off. So we popped across the road and were accosted by the friendliest, most healthy glowing homeless person we’ve ever seen. Happy and sprightly he was. Igloo bought a SF version of The Big Issue from him and he gave us a bottle of sparkling white wine (?!!) and waltzed off.  We ducked into the hairdresser and entered an episode of Ugly Betty, a speedy $10 haircut later and Igloo was a new man. Adios hair!

The matriarch of the salon didn’t speak English, only Spanish and gleefully told the Minx that she had a 'pico pico moustache', great thanks for that! She was surely hawking for more business. The Minx bought some Veet hair remover instead and did it herself. Can’t beat a bit of direct honesty, especially when it’s delivered with sucha winning smile and a throaty laugh!

 

 

 

 

After wandering round the Mission for another couple of hours soaking up the atmosphere we decided that the lure of the famed Big Sur coastline was just too much. We decided to see if we get the car earlier and head out by evening time and spend the night at a hostel down the coast so that we could start Big Sur early and catch a sunrise over the sea. Not that we didn’t like San Francisco but this is a road trip and the urge to move on to the next sight and the next adventure is impossible to resist.

We booked our car in the UK with Alamo. The [reasonable] plan was to go for a mid-price Pointiac G5 but when we picked up the car in San Francisco a day earlier than planned they only had a small ugly Pointiac Vibe or a big fast Nissan Maxima. We got the Nissan for an extra $300. It has a 3,5 liter V6, 290 hp and drives like a dream. A unreasonable dream, but if you are about to spend four weeks in a car, you don't want to spend them in a shitty car. No way José.

We packed our bags and said good bye to our hosts, apart from Aaron – after our Mexican meal on the first day we had managed to completely miss him everyday and we never saw him again as he headed off to Europe for a tour with his band Rupa and the April Fishes, good luck and best wishes to him as he’s a lovely man.

Before driving out of the city we popped into a pizza place (Escape from New York) next to Revolution Café on 22nd. The kind of place with two tables and a counter with slices of dripping, hot, tasty pizza calling out to you, it’s a chain but it’s pretty good, big slices but not to cheap. We just wanted something quick and on the run and it was that in between time when cafes are closing and evening food joints are not yet open so it was perfect and filled a hole.

After swearing at my English mobile for a while and not being able to work out how to dial American numbers, a really friendly behind the counter guy in a coffee shop on Harrison and 24th, sporting sky blue nail varnish and a beard, helped us out by lending us his phone and explaining how to dial US numbers – rocket science!

As the sun was setting, Igloo popped into a T Mobile shop and purchased a T Mobile phone. We couldn’t just get the SIM card as our phones weren’t fully unlocked, although I swear they both are – anyway we had to buy a basic handset for $10 and a prepay contract for $30, still cheaper than using our UK phone.

We set the GPS for as near to Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel as we could get it and then set off. Bye bye San Francisco, good fun for a couple of days. Maybe a summer time trip next time and more hanging out rather than just scratching the surface. An easy drive out of SF in the dark and along the coats road with the sea to our right, not that we could see anything apart from darkness punctuated by stars.

After an hour of driving in the darkness along the apparently picturesque Highway 1 we arrived at Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel, the sound of waves crashing on the rocks, the tang of salty sea air in our nostrils and the hypnotic beams of light from the towering lighthouse.. What a contrast to an hour before. Let the road trip begin. Arriving in the dark is quite exciting, as you have no idea what you will be waking up to the next morning.

We managed to blag a whole dorm room to ourselves, complete with bunk beds and an en-suite bathroom. Better than the private doubles as they didn’t have en-suite facilities. The bungalow that the dorm was in was really well equipped with a big kitchen, dining area and cosy lounge. The lovely lady at the desk was really friendly and after a long and heartfelt conversation about death and love and moving, booked us a slot in the hot tub for 8.30pm. And what an experience that was, the tub was out on a private deck, hidden from view to all but the stars and the sea, the waves tumbling onto the rocks at the bottom of cliffs below us and the powerful beams from the lighthouse reaching far out to sea, the stars  put on a good show and we wallowed in the steaming hot water as the wind whipped around out heads. We emerged glowing some 50 minutes later and fell into our bunk beds and a deep, deep sleep…

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Chorus: The Americana Road Trip Soundtrack - Top 100 Road Trip Songs

Every road trip has it's own soundtrack and on a rainy day, driving through the endless never-changing landscape of Texas, we tried to come up with our personal Top 10, then, quickly realising that a Top 10 is almost impossible, expanded the task to a Top 20, Top 50, till we finally settled on a Top 100 favourite songs.

one - two - three - four

The Road Trip Playlist

Sergio Mendes - Cristal Illusions

MGMT – Time To Pretend

Ween – Japanese Cowboy & Buenos Tardes Amigos

Lou Reed – Satellite Of Love

Beach Boys – God Only Knows

Aaron Neville – Hercules

Ryan Adams – New York

Chris Isaac - Wicked Game

John Spencer Blues Explosion – Bell Bottoms

De La Soul – Ring Ring Ring

The Stone Roses – Waterfall

Paul Weller – Wild Wood

The Primitives – Through The Flowers

Beastie Boys – Intergalactic Planetary & Shake Your Rump

PJ Harvey – C’mon Billy & A Perfect Day Elise

O.D.B. – Raw

Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit

Bomb The Bass – Beat D’is

Buffalo Springfield – Mr. Soul

Radiohead –Paranoid Android

Ennio Morricone – Once Upon A Time In The West

Redd Cross – Jimmy’s Fantasy

Pharrel & Snoop Dogg – Beautiful

Bobby Womack – 110th Street

John McCrae – Rock You Baby

Violent Femmes – Blister In The Sun

The Gun Club – Sex Beat

Pizzaman – Sex On The Streets

Roky Erickson– Burn The Flames

Pixies – Gigantic

Pulp – Common People

The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows

Nick Drake – River Man

Depeche Mode – Everything Counts In Large Ammounts

Camera Obscura – French Navy

Go Team – Bottle Rocket

Filthy Dukes – What Happens Next

LCD Sound System – North American Scum

The Cure – Killing An Arab

Bat For Lashes – Daniel

Archie Bronson Outfit – Dead Funny & Cherry Lips

Kraftwerk – Trans Europa Express

Girlschool – C’mon Let’s Go!

Rainbow – Kill The King

Deep Purple – Highway Star

Van Halen – Jump

Manfred Man’s Earth Band – California

Beck – Lonesome Tears

Barry Manilow – Mandy

Seasick Steve – Doghouse Blues

The Birds – 8 Miles High

The Fall – How I Wrote Elastic Man

Smashing Pumpkins – 1979

Prince – When Doves Cry

Supertramp – Breakfast In America

Tom Petty – Learning To Fly

Arlo Guthrie – Coming Into Los Angeles

Jefferson Airplane – I Saw You

Ideal – Eiszeit

ELO – Turn To Stone

The Cramps – Bikini Girls With Machine Guns & Kizmiaz

The Stray Cats – Rumble In Brighton


Frenzy – Clockwork Toy

Supergrass – Sun Hits The Sky

Falco – Junge Roemer

Waterboys – The Whole Of The Moon

Donna Summer – I Feel Love

Cake – I Will Survive

Adam Green – Jessica Simpson

AC/DC – Girls Got Rhythm

Boney M – Daddy Cool

Chris Isaac – Wicked Game

CSS – Let’s Make Love & Listen To Death From Above

The Pogues – A Pair Of Brown Eyes

The Beautiful South – A Little Time

Yo La Tengo – Autumn Sweater

REM & Patti Smith – Ebow The Letter

Led Zeppelin – The Song Remains The Same

Abba – Dancing Queen

Blondie – Presence Dear

Supermax – Love Machine

Kate Bush – Cloud Busting

Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy

Outkast – Shake It

Dead Kennedys – Holiday In Cambodia

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand

Oasis – Live Forever

Smog – Hit The Ground Running & Dress Sexy At My Funeral

The Breeders – Driving On 9

Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Tell Me When My Light Turns Green

The Smiths – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

Gene Vincent & The Blue Cats – Cat Man

The Housmartins – Happy Hour & Caravan Of Love

Happy Mondays – Loose Fit & Kinky Afro

Sonic Youth – Incinerate

The Flaming Lips & Sparklehorse – Go

Copter – Testify

Neil Diamond – The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind

Minnie Ripperton – Les Fleurs

Arctic Monkeys – You Look Good On The Dancefloor

Blur – The Universal

Soft Cell – Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go?

Elastica – Line Up

Sparks – Number One Song In Heaven

Electric Prunes – Too Much To Dream Last Night

The Byrds – Eight Miles High

American Analog Set - The Oly One

Jacuzzi Boys - Island Ave

Refused - New Noise

British Sea Power - Waving Flags

William Shatner - Rocket Man

Noah and the Whale – Blue Skies (Death to the Throne Remix)

Ideal - Berlin

The Bedroom Philosopher – I'm So Post Modern

Dinosaur Jr – I Want You To Know & Freak Scene

The Wannadies – You And Me Song

Dead Moon – Dead Moon Night

2raumwohnung – Wir Trafen Uns In Einem Garten

Elastica – 2:1

Peter and the Test Tube Babies – The Jinx

Leila K – Got To Get

Arms - Shitty Little Disco

Shiny Gnomes - Lazing at Desert Inn

Cocorosie – Japan

The International Noise Conspiracy - Capitalism Stole My Virg

Thee Headcoatees – My Boyfriend's Learning Karate

Owen Gray – Apollo 12

Nouvelle Vague – Friday Night Saturday Morning

Fad Gadget- Collapsing New People

Radiohead – Cinnamon Girl

dEUS – Suds & Soda

Hasil Adkins – The Wild Man

The Legendary Shack Shakers – Shake Your Hips

Angriff aufs Schlaraffenland – Die Radierer

OMC - On The Run

Cake - Long Line Of Cars & I Will Survive

At The Drive-In – Invalid Litter Dept.

Batmobile – Ballroom Blitz

Guana Batz - Rock and Roll (Led Zep Cover)

Violent Femmes – Crazy

Judge Dread – The Belle Of Snodland Town

Beirut – Elephant Gun

Whale - Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe

The Whitest Boy Alive - Island

The Dells - Stay In My Corner

Lonnie Smith - Son Of Ice Bag

Jurassic 5 - In The Flesh

Neil Young - Cortez The Killer

Jimmy McGriff - Chriss Cross

Dave and Ansel Collins - Double Barrel


We also listen to tons of Reggae, Dub, 60s Soul and Rockabilly. But that's another list. Like this one:


The "Robert Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country List"

Memphis Jug Band - On The Road Again

Blind Willie McTell - Dark Night Blues

Cannon's Jug Stompers - Minglewood Blues

Skip James - Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues

Jaybird Coleman - I'm Gonna Cross The
River Jordan

Charley Patton - High Water Everywhere

Frank Stokes - I Got Mine

"Dock" Boggs - Sugar Baby

Shelor Family - Big Bend Gal

Hayes Shepherd - The Peddler And His Wife

Crockett's Country Mountaineers - Little Rabbit

Burnett & Rutherford - All Night Long Blues

East Texas Serenaders - Mineola Rag

Weems String Band - Greenback Dollar

Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra - Kater Street Rag

"King" Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - Sobbin' Blues

Parham-Picket Apollo Syncopaters - Mojo Strut

Frankie Franko & His Louisianians - Somebody Stole My Gal

Clarence Williams' Blue Five - Wild Cat Blues

"Jelly Roll" Morton's Red Hot Peppers - Kansas City Stomps

Jimmy Noone - King Joe

..and of course this one ; ]

Verse 6: Highway 1 - Pigeon Point to Big Sur

Tuesday 5th Jan. The clear skies and sunny weather continued so we got a stunning, fresh sunrise at Pigeon Point and finally got to see where we were. It felt a million miles from the noise and traffic of San Francisco despite only being an hour out of the city.

The lighthouse is graceful and a very distinct landmark along the cliffs, it looked all the more beautiful for the soft, early morning light. Got up early, had some porridge, took some pics of the rising sun.

 

 

We continued along Highway 1, towards the Big Sur via Santa Cruz, briefly checking out the magnificent old roller coaster which was closed for the season. There’s always something charming and slightly melancholic about seaside resorts in the winter, they fall into hibernation and signs of life are few and far between... until you scratch beneath the surface. Move away from the sea front and see what the locals are up to. Unfortunately we are on a road trip and just passing through so we didn't have time to find out what was going on in this pretty town but enjoyed it's retro splendour none the less.

Just after Santa Cruz we took a minor detour to a good ol’ tourist con – The Mystery Spot. A place where trees grow in corkscrew formations (that’s a bit of an exaggeration – more like a gentle twist), balls roll up hill and short people get to be taller than their tall friends!

It’s quite obviously one of those great American swindle myths that have been really well constructed and marketed, but it’s really fun – especially if you have the quirky, very sharp witted guide that took us round and did the spiel. It’s a good place for silly photos and is in a pleasantly wooded spot. I was disappointed that none of the tricks made me taller than Ingo though.

 

 

 

 
We continued on our way and briefly passed through Monterey (famous for the Jazz fest) and Pacific Grove. We briefly stopped off in Pacific Grove to check out an area of Eucalyptus wood that is well known as a winter haven for Monarch butterflies. Most years there are 10s of thousands of these beautiful butterflies dripping from the branches of the trees but unlucky for us there was only a few hundred or so scattered around this year. Thankfully there was a lady with a telescope who let us take a peek at a group that had gathered high in the branches of a particularly tall tree. They looked like shards of delicate stained glass as the sun shone through their wings, which only open up once the temperature gets to 13°C (55°F). Apparently the best time to see them is around 4pm on a balmy afternoon when they get a little more active. It was still a lovely sight to see them flitting from branch to branch. It was also funny watching the people watching the butterflies.

Had lunch in a pleasant little café called Toasties on Lighthouse Ave, it was so warm we sat outside in t-shirt and soaked up some small town rays.

Soon after Pacific Grove and Carmel (which are all part of the Monterey Peninsula) we hit the Big Sur coastline. Ninety miles of winding, two lane black top hugging the precarious cliffs as it winds round the headlands, fingers of sea mist gradually being burnt off by the sun, sun, sun. Clear blue California sky. Stopping every 10 minutes to take in the incredible vistas. Every time we stopped we could see hundreds of seals in the water, little black heads bobbing in and out of the water, calling and honking out to each other. Over impressive steel bridges spanning deep canyons, past steep slopes covered in waving Pampas grasses, glimpses of huge remote glass and wood houses built high up on the mountains (and even more incredible price tags I am sure).

 

 

As the afternoon wore on we crossed into the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, through majestic, coastal Redwood forests with their wonderful alpine scent. It seemed strange to be driving one minute along the sunny Pacific coast and then diving headlong into deeply shaded forest valleys only a few miles away. We decided to check out Pfeiffer Beach for a late afternoon walk and an ocean bound sunset. The turn off is not sign posted so you have to look out very carefully for a small road going off steeply to the right about a mile after the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park ranger station (if you are coming from the north, or left and about one mile before the ranger station if you are coming from the south). After winding our way down Sycamore Canyon Road, which follows a wooded creek right down to the beach, you come to a car park and then walk through some trees out onto the beach. For a moment ingo and I thought we were back in Cornwall, it was so reminiscent of the north coast beaches around Bedruthan Steps. A mile and a half long walk along the sands at the foot of the cliffs, more seals surfing the waves, monumental rocks and arches, pink sand, people playing Frisbee, reading, meditating or just staring out to sea. We felt right at home. The sunset was hidden by a thin bank of clouds on the horizon but the colours and mood of a sunset at sea never disappoint (apart from when you try and capture it in a photograph and end up taking 50 shots of nearly the same thing - yawn).

 

 

 

 

 

After ambling back to the car we drove a few miles onto Deetjens Big Sur Inn, tucked in amongst the Redwoods it was one of the most atmospheric places we have ever stayed in. We chose a beautiful wood paneled cabin called Grandpa’s, with a rocking chair and a wood burning stove and a huge luxurious old bed. One tasty meal later and it was time to snuggle up under the blankets with a glass of champagne. What a lovely way to end the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We even had a harmonium and a guest room..