(Complete!) Ticking Off the Missing Stuff: SF, Yosemite & Carmel food & trip report June 2022

[Wordsworth]

More words than pics in the first section of this entry, I’m sorry!

Back at the Mariposa Grove car park, we browsed the gift shop, but didn’t buy anything. We’d already spent $100 at the hotel gift shop, buying a sweatshirt for me, a T-shirt for DH, and several postcards to make up a planned Yosemite display with our park map. Here’s a pic:

We have a similar one from our trip around Zion/Arches/Grand Canyon etc, so now they hang together in the kitchen.

We then grabbed a seat on a bench and ate our healthy packed lunch (a big bag of Lays I bought in San Francisco but hadn’t opened yet). It was time to leave Yosemite; our accommodation for the night was booked on the coast, in Carmel Highlands.

On our previous coastal California trip, we’d driven through Carmel By the Sea (after a night in Monterey then doing 17 mile drive) and thought it looked picturesque. We didn’t stop then, though, so decided to spend a night there this time.

It was expected to be about a 3.5 hour journey, but I was a little concerned about the fact that we would be going via the Pacheco Pass, which is apparently haunted! I wasn’t concerned enough to add an hour to the drive time by choosing another route, though.

Most of the drive was dull. We didn’t see any ghosts, although there was some hair-raising driving on display at the pass - braking on a curving downhill highway is clearly for wimps. The main excitement came after this section; we were supposed to continue straight on the 156 at Hollister, but found ourselves diverted left, along with everyone else, onto the 25, as that section of the 156 was closed by police.

We were navigating via Google maps on DH’s phone (which connected with the car screen) and it didn’t cope too well with this turn of events. It kept trying to take us towards the 156 but we guessed from the traffic that these routes were also closed. Apple Maps on my phone wasn’t doing any better. We kept going until we ended up in Hollister, where we found a parking spot in what looked like to be a pretty town centre and tried to work out what was happening.

I eventually found the answer by searching Twitter! That section of the 156 had been closed earlier when a wildfire was reported, and it had since jumped the road. The tweets I saw helpfully confirmed the exact road where the 156 reopened, and when I plugged that into Apple maps, I saw it too had updated and finally reflected the road closure. We weren’t too far from where we needed to be at all. A quick turn onto 4th street, which was also the 156B, and we were soon back on track.

All of this did add more time into the journey though, and it was after 4 o’clock when we finally arrived in Carmel. I’d originally thought we would get to Carmel early afternoon and find somewhere to have a late lunch, but that was before I understood the size of Mariposa Grove.

We parked in a free car park we saw signposted - we could have found a street spot closer to the ocean, but at this point, we were ready to get out of the car and walk to the beach, window shopping in the fancy-looking stores as we went.

I think this view was worth the drive.

This is a lovely family shot. No idea whose family it is, but it’s a lovely shot.

I might know this person.

Trust me, I look better from the back.

We walked along the beach for a bit, but having only had a yogurt cup and crisps to eat all day, we were starting to get hungry now. We had a quick look on Google to get an idea of places that might be good to try, then started to make our way back to the town centre.

One last beach shot.

If you’ve been to Carmel, you’ll know it’s all uphill from the sea, so when halfway up we spotted Portobella and recognised it as being one of the places with decent reviews, we thought we’d give it a go.

The welcome wasn’t exactly warm - when we asked at the desk (in the cozy front dining space) for a table for 2, we were asked rather sniffly if we had a reservation. When we said no, there was a bit of chatter between the staff members, and then we were shown into a large and entirely empty back room. It was 5pm, so I was thought perhaps they were expecting a rush later and were debating if they could fit us in, but it didn’t fill up - it was just setting the standard for service that would continue.

The menu looked good, though.

And we got bread with a delicious green dip while we waited; I also had a glass of a lovely Cali Sauvignon blanc.

DH’s starter of crab and corn bisque was the highlight of the meal; this was truly delicious.

My lobster ravioli was also tasty, but the sauce was lukewarm - it would have been even better if properly hot like the bisque. Not that there were any staff around to tell; despite being right by the door to the kitchen, either they or we appeared to have acquired powers of invisibility.

By this point an American couple had also been shown into the room, and they were having similar struggles with the service. This actually cheered me up; it wasn’t because we were Brits and the staff (wrongly) expected we wouldn’t tip, they just didn’t want to deal with anyone.

For main DH had risotto.

His photo gives it more credit than it deserves; it was claggy. He also had to eat it with my soup spoon, which hadn’t been removed after starters - none of our cutlery was replenished before our plates were dumped in front of us, and the staff immediately disappeared again. DH kindly gave me his knife and fork, to eat my main.

The chicken was fine, but boring. The veg were hard, bordering on raw, and stone cold. On the bright side, the mashed potato was delicious!

I would have ordered another glass of wine if anyone had checked in while we were eating, but no one did, so after these plates were cleared, we just asked for the bill.

To summarise, I don’t understand the good online reviews for this place; I love food and I’m not a fussy eater, but the reality just didn’t match the expectations set. Trip Advisor now seems to have a few recent negative reviews, so it’s not just me.

We walked the rest of the way back to the car, stopping in at a bakery for dessert and a small food market for water, then left Carmel By The Sea for the short drive to Carmel Highlands.

I’d booked a night at the Tickle Pink Inn, directly off Highway 1 and up a steep drive shared with the Hyatt. You have to drive through the Hyatt grounds to get there - it took us two attempts to see the sign as it was hidden by some roadworks!

Check in was quick and we were soon in our room.

You pick your exact room while booking and I’d gone for room 19, an ocean view room on the top level.

The prospect of this was a big part in the decision to stay here. I was thrilled. I love an ocean view.

The second reason I’d chosen the inn was the temptation of the nightly cheese and wine offering, between 4 and 6pm. Our unexpectedly late arrival meant we’d missed that, which was disappointing. (I don’t know why but I didn’t realise you could get food delivered to a hotel - if I had my time again, I’d skip eating in Carmel and do that instead. They told you at check in which delivery services you could use.)

That said, the final reason I’d chosen the inn was the bottle of champagne included in the room rate. This was delivered promptly after we’d checked in.

It also came with lovely chocolates.

My plan for the evening had been to sit together on our balcony, drinking champagne and watching the sunset.

Mission accomplished!

We also ate the baked goods we’d bought from Carmel Bakery.

Another place with good online reviews that we thought was rubbish. We didn’t have much luck eating in Carmel-By-The-Sea at all.

Still, look at that view.

[liz-paul]

Your trip looks and sounds amazing so far, despite the dining in Carmel!

[anji]

What a fabulous room and accompaniments! Shame about your food though - sure the champagne and chocolates made you feel better

[Wordsworth]

Originally Posted by Pumba75

Really enjoying your trip report. Beautiful photos.

M x

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Some taken by me, some by DH…his will be the better ones.

Originally Posted by liz-paul

Your trip looks and sounds amazing so far, despite the dining in Carmel!

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The starters and wine were ok, it was a shame about the rest of dinner. The pastries were just hard. None of this would stop me going back to Carmel though!

Originally Posted by anji

What a fabulous room and accompaniments! Shame about your food though - sure the champagne and chocolates made you feel better

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I find fizz helps with most things.

[Wordsworth]

Breakfast at the Tickle Pink Inn is included in the room rate and served at their outdoor terrace. There were indoor tables but we chose to eat outside with this view.

Well, you would, wouldn’t you.

Breakfast is self serve and there were always staff members checking and replenishing the buffet.

My first plate, complete with a huge chunk of bacon:

And my second:

I did attempt to toast the bagel but I am impatient with shared toasters, so always pop too soon!

The apple pastry was much nicer than the one we’d bought the day before.

After breakfast, we had one final look at the view from our balcony.

Still fabulous.

We had to return the hire car at Post Street in San Francisco at 4.30, with AVIS closing at 5. The previous night, we’d decided we’d stop at Santa Cruz on the way north, as we hadn’t stopped there before and the beaches and boardwalk sounded interesting to see.

DH felt we didn’t need to leave until 11ish, but by 10.30 I was bored sitting around, so I suggested we go now so that we weren’t rushed (…watch this space, she foreshadowed).

Our first stop was actually about 20 minutes south, to tick off something that had been bothering DH since we first drove Highway 1 in 2010.

He had been really excited to see Bixby Creek Bridge, knowing it from films and tv shows of his youth.

We drove over it, but didn’t exactly see it, because it looked like this at the time.

I promise there is a bridge there! Contrast our 2010 photo with one from this visit:

Much better, right? If a little bit further away…we parked up and DH went clambering a bit downhill (luring in other unsuspecting tourists), took his pics, then noticed the viewing area a bit further up.

Mind you, I don’t think his spot turned out too badly.

Bixby Bridge, well and truly ticked off!

Time to head north; I loved the drive along the coastline, although it is better if you’re going north to south because you’re on the coast side of the road. That said I also enjoyed the part where the road goes more inland, as it goes through a farming area and people were working hard in the fields. It was a real insight into the effort and number of workers food growing needs.

When we arrived at Santa Cruz, we stopped first to fill up the car with fuel, then made our way to the boardwalk area. There is a big parking lot there; it was flat rate $20 for all day parking. Expensive since we weren’t going to be more than an hour or so, but for the ease and relative security of it, we were ok to pay. There was metered parking on the street as well.

We were on the boardwalk, comparing the weather here to the equivalent at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, by 12.30ish.

It doesn’t spin quite as fast as this suggests; DH is a bit obsessed with long exposures right now.

We walked along the boardwalk, then cut down onto the beach and headed to the shoreline. We walked to the point where the sand stopped and an inlet began, and took pics looking back along the boardwalk.

Then decided to walk to the pier (wharf) at the other end of the boardwalk.

DH loves a lifeguard stand (there’s always a Hasselhoff impersonation lurking).

Under the pier, sorry, wharf.

View back along the beach from the pier - there was a beach volleyball tournament happening.

We walked a little way along the wharf, which has shops and some food places. We also read the signs that said you can see seal lions at the end, but decided we didn’t want to go that far.

Turns out there was no need; on the way back, we spotted this guy sunning himself.

View back to the beach.

Our last act at Santa Cruz was to walk back along the boardwalk and have some fun fair food.

DH had a cinnamon sugar churro, and I had a vanilla and chocolate soft serve dipped in butterscotch.

After food and a restroom visit, it was now after 2pm, so we decided we should get back on the road. The other place DH wanted to stop was Pigeon Point, because he loves lighthouses. I plugged it into Maps as our destination, to navigate us back to Highway 1.

The drive was easy and we arrived at the point at around 2.50pm. We first walked out to a viewpoint to the left of the lighthouse.

We didn’t stand out here long as it was unexpectedly windy and therefore chilly!

Looked good though.

The lighthouse itself was fenced off, so this was as close as you could get. (I took it through the fence!)

On the way back to the small parking lot I was glad I didn’t need to use the loo here; the smell coming out of it was not pleasant! It would do in a pinch, though.

We were back in the car just after 3pm and DH said that rather than take the most direct route to San Fran, which would take us inland, he would prefer to stay on Highway 1 on the basis it was quieter and easier.

I would have been fine with that but when I put the AVIS office into Maps, it turned out that even the fastest inland route would only just get us there for our drop off time. We therefore reluctantly decided we’d better take that route.

Our expected restful drive suddenly got a bit stressful. While we were en route and hitting traffic, our expected ETA started ticking towards 4.45, leaving us 15 minutes before the car hire place closed. If we didn’t make it, we’d have to park the car somewhere, return it late, and take the cost.

We weren’t helped by the worst piece of driving we saw all holiday; we were second in a line behind a truck on the single lane road. We reached a passing point and everyone prepared to overtake, the first car behind the truck pulled out…and stayed there, shoulder to shoulder with the truck. No effort to overtake at all, and apparently deaf to the horns that (other) drivers were blasting at them. They even merged back in behind the truck when the road narrowed! We were raging.

Google maps obviously sensed our frustration; it suddenly found an 11 minutes faster route. And even better, while the bad driver ahead wanted to take that same route, they missed the first turnoff and we were able to nip ahead.

Despite the fairly frantic freeways towards San Fran, and queues on the city streets, we ended up driving into the car hire garage at 4.30pm on the dot. It was possibly DH’s proudest moment of the holiday!

Our hotel was a c20 minute walk away, although even with the bags to pull I think we did it faster than that. For our last stop we’d booked two nights in the Omni San Francisco, to give staying in the Financial District a go.

It was certainly a more classical and fancier hotel than Hotel G!

We rested for a short while, then decided we wanted something relatively quick and easy for dinner. We headed back to the Westfield centre food court, DH indulging his passion for photographing pretty old buildings on the way.

DH half-suggested Shake Shack again, but I had my eye on a different prize, and he didn’t need much persuasion.

Panda Express!

Orange chicken and honey walnut shrimp for me.

Beef and broccoli and chicken mushroom for DH.

It was busy, as it was the dinner rush and they were also doing delivery orders, but the line moved quickly and it meant the food was really fresh.

It was yum.

We *might* have gone to BBW again, where I got some of the cinnamon donut swirl shower gel I wanted (I really wanted body lotion but they didn’t have it, and I already had many, many bottles in other scents ).

We stopped off at Walgreens for a bottle of juice and some goldfish crackers to take home for my niece and nephew. I’m also glad I checked the sweet aisle, as despite several visits to this store across the holiday, tonight was the first time they had caramel M&Ms in stock! I bought two bags.

Back in the hotel, we chilled out in front of the tv, made plans for the following day, and started eating the cookies we’d bought in the food mart in Carmel.

A delicious day was had by all.

[Aearin]

Said it elsewhere but great trip report so far. Plenty of food pics which is always a winner!

[Wordsworth]

Originally Posted by Aearin

Said it elsewhere but great trip report so far. Plenty of food pics which is always a winner!

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Thank you! I’m always thinking about food, writing about it might be my favourite bit of the report.

[Wordsworth]

While doing some research on the area around the hotel, I’d learned there were various food stalls and shops in the Ferry Building. We decided we’d spend the morning snacking there!

We didn’t try to rush out of the hotel early, as there was an ice cream place I wanted to try that didn’t open until lunchtime. It was therefore just before 10.30 when we arrived.

We walked through the building to get our bearings, then checked out the outdoor seating area and the view to the Bay Bridge.

All very pretty, but I’m hungry.

We started with empanadas each from El Porteno.

We chose Carne - “grass-fed beef and cage-free, hard-boiled eggs seasoned with cinnamon, brown sugar, and broth-plumped raisins. With sautéed onions, green olives, and a pinch of salt.”

And Camarones - “fresh shrimp from the Bay. Creamy, Italian-style Parmesan cheese and snappy green onions.”

This was an excellent start to the day. They were both delicious (packed with filling and a fair size - I reckon the carne was equivalent to a Greggs pastry!), but my favourite was the Camarones. The balance of flavours was spot on.

I then offered to purchase something sweet for our next course. There were a couple of places selling baked goods that I checked out, but really, I knew where I was headed.

DH loves cheesecake so it had to be a Cheesequake. (Love the pun!)

DH also loves key lime (that 2016 trip to the Florida Keys has a lot to answer for), so despite the choice of flavours, there was only one possibility.

You’ll see I also got a lemon sparkling water. Bit of a hitch when my contactless card was declined, but I had cash.

This was also fabulous; creamy and tangy in equal measure.

It was about quarter past 11 now; the ice cream shop I had my eye on didn’t open until 12. We browsed the bookshop in the building (I ended up later buying the kindle version of a book I saw there to read on the way home), as well as the gin selection in one of the fancy food stores, and then decided to check out some of the other piers around Embarcadero.

Many of them are working piers where you catch ferries, but there are “tourist” piers. We walked to the end of one.

Then we wandered back towards the Ferry Building. There are some restaurants along the water and they were starting to fill up as lunchtime approached.

The ice cream stall wasn’t quite open yet, but a queue was starting to build for it, so we got in line. That’s how popular Humphry Slocombe is.

(And in case you were wondering, my advance research had confirmed that it was indeed named in honour of Are You Being Served?.)

There was only one woman behind the counter and she was actually making the waffle cones as she worked, which was impressive.

Our time in the queue tempted me to buy this:

It even made it home without falling apart!

When it was our turn for ice cream, DH chose blood orange olive oil in a sugar cone, and I had a waffle cone of “secret breakfast”, which included bourbon and cornflakes!

Perhaps the queuing built my expectations too high - while it was good, I didn’t think it was more exceptional than other ice creams I’ve had. I thought mine was light on booze, although DH could taste it more (insight into which one of us has hardened their taste buds to alcohol). Similarly DH wished his had been a little more tart.

We were now, unsurprisingly, full, so decided to attend to the cultural element of our planned day.

We’d decided to go to SFMOMA/. DH has an artistic eye (I guess that’s why he’s so good at photography!) and while I’m not attuned to technique like he is, I do enjoy a wander around a gallery looking at pretty pictures. Modern art isn’t either of our favourite styles, but we’ll always give it a go.

That, plus our final dinner in SF, will follow next!

[Wordsworth]

I hope you are all ready for my insightful art critiques. Example:

This was one of my favourite paintings at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, because I like straight lines and I also like colours.

Now that I’ve set your expectations at an appropriate level…

The gallery doesn’t open until 1pm on a Thursday, but is open later in the evening that day. We arrived just before 1pm and people were already queuing down the block for entry, so we joined the line. It started moving bang on 1pm and we were soon inside.

This was the only place on our holiday where mask wearing was mandatory; we saw someone choose to step out of the line when told this.

We paid our entry fee of $25 each and started our wander round the gallery.

This was an up to date mural - note the lungs to represent the pandemic. They were installing another work during our visit.

In all honesty, we weren’t huge fans of the collection here, or at least not what they had on display. My favourite area was the terrace outside the cafe (they had free iced water dispensers which was great), where they had this sculpture:

This had loads of little details that i enjoyed:

My favourite detail was around the back, at the bottom:

Love means love. A theme that was repeated:

I liked this painting because it reminded me of the potato paintings we used to do at primary school:

Someone got distracted in the middle of taking down the Christmas lights:

There was a funky tunnel you queued to walk through, which was good (I think this was pandemic-related to minimise contact, only your group was allowed in):

Despite my jokes, we did spend more than 2 and a half hours looking round.

After MOMA, I suspect we went into BBW for the final time, just to confirm I was shopped out. And I was; I didn’t buy anything!

DH did insist we go into Tiffanys, but we stuck to silver. He bought me a small thing for my birthday (which isn’t until August, and it would have been £20ish cheaper in the UK, but he also bought me a gift in this store when we were on our honeymoon so it’s clearly a new tradition ).

Back at the hotel, we both showered, I dried and straightened my hair, and we got ready for dinner.

I’d found Boulevard in the Michelin guide when researching restaurants and wanted to give it a try. Reservations weren’t open when I was first planning, so I checked periodically and got one for 7.30 on the date we wanted. Good thing too; even though it was a Thursday and a relatively large space, it was full throughout the evening with a mix of leisure and business diners.

It’s basically opposite the Ferry Building so we were on familiar territory. It’s a prix fixe 3 course menu, for $98 per person.

We ordered a bottle of Sonoma Coast Syrah and enjoyed the pre dinner nibbles. You cant see the dip, but it’s in there. There was also bread and butter.

I had the corn soup and soufflé starter.

I love corn so was always going to enjoy this. I thought the soufflé was possibly a little undercooked, but that could also have been because it was sitting in liquid. It was still tasty.

DH had the artichoke ravioli. I tried this and it was very nice.

For mains, DH had the pork. Never my first choice but I tried and liked it.

I loved my Angus beef fillet. It was perfectly cooked medium rare, as I requested. Sometimes you just need a big chunk of red meat.

Desserts were slightly disappointing - they were good but perhaps not at the standard of the other courses.

I had the pavlova, which was a meringue nest rather than “true” pavlova IMO.

DH had the pineapple and coconut dessert.

And then sweets to finish.

We had a lovely evening chatting about our favourite bits of the holiday, and talking about how nice it was to finally get overseas together after the last two years. We’d had some tough times but it felt like a reset (I’ve certainly slept much better since we got home).

We took some pictures:

And strolled back to our hotel.

Travel home day and final thoughts (including pics of my BBW buys as I’m obsessed) are still to come!

[AlexE]

I have so enjoyed your report - sometimes the missing bits turn out to be the best bits. Your love of art is similar to mine - have you visited Salvador Dali in Tampa?

It will be our first trip back to the west coast in a few weeks time and we are so looking forward to it - returning to favourites and adding a few new experiences.

Thanks for sharing.