Christmas came and went and the majority of my trip, the research part, was over. Agnes flew in on the 25th of December and we started out on our roadtrip through the Golden State. Our return flights were booked for the 8th of January. We wanted to have a few days around Davis and 3 days in San Francisco - that left us 9 days on the road.
A trustworthy Nissan Sentra was rented, a route established (roughly), audio books and roadtrip albums downloaded and all phone and camera batteries charged. California, here we come...
Route
(overnight stays in blue, sights in purple)
The road south: National parks, LA and desert
After exploring Davis (A in north) for a day and Agnes' first attempts at curing her jetlag, we went on the fascinating Underground Tour in Sacramento (B), explored the city and saw the Kings defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers - elating the locals and annoying LeBron.
I had to move out the following day, which mainly meant getting my suitcase packed and handing over the keys - getting on the road took us twice as long as planned. We arrived at our first destination, the Yosemite Valley (C), already after lunch time and after we had finally secured a muddy parking spot it was already getting darker and colder in the narrow valley. We went on a small hike to Mirror Lake, which was not patricularly reflective on account of it being frozen over and lacking snow melt to swell its water level (it was December, after all!). Still, a lovely little walk in the shadow of mighty Half Dome. But when we filed into the shockingly long queue of cars trying to get out of the valley, the night swiftly falling around us, it did not feel like we had done the Yosemite justice, that we had not walked in the tracks of John Muir. We probably should come back in the summer. Or at least get up earlier next time...
The road went ever south for another three hours in darkness, before we reached our Airbnb in Fresno (D). The next day started relatively early (Agnes' jetlag helped!) and after getting some bagels we set out to the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park with breakfast on our lap. Cream cheese and a bunch of seasoned bagels are a fantastic start to a roadtrip day! Our timing was better this time and we had a lovely hike through the General Grant Grove (E) to spend some 3 hours admiring the might and majesty of the massive trunks and lofty crowns of the world's largest trees (in terms of volume, not hight). The grove had a special serinty to itself and when we entered a section that had burnt down in 2015, the Sequoias, as the only ones left standing, dominated even more. It took scientists and foresters until a few decades ago to understand that the trees need frequent fires in order to drop their cones on cleared, fertile ground. If all fires are put out immediatedly the underbrush becomes too thick and future fires burn hotter and longer, even threatening to penetrate the thick bark of the giants of the Sierra.
Having spent so long with General Grant and his band of brothers forced a decision between rushing to its larger relative, and most like superior officer, General Sherman, or instead enjoying the beautiful sunset. We found a few breathtaking vista points overlooking the foothills of the Sierra with tree giants popping out here and there. The central valley was blanketed in a thin haze, welling up the hillsides and providing an almost mystic contrast against the rolling outskirts of the Coastal Ranges some 150km (90mi) to the west. We couldn't draw our eyes away and the second General vanished in the night, ignored. The road on to Bakersfield (F) was dark, winding and steep, but Sequoia would not be forgotten.
After sleeping in, we drove to the northern edges of Los Angeles and met my (now former) roommate Jess for lunch and coffee (G). Over catching up on each other's holidays, exchanging travel tips and advice on what to do when ambushed by a rattlesnake or beset by a hungry mountain lion in the desert, it had already gotten dark when we arrived at the famous Getty Museum. We spent a few hours admiring Argentinian photography and Dutch romanticists and decided to swing by Hollywood on our way to our Airbnb further east (H). We got there around 8pm and were a little disappointed by the seedy shops and shabby appearence of the Walk of Fame, the Sunset Boulevard. We had only just reached the more renowned parts of the street with all the neon signs and big theaters, when we had to rush back to our car and its run-out parking meter.
In the desert: Glühwein, hiking and palm arithmetics
The next day was the last day of the year and we had planned to end it in the beautiful desert of the Joshua Tree National Park. We spent the morning exploring Los Angeles' old town, el Pueblo de Los Ángeles. It's basically only a square, a few old houses and a street of Mexican-style tourist market stalls. Among the sights was the oldest standing residence in LA (from 1818), the sociocritical mural Ámerica Tropical (from 1932) and the oldest firehouse in LA (from 1884). We had some excellent burritos and walked to the Grand Central Market, where we bought vegetables and bread. After a brief visit in Little Tokyo we headed east, leaving the city and its unrelenting traffic behind us.
Our Airbnb in Twentyseven Palms (southern A) was fantastic and just on the brink of the Joshua Tree. We cooked dinner and chatted with our hosts, their visiting friends and Bahar, another tenant. Our plan was to find a remote spot in the national park and just relax and drink Glühwein (using a specially imported German spice-mix!) until 2017 became 2018. Bahar joined us, we found a lovely spot off the track to the Desert Queen Mine and spent two lovely hours chatting in the light of the fullmoon, admiring (what was left of) the stars and the ghostly Joshua trees. No "Dinner for One", no popping champagne bottles and only the natural fireworks of the night sky over the desert - a very special New Years Eve.
We ended up spending two more days in Twentyseven Palms, hiking in the National Park, admiring at sunsets, criticizing local art work (made out of garbage from derelict homes) and chatting with our lovely hosts Gina and Tom. We had a BBQ in their backyard, got up for the sunset (it was overcast ...) and enjoyed a short rest from all the driving. The desert with its "forests" of Joshua trees and ubiquitus Teddybears (an overly clingy species of cactus) had a very solemn feel to it, the trees like old gnarly men judging you as too green for this world and whispering their endurance. During the day we had lovely 22°C and at night we were happy to huddle up in our room with the heater on. A very pleasant and relaxing stay in a beautiful area of the planet.
The road north: Driving, fog and more driving
The 3rd of January was to be the big roadtrip day. We had to be on our way back up north in order to return the trusted Sentra at San Francisco Airport late on the 5th. Having extended our stay in Joshua Tree meant that we had to get back to the coast in a single day. However, since we were already here, we decided to take a "quick" detour through the Mojave National Preserve (B), another Park with vastly different landscapes of sand dunes and a lot of volcanic rocks and bluffs. The roads north and through the park were all too straight and empty and led us through one vast, empty valley after another, stretched between ragged mountains, only shrubs, an east-bound highway and salt mines in their midst. An audio book in our ears, the overcast sun on our faces and the road ahead - we were on an American Roadtrip and it was great.
Mercifully, it was only one day of road tripping. Again the early sunset made the drive a lot less exiciting so we were glad when we finally arrives in San Simeon (C). The next morning greeted us with fog, rain and the roaring Pacific within walking distance. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes and enjoyed the might of the waves. We even saw some wales off the coast, who were migrating south for the winter proper. It was a good start to an exciting day: we wanted to drive up the Highway 1, the Great Ocean Road of the US. Unfortunately, a mud slide had blocked it mid-2017 and the road was still not open to traffic. This forced us to take a detour through the country side. Wanting to maximize the trip on the coast, we tried to circle back through the mountains as soon as possible, which led us along a windy backstreet through the Hunter Liggett Military Base (we were surprised to be let through too...), up a windy mountain road and through some of the heaviest fog I have ever seen (D). It was really slow-going as well as a surprise-adventure and we ended up on Hwy 1 just south of Lucia (E), basically dropping straight out of the thick clouds. The bad weather only highlighted the force of the unrelenting waves on the wind-swept cliffs and we loved the contrast to the still dryness of the desert. Unfortunately, it was already getting dark and we saw the last of the coast just out of Monterey. Before we reached our Airbnb among the Coastal Redwood trees (F) (remember Muir Woods?) we had dinner with my colleague Katrina (remember Lake Berryessa?) at the harbor in Santa Cruz. Entertained, wined and dined, we fell asleep to the sound of rain pounding on the roof and the trunks of the trees. 
The rain continued for the following day. After a slow morning, we decided to go shopping at the outlet center in Gilroy. Having done our best to support the local apparel industry and having taken advantage of the decent exchange rate, we continued on to the Silicon Valley. We drove around Googleplex and had dinner in the famous Buck's Restaurant (H), a diner where many start ups had been founded over burgers and fries. The place is covered in a crazy mixture of memorabilia, old photos and trinkets - which makes it a cool diner but not necessarily a place where you'd expect millions of dollars being signed off as seed capital. In any case, we were not approached with a ground breaking idea, despite trying to look particularly innovative and affluent...San Francisco: More rain, breathtaking vistas and rainbows
The following day greeted us with brilliant sunshine and we decided to capitalize and headed out early (at least early for us ...) to join a walking tour of Union Square, the Financial District and Chinatown.
It was a good tour and we learned a lot about the history of SF, budding political movements and exploding housing prices, one of the reasons for the growing homeless population. Afterwards we had Chinese for lunch and took a Lyft (an Uber-competitor, you backwards, Taxi-favoring German!) to the Golden Gate Bridge, and were rewarded with beautiful vistas of the bridge, the bay and the city. We walked back towards downtown along the shore but ended up taking the bus to Fisherman's Wharf for an evening stroll. A beautiful day in a very picturesque city.
Our last day in SF was a lot less active. After having ticked off the tourist attractions yesterday, we wanted to explore the more artsy and colorful Mission and Castro districts. The former sports a lot of murals and cute little shops, restaurants and cafés. Walking through Mission Dolores Park we enjoyed the scenery with many young people of all dress styles playing frisbee, practicing diabolo, lounging in the grass and taking advantage of California's recent legalisation of recreational marijuana six days ago. The Castro was even more hip, with street artists, activists handing out leaflets and gay pride flags everywhere. Weary from all the SF-vibe and another long walk, we sat down in a café to indulge on a cinnamon twist and a hot tea. The afternoon trickled away over writing post cards and catching up. It was getting dark and the tram took us back up Market Street for an evening stroll through Telegraph Square and my second visit to the City Lights Bookstore. We shopped some groceries and lyfted back to our hostel, where we cooked dinner and packed our bags. Our beautiful holiday and also my research visit to California had come to an end.
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