Posted by Gillian …

The “Real-ness” of Santa Barbara

An enticing glimpse over the hotel balcony into the hidden alleyway opposite Classic promenade view Travel always feels to me like a search for the real. Distinguishable from mere holidays, of course, which are a search for hedonistic pleasure. I’m generalizing, of course. It’s a bit of an intellectually arrogant distinction with a kernel of … Continue reading →

When is a View Not a View?

Cliff top dwellings I was very excited to wake up yesterday morning at Shell Beach and see a view of the Pacific out of the bedroom window. A beautiful view, framed by the ubiquitous cochineal-red oleanders, grey-blue succulents and ochre gravel. To the right, a cliff top path. To the left, another cliff top path. … Continue reading →

Jogs, Runs and Managing Expectations

The path to nowhere This last week, I’ve been spoilt with my early morning runs. The San Francisco Bay Area, the Carmel Valley upland trails… Delightful exhilarating scenery. Then comes a night at the Hampton Suites and Inn, Paso Robles: the hotel trapped within a major Highway 101 interchange with a few local main roads. … Continue reading →

Passing Paso Robles

Cambria Main Street This morning saw a successful and timely win against Satnav, who in a spirit of provocative meanness tried to force us down Highway 101 again for our journey south. It took a hundred miles before the spoilt brat stopped demanding a legal U turn at the earliest safe opportunity, but we closed … Continue reading →

The Big Sur

Despite the mist, no one could fail to be impressed by the Big Sur. Except four adolescents in the back muttering about how Highway 101 would have been faster.

The Carmel Zone

The Thomas Kinkade Experience If Carmel (CA) didn’t exist you couldn’t invent it. The hyperreality of a Disneyland experience is hard-pushed to match a walk down Carmel’s main thoroughfare. Gingerbread cottages and cutesy boutiques selling everything you don’t know you need or want, but still you fall for it all. I’m ashamed to own up … Continue reading →

Carmel Pine Cones and other Surprises

I’m very pleased to have already had a number of pleasant surprises on this trip, and I’m particularly delighted to be able to report the following back to my friend Rowena (but I’m not assuming it will last…) In no particular order: -The hotel room coffee-making facilities have been the best I’ve ever experienced anywhere. … Continue reading →

The Little Kempner Speaks

I have never written a blog, or anything of the sort similar, so here goes nothing. San Francisco. What a place. Yesterday, the family (I being part of the family) went across the Golden Gate Bridge on bike. I enjoyed the ride, though the up hills were a challenge to walk, but my thumbs seem … Continue reading →

Don’t Forget the Time Out

Always one for seeking a radically different view on any situation, place or encounter, I began this trip with a determinedly psychogeographical approach. Put bluntly, i was still in work mode, because hey, Art is Life and Life is Art. Except when it’s not, and more particularly when pootling around new cities in a family … Continue reading →

Let Loose in San Francisco

As a veteran blogger, I know the only way to do it is don’t think, don’t procrastinate, don’t over edit: just write and press publish. Easy. And so I feel it necessary to impart this wisdom to all the newbies all around me, because getting them up and blogging is like stirring treacle. I could … Continue reading →