California 2019 – Maybe our last long trip?

In 2017, Jim and I started talking about a trip to California. My ageing hippy consciousness kept telling me to go and visit the places I grew up in films and books.

I also now have a couple of dear American friends, one of whom lived in California and helped with ideas for the trip. I don’t know why I didn’t write much as the journey progressed. Somewhat saturated, I guess it has taken time to reflect on the colours and stories.

We visited friends along the way, a couple I only know from Facebook and a kind ex-Jehovah’s Witness who invited us into their home in Tucson. The visit also included the glories of Arizona and Nevada.

So why write about the trip now? I am grateful, but I have also started to consider whether we should fly again. This lockdown is making me reassess flights and most aspects of my life.

But anyway, this is not a lockdown story in the real sense. I wish to focus on the 59-day trip to the USA. I am now seeing the journey through the lens of lockdown. Hence, the reflection is multifaceted because the world has been turned upside down in a most unexpected way—or perhaps it wasn’t surprising. We knew it was possible.

We arrived in San Francisco on 24 January 2019. We used Airbnb on our trip, so we had the freedom to change direction. We stayed on Twin Peaks near the Castro and went to San Francisco for breakfast the following day. I think hash browns were a feature of the trip that has partly required dieting and nutrition awareness ever since. Coming out of the breakfast restaurant, we headed off towards the centre of town, noticing the annoying presence of Jehovah’s Witnesses with their reminders that the likes of me are doomed. They don’t tell you that at first. (Forgive me, I was raised in it, and my family now shun).

We headed to the museum of modern art. The exhibition was a fascinating mix and some mess, but it didn’t matter either way. Most of what I saw was a visual feast. I walked into one room and took in Micheal Jackson and Bubbles. Funny, Micheal Jackson was also raised as a Jehovah’s Witness.

I was glad to see Frida and Diego, Andy Warhol, Jackie Kennedy and a strange cage, that may have been an empty bridge. I took many more photos.

We stayed a couple of more days in San Francisco and came back for about five days at the end of our trip. But before the return, I will share with you dolphins, trees, whales, writers, gigantic seals, bookshops, libraries, more museums, native American dancers and much more. Monterey, Carmel and the Nepenthe next, I think.