Leta and I flew out to California for the inter-holiday period to visit family, chase some birds, and do a touristy thing or two.

Sunday evening we checked the weather forecast in order to fine-tune our clothing packing. The six-day outlook for San Francisco was

• Mon Rain/Wind 55°/50°
• Tue Rain/Wind 55°/50°
• Wed Showers 55°/50°
• Thu Showers 55°/50°
• Fri Showers 54°/47°
• Sat Few Showers 53°/47°

Indeed, the entire trip consisted of rolling over to Plan B. Monday at SFO, I traded down from the Mustang I had reserved to a Mazda6, because the only vehicle available in that class was a Monte Carlo, and I'd rather eat paint than drive one of those ugly things. (The trainee was about to give me a low-mileage 2005 Mustang, but the veteran looking over his shoulder scotched that.) For the rainy afternoon, we found no museums open except the very fine California Academy of Sciences (itself temporizing in quarters downtown while its Golden Gate Park facility is being rebuilt). We visited Leta's stepsister in Oakland, and it turns out that freeway entrances in California can be hard to find, especially in the rainy dark after some very tasty Sonoma County Zinfandel. So we saw a little more of downtown Oakland than we'd planned.

Tuesday morning, after casually inquiring about the ferry to Alcatraz and learning that it was sold out until Thursday, we settled for the yummy gourmet markets in the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero, a streetcar ride, and a walk between the raindrops along Columbus Street. The biggest surprise for me was stumbling over the studios of American Zoetrope in a fancy old building.

At the end of the day, in the BART station waiting for our own train, I answered two different travelers that yes, the train that had just left was the Pittsburg/Bay Point. Since the trains run 20 minutes apart in the evening, this is apparently a big topic of conversation on the platform. BART's fare collection system is identical to D.C.'s, except the Bay Area sensibly calls them tickets instead of farecards, and still calls the machine that you feed 35¢ to so you can exit the station an Addfare machine. (WMATA changed it to Exitfare, since too many people were attempting to use it to reload their farecards.) The rolling stock is similar too. I liked the fore-and-aft facing seats so you can play cards on the long run out to Dublin/Pleasanton, but the cloth upholstery is showing its age.

Wednesday we set out early for Point Lobos on the ocean, determined to beat the crowds, and we largely succeeded. I found a Townsend's Warbler (Dendroica townsendi) (#335) in a tangle a few steps from the parking lot. We took afternoon refreshment in the splendid Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.

As the rains rolled in again, we climbed in the Mazda and headed for Monterey Bay. A double dose of good karma points to Bookshop Santa Cruz. Beset by homeless people and perhaps ill-mannered students, most of the shops in downtown Santa Cruz have eliminated public restrooms—even the coffee houses. But this independent book dealer still has a place for you to pee. I bought a used copy of Blue Highways in gratitude.

We awoke Thursday to the sound of driving rain on the windows. We were in the old-school charming Monterey Hotel: Victorian settees in the floor lobbies and carved headboards in the rooms. However, the family next door got an earlier start than we did (6:45), and someone in that clan must have received for Christmas a music box that plays "Chopsticks."

Tossing caution to the 40 mph winds, we walked the mile and a half to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Nearly soaked, we queued up at 11:00, once again a modicum ahead of the biggest crowds. The aquarium has some impressive material (I liked the kelp forest, and Leta the penguins), but it is possibly too kid-friendly and the exhibit of art inspired by jellyfish is contrived. But we saw seals in the harbor and what I eventually realized was lifer #336, Pelagic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus).

Friday we returned to Cafe Serendipity on Alvarado Street in Monterey for another crunchy breakfast. I had been intrigued by the painted sign on the back of the State Theater when I had visited in 2001, but I had botched the photo then.

A brief stop at San Juan Bautista, not enough time for the Computer History Museum, and then on to Sacramento to visit my mother.

Better weather on Saturday meant a nice walk down to the American River through the Effie Yeaw Nature Center. The rains came back as we drove back to the Bay Area. We had a great time doing a lot of things that we didn't plan on doing.

posted: 10:00:06 PM