CONTACT US!

This album of travel inspiration has been brought to you by Melanie @ Tough Love Travel!
Talk to Melanie at (609) 923-0304 or melanie@toughlovetravel.com.
Or visit her at www.ToughLoveTravel.com for "fun adventure to get your out of your box".

Friday, October 11, 2013

Fake lighthouse on Catalina Island, plus 9 other Funny Facts


At Tough Love Travel, Melanie researches and designs unique travel itineraries to Catalina Island and around the world.
 Go to TLT's website now to pick YOUR next adventure!

Ferrying out of San Pedro to Catalina Island, the Channel Islands National Park’s most touristed spot, make sure you catch the San Pedro lighthouse at the end of the breakwater.  

Catalina Island has a history of exploition by pirates, otter smugglers, and goldrushers until 1891 when the Banning brothers brought the Catalina Island and established the island's first stagecoach.   Fire destroyed their little empire in the 1920s and gum magnate, Wrigley, took over to create the now-iconic Catalina Island Casino, or meeting place.  Today, many restauranteurs are proud to be descendants of these early Catalina Islanders and, on my visit, I found these funny facts about Catalina:
1.  The eucalyptus trees grow backwards.
The eucalyptus trees which were imported to Catalina Island from South America where Spanish explorers found their intertwining fibers supremely strong and useful.   Who would’ve known, though, that – just like bats out of a cave or water down a toilet – the fibers of the eucalyptus tree grow backwards in the northern hemisphere, rendering the wood weak and useless.   Good thing that the leaves still smell so good, baking in that Catalina island sun! 

2.   There a one-stop shopping wedding consultant on Catalina Island!
On-the-sand ceremonies, particularly at sunset, are popular in Avalon, the main town of Catalina Island.  And if this is how you want to get hitched, you should hear about Catalina Island's one-stop wedding planner.   She arranges the entire event -- delivers equipment, showing up earlier that afternoon to stake out space and set up chairs and trellis, complete with a carpet of rose petals down the aisle.  She makes and delivers the bouquet and boutineer, walks everyone through the rehearsal (including the fidgety 6-year-old ring bearer who was more interested in climbing the palm tree than standing at the altar).     She straightens the brides train, lines everyone up, and then quickly changes her top to become the officiant. 
After the ceremony, she whipped out the paperwork and delivered the new couple their certificate, and then she unpacked her SLR camera and became the offical photographer! 
Oh!  Did I mention that she also provided the music, via a CD player color-coordinateth the flowers? 

3.  Fish-n-Chips Mama retired at age 80. 
For decades, she ran Earl and Rosie’s Seafood on the Green Dock, right in the heart of Catalina Island.   Boaters would send one of their crew over on a zodiac to order and pick up these vintage dinners, always served with Rosie’s secret tartar sauce.   Yes,  Earl worked there too, but everyone knew it as Rosies.  She always said she’d retire at 80, which she did (at which time she sold the business AND her trademark sauce). Today, she’s over 90 and just took up a walker. “I can go faster this way”, she said to our Catalina Island Food Tour gal, Desiree. 

4.  Food walking tour’s the latest greatest thing!
Yes, Catalina Island's  food is delicious – steak and coconut shrimp samples at Steves, a thin-crust veggie pie that you’d think came out of Naples Italy at the Arcade, and the hands-down best garlic green beans at the vintage Mr Nings Chinese Garden.  (after the Rosie story, I thought it was fitting that here at Chinese Garden, it’s MRS Ning who does all the running around while Mr Ning gets the credit)

5.  Where’re 3 Palms anyway? 
And speaking of the arcade, where exactly are Catalina Island's  3 palms?   The new arcade wanted a name drawn from island lore, so it picked 3 Palms.   It turns out, though, that only old-timers of Catalina  island know the meaning of this name, since – no surprise – the palms no longer exist.  Tale has it that these 3 iconic palms had waved for longer than anyone could remember on the southern cliffs above Catalina Island's Avalon harbor.   It was a locals’ meeting place (as in, let’s meet a 3 palms at 5) and a phrase sprinkled inseparably into the local history.  
But in the early's 70's,  3 palms were chopped down by the mayor’s son, as a prank on his father.    Today, it’s only 3 stumps, not 3 palms.
My sister and I did the math – this errant 18 year old would now be over 50.   Think he might make restitution to Catalina Island and replant? 

6.  Not a houseboat, but a boathouse!
Story goes that the Banning brothers had boats but when they were no longer needed for commerce on Catalina Island,  the brothers simply turned them into a house.  In fact, this house is a melding of 2 separate boats. 

7.  Navy housing
In WW II, the US Navy took over Catalina Island, and the island was closed for visitors.   Since the only people allowed on the island were residents, many longtime visitors simply bought their own bungalow.   Navy be damned!   Annual vacations  to Catalina Island rule! 
8.  A queue for a Car
There’s a 10-year waitlist for car ownership on Catalina Island.  That's why today's new parents apply for a car when they get their newborn a social security number.  And that's also why the streets on Catalina Island look like this: 

9.  Buffalo on Catalina Island are movie stars.
Zane Grey's hollywood classic, the Vanishing American, imported buffalo to Catalina Island in 1925 and, by the time production finished, was too "in the red" to ship them off.  You might think that today's buffalo burgers were a solution to that problem but, no, they're imported too.   The solution was bison birth control! 

10. Catalina Island's light is fake. 
Yes, it's true.  The only lighthouse on Catalina Island is a decorative feature of a popular seafood joint. 

Want a unique vacation, doing things that no one else is doing?  

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Paddle to the Light: Port San Luis Lighthouse on the California coast

Call Melanie @ Tough Love Travel to discover YOUR next adventure on the California coast!  (609) 923-0304



Wednesday is Lighthouse Trolley day in Avila Beach on the southern California coast.  It leaves from the parking lot near the Hartford Pier, for a 1-hour tour that includes a trolley ride and docent-guided tour of the lighthouse at Point San Luis.  
We showed up on Wednesday at 1:30.   We missed the weekly trolley. 

You can also hike to this California coast lighthouse, but this requires permits and an official guide (and a hike-worthy companion, which I did not have)


"hold onto some kelp"... as in, THIS kelp!

So we paddled!  Avila Beach watersports is nothing more than a truckful of kayaks and life jackets on the California coast, and with the outfitter’s last word of warning, “If the winds start to pull you out, hold onto some kelp and I’ll come rescue you”, we rented a double for $20/hour and were off.  

PADDLING THIS SECTION OF CALIFORNIA COAST
Paddling under the pier and along the low-tide shore, we passed bunches of orange and purple starfish clinging to the exposed rocks.  A harbor seal seemed less curious about us than we were about him as he sunned in a small cove, and upheaved rocky islets served as nesting grounds for pelicans and herons. 
HOW TO ACCESS THIS LIGHTHOUSE ON THE CALIFORNIA COAST
A 30-minute paddle got us to the final beach before the breakwater, where we beached our sit-upon kayak and set out on foot for the short uphill trek to Point San Luis light station. 

HISTORY OF THIS SECTION OF CALIFORNIA COAST
This charming home-style station was built in 1890 to house the lighthouse keeper and its history, and that of San Luis Bay and this California coastline, is a story of disaster and rescue, drama and peace, and an undying quest for protection of explorers, shippers, and travelers.  
It took over a century since the arrival of the Luis Bay's first explorer, a portuguese named Cabrillo, in 1542, until the construction of the first wharf in 1864 by shipping magnate David Mallagh who was motivated to get goods off of California coast steamers and onto his stage to San Luis Obispo. 
The 1870's brought whaling boats and a huge tidal wave to the California coast;  1880's brought the wreck of the famous Queen of the Pacific in this harbor.  Between the whaling and the wreck, a lighthouse was deemed crucial, and construction began in 1889.
OBSOLESCENCE OF CALIFORNIA COAST LIGHTHOUSES
Over the decades, compressed air replaced steam; electricity  replaced kerosene.  Alas, the lighthouse was closed by the Coast Guard in 1974, and today it is run by the Port San Luis Harbor District as a recreational and historical site.  

KAYAK THIS PIECE OF CALIFORNIA COAST
Our whole roundtrip kayak outing took less than 2 hours and, despite the outfitter’s admonition of winds and ripping current, was perfectly safe.   You see, what they don’t tell you is that they monitor you on video the entire time, from cameras installed on the waterside cliffs.  Harbor police are only a launch away, in case you need to "grab that kelp".  So wear your lifejacket, stay within 15’ of shore (I mean it!  15 feet!), and go visit that harbor seal. 


If you've never journeyed to the edge of the California coast to wake up in a lighthouse, surrounded by water and the squawking of seagulls, you ought to try it!  
with Melanie to talk today!

I was lucky to have my sis Lyn as an intrepid travel companion for the California coast

Monday, October 7, 2013

Lighthouse Sprint: a Pacific Coast highway roadtrip from Monterey to Avila


Want to roadtrip down the Pacific Coast Highway?   Want to hear about OTHER inspiring roadtrips?
Talk to Melanie today, by clicking here!

Stay at the Lighthouse Lodge and Cottages in Pacific Grove the night before.  This way, you can get your jellyfish “fix” at Monterey’s aquarium, pause at Cannery Row to get “in character” with a few chapters of Steinbeck, and check out the longest operating lighthouse on the entire West coast, Point Pinos,  the day before….
Because TODAY is going to be a long roadtrip down the Pacific Coast Highway, or PCH, California’s coastal highway 1, from Monterey to Port San Luis.

An early stroll amongst the coastal redwoods at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park make for a great start on the Pacific Coast Highway!  These giant trees, found only on the coast here in southern OR and central CA, feel like grandfathers, stretching to infinity as you stand at their base (did you know they grow 2-3' per year?)  My arms stretched wide yet could not encircle even a 1/3 of their trunk.   I paused there to rub their big slabs of bark and couldn’t help but imagine the centuries of people who had stood there, like me, in this same spot.
You can pop into the gift shop for some very unique feather art (creative work of Carmel artist, Nancy Proto-Robinson) and some history of Big Sur (did you know that in 1900, the population was much higher than it is today, yet the Old Coast Road - now your route along the Pacific Coast Highway -  was little more than a wagon trail).    Then make a short cappuccino stop at Café Kevah, for caffeine with a view!

90 miles and 2 hours of Pacific Coast Highway coastline are waiting for your camera!  You’ll cross the Bixby Bridge (famous as the most photographed bridge on this coast) and vista after vista of Big Sur:

By the time you get down the Pacific Coast Highway to TreeBones, you’ll be ready for lunch and some curiousities.  This lodge is mostly yurts, set into the cliffs on the eastern side of the PCH.  Up there where your ears pop, there’s a pool and the Pacific Coast Highway’s best sushi bar (closed on Tuesdays!), plus an actual human nest, designed by local architect Jayson Fann who entwined up to 1000 eucalyptus branches!  It's available for rent for the night… if you dare.  It’s not much more than non-insulated ball of sticks (I DID call it a nest!) with a single mattress on the floor.  But, OH, the view!  (and the bragging rights!)

A short 30 minutes more on Pacific Coast Highway takes you to the end of Big Sur, marked by the Ragged Point Inn.   Here, you can get the PCH’s Best Chai Latte  (according to Trek America Guide, Will Borchert) and take a short but intense nature trail which serpentines down the cliff to the small beach of Ragged Point.
Whatever you do, though, don’t gas up here! It's $6.09/gallon!

20 minutes later on your Pacific Coast Highway roadtrip will bring you past the Piedras Blancas Light Station, established 1875. Tours are by appointment only - check out this schedule.

But if you miss a tour, don’t worry – you can’t miss the elephant seal rookery at Point Piedras Blancas, at Hearst St Simeon State Park .  All year long, these creatures haul out of the sea alongside the Pacific Coast Highway.  In Fall, the bachelors sun and sleep;  winter brings pregnant moms who give birth, nurse for 1 month, mate, and return to the sea with another pregnancy (and I thought 4 sons in 5 ½ years was intense!)   Spring and summer haulout is the annual molt.  
Basically, elephant seals are deep sea divers who hunt at amazing depths of up to 5000' for periods of 20 minutes or longer, then alternate with weeks (or even months) of foodless rest.

Next stop on your Pacific Coast Highway roadtrip is mandatory, whether you’re hungry or not!  At Morro Strand, find Tognazzini’s Dockside.
Dogs may allow their 2-legged companions to accompany them on this outdoor deck, and while you're waiting for your ahi tuna appetizer (8 ozs, 9 bucks!), your K9 can help himself to this basket 'o bones.
Pacific Coast Highway dining, served over the water in the shadow of Morro rock, is simply sinful to pass by.

Finally, you’ll pull into Avila Beach, where you’ll find the unremarkable but sparkling and beautifully located Lighthouse Suites.   But where’s the Port San Luis lighthouse, you ask?  That’s right, you can’t see it – because you have to work a little to get to it!  Stay tuned for my next blog, Paddle to the light!

Enjoyed this virtual Pacific Coast Highway roadtrip?   
I can design a REAL one for you.  
Call me today at Tough Love Travel to talk about the possibilities:  (609)923-0304!

Saturday, October 5, 2013

My night at the Light: sleeping at the San Fran Bay lighthouse

Got questions about sleeping at this lighthouse?  I'm here to help!

On a sparkly September afternoon, I drove with my 23-year-old up the curvy dirt road that skirts the shoreline of San Francisco Bay, north of Richmond Point.  We had briefly detoured to the Pt San Pablo Yacht Club, but were redirected to this outpost, the SP Yacht Basin, to meet our launch out to the light.

Doug and I, and the 6 other guests for this night, piled into the open-top motorboat with Richard, the East Brother lighthouse keeper,  and scooted into the chop of the bay.

The East Brother lighthouse is strategically placed on the San Pablo straits, where this 450 square mile bay tightens to a narrow passage linking Sacramento's watershed (the melt-off from the Sierra Nevada) to the ocean.  It originally served as a key transportation route during Gold Rush days and, later, as a shipping lane for the Navy yard near Vallejo.

Between Invincible Rock (a submerged rock 1/2 mile south of the Brother rocks) and the bay area's famous fog, ship captains needed a guide, so in 1871, Congress approved money for East Brother Lighthouse.   It took several years of legal maneuvering for the rock, previously reserved by President Jackson for military purposes, to be leveled for a lighthouse, but in 1874, the first steam-powered fog horn blew.  This is what it sounded like:

They warn you that your arrival is via a 15-rung ladder that rises vertically from the bobbing boat up to the lighthouse dock, but it's nothing to worry about.  We all made it and, in a minute, were toasting the East Brother lighthouse with a welcome champagne.

After our apertif and some crostini made with local artichoke, we spent an hour exploring our 150 x 100 yard rock. We settled into our first floor room, the Two Sisters (named after another pair of rocks to the north).   When you go, request the 2nd floor Marin Room.  It's got an ensuite bath and imagine waking up to water views like THIS!...
Besides the 5 bedrooms and a small museum with keepsakes from early lighthouse days,  our favorite space was the 3rd floor widow's walk, up by the light.
From this aerie, we could see west to Marin, southwest to the San Fran waterfront, and further still to the Golden Gate Bridge.   



The sun set.   The splash of boat traffic was replaced by the squawk of sea gulls which followed us into the dining room


where a gourmet menu of walnut salmon (seasoned with cuttings from the lighthouse herb garden), black rice,  CA wine - of course - awaited us!                        



Nightfall created a soothing venue to cozy into one of the picket-fence-side benches and listen to the lapping bays waters as the stars came out.  
FOGHORN AT THE LIGHTHOUSE
Lucky for us, it was September.    Once November's weather settles in, the foghorn sounds every 30 seconds, all day and night long. 
But we had a peaceful sleep, and in the morning, the lighthouse keeper helped us to rev up the original steam-powered foghorn.  It took 7 of us to pull start lines and open valves and measure pressure and move chains, which made us admire the solo lighthouse keeper in the late 1800's who had to keep this horn operating around the clock in fog and storms!


MORNING AT THE LIGHTHOUSE
Morning was spent sipping coffee as the day broke over the bay,  savoring a scrumptious breakfast,   and inhaling lungfulls of sea breeze -- enough to sustain me as I faced re-entry into a city frenzied by America's Cup racing.
One of my fellow visitors, a city dweller, marveled at how removed he felt from the San Fran bustle by only a 30-minute drive! 

At 11am, we crawled back down the ladder and into the bobbing launch.  I was brimming with history and charmed by lighthouse romance.  I knew I would return.  It is only 30 minutes, after all, from Pier 39! 
To plan your overnight at EBLS or to hear about other special overnights, 
grab a free phone call with Melanie now!