The sea has held a special hold on me since childhood.
As children, my sister Judy and I would spend long summer days on the beach at
the southern end of Avoca, just north of Sydney, on the other side of the
Hawkesbury. Days spent doing little other than splashing around in the surf,
walking the rock-shelf that went for a mile alongside the ocean and just
building sand castles was an idyllic time in my life. It was way back in November,
2013, when I last visited Avoca and I made reference to that trip in the
November 12, 2013, post to this blog, Two
golds and a red! But America is now my home and trips to
Australia only happen occasionally and with my new home residing far from the Pacific Ocean, it takes very little to
get me heading that way, no matter the occasion.
Walking down to the beach at Carmel is always a time for reflection. I first started to take time to visit Carmel when I joined Tandem Computers in the late ‘80s. No matter the time of year, there is always something taking place and during those early days I did stumble onto the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. No such luck this time, although we did stop by the Lodge at Pebble Beach’s famous golf course. On the other hand, the wonderful Cypress Pines that make Carmel as famous as it has become are everywhere and the presence makes for good photo opportunities.
Before we made our trip down to Monterey and Carmel we
first had to drive to San Francisco. Crossing the Bay Bridge just as the sun
was setting was just another reminder of how much we miss the place. On the
other hand, this San Francisco is far removed from our beloved city of just a
decade or so ago. For our overnight stay we elected to bed down at the Griffin
Hotel right alongside the Bay Bridge which placed us just a few steps away from
the Boulevard Restaurant – the site of our “Welcome to GoldenGate Software” all
those years ago.
It isn’t that we want to dissuade any of our readers
from visiting this most magical of cities but should your plans include a
visit, be careful. There are a number of sights that you just don’t want to
take in. Nevertheless, our arrival meant that we had made it once more, safely,
and that our few days away from the office would be time spent with business
colleagues, acquaintances and friends and for that, we will always put in the
effort and simply enjoy the ride!
As with all visits to the coast this trip involved a
little business. Margo and I find very little time for vacation these days as
we have a digital magazine to publish and numerous wonderful clients looking to
us for content for their own publications and social media sites so it’s always
a case of taking a working holiday at best. These we have been calling
BizCations and looking at our calendar 2020 is going to be a very busy year for
us both. Adding a little spice into the mix we have now taken on a major
Silicon Valley vendor as a client so this trip was as much about looking at
sites and campuses (for an update on what’s really going on in Silicon Valley)
as it was thinking up new storylines.
To that end, this BizCation met its goals. And no trip
to Silicon Valley should start anywhere else than with a stop by the offices of
Kleiner Perkins on Sand Hill Road. That is, after stopping by Buck’s Restaurant
for breakfast back up on Highway 84, Woodside. Like to look at an Apple 1
motherboard – well it’s framed and hanging from the wall. It’s rumored that
more tech deals were concluded in this café than anywhere else in Silicon
Valley. Then again, we arrived in Silicon Valley to unbelievably perfect
weather and for the rest of the week, barely a cloud scampered across the sky.
Perfect; want three perfect days on the coast well, you missed them!
If Kleiner Perkins was the catalyst for Silicon
Valley’s explosive growth than what can we say about the Hearst dynasty? When
it comes to publishing Randolph Hearst was among the very first American media moguls
and his ranch atop the hills at San Simeon became a beacon that attracted
everyone in the media, including the film industry – Hearst owning two of the
movie companies of the time. However it is this architectural marvel that
continues to pull in the crowds and it was something we just had to do! We had
guests with us from Australia and it’s always fun to include a trip to the
Hearst Castle whenever called upon to hit the high spots on a trip along the
coast.
For Margo and me, being joined on this trip by Dieter
and Chris Monch, with Dieter being my former boss during my time with Nixdorf
Computers, was a delight. But no, it wasn’t a case of there being a strong wind
blowing in from the west but rather, someone shouted that we needed to lean in!
Time together gave us many opportunities to discuss the past, even as the tour
of Silicon Valley was a revelation for them both – who knew that the vendor
campuses would be as large as they were? Dieter is now an investor with
interests in almost everything technical and so the conversations covered a lot
of territory. In so doing, Margo and I came away with an abundance of potential
story lines and for that we are very thankful for the chance to continue
conversations that began decades ago.
We had driven down California Highway 1 from Monterey
to Cambria before turning inland to visit the wineries of Paso Robles. We drove
the 17 Mile Road past the many mansions before we made it to Carmel. But then
it was on to Big Sur with a very short detour into the Nepenthe restaurant
before arriving at Lucia. Yes, that was my drink – the Diet Coke to the right
of the frame! It was hard not to be impressed with the view down the coast just
as it was hard not to be impressed with the road itself. To say that it was
hard to tear ourselves away from this place would be an understatement, but we
still had miles to go.
It was a simple case of heading down to Cambria where
we would be spending the night and where we would have the opportunity to dine
at Madeline’s where the steaks proved to be an excellent choice. It would be
the following morning when we circled back to San Simeon and the Hearst Castle
but we didn’t leave Cambria before taking coffee and cake at Linn’s Restaurant
where once again, the single portion meringue pies proved irresistible.
We stopped by a couple of wineries in Paso Robles but
none better than Justin Winery where the Justification and Isosceles wines were
available for tasting. However, it was their Reserve Cabinet Sauvignon that
scored with our small group. Throw in a small plate of cheese and deli cuts and
you had all the ingredients necessary for a quiet afternoon of relaxation by
the vines. Margo and I have been taking the roads north of Ventura that led to
the wineries every opportunity we had when we lived in Simi Valley. It was
perhaps the bright spot on an otherwise dreary calendar from those days –
dreary, that is, except for the opportunities to spend time racing cars on road
courses. On the other hand, driving through the vineyards of Paso Robles meant
we had the opportunity to catch up with Cowtrina!
Yet, whether it was the vineyards of Paso Robles or
more often than not, the vineyards of Santa Ynez – the location featured in the
movie, Sideways – back then, there was nothing better to do than to spend a
lazy Saturday afternoon tasting wine. This trip with Dieter and Chris and with
meeting up with Brian and Jan brought back so many memories that it wasn’t all
that hard to think up new story lines for future articles and posts. It’s
almost as if with the beginning of 2020, there was a sense of expectation that
our time together would only get better even as we took every opportunity
afforded us to pursue working holidays whenever the opportunity presented
itself.
There is nothing quite like Santa Barbara on an early
January morning. Once again, not a cloud in the sky! We planned a two day break
on its wonderful shoreline and that meant breakfast first at the Boathouse
seaside at Hendry’s Beach followed by breakfast at Summerland Bach Café. In the
meantime being in Santa Barbara meant we had an opportunity to catch up with
the Kenny’s and to introduce them to Dieter and Chris and so it just had to be
at Brophy’s Seafood Restaurant in Ventura for dinner. Starting late afternoon
had initially surprised our guests but then, it was the only opportunity to
look east as the sun set over the Pacific and see the colors of the surrounding
hills change from gold through reds to deep purples. We would be ending our
trip along the coastline by driving inland to Desert Springs which would be our
last stop where we would end our time together over steaks at LG Prime
Steakhouse.
Almost the complete opposite to what we experienced on
the coast, the mountains we traversed on the way back threw everything at us.
It was winter after all so what should we have expected that would have been
anything different? On the way to the coast we had driven through light snow,
yet again, as we drove across Wyoming and then, descending the Sierras just
east of Truckee we encountered snow but the Rockies can always turn on a show.
Or snow, to express it more simply. Severe weather always sounds ominous and
while it slowed us down, the contrast in conditions couldn’t have been more
extreme. Clouds? Well, they were everywhere and nasty looking! Golden hills? The
scene was monochromatic with nothing by white atop black visible everywhere you
looked!
Once again we had chosen the Range Rover and even as our model was the baby in the range – an Evoque two-door ragtop – it handled the conditions admirably. Never stepping out of line and not once communicating to us a loss of traction. We encountered a couple of icy patches and it just sailed on through. There is much to be said about the Range Rover and while it has its critics and it’s styling leaves some to shake their heads, I cannot imagine driving in winter as confidently as we have done so far this winter in anything else. And remember, previously we have owned Jeep Grand Cherokees and Cadillac Escalades, but the Range Rover’s capabilities exceeds both of them.
Once again we had chosen the Range Rover and even as our model was the baby in the range – an Evoque two-door ragtop – it handled the conditions admirably. Never stepping out of line and not once communicating to us a loss of traction. We encountered a couple of icy patches and it just sailed on through. There is much to be said about the Range Rover and while it has its critics and it’s styling leaves some to shake their heads, I cannot imagine driving in winter as confidently as we have done so far this winter in anything else. And remember, previously we have owned Jeep Grand Cherokees and Cadillac Escalades, but the Range Rover’s capabilities exceeds both of them.
We may look back at this BizCation a little later in
the year and think again of Silicon Valley, the wine districts and even the
Hearst Castle, but it will be the coast that will feature more often than not
in our conversations. To put it bluntly, I just love the coast and any chance
of “going coastal” is an opportunity not to be missed by my books. So, who
knows? The year and indeed the decade are quite young and there is much more
Margo and I would like to accomplish. Already we know we will be in Warsaw,
Poland this spring and then a few weeks later, in Berlin for our annual
European HPE NonStop event, so we will not be missing out on too much.
And yet, both of us can’t stop talking about where to
next – living here in Windsor, just outside Ft Collins, Colorado, is only a
temporary situation we are coming to appreciate. Or is it? No matter where our
travels take us I continue to hear the call of the sea. Vacillation has never
been either of our strong points, so who can tell where Margo and I will end up
next? Again, if we cannot return to Avoca Beach and America is now our home,
going coastal opens up many opportunities so stay tuned. The story has only
just begun …
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