Battery Townsley

Care, her friend Ruth, and Jon took a ranger-guided hike in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) to Battery Townsley, a WWII-era gun battery built to defend San Francisco from Japanese attack. The hike featured a tour of the actual battery by a retired park historian. It was pretty interesting to hear the history of the battery and imagine what life was like for the soldiers manning the battery. The hike was good, too, with beautiful views of the GGNRA, San Francisco, and the Pacific Ocean

Mickfest

Mid-April we joined our friends Mickey and Heike and a number of their friends and relatives at Dillon Beach for Mickey's 60^th birthday party. It was cold and overcast but we had a good time catching up with friends we had not seen in a while.

Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands

Late in April and into May we took a driving trip to Santa Barbara and a short National Geographic Linblad cruise to the Channel Islands National Park off the coast of Santa Barbara. We lived in Santa Barbara for several years and could see the Channel Islands on a clear day. We only went out to them once - to Anacapa Island. This trip gave us a chance to see more of the channel islands.This is a map of the cruise.

Cold Spring Tavern

We drove to Santa Barbara with an overnight stop in San Luis Obispo, a nice little college town. The next day we stopped in Los Olivos for coffee and then lunch at Cold Spring Tavern - one of our favorite places in Santa Barbara. They used to do dinner but are now only a rustic lunch spot..

Santa Barbara

We spent several days in Santa Barbara - visiting old haunts and finding new ones (we lived in Santa Barbara from 1986-1991). The weather did not really cooperate but we had fun anyway.

Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center

We left Santa Barbara and drove down to LA Harbor for our embarkation. On the way we stopped at the Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center in Ventura. There is no direct access to the Channel Islands National Park by land and few facilities out on the islands so the visitor's center is a way for people to get familiar with the park. One of Jon's friends and classmates used to work for the National Park Service and worked on this building so it was fun to see her project.

LA Harbor

After the visitor's center, we drove down to Los Angeles Harbor - a truly mammoth container port. We went to a hotel for our briefing and then boarded the National Geographic Quest and sailed out of the harbor just before sunset en route to the Northern Channel Islands.

Santa Rosa Island

We sailed overnight to Santa Rosa Island, which had ranching activity until the late '90s. We went ashore on a bit of a treacherous ladder at the dock and toured the ranch facilities and did a nice hike up Cherry Canyon. After lunch, we went back ashore to look for the island fox - one of the unique indigenous species, but we did not see any. Here is the Daily Expedition Report.

Anacapa Island

The ship repositioned overnight to Anacapa Island, actually a set of three islands. We could not go ashore at Anacapa because the concrete steps leading up from the dock collapsed and the National Park Service had not had a chance to fix them. We did take a zodiac cruise around the east end of the east island and saw some sea life and lots of birds. Here is the Daily Expedition Report.

Santa Cruz Island

During lunch, the ship repositioned to Santa Cruz Island. It is the largest of the channel islands but only a quarter is part of the Channel Islands National Park. The rest is managed by the Nauture Conservancy. We went ashore at Prisoner's Harbor and immediately saw an island fox. It was not afraid of us (probably because we were near a picnic ground). We hiked up a fire road and later did a zodiak cruise along the northern edge of the island. Here is the Daily Expedition Report.