I took a trip to Silicon Valley this year, and in my free time between work, I managed a brief trip to Pacifica to see the Pacific Ocean. I have see the Pacific from the shores of Japan in Chiba and Yokohama prefectures, but never before from the US. Pacifica is about an hour east of San Jose, just south of Dale City, and just over the “hill” to the east of SFO airport.
Words cannot describe the beauty of the Pacific coast
Blue sky, blue water, jagged rocks
Wait a minute, is that a trail? I bet the view is better up there!
Why yes, it is a trail, and that looks easy! Just cross the stream and walk on up.
OK, this might be harder than I thought. I was wearing casual business shoes with NO GRIP.
The view from the top was worth it though!
Looking back to the land, there were no tall trees like one would find on the Atlantic coast, and lots of dry grass and land. The trail in the center left had quite a few runners too. There was no way down on this side of the hill though, so I had to go back the way I came, and it was a lot harder than going up. It consisted of a controlled slide down the steep rocky portions, and a careful controlled walk on the dirt parts of the path. Some shoes with some grip would have seriously helped.
I had worked up an appetite, so after I had taken in the views, I headed back to San Jose for something to eat. I stopped in Ramen Halu and tried their つけ麺 (tsukemen – cold ramen noodles dipped in soup). The noodles and the soup were great, and the portions were large. The only disappointing part of the meal was the thin char siu meat, but oh well.
It turned out this part of San Jose was like a little Tokyo, with a Kinokuniya book store and a Mitsuwa grocery store. I picked up some study books for the JLPT at Kinokuniya, though I failed to find anything interesting for my son for learning hiragana. I then picked up some basic supplies for my wife at Mitsuwa for the return trip. It was only around 19:00 PST, but to my body it was 22:00 EST, so I headed back to the hotel to iron my shirt and get some sleep for the next day of work. Pathetic, no? I must be getting old. But seeing the ocean, having a good hike, and finishing it off with a great meal simply made my day. No need for anything else!
This looks so picturesque, I wish I could go there right now. And no, making sure you have a freshly pressed shirt is never pathetic (; Thanks for sharing!
– Jonathan I http://styleoverstress.wordpress.com
what a beautiful place to spend quality time !
Thank you both for visiting!
Great pictures, reminds me of the several times I’ve driven along Highways 1 and 101, covering from Malibu up to Aberdeen, WA (Kurt Cobain’s hometown). Great to see you back blogging as well.
It’s too bad there aren’t any Kinokuniya branches in the D.C. area. Looks like the nearest one is in New York.
Yeah, in the DC metro area there isn’t much of a Japanese population outside of the medical cadre in Northern DC. I guess it must be considered a “hardship” tour for the MoFA staff at the Japanese embassy.
New Jersey (just outside of NYC) is supposed to have some good stuff though, like Mitsuwa. But it is a good six hour drive…
Just goes to show, “West coast is the best coast.”
Seems like you have inheirited my habit of using a few hours here and a few hours there to do some serious sightseeing. Pictures are really beautiful.