Conveniently located between Carmel, Pebble Beach and Monterey, Pacific Grove is a not-so-hidden-gem. The atmosphere is casual and steeped in history with the gracious amenities you expect.

To experience the Monterey Peninsula like a local Pacific Grove provides opportunities to stay in Victorian and Edwardian Mansions, ocean side hotels for a lost weekend.  Ocean views private vacation rentals for home-like longer stays and larger groups.

Stock up at Nob Hill foods and the Monday Farmers Market. Bring your own bags, they charge $0.25 for each bag if you don’t.

Places to eat:

1. Beach House Lovers Point: 620 Ocean View Blvd. at Lovers Point
   30. Experienced travelers find that eating dinner close to their lodgings the first night in a location is a sound practice. Walk along the Monterey Recreation Trail to the Beach House Lovers Point and enjoy the breathtaking shoreline view to Monterey from the comfort of the heated patio. The Sunset Supper, a special menu of fresh seafood and tasty ingredients, when travelers are seated between 4:00 and 5:30. There is plenty of parking available if walking is not an option.

2. Red House Café: 662 Lighthouse Ave.
   1. Eat breakfast in this quaint early 20^th Century red bungalow for a taste of freshly made dishes such as rich Cinnamon Brioche French Toast, or the light Red House Frittata made with spinach, artichoke, and red peppers. Finish with a bowl of bright fruit and honey cream. Friends and visitors alike linger over strong coffee and newspapers discussing current events or their daily outings.

Places to stay:

• Mermaid House. 661 Mermaid Ave. loverspointinnpg.com/beach-house. Book through Sanctuary Vacation Rentals, Inc. 831-373-7103. Luxurious and modern this three-bedroom, three-bath house is the easy launching pad for a Pebble Beach or Carmel event without hassle factor. It’s perfect for an extended family, corporate team building or college reunion. One block from Lovers Point Park, you can jump on the Ocean View trail and walk one of the loveliest miles on the continent’s edge north to Monterey’s Aquarium and Cannery Row.
• Lovers Point Inn, 625 Ocean View Blvd.; 831-373-4771; loverspointinpg.com. Situated across the street from the Lovers Point access to the recreation trail, this ocean front hotel offers comfort, value and walking access to Monterey and the Point Pinos Light house. Enjoy your complimentary continental breakfast on the patio as gulls, cormorants, and pelicans fly by in formation. Parking and free Wi-Fi are included in every room.
• The Old St. Angela Inn; 321 Central Avenue; 831-372-3246; oldstangelainn.com. This romantic bed and breakfast inn has nine unique rooms distinctively decorated in the warm craftsman style of the original house, all with private baths. Indulge in breakfasts and “afternoon teas” which include wine, tea, or coffee and homemade cookies, all prepared from scratch.

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Here is a link to how to fold the shirt like he did. I love it!

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Now go out and learn higher level lessons on packing and leave them in the comments section below.

Happy trails

Last July I ask for stories from people whose credit cards had been compromised while on vacation. What I got back was…nothing. Networking worked and I got one interesting story that I’ll relate below.

Each of the stories in the July post is true and I’ll share what I would do differently. If you have any additional suggestions, please comment. It is good for all of us to learn how to keep our money safe.

We spent our last night in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, eating in an intimate restaurant on the square and perusing art galleries. Owen gravitated to one oil painting of vibrant port activity rendered in the thick strokes of a palette knife. An instructor from the local university painted it, validating my husband’s initial attraction. It hangs in the hall outside our kitchen.

My purchase was a three foot, carved wooden gecko painted by an unknown Haitian artist. Its multicolored dotted pattern makes me happy every time I look at it.

The thing is, earlier, at the restaurant, the server took what seemed like 10 minutes to return our credit card when we paid the bill. It took so long that I was getting ready to get up to see where it was when he finally returned to our table.

When we arrived home, there was a message to call Wells Fargo Fraud center. Someone made dubious charges at the local Target at the same time we were lifting off in the airliner. We sent copies of our itinerary to prove it wasn’t us.

The second bullet in the post tells how someone charged items on our card in Campeche, Mexico. There are two kinds of merchants in Mexico and the Caribbean

1. Those who bring the credit card terminal to your restaurant table or car window when you make a purchase.
2. Those who don’t.

The merchants in Cancun, without fail, brought the terminal to us and processed our credit card purchases in front of us, then returned the card. However, research for this story brought up a Trip Advisor post about a gas station in Cancun near the Marriott Courtyard, where people were scammed.

On our second day in Mexico, after a major car mishap (don’t ask) we pulled into a Pemex gas station south of Cancun on the right side of the road. There was a five foot by a three-foot sign at the edge of the parking area that said, “Please report it if you don’t like the service.” Phone numbers are at the bottom of the sign.

Pemex Sign, Please Report. When you see this sign, proceed to the next station.

This should have been a red flag, instead, it was a light pink flag. The heat was intense and our brains were almost fried from the day’s earlier adventure. The young man filled up the car and my husband handed over a credit card. The man and his pal spent several, furtive minutes behind the pump, working the credit card terminal before coming back to talk to us.  More than once, I watched a head peek around the pump to see where we were.

The guy came back, handed the card back and said, “Your credit card isn’t working, did you tell your bank you were going to Mexico?”

Owen opened his wallet to give him cash and our gas station guy reached in and took four bills. It amounted to $40.00. Dutifully we Skyped the bank, later that day and told them we were in Mexico and they should let our charges go through. All tolled someone made 7 charges on our card before Wells Fargo rightly shut it down.

In September of last year, a couple at a networking event told me about a Pemex gas station, south of Cancun where they stopped. He mentioned the sign and how their credit card had fraudulent charges later the same day.

“I know the exact one you mean,” I said.

What would I do differently, you ask?

At the restaurant, if the waiter doesn’t bring a credit card terminal to the table, I’ll get up immediately and follow it to the cashier.

At the gas station, if there is enough gas when I see that sign, I‘ll leave and try another down the road. If the gas gauge is sitting on empty, I’ll get off my bum and follow the credit card wherever it goes. When reputable attendants bring the credit card terminal to the window, that won’t be necessary, otherwise, off I go. I won’t send my husband after it, he’s the driver, and I’m riding shotgun.

The lesson of the third story about someone staying in their hotel room after they were gone is, always stop at the front desk and check out. This family didn’t follow this track. They think a relative of some employee stayed there for several days because he could.

Most people we dealt with in Mexico and Puerto Rico were honest, friendly and helpful. Navigating the infrastructure of a country is the adventure. Successful people take personal responsibility for their experiences. Debrief and, prepare for how you can do it better next time.

Do you have any lessons that we can learn from? I welcome your comments.

Happy trails.

‘#1 Chocolate in the Country by Chocolatier Magazine’ The sign cast an imaginary, but very real, line, hooked me on the shoulder and reeled me across the street through the door of XOX Truffles.

“I got my big break when Chocolatier Magazine selected me as number one of the top 10 Best Artisan Chocolatiers in the United States the first month I was open,” begins Jean-Marc Gorce, chef, entrepreneur, and owner of XOX Truffles.  He looks the part in his chocolate colored chef’s jacket.

There is a cramped feeling to the shop with the coffee counter just inside the front door. The glass front pastry case filled with brown, one-inch nuggets in navy colored, glazed, ceramic bowls stands to the right. There is only a small window seat inside, but two tables sit outside under a blue scalloped awning. Hand-drawn signs, menus and laminated reviews from The Bottom Line, Trip Advisor and the New York Times add to the shop’s bohemian atmosphere. It’s a throwback to hand written menus of old, North Beach, Italian restaurants. The combination of chocolate and coffee forms a caffeine-fueled aroma.

Jean-Marc started his career in Provence, then moved to San Francisco for more opportunities. He worked at a French restaurant on Nob Hill then experienced a stress-induced heart attack.  “I thought maybe working for a hotel would be less stressful.” He said.  Six years as the head chef at the Saint Frances Hotel did nothing to ease his pressure.

He always wanted his own enterprise, then, his wife, Casimira, found the space on Columbus Street 18 years ago. She worked in the store and on sales while Jean-Marc continued to work at the Saint Frances. Al Roper, The Bottom Line and USA Today created a lot of interest early on. Now reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor brings out of town customers into the store. With the initial notoriety, he quit his job at the Saint Frances and started working at XOX Truffles full time. People in San Francisco found it and fell in love with his chocolates.

Most of his new flavors are a direct result of customer‘s requests. One of his best-selling flavors is peanut butter, an ingredient he resisted using. For years, people would ask for it but it wasn’t until a customer brought in a jar of peanut butter and told him to use it, that he broke down.

He began the process of creating a new truffle by blending cream, butter, and flavoring into the consistency and tastiness his customers expect. Two unusual ingredients are Earl Gray Tea, always in the refrigerated case, and lavender.

It requires several months to perfect the new creation. Every morning, during development, regular customers, who serve as guinea pigs, evaluate and help to refine each new flavor before final approval. Fresh lavender is hard to get making it a seasonal delicacy.

Customers can order individual batches for special occasions.

Enjoy Coffee and Truffles while watching Columbus Street pedestrians.

Eighty percent of his customers are women and 70% of what he sells is dark chocolate. “Milk is for wimps,” he says as he introduces other flavors such as Carmel, Spicy Cayenne Tequila, two of my personal favorites and Casimira’s Favorite, a White Chocolate-Coated treat.

Out- of-towners also find the shop when they sign up for one of the many food tours offered for visitors to San Francisco. Jean-Marc takes them into the back room, shows them how he creates the luscious confections and lets them try samples. Often they order more, from the website, when they return home. One of his best food tour operator/client‘s is Chris Milano, who runs Foodie Adventures. Full disclosure: I received no compensation from either company for this review.

Stop in and get a free truffle with coffee or buy more for the road.  A cup of strong coffee and a French Roast Truffle will blast you into your day. It’s a cult but in a good way.

For those of you who don’t make it to the shop in North Beach, you can pick up XOX Truffles at San Francisco Airport before you leave.

“We taste everything and, before we buy it all staff have to love it.” This business philosophy drives what wine is sold, according to John Sumners, the general manager.

This wine exchange specializes in small California producers from Napa and Sonoma Counties to Santa Barbara, Santa Rita Hills, and Monterey County. Small producers baby the wine making process. Weather in the northern, hot end of Napa Valley creates different flavors from the cool southern valley. Each mile produces a different character. There are 100 different profiles of Cabernet depending on soil types and winery location.

“80 -85% of our stock, you’ll only find here or at the winery for their wine club. Small producers baby the wine-making process and give unique, focused expression to their wine.”

The Napa Valley Winery Exchange is on the tour circuit because they always offer something new. “Many wines debut here. Since small companies are a specialty, often, there is only enough for the California market.  We are their first big supporter and they are very loyal.”

When Japanese tourists come to San Francisco, many stay at the nearby Nikko and Hilton Hotels. They are the other huge market for the Napa Valley Winery Exchange. Americans stop in looking for discoveries no one knows about, however, one-third of sales go to Japanese, here to buy prestige.

The exchange gets a “healthy allocation” of Opus One 2000 and 2001 that sells in the upper $200’s per bottle.  Japanese tourists buy 100% of the store’s lot and send it home. In case you are wondering, it costs $125 to ship a case of wine to Japan.

When you visit the Napa Valley Winery Exchange, you will be quizzed on your taste preference like a financial planner fact finds when gauging a client’s risk tolerance. You will then be presented with options based on your answers.

Hundreds of repeat customers call every year. “We know their style.”

They say, “Just send me something you know I’ll like.”

“We get to show them more amazing, lights out wine.” Mr. Sumners says.

“We’ve been here since 1988. If you’re lucky, you’ll meet Ron Sciandri, who drives his pickup in from Napa County to deliver his extraordinary wine.”

There’s no tasting, but you’ll want to check out this store for the education and a chance to buy and try something exceptional.

555 Pacific Street, 415 931-1900

“This floor used to be a dance hall. Downstairs was a brothel, and we are certified haunted” said Justine, the assistant manager.  “There is a cave entrance to the tunnel system that used to connect North Beach to the waterfront and China Town. You can see it downstairs.” Could you turn down such an invitation?  Bright, rainbow chaos, crammed onto every shelf, entices you inside. Look closer, you find order.

Are you here for more information than supplied in the Vacation Rental Travels article? No pictures of this dazzling store were included.

Entrance to the Hippodrome Building

Artists & Craftsman Supply is located in the Hippodrome Building, built in 1907, right after the earthquake. This store is chocked full of art supplies including 16 oz. tubes of oil paints, articulated wood manikins, quirky toys and magic kits for children of all ages.

Looking for a really different souvenir? Turn left inside the front door for novelty items such as the inflatable beard, pictured in the gallery below. Its sheer silliness will make you hoot and guffaw. Blow up the beard and put it on for a stylish costume.  It’s a cheap laugh at $3.95. Go ahead, they won’t be laughing at you; they’ll be laughing with you.

The floor in the basement is covered in 14-foot circular Jerry Garcia’s dream-come-true type spin/tie-dye motifs. Check it out on the way to the cave.  Are you interested in what ‘s at the back of the cave?  You’ll see it in the gallery below.

“Who is haunting the store and where are they,” You ask?

“There is a sad woman and a cranky guy, who scares people from time to time. He hangs out, downstairs near the freight doors.” Your gracious hostess enlightens you.

I took off to the very spot, but he didn’t manifest that day. If you go and see him, please leave a comment. I want to know all about it.

The Hippodrome Building is on the “Barbary Coast” map but mentions nothing about its present use. Guidebooks are outdated quickly. It’s important to get out and see what delight you find, for a location, on that day.

Pacific Avenue lies in the center of the old Barbary Coast now known as the Jackson Square Historic District. You walk by bright for-the-trade-only interior design emporiums, explore clean, shiny stores with museum quality antiques and auction houses that don’t advertise on PBS. The tech company Weebley is in this neighborhood.

The last stairs to Coit Tower

director.

“It was a rough time in San Francisco, before the highway system was in place, the only way, to get to San Francisco, was by boat or rail and no one was coming.” Mr. Crockett went on.

The Federal Highway bill wasn’t signed into law until 1956. Before that year, the routes to San Francisco were the same as they were in 1856 except cars had replaced covered wagons.

“Twenty-six artists, 19 assistants, and three plasterers lived and worked on site from January to the end of April 1934. It was a Bohemian atmosphere and the organizers decided chaperones were necessary. A retired General, who had served in WWI and his wife, moved into an apartment on the second floor where the office is, now.

Field Workers in Napa Valley

There was a lot of political unrest due to the depression, all over the country. Economic difficulties radicalized both citizens of San Francisco and its artists. Labor unions organized workers. Within weeks of the mural’s finish, one of the largest labor strikes, crossing multiple industries, took place in San Francisco.

Artists agreed that no person would be painted smiling, anywhere in the building. One set of murals showed people playing at the beach. Originally the artist gave smiling faces to his subjects but others convinced him to remove them to keep the theme consistent and he did.

Eventually, the tower fell into disrepair. Linda, from Santa Rosa, remembers going there in the ‘80’s. “The walls were defaced with vulgar graffiti and the place smelled like urine.” She said.

“It used to leak like a sieve; hadn’t been cleaned for 25 years. We just spent $2,000,000 bringing it into the 21st Century,” said Mr. Crockett.

The murals are beautifully restored by professional artists using original materials. Upstairs, in a room that can only be been seen if you get there at 11:00 am on Saturdays, is a room of outlined paintings originally rendered with egg tempera on

Egg-Tempera on Plaster Restored

plaster. It was the most difficult art to restore. Today, there is nary a crack or scrape to be found anywhere. The snapshots of working people of the time are rendered in majestic, heroic detail.

Be sure to visit Coit Tower to hear more, interesting stories.

Most visitors visit the tower at the urging of European guidebooks. Being local, neither my husband nor I had ever visited Coit Tower. No one told us it was a worthwhile trip. Now after the restoration, I’m telling you: You don’t want to miss it!

Eighty percent of the people, who visit, walk up Filbert Street from North Beach or walk up Green Street to Montgomery Street and turn left. Here are steps on each side of the dead end wall; go up these and follow the signs. Both routes involve lots of stairs, but it’s worth the effort. As you pass clean, Art Deco era homes the bay unfolds below. Both bridges, Alcatraz and Treasure Island open in a panoramic scene.

After viewing the art take the antique, but completely refurbished, elevator to the top for breathtaking views of the entire Bay Area. Think how many times and from how many places you can look up to see Coit Tower, whether you’re on a Ferry, a cable car going over Nob Hill or crossing a bridge. Coit Tower can see you, too. Go, and take your children. You’ll all be better people for it.

Coit Tower is open from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. Go early to avoid standing in a long line.  The address is 1 Telegraph Hill Blvd. at Greenwich Street. Go, already.

Alcatraz and Marina from the top of Coit Tower

Golden Gate Bridge from the top of Coit Tower

The consequence of saving money on luggage is: we were moving our private things from one bag to another in a public place. With two more hard weeks of travel, the bag got us home without mishap. Eventually, the wheel exploded and the bag now resides in a landfill, somewhere in California.

We threw the dice by buying that suitcase and it was a nagging worry for the rest of the trip. Saving money on luggage has diminishing returns. There are places to save money when traveling; there are places to pay for quality.

Your luggage is your travel tool.

One thing I like about men is they won’t use tools that don’t work.

Is that $35.00 suitcase a bargain or good value? How many trips do you expect to get before a wheel shatters or a clasp breaks? How many times will it sit at the bottom of the pile on an airlines baggage cart, going from terminal to the airplane and back? How long will it last on top of a bus in Panama? Have you ever looked out your airplane window and seen someone’s clothing all over the pavement? I have. Thank goodness, it wasn’t my stuff.

Lessons Learned: Don’t buy cheap luggage, spend as much as you possibly can on the best quality you can afford. Like a cheap car, cut-rate suitcases won’t last over the long haul.

There are plenty of things to think about on a trip. Worrying about your luggage falling apart is not necessary, save your brain power for higher level thinking.

Now, you don’t have to learn this lesson for yourself.

The thing I like about shopping on line is you can spend time looking at different options without a sales person distracting you. I’ll write more about that in another post.

I’ve looked long and hard for an appropriate affiliate partner for this site. Luggage Online fits the bill.

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Go in and look around. If you need to upgrade, please consider buying from them through my blog and supporting this site. I thank you.

Have you had any luggage adventures that’s funny now? Let me know if you’ve had a similar experience.

Recently I did this in the sanctuary of the Church of Saints Peter & Paul Parish in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco.

North Beach is an upscale, clean, well-kept neighborhood and a tourist favorite. Across the street, you’ll find Washington Park, a grassy square with mature trees and a sidewalk running the perimeter. In California, leaves don’t necessarily drop off until mid to late November. Autumn’s for the last three years had been warm and dry.

Elderly Asians were out doing Tai Chi along the Stockton Street side of the park. Several old women seemed to be wind-milling their arms around and around from their shoulders. At least they were out there moving. A meandering walk runs through the park, and homeless looking types were in earnest discussions on benches. A public restroom building is under construction on the corner of Columbus Avenue, and Filbert Street. The completion of this project will be a relief to the businesses in the area, giving tourists another place to go.

At the top of each daylight hour, the sound of bells from The Church of Saints Peter & Paul float over the square and up the streets to the top of Telegraph Hill. Most neighborhoods in San Francisco have a Catholic Church. Each Sunday, the bells ring, calling parishioners to worship or reminding people that it is Sunday. Settled by Italians, North Beach still has a strong Catholic presence with three parishes, a Knights of Columbus store front on Grant Street and a Knights of Columbus club entrance on the side of another church building. North Beach has many similarities to other neighborhoods in the city but cleaner, shinier and with nicer weather.

This day was the first time it had rained in Northern California in three weeks. California hasn’t seen much rain in three years. It wasn’t cold, maybe 65 degrees. People walked around with their umbrellas, hats or bareheaded as though nothing was different.

The church, completed in 1924, is a magnificent example of Romanesque architecture and its twin steeples, along with Coit Tower, are North Beach icons. The massive marble altar was made in Italy, shipped to San Francisco and reassembled into its present location.  The Catholic Youth Organization of the 1930’s produced three professional baseball players, including Joe DiMaggio. When you walk by today, you’ll still hear the shouts of children playing in the recreation court.

A guide book writer reported that the interior is overdone and not to his taste. I think he missed the point.  I spent a long weekend at sewing retreat at a Catholic center this fall; all the statues and stained glass are just the Catholic way. There must be a Catholic statue industry with skilled artisans somewhere; Italy, maybe? The detailed dress and symbolism in life size or larger statues are extraordinary and arresting. While I appreciate the effort it took to create and pay for those magnificent works of art, once inside I could hardly wait to sit in a pew and hear what the Holy Spirit had to say.

I sat down; relaxed, bowed my head, clasped my hands, took a couple of breaths and felt for what was available.

What I got was lightness and an upwelling of joy. The Holy Spirit told me to live my life with joy in the present moment, right here and now. It also said, “Whoopee, it’s raining!” There is a lot of laughter and happiness about the rain on many different levels. I saw a vision of me running out into the middle of Washington Square and screaming “it’s raining, it’s raining” while twirling around with my arms outstretched, head thrown back, letting the rain wash my face.

The way I discern the voice of God from the voice of not-god is simple. The voice of not-god is insistent, agitated, impatient and unkind. The voice of God goes along with feelings of expansive, inner peace. It’s kind, soft spoken and non-judgmental. What it says has a ring of truth, even if I don’t want to hear that information. I know it’s the voice of God when I feel better after hearing it.

There was a feeling of peaceful golden joyfulness within me.  We both knew I wasn’t going to go screaming about the rain in Washington Park, but the vision was fun anyway. This feeling was authentic. It reminded me of God’s love, power, and that life is meant to be enjoyed. The Holy Spirit said to me “This is how I want all my children to live.”  I take this message with me into life and hope you can take comfort from it, also.