Walden Pond

We decided not to go back into the valley next day but to drive the Tioga Pass eastwards through the sierra. It is an amazing road but not for the fainthearted. It is very mountainous with twisting roads, vertical drops of 2000 feet with no Armco or stone barriers – just my kind of drive except for two twenty minute hold ups for road works which made the already narrow road single track and short bursts of alternate flow didn’t seem to be on the agenda. I think the 4×4 just in front of us were contemplating getting out their portable BBQ at one point! Olmsted point

Half dome from Olmsted

As we travelled on passing Tioga Lake, Tuolumne Meadows and Olmsted Point the out-turn that gives a great view of the Half Dome from the east we were very pleased with our decision. As we paused there we thought of our trip to Walden Pond with Pat and Joe. Joe is an expert on and admirer of Olmsted who as well as co-designing Central Park in New York and the “Emerald Necklace” of green spaces round Boston was one of the architects of the national parks movement. Route 120 which is the Tioga Pass Road is the highest paved road in the US apparently and is closed from November to May each year so we felt privileged to enjoy this true wilderness, much as we had in Shikoku and Hokkaido last year. To be so far from any signs of habitation, enjoying fabulous views and the sounds of wind in the forest, birds overhead in beautiful sunny conditions was just great.

We exited the road at Lee Vining on the shores of the weird Mono Lake which appears to have a significant number of clones of Lot’s Wife. It is a saline lake and the accumulation of salt rises up in tall pillars a bit like outdoor stalagmites. We had a lunch stop at the gas station and rest stop which was fine and took the decision to turn left and go north on the interstate 395 and then head west and back to San Francisco on the 108 through the northern sierra as an alternative to retracing our steps via Merced.

Good decision or bad decision? Probably the proverbial curate’s egg. As we swung off the sun-drenched interstate and started the climb towards the mountains we noticed the temperature drop (despite A/C in the car) quite dramatically, wondered why the blue sky was now jet black and were soon in the middle of the mother of all thunderstorms.

Downpour — This was literally half an hour after the picture above and half a mile away

It only lasted about twenty minutes but was really scary. No other vehicles in sight, a twisty mountain road narrower than the Tioga Pass Road of the morning and torrential rain with sky-splitting forks of lightning – even I had to admit these weren’t the happiest moments of driving in my life. However we soon made our way to a high pass which acted as a sort of celestial watershed returning us to the sunny blue side of the mountain and leaving all that black wet stuff behind.

The drive was if anything more spectacular. Massive forests including the Stanislaus State Forest with isolated shacks, sudden flower strewn meadows, streams and lakes, the occasional camp and adventure centre and certainly no road works and the weather stayed good throughout the rest of the route apart from a quick shower as we entered Stanislaus. Route 4 crosses the Sierra Nevada through Ebbett’s Pass which as you can see is quite high up. This road is again usually closed from November to May because of snow. All the words that can be used to describe landscapes of this magnificence have become clichéd. So I’ll just say that we both descended from the sierra feeling refreshed, rejuvenated by the experience and extremely glad we turned left not right.

The SatNav decided on a rather unusual route back to San Francisco which involved a tour through the suburbs of Modesto before getting us back on the 385 and into San Francisco – an early evening journey we weren’t looking forward to as we had decided to change hotels just for this one last night and go from Japan Town to Union Square right in the heart of the city.

As it happened it wasn’t too bad and we found our hotel, parked the car in a parking garage just round the corner and checked in in time to listen to the last knockings of a jazz gig (who finishes jazz at nine pm?) and eat at the highly rated hotel restaurant, the Burritt Room. It was pretty good too even if the service le a little to be desired from a rather bossy maitresse d’.

Blog lag has set in in a big way. Driving, a concert, eating, drinking and chatting to folk have all interrupted my ability to compose but I’m now on a plane to Las Vegas from San Francisco and have a little time at my disposal. All too little as it turned out.I’m finally posting it back at Las Vegas airport after visiting the Grand Canyon and proving a not very good gambler in Las Vegas.

Back in Boston, Sunday dawned warm and bright and after a light breakfast at the apartment we set off for a stroll along the Charles River Esplanade – we’d filmed near the Hatch Shell and nearer the Common but had never walked the western end. It’s a little less congested with the bikers, bladers and runners who occupy the stretch nearer in and made for a pleasant walk or as we were later to discover – a saunter. We soon arrived at Kenmore Square, a convenient location for a quick beer before the ball game. We looked around a bit and then decided on a return to the Eastern Standard where we’d had a great lunch on Thursday.

We had a beer and a bloody Mary of high quality Dee reports. The beer inside Fenway Park is truly awful so getting a couple in beforehand is a wise move. We got talking, as you do, to a chef from South Boston who was telling us how much “southie” has changed and what a great place it now is. He did event and personal dinner party catering and part-time cheffing in the convention centre. Nothing has changed in 20 years on the employment front – everybody in America still seems to have several jobs – at least his were all in the area he was passionate about – cooking.

Synchronized pitch raking is always a spectacle and finally Big Papi David Ortiz connected with one.

We had harboured hopes that our presence at the home of baseball would propel the Sox from bottom of the American League back in to World Series contention. Nah! It was an attritional game until the sixth when finally some bats hit the ball. However we were already behind by then and although taking the lead were pegged back in the eighth and with a scoreless ninth we were into two extra innings with the Orioles hitting an answered run in the eleventh. So we had value for money in terms of time spent but not in the result. Ah well there’s always next year for the Sox to fly high again.

We had arranged to meet our friends Joe and Pat Weiler on Monday to go to Walden Pond to see Joe’s exhibition of photographs Thoreau’s Legacy at the gallery there and then go for a walk to the site of his (Thoreau’s) cabin. We are great admirers of Joe’s work and have several at home and the exhibition was superb. It blended Joe’s artistic vision with his and Thoreau’s concern for nature and conservation in a most thought provoking and dramatic way. We were low on useful dollar bills so Joe bought us some postcards and pencils for our grandchildren on the basis that they write him the postcards and send them back.

The walk round Walden Pond was excellent and led us to appreciate Thoreau’s concept of sauntering rather than rushing by so as to observe all that is there to see. There’s even, we discovered, a National Sauntering Day on 19 June which we shall be observing in future. The pond is beautiful and there were lots of families enjoying its beaches. We didn’t enter the water but sauntered through the woods chatting about all sorts of issues of mutual interest in a truly delightful morning. Joe and Pat then drove us into Concord where we had arranged to meet Trish Seeney who had been our make-up artist on our first two shoots 20 and 19 years ago.

Trish has had a good career after effectively making her debut in the role of make-up, hair and wardrobe with us. She’s lived and worked in LA for lengthy periods but is delighted that the film industry is sufficiently strong in the Boston area to allow her to move back east again. The Colonial Inn in Concord is a great place for lunch or dinner or just a drink. It’s a rambling edifice with little rooms dotted about and a super open air terrace where we enjoyed a couple of hours. It also brought back happy memories of a visit with Dee’s mum and dad when they came to Boston in 1996.

We said our farewells to Trish and sauntered about the lovely town of Concord taking in some antique shops – thank goodness for weight restrictions! – art galleries and some excellent ice-cream. Our cheapo American phone buzzed with a sound we hadn’t heard before. It was a tornado warning over the phone! We walked a little more briskly toward the railway station but got waylaid by the Concord Public Library where Thoreau’s surveying equipment is on display. Along with some excellent archive photographs and a lovely building, it was well worth the delay. We hadn’t often travelled by commuter rail but had a fun journey into Boston’s North Station amazed by the performance of the guard who seemed to issue and collect excessive pieces of paper throughout the journey – although it must be said some regulars did have Oyster Card equivalent so he didn’t have to perform for them.

Fetching up at North Station prompted a nostalgic visit to Fours Bar a place we had frequented often and filmed in twice. It’s a great old-style Boston Sports Bar and retains its atmosphere and an excellent tradition of knowledgeable, friendly bartenders. The threatened tornado which had spared us in Concord suddenly struck and we were forced to have another before it stopped and we could walk to the T to travel back home.

Tuesday was a total surprise in that Natalie Rose Liberace who had starred in our third year drama in 1996 decided to travel down from Portland, Maine to spend time with us. True friendship well repaid with a lunch at the Salty Pig just up Dartmouth and well recommended in the Improper Bostonian. It was great to hear her news – she has put acting on hold for the time being and is working at the Maine State Museum organising the many thousands of items and their storage, as well as working at LL Bean. We lunched outside until the sun became too intense and then moved inside to continue enjoying her company and their great selection of food and craft beers. We then walked with her back towards South Station through familiar sights and significant changes in the ten years since we were last here. After “don’t look back” farewells we then sauntered across Boston Common and the Public Gardens bringing back many memories of times spent and shoots wrapped in these iconic locations.

We managed a few moments on the roof deck – our first since the fireworks – and then went out for a quick snack after packing and then the prospect of a 05:20 shuttle to Logan from Copley to catch our flight to LA. Once again our Charlie tickets saw us good for the fare and proved a very wise purchase as we’d had a week of transport all over the MBTA area for $19 each.

Tag: Walden Pond

Tioga Road and the Northern Sierra

Sunday with the Sox, sauntering at Walden, surprise visit from Maine