San Francisco, California

The first time I visited San Francisco I was bowled over. This was the centre of the '60s counter culture, flower power and anti-war demonstrations. Then there were the TV series and the enthralling movies set in Frisco: the Streets of San Francisco with Michael Douglas, Dirty Harry with Clint Eastwood, Hitchcock's Vertigo, and McQueen's legendary car chase through the city in Bullet. I first visited with three Irish friends, Mary and Aidan who had lived in the Bay area for several years and had a good working knowledge of the city, and Carmel. We travelled from Fremont on the Bart. I always remember standing on the escalator as we moved towards the underground exit at Market Street in downtown San Francisco, and being assailed by towering skyscrapers in every shape and style. What a dramatic introduction to one of the most famous cities in the world!

That first afternoon was action-packed. We took a cable car to Pacific Heights, and gazed out over the city and ocean below. Of course there was the shadow of the Golden Gate looming over my imagination, and I just had to take a boat trip, to glide under this queen of bridges, and then skirt the infamous island of Alcatraz. We had lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, a huge conglomeration of gift stores and cafes. Just across from here is Ghirardelli Square, named after the famous chocolatier who arrived in San Francisco in the great gold-rush era of the 1850s. It is now an exclusive shopping district. More in our league was Chinatown, the largest Chinese neighbourhood outside of Asia. The streets were alive with amazing stores selling all kinds of herbs, food, jewellery and colourful banners with intricate Chinese calligraphy, and beautifully decorated gift items.

Later when I returned to California I spent a day just getting familiar with some of the streets in downtown San Francisco. It was a real treat to sip coffee in Starbucks in Market Street early on Friday morning, and just gaze out the window as hoards of people hurried to work. San Francisco is a major financial center and many banks and businesses have their headquarters here. There are also many computer firms located here, so it's quite a bustling city. It would be great to work here for a while to experience the buzz of being part of this lively cosmopolitan city. The nearest I've got so far is working on a contract in South San Francisco, but that was miles from the real action downtown.

I once walked about four miles on a rather warm day from Market Street to the Haight-Ashbury area. This area was the centre of counter culture in the '60s, where students, artists, musicians and nonconformists moved in to old Victorian houses, ushering in the hippie phase. Groups like The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane hung out here, and played at the famous Fillmore concert venue just around the corner. The era of rock music and pot, incense and pop art, eastern meditation and anti-Vietnam demonstrations was short lived. Today Haight-Ashbury is a paradise for collectors of old memorabilia. The stores are stacked with tie-dyed dresses, posters, jewellery and CDs, all reminiscent of that colourful decade. It's also a great place to get a wonderful sandwich, any amount or variety of vegetarian fare, and lots of good tasting coffee.

Probably the best vegetarian restaurant I've ever eaten in is Greens, at Fort Mason, overlooking the Bay, where all the food is organically grown. One cold rainy February evening Bob brought me there for a birthday treat. The hot, spicy soup was wonderful; the plates of gorgonzola cream, walnut and basil pasta, and curried vegetables were divine. Then coffee, followed by a chocolate hazelnut mouse dessert. Dinner was expensive, but the flavour and quality of the food, the glittering view of the Golden Gate, and the general ambience of the place, was well worth it.

My friend, Mary, once took me on a day's outing to some interesting spots on the outskirts of the city. In the morning we went for a hike in Muir Woods, home of some magnificent redwoods. Then we drove to Golden Gate Park where we had a magnificent view of the famous bridge. It was foggy as it often is in San Francisco. We drove to the Cliff House for lunch, which is at the Northwest corner of San Francisco and offers some fantastic views of the coast. A restaurant has been located on this spot since 1863, and the present establishment is full of décor and memorabilia from Victorian times.

There's nothing I love more than to browse around downtown, admiring the diverse architecture that gives San Francisco a richness and colour that few cities can match. After the giant earthquake in 1906 the city was largely rebuilt in the ornate art nouveau style. Then there are the decorative art deco buildings built from the 1930s. The real charm of the city is a blend of many styles and eras, from modern marvels, like the Transamerica building, to old surviving Victorian houses dating back to the late 1800s. One of my favourite buildings is City Hall, with its glorious doom, located at Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place. I also love the Legion of Honor art gallery, with its great Rodin collection, that sits overlooking Golden Gate Park.

When my nephew, Michael, visited in the autumn I brought him to Equinox, the revolving restaurant on top of the Hyatt Hotel in Market Street. From this vantage point there are some great views of the city and bay, particularly Bay Bridge. Here you can survey the skyscrapers and look down upon the busy streets while sitting in the lap of luxury, sipping coffee and eating chocolate fudge ice cream.

This is certainly a marvellous city. I always love the buzz of exploring its unique streets, admiring its assortment of buildings, and browsing in its stylish stores. Supposedly San Francisco is the most visited city in the US. It is well worth visiting many times over.

Santa Cruz, California

More than any other place in California, Santa Cruz has become the town where I feel most at home. This is the way I always imagined California to be, full of colourful 'arty' ethnic stores; wonderful bookshops; students and musicians frequenting the bustling coffee shops; petitions to be signed against war, the inhumane treatment of animals and other red-hot topics; a sense of openness and freedom in dress, attitude and conversation. And just around the corner, all this is topped off with fabulous redwood forests, spectacular mountains, and the most magnificent sandy beaches that stretch for miles along the coast.

Bob first brought me to Santa Cruz one rainy day in October when we'd known each other all of eight days. I was enchanted on that first day, driving through the rain-soaked hills, listening to the Beatles on K-Pig radio, then arriving in this little glistening '60s town that time had somehow forgotten. That same sense of captivation has never left me, though I must have retraced that route a hundred times by now.

The drive out of Silicon Valley and into the Santa Cruz Hills is like crossing into another dimension. The super competitive world of silicon hi-tech start-ups is instantly left behind, the smog suddenly lifts, and the air and the surrounding hills take on a new freshness and vitality. There are many routes to choose from to get to Santa Cruz. From 880 it's a straight run to Los Gatos, a small hip town where shop windows dazzle with overpriced goods, and the beautiful people assemble to preen and parade. We often stop here for a coffee in the Los Gatos Roasting Company. God, the coffee is only marvellous, and the Posh Bagel next-door makes the nicest toasted cream-cheese bagels on the west coast!

From Los Gatos it's onto Highway17, a very busy, twisty highway that leads to Santa Cruz. We usually take the more scenic route, turning right on Bear Creek Road, and then onto the Old Santa Cruz Highway. This leads to Summit Road, a lovely ridge top back road. We often stop off here at the Summit Store, an old grocery shop that sells scrumptious sandwiches, Rebecca's mighty muffins, and great coffee. There's a little picnic area out front, and this is where you will meet all kinds of interesting people who live in the Santa Cruz hills. Several guys I spoke to over the years were Vietnam veterans, now eking out some kind of existence. Considering that this is one of the prime locations in California to live, it's hard to imagine how these people survive. Perhaps they share family homes that were bought for a pittance before house prices exploded in the '70s.

From Summit Road we usually drive through Highland Way. This is all redwood forest, with tiny creeks dripping down the mountainside, scary cliffs, and incredible canyon views south and west towards the ocean. Bob knows this whole area inside out as he lived in Santa Cruz for a few years when he first moved to California from Boston. This whole area is a paradise for hikers and cyclists. We've gone for a hike a few times in Nicene Marks State Park, just off Highland Way. Bob does an annual solitary walk of Highland Way every October of over twenty miles. At nighttime it's wonderful to drive this forest road, to pull over for a moment and just sit there in the darkness, gazing at the stars.

Eventually Highland Way leads to Corralitos, a very agricultural area where all kinds of crops and vegetables are grown. Bob loves the Correlitos Market for hot dog sandwiches. My favourite is Gizdich Ranch, a real working ranch where they make fresh apple and berry pies, and serve unusual juices and herbal teas. We then drive onto the small village of Aptos, just five minutes from Seascape beach. Bob used to have a friend, Alan, who lived here. Many a fun weekend we had with Alan, soaking up the sun and sea in the morning, browsing around Santa Cruz in the afternoon, then driving to Monterey or Moss Landing for dinner and some pub life in the evening.

There are so many beaches in this area: Seacliff, Natural Bridges, Del Mar, and La Selva, but Seascape in Aptos is always our favourite. The water in California is never warm, unless you go really far south to Los Angeles. The surf here is great and many guys, including Bob, love to go surfing. We often play Frisbee, or just sit and read. Seascape is rarely crowded, and is frequented by a rich assortment of humanity. Most people who come to Seascape are staying in the lovely resort that overlooks the beach. A special resort car takes residents down the hill to the beach, and returns later to escort them back to the bar or restaurant.

In the late afternoon it's time to head to Santa Cruz. Pacific Street is the main shopping area. I love to spend time browsing in Bookshop Santa Cruz, or at Borders bookstore. Both bookshops have bargain sections where you can always pick up something of interest at rock-bottom prices. Then there are the fun stores: bead shops, art stores selling stunning handmade paper, stores like East Meets West that sells tie-dyed clothing and long print dresses. Then there's Bunny's distinctive shoe store, shops that sell Indian rugs, Thai silks, embroidered Bali bags, and Mexican silver. There are also a few new-age bookstores selling crystals and incense, where resident psychics await the unveiling of your destiny. Every May there's an arts and craft festival held in the streets, and the most fabulous scarves, paintings, glassware, and jewellery are on sale. Then there are the great little cafes, like the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company or Lulu Carpenters where you can sit and chat with a cup of dark-roast coffee or hot chocolate.

We invariably end up at Java House. This is a real student café, with ample sofas and tables where you can read, study, or chat with the local clientele. This is where writers and artists, 'lefties' and Silicon Valley dropouts come to unwind, to share their experiences and mingle with fellow seekers. Sometimes there is live music here. One night we dropped in on a packed audience who were clapping along to the exotic gyrations of a beautiful, dark bellydancer. Another night there was a guy from Chile who set up table and gave free medicine-card readings to customers. We usually play scrabble there, and certainly that's another way to meet some very interesting characters.

The variety of restaurants in Santa Cruz is also astonishing. You can eat Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Italian, Thai, Mexican-there's even an Irish pub, Rosie McCann's, that serves traditional Irish fare. There's also real budget cuisine, such as Pizza My Heart, where you can buy a huge slice of pizza for $2.50. The greatest bakery has got to be Gayles on Bay Avenue in Capitola, about six miles from Santa Cruz. Here you can sample key lime pie, hot apple slices, dark chocolate cake, or 'melt in your mouth' lemon cookies. And as for luxury items, there's a small hand-made chocolate store, called Donnelly's on Mission Street. This sells the most incredible chocolates, such as rose-flavoured milk and dark lavender truffles, all for the princely sum of $4 each!

There's no shortage of culture and entertainment in Santa Cruz. There are four movie theatres in town: the Nickelodeon on Lincoln and Cedar, the Riverfront Stadium Twin on River street, the Del Mar theatre, and the Santa Cruz Cinema on Pacific. There's an annual Pacific Rim film festival that shows interesting Japanese and Asian films for free at the Del Mar theatre. The Del Mar also shows independent films, and this makes a pleasant change from attending Hollywood box-office hits. There's also a great concert venue called the Catalyst. You can see all kinds of old rock groups, country and blues singers performing there. One evening we went to see Lucinda Williams and it was a really great concert. Sometimes we go to the University of Santa Cruz campus. This has the most wonderful forest grounds and a fantastic library. It would be great to take a class there sometime, or to attend one of their Shakespearean festivals.

Invariably time ticks by and we set out once again for Highway 17 and Santa Clara. It takes about fifty-minutes to drive home taking this route. Maybe we'll come back to Santa Cruz tomorrow. At the very least there's always next weekend.

Santa Clara, California

When I was first asked to accept a technical writing contract in Santa Clara, California, I was quite unenthusiastic. I had visited California a few years previously, staying with friends in Fremont. I'd had a wonderful time, visiting all the famous touristy places, such as Hollywood and Disneyland in Southern California, the fabulous waterfalls and forests of Yosemite National Park, and the old Spanish-style coastal towns of Monterey and Carmel. I'd had a fabulous time but I really had no great desire to return.

I had just started a master's degree course at UCD, in Ireland, so the money from such a contract would be great, but the inconvenience of taking ten days off to travel halfway around the world seemed to outweigh the benefits. After much soul-searching I decided to give it a go. If the contract proved to be too difficult, since I'd never worked as a technical writer before, I really wouldn't have anything to lose. So on October 19th 2000 I set off for Santa Clara, never guessing what destiny had in store.

Within twenty-four hours of arriving in Santa Clara life had suddenly altered dramatically. I was booked in to an apartment in Milpitas. I was given my own cubicle in a huge building owned by Nortel, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, and had been introduced to the team I'd be working with. One of the members of this team was Bob, a dazzling, bubbly, very likeable guy who had a love for the outdoors and a passion for art, literature, and Irish culture. We immediately became friends. We spent the most wonderful ten days touring the Bay area, having dinner at exotic restaurants in Palo Alto and San Jose, walking along the glorious beach at Seascape, browsing through great libraries and bookstores, buying long, tie-die dresses in Capitola, and even getting to see Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young at the Shoreline Theatre.

When the ten days were up I didn't want to leave. I promised to come back for Christmas. Bob made plans to visit me in Ireland. So for a few months life became a hectic whirl travelling between two continents. I quickly began to fall under the spell of the real spirit of California. I had always imagined it to be a sunny haven for artists and hippies, for film stars and revolutionaries. Certainly it was the setting for a social revolution in the 1960s. I had never realised though the extent of its incredible natural beauty: the thousands of acres of stunning forests and hills that have been designated into parks all over the state; the miles of glorious beaches dotted along the whole west coast; the variety of towns and cities, from gold-rush settlements, to Spanish missions, and iconic sprawling cities.

Of course Santa Clara is at the centre of Silicon Valley, renowned for its high-tech industry where work is brutally competitive, and perfectionist standards largely prevail. I got a work visa and worked in several of these companies doing contract work. IT workers are generally well-paid but a lot of long hours are expected in return, and no matter how much effort you put into your work you can still be let go without so much as a handshake at a moments notice. Then there were other harsh realities of life that struck me: the enforcement of the barbaric death penalty, the numbers of homeless people particularly in San Francisco, the often callous attitude that associated poverty with weakness or laziness, high levels of smog from traffic congestion and industrial fumes, and the hugely inflated house and rent prices that force most people to eventually settle in other parts of the US.

Despite its social problems, Santa Clara County contains some of the most interesting towns and beautiful parks in the Bay Area. There is the little Asian town of Mountain View with its incredible array of restaurants; the city of San Jose with its old art deco hotels and Spanish-style buildings; Los Gatos with its charming antique and designer stores; Saratoga, a lovely old town at the foot of the Santa Cruz mountains. Some of the incredible parks I've visited include Uvas Canyon woodland, Big Basin State Park, Sanborn Skyline Park, Henry Coe State Park, and Coyote Lake in Mount Hamilton.

The town of Santa Clara is the main administrative center for the area. The most beautiful buildings there are the university and the mission. Throughout California there were twenty-one missions established by the Franciscan order from 1769 onwards. The areas where the missions were built gradually grew into major towns and cities. This was also how the town of Santa Clara began to flourish.

For three years I lived with Bob and his four adorable cats in his apartment in Lick Mill, Eastern Santa Clara, at the historic site of Lick Mansion. James Lick was one of the richest men in America in the mid 1800s, and he built a fabulous mansion and mill, both of which are still in pristine condition. Everyday I'd take a walk down by the Ulistac Natural Area, once inhabited by the Ohlone Indians. I often daydreamed about what it must have been like to live in Santa Clara, long before a white person had ever set foot on its sacred forests, hills and beaches.

During those years I took many incredible trips with Bob, to towns like Mountain View and Santa Cruz, to the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento, to magnificent beaches, forests, deserts, and mountains of incredible beauty. Santa Cruz became my favourite haunt, with its wonderful bookstores, great coffee shops, and quirky inhabitants. I attended meditation centres in Redwood City and Mountain View, and also took a bookbinding class. There was always so much to do, from watching old movies in great movie theatres, to going hiking in the mountains, or surfing at Seascape.

We travelled the length and breadth of California's diverse landscape: snow-capped mountains en route to Lake Tahoe; lush autumn vineyards in Napa and Sonoma; magical redwoods in Santa Cruz and giant sequoias in Yosemite; the splendour of the Pacific ocean in summertime; the barren wilderness of the Mojave Desert in winter, where there is little to break the monotony of scorched earth except for the lone Joshua tree. Sometimes we'd cruise around the back roads of the Santa Cruz Mountains in Bob's greeny-blue miata, soaking up sumptuous views under both turquoise skies and glittering blankets of stars. On longer journeys we'd take Bob's truck. Then we often turned off the highway and caught a few hours rest before resuming our travels.