California Dreamin'

Is Forbes owned by Yahoo! or something? They seem to have articles on the top page very frequently.

Anyway, an article on the 20 Prettiest Towns in the U.S. and surprisingly, I've been to three of them: Cambria, Monterey, and Crescent City, all on the California coast.

Cambria is... uh... quaint. Downtown Cambria cannot be seen off the main road (CA-1) and it feels like it is stuck in 1880, except for fuel prices which seem to be a prediction of what they would be like elsewhere in 2050. It has more antique stores than people living there and has, for some reason, become the subject of an inside joke where a friend and I yell "CAMBRIA!!!" at the top of our lungs each time we pass through the town. I'm not sure where it originated and it sounds incredibly daft when I write it out like that, but that's how all inside jokes are, I suppose.

Monterey is unarguably a nice place, although I tend to think of it more as a city than a town. A "town" would be like nearby Carmel. There is a shack on Fisherman's Wharf that serves excellent clam chowder.

Crescent City is a surprising inclusion. It is situated at the northern end of California, among the redwoods. I really love the surrounding area and the Battery Point Lighthouse adds an item of interest for photography. Out here, on a clear night, the sky is absolutely staggering. I have some pictures posted on my other blog.

However. Crescent City is by no means what I consider to be a "pretty town." Forbes described it as "quiet," but I think a more fitting description would be "depressing" and "kind of creepy" It's usually dark and very grey, and there are few people to be seen. I've had some odd experiences with the people that were seen, though. There was an SUV that stopped at the Crescent City overlook viewpoint just outside of town while we were there taking pictures at night, and it just pointed its headlights at us for about ten minutes. And then it turned its lights off, which was worse. We scampered off. Several moments later, as we pulled into our motel to check in, a truck blasting very loud music stopped in the middle of the road in front of the parking lot entrance and just sat there for about five minutes before driving off. This prompted the innkeeper to ask if "they were with [us]."

I want to go visit the redwoods again, but I'm not so sure about staying in Crescent City. I've stayed there twice, so maybe somewhere else next time.