Half Moon Bay's best kept secret

Tucked into the dead end of a side street in downtown Half Moon Bay is a plant-lover's paradise: Alena Jean's Flower Shop and Nursery.

Everytime I wander into the garden, I feel like I might stumble upon a fairy tea party. It's the magical landscaping out back, with paths, a gazebo, a pond, even a little train that runs on a track around the gazebo, that sends me into a reverie and inspires my own gardening ambitions.

 "It's Half Moon Bay's best kept secret," Alena said one day when I wandered in with a friend. "But tell everyone!"

Okay, Alena, I'm telling everyone.

In addition to maintaining the nursery - a fun and unusual collection of plants that you won't find at every other nursery - Alena is a gifted floral artist. She does big events like weddings, and I often have her make up arrangements for my house. They tend to be gorgeous and playful, and for the same price as a bouquet at Costco or Safeway, say $20, I can buy a small arrangement that is much more artfully put together.  Alena also sells fun, garden-y gift items, including gnomes, little mushroom men, and succulent wreathes, to name just a few items.

When you stroll into Alena's, you're likely to find friends gathered chatting about the latest news. The store has an old time, small town feel that the larger nurseries lack. The barn where her store is located is part of Alena's family compound, including the house next door where her parents live, and the cottage out back (that used to be a chicken coop) where her brother lives.

The Whitings have been there for 34 years, but the buildings are actually 134 years old. Known as the Martin Carty house, it looks like a fairy tale homestead. Alena's father has long run his landscape design and installation business - Florafarm - out of the same location.

In keeping with a small town, word of mouth-driven business, there isn't a great website (yet), but here are the details:

Alena Jean's Flower Shop and Nursery
340 Purissima Street
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019

Phone: (650) 726-3662

Shop hours:
Tuesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sunday - 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Neverland on the Bay - with 360-degree CGI

If you went zip lining at Justin Herman Plaza, you may have noticed something. A huge white tent sitting on the Embarcadero.

This is the theater for the upcoming production of Peter Pan, straight from its premiere in London. It was a huge hit when it played in Kensington Gardens, and I was lucky enough to be there for the very last night of its London run. Let me tell you, whether you have kids or not, this show is amazing.

First of all, there is the theater. This is the first time that a production has used 360-degree video projection to create a blend of CGI and live set. The projection covers the ceiling of the theater, and effectively includes the audience in the setting, making you feel like you are there with Peter, Tink, and Captain Hook.

Then there is just the fact that a wonderful, well produced show of Peter Pan is long overdue. Let's face it, the story is appealing to adults who cling to their inner child as much as it is to actual children. And this is a production that doesn't dumb it down. In fact, they don't recommend the show for children under five.


The show starts April 27, and tickets go from $30 to $125. The nice thing about a 360 degree theater is that even though it seats 1350 people, it doesn't seem like there are many bad seats. So if you want to grab a budget ticket, you won't have to worry about bringing binoculars.

We snagged our tix the day we saw they were on sale.

And I have to admit, I think I have a crush on Peter Pan, who in this production is all boy.

Free Zip Line, downtown SF

Close your eyes and imagine you're flying in British Columbia.

Nevermind. Open them, and take a look at where you really are: suspended above the Justin Herman Plaza (you know that plaza with the huge water fountain across from the Ferry Building, maybe you were even there when U2 played a concert for "Rattle and Hum"). The Bay Bridge spans before you. It's definitely downtown San Francisco.

But really, they want you to think of British Columbia.  Because the urban zip line is a marketing ploy to draw people up north this summer. This is an example of a marketing ploy done right. The zipline is free, and access works something like Disneyland's Fast Pass. You go and get a wristband with a time to stand in line. It's a hastle, and there's a lot of waiting. But it might be worth it.

The zip line is made to mimic the one set up in downtown Vancouver during the Winter Olympics. It's open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. until April 18.


PS - This isn't the only zip line in SF. If you want to go with a group - and pay for the privilege - you can zip, climb, and zoom your way through the Fort Miley Adventure Challenge in Golden Gate Park. 

In Sonoma, a collection of gardens not to be missed

We stumbled upon Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma over the weekend, drawn in by a flying fence. Like something from the Wizard of Oz, the white picket fence appears to twist and float in the air. Once in the parking lot, we found a small shopping center, with upscale home and garden decor, sculptures, food and wine for sale. Past the stores, though, was the real draw. The gardens.

I'm not sure how many there were, maybe 20. They were small partitioned lots, each installed by a different landscape designer. It was heaven for a yard junky like myself. Many of the ideas were cool, but not something I would adopt in my own garden. 

For example, the big concrete rock-thingy with holes was fun for the kids to play on, but not a reasonable play structure at home.

Then there was the tunnel, which the kids ran through with echoing shrieks of joy. I tried to imagine the truck that could navigate my driveway to place such a tunnel (really just a gigantic tube of corrugated metal, like a drainage pipe) in my yard, and decided that wasn't such a good idea.

There were plenty of ideas I might copy, though.  I found this fence made out of posts, rebar, and rough branches. This is something I can do, and I love the rustic look of it.

It was well worth the stop, and best of all, touring the gardens is free. Ah, we like free.

Cornerstone Gardens is located at 23570 Arnold Drive in Sonoma.

Baby condor born at Pinnacles - and you can see the nest!

Birth announcement! A condor has been born at Pinnacles National Monument. For anyone who has followed the saga of the condor, this is exciting news. This is the 49th chick to be born in the wild since the program began, good progress for the  program.

Perhaps most exciting for fellow Bay Area travelers is that the nest is visible to hikers at Pinnacles. That's a rare treat.

The California condor is a huge, prehistoric-looking bird that almost went extinct, but is slowly being revived through captive breeding and releases in protected areas that are part of its historical territory.

The condor program has been expensive, controversial, and difficult. Some staunch environmentalists opposed it from the beginning, because the program required capturing the last of the free, wild condors in order to create a captive breeding program that would eventually get the condors back into the wild. There's no doubt that without that drastic step, the condor would have died out by now.

The greatest risks to the condor currently come from lead poisoning. So if you happen to be a hunter, please, for the sake of condors (and your family, assuming you eat the game), don't use lead bullets. There are alternatives. But that's another story.

If you'd like to make the trek to Pinnacles, be sure to take your binoculars, and stop in at the visitor's center to ask directions. The nest is visible from Scout Peak bench on the High Peaks Trail. It's only a two mile hike in, but it's strenuous, with 1100 - 1200 feet elevation gain depending on whether you approach from the east or the west. Note that the area immediately around the nest is closed to visitors for the time being.

Happy baby bird watching!

Bay Area Traveler returns!

It's been a few years, but now that Emil is 3 and a half, and Esme will be starting kindergarten in the fall (!), I'm starting to come to a little. The blogging itch has begun. Slowly at first, but now it's itching like crazy. So crazy I think I'm gonna have to scratch. Stay tuned...

Kings Mountain Art Fair - Labor Day Weekend

For those of you who aren't in Black Rock City this weekend, here's an alternate way to get your art fix. It's a little less Tribal Vegas and a little more Fine Art in the Redwoods. There are some hand-carved rocking chairs that are expensive, but worth a visit to the fair just for the chance to sit in one.

Don't know Kings Mountain? You've probably been here without even realizing it - hiking, mtn biking, etc. It's the area along Skyline Blvd. just south of 92 (the road that goes to Half Moon Bay). It's a gorgeous spot of redwoods and ocean/Bay views.

This is our community fundraiser. Not being part of a town, we don't get tax revenue, but we have to fund our own fire department that is the first responder to forest fires and scraping motorcyclists off the pavement. It also helps supplement funding for our 3-room elementary school, which the state has repeatedly tried to shut down despite high test scores. Small schools don't make cents.

Details:

WHAT: Kings Mountain Art Fair
WHEN: 10-5 Saturday Sept 1 - Monday Sept 3. An outdoor breakfast starts at 8AM
WHERE: 13889 Skyline Blvd. Above Woodside.
WHY: Top juried arts and crafts in a redwood forest setting. Completely non-commercial.
And it is for a good cause, local fire protection
MORE INFO: www.kingsmountainartfair.org