Sun Sept 21 - San Francisco

Up and out at oh dark thirty to tour to some of SF's favorite tourist destinations before the crowds woke up and went there also.  Started to trace the 49 mile drive but I had failed to verify the route loading in the GPS.  It didn't want to work and we were left with a paper copy of the map.  Since we'd driven the loop twice previously, we decided to pick and choose.  Drove around the Presidio and along the Pacific Ocean, then cut across to Coit Tower.  Then to the foot of Lombard Street and the worlds curviest road.

Note the tourist with the big grin and waving arm.

 Spent the rest of the day at the Computer History Museum in Moutain View.  I had wanted to see this place when they were in Boston decades ago.  They have lots of old stuff, including old things that I had worked with.  The 026 card punch reminded me of grad school and dissertation.  That's where all the programs were written.  And, yes, one of the first exhibits in the first gallery, Analog Computing, was about slide rules.

 Since we were in California, we tried In-And-Out Burger.  It was fine, but it was hard to see where it was that much different than McDonalds.  The presentation was different, but it tasted about the same to me.  We went early and faced a long line, and an even longer wait for the order to be fulfilled.  But when in Rome...

Sat Sept 20 - A Day at the Races - San Francisco

Leaving Calistoga we elected to go south on CA29 to see more of the vineyards and wineries.  Seeing was made difficult by the low cloud and fog that the morning had brought.  That was to be the weather for the day.  Beringer's is the winery below, one of the few that I've heard of. 

This turned out to have been a bad choice because, 1) CALTRAN had closed CA37 this weekend, which could have easily taken us from 29 to 101, and 2) there was a marathon on CA121, the replacement road.  This necessitated a long delay while runners and autos were separated.  This was an excellent example of right and left hands not communicating.  We did drive past Sonoma Raceway, a road racing course seen frequently on TV.  Even NASCAR races there.

Got to 101 and turned off for Muir Woods.  On a good day Muir Woods is difficult to reach, hidden behind a maze of twisty little roads.  Today we had the added benefit of a bicycle race taking place along those same roads.  There were times when autos could move no faster than bicycles, going uphill.  Arriving at Muir Woods we found that this was THE bay area destination for the day.  We had to park along the side of the road more than 1/2 mile from the actual entrance.  Made the hike through the woods just that much longer.

Muir Woods was breathtaking as usual.  Dark and dripping this morning, even all of the people there couldn't overwhelm its majesty.  And, amazingly, all those people didn't engulf the park.  You could actually find places with few people and some quiet to enjoy the trees.

Since it was on the way out, we stopped at Muir Beach.  It had been cleanup day at the beach, and they hauled out 100 garbage bags of stuff.  Lots of dogs running free, and a group was setting up their bonfire. 

A kind National Park Ranger guided me to the Alexander exit, just before the bridge, as the place to get the iconic pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge with San Francisco behind.  The previously mentioned fog was drifting in and out, so when we first stopped at one of the lower locations you could still make out the city behind the bridge.  Moving to higher locations we found the fog had completely covered the city, and parts of the bridge.  That's what happens when you travel -- you get the pictures that you can with the weather you've got.   I would also note that everyone who didn't go the Muir Woods, and probably some that did, chose this afternoon to go into the Marin Headlands to look at the city. 

Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge there are no toll stations.  Everything is done automatically.  For those of us who don't have a FastTrax transponder on the car, they capture the license plate and send a bill.  Or you can go online and set up a license plate account.  Which I did, and we'll see if that works.  And it's only $7 to cross the bridge southbound.  Northbound is free.  Foolish us, traveling south into the city.  .

We checked into the Best Western Tuscan on Fisherman's Wharf.  It's right across the street from the Longshoremen's Hall.  Thirty years ago we had spent a Friday night across the street from that hall (although at the Wharf Inn, on the other side of the hall) and were kept awake until the early morning hours from the loud band and noise from the hall.  We'll see how tonight goes.  We did go out and walk along the wharf and looked at all the touristy things.

By the way, we managed to miss Fleet Week, coming in October. 

The cable cars are no longer a means of city transportation but have become an amusement park ride.  The line to get on the cars in front of the Buena Vista cafe was over an hour long.  And if you rode all the way to Powell and Market downtown, you'd have another line of similar length before you could ride back to the wharf.  Note the girl on the front right checking her phone during the start of the cable car ride.  Not taking pictures --reading email.

Segways may be the answer to cable car.  And we watched them sail through the stop signs along Embarcadero without slowing.  So they're fast and efficient too.

We did manage to get to Ghiradelli Square.  It's been about ten years since we've been to San Francisco and it seems that there's been quite a few changes along the wharf.  It's one long carnival now, where before there were commercial areas that didn't cater directly to the tourists.  I guess everyone is making money here.  At least when the tourists arrive.  Fortunately, Ghiradelli still has ice cream, although the lines were long for inside seating.  They have a carry out entry located up above and that's where we got our ice cream.  It was just as good eating it as we walked back toward the hotel.

Finally, here's C's philosophy:

Thurs - Fri Sept 18-19  Redwoods and Napa Valley

Got up early to leave Chester since we knew it was going to be a long curvy road to get to 101 and the ocean.  The road did not disappoint, but fortunately there was little traffic during the twisty bits.  It even rained during part of the drive.  Unusual for the dry time of year.  The firefighters certainly enjoyed it.  The drive wasn't quite as serene as this, but it was OK.

At Redwoods NP we walked the Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail.  Lots of big coastal sequoia and a much wetter climate than inland.  Very impressive in size.  There's a whole cottage industry that takes redwood pieces and turns them into bowls and bears and other things.  Burls like this are the raw ingredients.

Roosevelt elk abound in the park, and of course it's September.  Similar to our stay in Yellowstone last year, here is the leader of the pack and a couple of the girls.  This bull had at least 20 females in his group, but was fairly passive in maintaining control during the five minutes we watched. 

After a pleasant drive through groves of redwoods, we came to coast.  Very different than the Florida coast we're familiar with.

After checking into our hotel in Crescent City, we went out looking for scenery.  Sunset was a bust, but while at the marina we found this sea lion swimming around searching for his dinner.

The next morning, sunrise gave us a better view of the lighthouse.  The first part of the drive was retracing our steps along the coast.

Crossing the Klamath River, the California Bear was guarding the approaches to the bridge.

Arrived in Calistoga after driving through miles of vineyards.  If each acre of vineyard produces about 300 cases/3600 bottles of wine, we passed a whole lot of drinking.

The city of Calistoga is devoted to the drinking of wine, and the hot springs and mud baths available.  We partook only of the wine, and that in very limited quantities.  This qualifies as yet another city the we probably couldn't live in, at least in the winter.