Jun 19, 2013 - San Francisco

We took an early morning tour of Alcatraz today. There was no fog over the bay this morning, so we had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge on the ride out to Alcatraz. It was a very interesting place! It was a nice sunny day, but along the waterfront, it was very cold. We took a ferry out to Alcatraz and walked all over the island. On the boat ride back to the mainland, we saw the Oracle Sailboat practicing for the America’s Cup race later this year. The Oracle is the US sailboat that will be competing. After that we walked along the...

Jun 18, 2013 - A roundabout way to San Francisco

We woke up this morning to the sound of the surf crashing against the rocks and a heavy fog hanging over the water. Once the fog burned off a little, we noticed there was a bunch of seals on the rocks. We hiked down to them and got pretty close. They were on a little island of rocks, so they didn’t feel threatened by us. They just checked us out and went about their business, not that they do a whole lot! Just lay around and every once in a while slip into the water to eat or cool off. We are headed to San Francisco today, so like any good...

Jun 2, 2013 - San Francisco

June 2nd found us getting up early to be at the National Bowling Stadium to catch our tour bus to San Francisco. The tour guide (Todd) was wonderful. It was a four hour trip to San Francisco and he has so much knowledge he kept us all entertained there and back. Our first stop - the Jellybelly factory. Of course we all sampled and made our purchases. Once we got to San Francisco we had a driving tour before riding the cable car. We started our cable car ride from the beginning in the pier area and rode all the way to the end. It was...

Jun 2, 2013 - Last day

After packing and checking out of the hotel, we made our way to Golden Gate bridge. We took a guided tour, and walked out beyond the first tower. We intended to walk right across to Marin County, but although it is sunny, the wind and traffic noise drove us back to land. The traffic is right next to the walkway, unlike the Brooklyn Bridge where it is on another level. Back to the city and a visit to the Jewish Museum to see an exhibition of Allen Ginsberg photographs. Allen was a Beat poet and contemporary of Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady etc....

Jun 1, 2013 - San Francisco day 3

We began the day with 2 streetcar rides to Lombard Street, also known as the crookedest street because it is so steep they have zigzagged the car lane, and the footpaths are steps. The day was again warm, sunny and clear so we got great views of the harbour. They are holding the America's Cup here so there are plenty of yachts on the water. We went to Japan Center, which is a large area as they have a substantial Japanese community. Today they were celebrating the tofu festival, so there were drummers and other festivities. We lunched at a...

May 31, 2013 - Wine country

We were collected at 8 am for a trip to the wine country. After crossing the Golden Gate bridge, which is much shorter in length than the Bay Bridge, we entered Marin County. First stop was a visit to Muir Woods, a small remaining grove of Redwoods, trees that used to cover this area but were cut down for lumber. They are the tallest trees in the world, taller than the Sequoias, to which they are related, but less bulky. We also spied some cute chipmunks near the gift shop. On to the wine country, which looks very much like home, with...

May 28, 2013 - San Francisco day 2

Today started misty but the cloud burnt off mid morning for a sunny day. Our hotel is old and quaint, with the elevators with the metal gates you pull shut. We walked here with our luggage yesterday from the train, a 15 minute walk we were told. What they did not say was it was uphill, and in San Francisco uphill is really uphill. We wandered around Chinatown and North Beach, also known as Little Italy. We saw the area frequented by the Beat Poets. Coit tower is on a very steep hill and offers great city views, but by the time we climbed up...

May 27, 2013 - Las Vegas to San Francisco

My last thoughts on Las Vegas. The only redeeming part of this city is its proximity to the Grand Canyon, and the weather was nice. The streets are full of glittery signs, pimps, and the trashiest tourists I have ever seen. Our hotel, The Signature, has 3 towers, and is part of the MGM complex. In this complex alone on Saturday night one could choose for entertainment between dozens of restaurants, Fleetwood Mac, a Cirque de Soliel, David Copperfield, comedy and more, oh and the casino of course. We went to an Asian restaurant. There are...

Apr 26, 2013 - Flowers in your hair?

We went south, first along highway 101 a multi lane highway and then off to follow highway 1 right along the coast. The temperature difference was amazing, on the more inland 101 it was 30 C and it dropped to 9 C when we reached the coast. The road continues to follow the coast line and also follows the contours of the land so driving gets to be very tiring after a few hours. We have stayed overnight in Crescent City, Eureka and last night in Fort Bragg, all these place are right on the coast. Today we visited San Francisco, it was not a...

Mar 24, 2013 - San Francisco

Today was the day of the death cars! The Go Cars were supposed to be fun but for me there was no fun in that ride! I knew things were going to be bad when Georgia and I couldn't even make it onto the street without Georgia having to go back to the attendant and say, "Help, My Mum can't work the car". Car started again and we were off,only to be pulled to the side of the road by Tony whose GPS wasn't working. I was not prepared to lead so Tony and I had to change cars. Poor Josh was now riding with me in the Death car. The video states that...

Mar 23, 2013 - San Francisco

A beautiful San Francisco day, clear skies and sunshine meant that our view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay area were picture perfect. We started the day at Starbucks as I have discovered that they make a great cup of tea which is hard to find in the US. With full bellies we walked along Fisherman's Wharf where we saw and heard the seals, entertainers, great shops and fabulous views of the bay. We enjoyed our time exploring the area. Next on the itinerary was the Firetruck tour, it was fantastic! We sat on the back of the truck and...

Mar 22, 2013 - Travel day on road to San Francisco

On the road to San Francisco. We left LA at 11:30 am after Tony negotiated his way out of driving a "Mini Van" and into a brand new "Yucon" which would be the equivalent of a Prado with more luxury. Big is not always better though, it took him a while to get used to driving the "truck" not only because it was big but also due to the fact he was driving on the other side of the road! It took me at least two hours to let go of the seat belt and the side handle. Getting a big car and driving straight onto the LA freeway without any practice...