06 Oct 2012 (Saturday) San Francisco International Airport - London Heathrow, UK - 5400 miles
The flight was uneventful, but sleep was difficult, perhaps due the number of people on the flight and also because it was quite 'bumpy' over the Atlantic.
By the time we got to the London area, it was very busy and we ended up in a holding pattern over Buckinghamshire for about 20 minutes. Eventually, we were cleared to land at London Heathrow and got in about 20 minutes after the scheduled time.
After passing through UK immigration, we collected our luggage and headed out to the carpark where our car was due to be delivered. As promised, the car was waiting for us and we loaded the luggage, said goodbye to Lin and Ken and headed for Lincolnshire. The traffic on the journey home was quite light and we got home at about 3 in the afternoon.
BA Flight from SFO - LHR ETD 1605 ETA 1100 (day +1)
Weather - Clear skies and sunny with some cloud around. There was a breeze, but not unpleasant, temperatures 14-16C
Numer of days in USA - 28
Total Distance travelled - 4200 miles
Number of States visited - 5
Number of hotels stayed at - 13
Number of National Parks visited - 10
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Leaving San Francisco
05 Oct 2012 (Friday) San Leandro, California - San Francisco International Airport - 30 miles
Our final day in the USA. We had a fairly leisurely start to the day and had breakfast before packing our bags for the final time. We also cleared out the 'tour bus' of all the coats, umbrellas, maps and books which had been living in the vehicle for the past month. I then tried to catch up with the 'blog' and as evidenced here, failed entirely! We sat around in reception and read for a whilst before finally checking out of the hotel. I, for one, can certainly recommend the Marina Hotel in San Leandro as a base for visiting San Francisco. Although it does mean you have to travel into the city, it is not too time-consuming or expensive to do so. Balance against the much cheapest cost of accommodation, this doesn't seem unreasonable.
With the 'tour-bus' loaded for the last timed, we headed south down the I-888 for about 10 miles before turning west onto the SR-92. After about 2-3 miles, the road heads out onto the San Mateo bridge which runs for 12 miles across San Francisco Bay. At the far side, we headed north again on the SR-101 the few miles to San Francisco International Airport.
We found the rental car drop-off point fairly easily and unloaded the 'tour-bus' for the last time.
We walked across the car-park and caught a monorail train into the main terminal where we checked our bags in before heading through security to await our flight.
The flight was rather full and we were slightly delayed in leaving as a passenger had decided, after checking baggage into the hold, that they didn't want to travel after all. This had a 'knock-on' effect to our departure and arrival time later.
Not long after we'd taken off, a Senior First Office came down to see us. He apologised that he had been unable to move us 'further up the cabin', an euphamism for upgrade, as the flight was so full. Talking to him, I discovered that he knew quite few of my work colleagues and that he too was in the RAuxAF.
After dinner, we settled down to sleep as much of the 10 flight as possible
BA Flight from SFO - LHR ETD 1605 ETA 1100 (day +1)
Weather - Clear skies and sunny with some cloud around. There was a breeze, but not unpleasant, temperatures in high 60s
Our final day in the USA. We had a fairly leisurely start to the day and had breakfast before packing our bags for the final time. We also cleared out the 'tour bus' of all the coats, umbrellas, maps and books which had been living in the vehicle for the past month. I then tried to catch up with the 'blog' and as evidenced here, failed entirely! We sat around in reception and read for a whilst before finally checking out of the hotel. I, for one, can certainly recommend the Marina Hotel in San Leandro as a base for visiting San Francisco. Although it does mean you have to travel into the city, it is not too time-consuming or expensive to do so. Balance against the much cheapest cost of accommodation, this doesn't seem unreasonable.
With the 'tour-bus' loaded for the last timed, we headed south down the I-888 for about 10 miles before turning west onto the SR-92. After about 2-3 miles, the road heads out onto the San Mateo bridge which runs for 12 miles across San Francisco Bay. At the far side, we headed north again on the SR-101 the few miles to San Francisco International Airport.
We found the rental car drop-off point fairly easily and unloaded the 'tour-bus' for the last time.
We walked across the car-park and caught a monorail train into the main terminal where we checked our bags in before heading through security to await our flight.
The flight was rather full and we were slightly delayed in leaving as a passenger had decided, after checking baggage into the hold, that they didn't want to travel after all. This had a 'knock-on' effect to our departure and arrival time later.
Not long after we'd taken off, a Senior First Office came down to see us. He apologised that he had been unable to move us 'further up the cabin', an euphamism for upgrade, as the flight was so full. Talking to him, I discovered that he knew quite few of my work colleagues and that he too was in the RAuxAF.
After dinner, we settled down to sleep as much of the 10 flight as possible
BA Flight from SFO - LHR ETD 1605 ETA 1100 (day +1)
Weather - Clear skies and sunny with some cloud around. There was a breeze, but not unpleasant, temperatures in high 60s
Golden Gate and Ghirardelli Icecream
04 Oct 2012 (Thursday) San Leandro, California - 0 miles
In the morning after breakfast, on the spur of the moment, Lynn and I decided to see if we could go by boat to San Francisco. The hotel found us a taxi to take us to Alameda, but en route, the driver suggested that it would be better to catch the ferry from Oakland. The driver, therefore, dropped us off at Jack London Square in Oakland.
We had come across Jack London before whilst we were in the Yukon in Canada. He was an American writer who moved to live in the Yukon for a year for inspiration. He wrote 'Call of the Wild' after this experience. As Oakland, California was his hometown, he also wrote whilst living there. There is a large bronze statue of him looking out across San Francisco bay in the port area of Oakland. Oakland is also a port mentioned several times in my great-grandfathers travels when he was a seaman.
After a wander around, the ferry arrived and we boarded for the 20 minute trip across the Bay. It was a beautiful morning, so we were able to sit outside at the stern of the boat. The port area of Oakland is still very busy and there was a large boat, perhaps a giant ferry, which was transporting cars and goods to and from Hawaii. Oakland is also a huge container terminal as witnessed by the huge numbers of containers stacked on the quays.
As we headed towards San Francisco, we passed under the Bay bridge, a road bridge connecting Oakland to San Francisco. The bridge is in two halves, from the mainland to Yerba Island and from the island on the mainland again. It is a huge bridge and the section from Oakland to Yerba Island is being doubled in size. The trip also afforded us excellent views of Alcatraz Island, site of the notorious prison, now closed. In the distance we could also see the Golden Gate Bridge.
The ferry stopped at the Ferry Buildings on Embarcadero first and then went on to Quay 41, near Fishermans Wharf, where we got off. We had a brief wander around again as it was warmer than the day before before catching a trolley-bus to Stockton Street in China Town. Like all china towns, the streets were lined with Chinese shops and thronged with people. We eventually found our way onto Grant Avenue which was decorated with chinese lanterns. As it was lunchtime, we went looking for food and came across a Vietnamese Restaurant with a table available. The food was excellent and reasonably prices, my noodle meal came in a noodle basket and was extremely tasty.
After lunch I went for a wander around and took some photos, I also came across a small chinese 'orchestra' perfoming on a street corner. From here, we walked on down Grant Avenue, through the China Town arch, to the junction of Market and Geary Streets. Here we caught a bus out to Park Presidio Boulevard and from there another bus to Golden Gate Park.
The park is located at the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge and provided great views of the bridge stretching across to the Marin Peninsular. The weather was extremely kind to us and unlike yesterday, we had cloudless skies and no mist! As it was 'Fleet Days' at the weekend, the US Navy were practising their flying display over the bridge, regretably I wasn't fast enough to catch the F-18 flying between the bridge pylons! It is possible to walk or cycle across the bridge, but it is a bit of a hike so I contented myself by walking about 100 yards onto the bridge for more photos.
After looking a the museum and gift shop, we caught another bus which took us to Fort Mason, an old Army base and we walked through the National Recreational Area there to Ghirardelli Square, home to a very famous chocolate factory. The factory is also famous for its icecream parlour! Needless to say, we felt obliged to sample the wares and enjoyed a huge icecream sundae each.
By now it was getting towards evening so we caught yet another trolley-bus back to Market and Powell street and from there the BART train back to San Leandro. We were lucky with transport back to the hotel as another guest had already phoned for the minibus to collect him and we hopped in too when it arrived.
Back at the hotel, the duty manager, who also appeared to be the marketing manager of El Toritos, suggest we eat there as he had some vouchers for tacos and margaritas; both were good!
Hotel - Marina Inn
Weather - Clear skies and sunny with some cloud around. There was a breeze, but not unpleasant, temperatures in high 60s
In the morning after breakfast, on the spur of the moment, Lynn and I decided to see if we could go by boat to San Francisco. The hotel found us a taxi to take us to Alameda, but en route, the driver suggested that it would be better to catch the ferry from Oakland. The driver, therefore, dropped us off at Jack London Square in Oakland.
We had come across Jack London before whilst we were in the Yukon in Canada. He was an American writer who moved to live in the Yukon for a year for inspiration. He wrote 'Call of the Wild' after this experience. As Oakland, California was his hometown, he also wrote whilst living there. There is a large bronze statue of him looking out across San Francisco bay in the port area of Oakland. Oakland is also a port mentioned several times in my great-grandfathers travels when he was a seaman.
After a wander around, the ferry arrived and we boarded for the 20 minute trip across the Bay. It was a beautiful morning, so we were able to sit outside at the stern of the boat. The port area of Oakland is still very busy and there was a large boat, perhaps a giant ferry, which was transporting cars and goods to and from Hawaii. Oakland is also a huge container terminal as witnessed by the huge numbers of containers stacked on the quays.
As we headed towards San Francisco, we passed under the Bay bridge, a road bridge connecting Oakland to San Francisco. The bridge is in two halves, from the mainland to Yerba Island and from the island on the mainland again. It is a huge bridge and the section from Oakland to Yerba Island is being doubled in size. The trip also afforded us excellent views of Alcatraz Island, site of the notorious prison, now closed. In the distance we could also see the Golden Gate Bridge.
The ferry stopped at the Ferry Buildings on Embarcadero first and then went on to Quay 41, near Fishermans Wharf, where we got off. We had a brief wander around again as it was warmer than the day before before catching a trolley-bus to Stockton Street in China Town. Like all china towns, the streets were lined with Chinese shops and thronged with people. We eventually found our way onto Grant Avenue which was decorated with chinese lanterns. As it was lunchtime, we went looking for food and came across a Vietnamese Restaurant with a table available. The food was excellent and reasonably prices, my noodle meal came in a noodle basket and was extremely tasty.
After lunch I went for a wander around and took some photos, I also came across a small chinese 'orchestra' perfoming on a street corner. From here, we walked on down Grant Avenue, through the China Town arch, to the junction of Market and Geary Streets. Here we caught a bus out to Park Presidio Boulevard and from there another bus to Golden Gate Park.
The park is located at the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge and provided great views of the bridge stretching across to the Marin Peninsular. The weather was extremely kind to us and unlike yesterday, we had cloudless skies and no mist! As it was 'Fleet Days' at the weekend, the US Navy were practising their flying display over the bridge, regretably I wasn't fast enough to catch the F-18 flying between the bridge pylons! It is possible to walk or cycle across the bridge, but it is a bit of a hike so I contented myself by walking about 100 yards onto the bridge for more photos.
After looking a the museum and gift shop, we caught another bus which took us to Fort Mason, an old Army base and we walked through the National Recreational Area there to Ghirardelli Square, home to a very famous chocolate factory. The factory is also famous for its icecream parlour! Needless to say, we felt obliged to sample the wares and enjoyed a huge icecream sundae each.
By now it was getting towards evening so we caught yet another trolley-bus back to Market and Powell street and from there the BART train back to San Leandro. We were lucky with transport back to the hotel as another guest had already phoned for the minibus to collect him and we hopped in too when it arrived.
Back at the hotel, the duty manager, who also appeared to be the marketing manager of El Toritos, suggest we eat there as he had some vouchers for tacos and margaritas; both were good!
Hotel - Marina Inn
Weather - Clear skies and sunny with some cloud around. There was a breeze, but not unpleasant, temperatures in high 60s
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Cable-cars, Trolley-buses and Sea Lions
03 Oct 2012 (Wednesday) San Leandro, California - 0 miles
After a very peaceful nights sleep we got up and explored the breakfast buffet at the hotel and found it to be excellent. The hotel offered free transport to Oakland Airport and to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station at San Leandro, so we booked a ride to the station. It was only about 2 miles and only took about 10 minutes.
At the station we bought tickets into San Francisco which cost $4.25 each and caught the first train that arrived. The train travelled on the surface along the eastern side of the Bay passing the Oakland Colliseum, a sports venue, and Oakland itself before going into the tunnel below the Bay and into San Francisco proper. Ken and Lin got off at Embarcadero, whilst we stayed on the train to Powel Street.
Once off the train, we briefly visited the San Francisco Visitors Centre and picked up a couple of maps and a day pass for the transport system in the city. Our first foray took us just a few yards to the corner of Powell and Market Street, the terminus of one of the iconic cable-car lines. We had been warned there were often queues at the terminuses and we weren't disappointed!
When the cable-car arrives at the terminus, it is disconnected from the cable, pushed onto a turntable, the turntable pushed around and then the car is pushed back into a position to re-engage with the cable, all this done by the conductor and the brakeman! The cars have interior seats as well as seats on the outside and 'running-boards' that riders may travel on. The brakeman gets the car moving by using a large lever to grab onto the constantly moving cable under the street. To stop, he disengages from the cable and stands on a large brake-pedal - it is a very physical and skillful job!
We got on the cable car and quickly started heading up the switch-back hill that is Powell Street. In the China Town/Nob Hill area, the car manages to make a 90 degree turn along Jackson Street and shortly afterwards a second 90 degree turn onto Hyde Street. The ride down Hyde Street is a real roller-coaster ride all the way down to Beach Street and the dock area. Throughout the ride, people jumped on and off the car as it passed each cross-road.
Down at the dock area, we wandered onto Pier 45 which has a collection of historical ships moored alongside, interestingly, several were from UK. At the end of the pier we could see both the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island, site of the infamous prison, in the distance. As we looked toward the Golden Gate Bridge we could see sea mist rolling in which quickly hid the bridge before continuing on toward where we were standing. The temperature dropped several degrees and a cool breeze picked up.
By now it was lunchtime, so we walked on towards Fishermans Wharf and stopped at a restaurant by the fish market where we had a very good fish lunch. Following this, we continued to wander down toward Fishermans Wharf and pier 39. Several of the ferries stop in this area and next to Pier 39 several pontoons moored in the area are home to a colony of Sea Lions. The whole area is very touristy, a bit like Skegness as somebody said, and very busy.
By now we were feeling a little chilly, so decided to head back into town and made a big mistake. We first caught a trolley bus back to junction of Hyde and Beach and joined the queue for the cable-car back into town. The queue got longer and longer and the cable-cars didn't seem to be going anywhere fast. Staff there said it was normal, but it seemed totally disorganised. Finally, we got on a car, Lynn on the outside seats and me hanging on travelling on running boards, quite and exciting ride.
Halfway up the hill we got off at Lombard Street and went to explore the 'famous' crooked street. This street is so steep, a series of hairpin bends have been created so that cars can travel down the street, quite an odd sight. The steet is very steep to walk down (think of Steep Hill in Lincoln) with lots of people trying to get pictures. I think the best view is from the bottom looking back up. We continued on down the road until we got to Columbus street where we stopped for hot chocolate (yes it really was that cool!).
We decided that we'd head back to Market Street so we caught a trolley bus that delivered us back into the middle of the city where we went shopping to buy a jumper each! After this, we found our way into a huge shopping mall that had an interesting food court in the basement where we had a meal.
By now it was evening, so we caught the BART train back to San Leandro and phone the hotel for transport to get us back. Quite a tiring day, but we saw a lot of the city.
Hotel - Marina Inn
Weather - Clear skies and sunny to start with, then mist rolled in and a cool breeze picked up. High 60s at most.
After a very peaceful nights sleep we got up and explored the breakfast buffet at the hotel and found it to be excellent. The hotel offered free transport to Oakland Airport and to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station at San Leandro, so we booked a ride to the station. It was only about 2 miles and only took about 10 minutes.
At the station we bought tickets into San Francisco which cost $4.25 each and caught the first train that arrived. The train travelled on the surface along the eastern side of the Bay passing the Oakland Colliseum, a sports venue, and Oakland itself before going into the tunnel below the Bay and into San Francisco proper. Ken and Lin got off at Embarcadero, whilst we stayed on the train to Powel Street.
Once off the train, we briefly visited the San Francisco Visitors Centre and picked up a couple of maps and a day pass for the transport system in the city. Our first foray took us just a few yards to the corner of Powell and Market Street, the terminus of one of the iconic cable-car lines. We had been warned there were often queues at the terminuses and we weren't disappointed!
When the cable-car arrives at the terminus, it is disconnected from the cable, pushed onto a turntable, the turntable pushed around and then the car is pushed back into a position to re-engage with the cable, all this done by the conductor and the brakeman! The cars have interior seats as well as seats on the outside and 'running-boards' that riders may travel on. The brakeman gets the car moving by using a large lever to grab onto the constantly moving cable under the street. To stop, he disengages from the cable and stands on a large brake-pedal - it is a very physical and skillful job!
We got on the cable car and quickly started heading up the switch-back hill that is Powell Street. In the China Town/Nob Hill area, the car manages to make a 90 degree turn along Jackson Street and shortly afterwards a second 90 degree turn onto Hyde Street. The ride down Hyde Street is a real roller-coaster ride all the way down to Beach Street and the dock area. Throughout the ride, people jumped on and off the car as it passed each cross-road.
Down at the dock area, we wandered onto Pier 45 which has a collection of historical ships moored alongside, interestingly, several were from UK. At the end of the pier we could see both the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island, site of the infamous prison, in the distance. As we looked toward the Golden Gate Bridge we could see sea mist rolling in which quickly hid the bridge before continuing on toward where we were standing. The temperature dropped several degrees and a cool breeze picked up.
By now it was lunchtime, so we walked on towards Fishermans Wharf and stopped at a restaurant by the fish market where we had a very good fish lunch. Following this, we continued to wander down toward Fishermans Wharf and pier 39. Several of the ferries stop in this area and next to Pier 39 several pontoons moored in the area are home to a colony of Sea Lions. The whole area is very touristy, a bit like Skegness as somebody said, and very busy.
By now we were feeling a little chilly, so decided to head back into town and made a big mistake. We first caught a trolley bus back to junction of Hyde and Beach and joined the queue for the cable-car back into town. The queue got longer and longer and the cable-cars didn't seem to be going anywhere fast. Staff there said it was normal, but it seemed totally disorganised. Finally, we got on a car, Lynn on the outside seats and me hanging on travelling on running boards, quite and exciting ride.
Halfway up the hill we got off at Lombard Street and went to explore the 'famous' crooked street. This street is so steep, a series of hairpin bends have been created so that cars can travel down the street, quite an odd sight. The steet is very steep to walk down (think of Steep Hill in Lincoln) with lots of people trying to get pictures. I think the best view is from the bottom looking back up. We continued on down the road until we got to Columbus street where we stopped for hot chocolate (yes it really was that cool!).
We decided that we'd head back to Market Street so we caught a trolley bus that delivered us back into the middle of the city where we went shopping to buy a jumper each! After this, we found our way into a huge shopping mall that had an interesting food court in the basement where we had a meal.
By now it was evening, so we caught the BART train back to San Leandro and phone the hotel for transport to get us back. Quite a tiring day, but we saw a lot of the city.
Hotel - Marina Inn
Weather - Clear skies and sunny to start with, then mist rolled in and a cool breeze picked up. High 60s at most.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
San Leandro, San Jose and Peter Gabriel
02 Oct 2012 (Tuesday) Salinas, California - San Leandro, California - 89 miles
One again, it was a beautiful day as we left the Laurel Inn Hotel. The hotel turned out to be a real gem, quite reasonably priced, clean, quiet and the staff friendly.
Our route took us onto the US 101 north heading towards San Francisco. In San Jose, we changed onto the I-880 to go around the eastern side of San Francisco Bay. The traffic through San Jose was very busy, certainly the most traffic we'd seen for a couple of weeks.
Once we got to San Leandro, about 30 miles north of San Jose, we easily found Marina Boulevard and drove down to San Leandro Marina and the Marina Inn. This is a very attractive looking hotel perched on the edge of the marina which is full of boats and yachts. Although it was still before 12, we managed to check-in and got a room overlooking the marina. In the distance we could see planes landing at Oakland Airport, but during our stay they really didn't disturb us at all.
Co-located with the hotel were two restaurants, Horatios an up-market dining experience serving steaks and ribs etc and El Toritos, a Mexican restaurant. We chose the El Toritos and enjoyed a very pleasant lunch.
During the afternoon, I went for a swim in the pool and lazed in the hot tub!
We left the hotel at 5-0-clock and rejoined the I-880 for the journey down to San Jose where we had booked to see Peter Gabriel in concert. We left early as we thought the traffic would be horrendous, but because we were able to the 'car-pool' lane on the outside lane of the Interstate, we whizzed down the outside of all the rest of the jammed up traffic.
We were able to park easily, although it cost $20, right next to the entrance to the HP Pavillion stadium and went to pick up our tickets from the 'will call' window of the box-office. We had to wait about another 45 minures before the doors opened, but spent the time reading.
The concert was excellent (well I thought it was) with the same band members as the original tour in 1986, and it finished at 2300. We quickly got going, joined the I-880 north again and were back at the hotel by midnight.
Hotel - Marina Inn
Weather - Clear skies and sunny. Slowly warmed up all day to reach 90s mid afternoon
One again, it was a beautiful day as we left the Laurel Inn Hotel. The hotel turned out to be a real gem, quite reasonably priced, clean, quiet and the staff friendly.
Our route took us onto the US 101 north heading towards San Francisco. In San Jose, we changed onto the I-880 to go around the eastern side of San Francisco Bay. The traffic through San Jose was very busy, certainly the most traffic we'd seen for a couple of weeks.
Once we got to San Leandro, about 30 miles north of San Jose, we easily found Marina Boulevard and drove down to San Leandro Marina and the Marina Inn. This is a very attractive looking hotel perched on the edge of the marina which is full of boats and yachts. Although it was still before 12, we managed to check-in and got a room overlooking the marina. In the distance we could see planes landing at Oakland Airport, but during our stay they really didn't disturb us at all.
Co-located with the hotel were two restaurants, Horatios an up-market dining experience serving steaks and ribs etc and El Toritos, a Mexican restaurant. We chose the El Toritos and enjoyed a very pleasant lunch.
During the afternoon, I went for a swim in the pool and lazed in the hot tub!
We left the hotel at 5-0-clock and rejoined the I-880 for the journey down to San Jose where we had booked to see Peter Gabriel in concert. We left early as we thought the traffic would be horrendous, but because we were able to the 'car-pool' lane on the outside lane of the Interstate, we whizzed down the outside of all the rest of the jammed up traffic.
We were able to park easily, although it cost $20, right next to the entrance to the HP Pavillion stadium and went to pick up our tickets from the 'will call' window of the box-office. We had to wait about another 45 minures before the doors opened, but spent the time reading.
The concert was excellent (well I thought it was) with the same band members as the original tour in 1986, and it finished at 2300. We quickly got going, joined the I-880 north again and were back at the hotel by midnight.
Hotel - Marina Inn
Weather - Clear skies and sunny. Slowly warmed up all day to reach 90s mid afternoon
Big Sur
01 Oct 2012 (Monday) Salinas, California - Salinas, California - 233 miles
We had deliberately left our trip to the Big Sur, or Highway 1 until today to get the best of the weather and avoid weekend crowds. It was a good decision.
We left the hotel in bright sunshine and it was already warm. By the time we got back to Carmel, it had got quite hot. The Big Sur is generally accepted as stretching from Carmel-by-the-Sea in the north all the way down Highway 1 to San Simeon, a distance of about 90 miles. The road follows the coast most of the way and was built in the 1930s during the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps, in a effort to stave off mass unemployment. The road is spectacular, often perched on cliffs hundreds of feet about the Pacific Ocean or over huge bridges.
Our first stop was at Point Lobos State Park where we paid a fee of $9 with gave us admission to all the state parks down the Big Sur for 1 day. Lobos in this instance refers to Sea-Lions rather than wolves!. It was very hot in the park, but down at the coast we able to watch Sea-Otters and Sea-Lions as well as lots of sea-birds.
From here on, we stopped at just about every vantage point all the way down to Lucia. Most of the view-points are on the right-hand side of the road as you travel south, so it makes it easier to do the sightseeing going in this direction. There were a few sets of road works down the road, mostly replacing sections of road that had slipped down towards the sea! At most of the view points, it was possible to see wildlife of one description or another.
Just before the Julia Pfeiffer Brown State Park, at one view-point, we realised that we could see Californian Condor circling above us, high in the hills. We had been hoping to see these, but hadn't been too optimistic as they are still endangered and not very plentiful. We were lucky enough to see three here. Further down the road in the State Park, Lynn saw two more (or maybe they were the same birds) whilst we were trying to find a waterall that crashed down from the cliffs onto the sand below.
Down at Lucia, we stopped for lunch and sat on a patio high about the ocean with far-reaching views, it would have been very pleasant to laze around there, but we had already been almost 6 hours driving down the coast! Finally, not far north of San Simeon, we came across an Elephant Seal colony. There were hundreds of these huge seals on the beach and in the water. Apparently, they were assembling for breeding season. There were lots of females and sub-adults and just a few bull seals. These bulls were probably not fully grown as the adult bulls weren't expected to arrive and start fighting for harems for several weeks. Nonetheless, they were still play fighting and making a lot of noise.
We continued on down to San Simeon where we stopped for a break before heading back up the 90 miles to Carmel. What had taken us 6-7 hour to drive south, we covering in less than 2 going north!. Towards Carmel, we witnessed a spectacular sun-set as we continued north and eventually got back to Salinas at about 1900.
We went straight to Applebys for dinner. Here we ran into a few problems, the restaurant had run out of diet coke and ribs and delivered Lins dinner without the advertised boiled potatoes. After calling out the Manageress, Lin got a free Maragarita and dinner because of the problems.
Hotel - Laurel Inn Motel
Weather - Clear skies and sunny. Slowly warmed up all day to reach 90s mid afternoon
We had deliberately left our trip to the Big Sur, or Highway 1 until today to get the best of the weather and avoid weekend crowds. It was a good decision.
We left the hotel in bright sunshine and it was already warm. By the time we got back to Carmel, it had got quite hot. The Big Sur is generally accepted as stretching from Carmel-by-the-Sea in the north all the way down Highway 1 to San Simeon, a distance of about 90 miles. The road follows the coast most of the way and was built in the 1930s during the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps, in a effort to stave off mass unemployment. The road is spectacular, often perched on cliffs hundreds of feet about the Pacific Ocean or over huge bridges.
Our first stop was at Point Lobos State Park where we paid a fee of $9 with gave us admission to all the state parks down the Big Sur for 1 day. Lobos in this instance refers to Sea-Lions rather than wolves!. It was very hot in the park, but down at the coast we able to watch Sea-Otters and Sea-Lions as well as lots of sea-birds.
From here on, we stopped at just about every vantage point all the way down to Lucia. Most of the view-points are on the right-hand side of the road as you travel south, so it makes it easier to do the sightseeing going in this direction. There were a few sets of road works down the road, mostly replacing sections of road that had slipped down towards the sea! At most of the view points, it was possible to see wildlife of one description or another.
Just before the Julia Pfeiffer Brown State Park, at one view-point, we realised that we could see Californian Condor circling above us, high in the hills. We had been hoping to see these, but hadn't been too optimistic as they are still endangered and not very plentiful. We were lucky enough to see three here. Further down the road in the State Park, Lynn saw two more (or maybe they were the same birds) whilst we were trying to find a waterall that crashed down from the cliffs onto the sand below.
Down at Lucia, we stopped for lunch and sat on a patio high about the ocean with far-reaching views, it would have been very pleasant to laze around there, but we had already been almost 6 hours driving down the coast! Finally, not far north of San Simeon, we came across an Elephant Seal colony. There were hundreds of these huge seals on the beach and in the water. Apparently, they were assembling for breeding season. There were lots of females and sub-adults and just a few bull seals. These bulls were probably not fully grown as the adult bulls weren't expected to arrive and start fighting for harems for several weeks. Nonetheless, they were still play fighting and making a lot of noise.
We continued on down to San Simeon where we stopped for a break before heading back up the 90 miles to Carmel. What had taken us 6-7 hour to drive south, we covering in less than 2 going north!. Towards Carmel, we witnessed a spectacular sun-set as we continued north and eventually got back to Salinas at about 1900.
We went straight to Applebys for dinner. Here we ran into a few problems, the restaurant had run out of diet coke and ribs and delivered Lins dinner without the advertised boiled potatoes. After calling out the Manageress, Lin got a free Maragarita and dinner because of the problems.
Hotel - Laurel Inn Motel
Weather - Clear skies and sunny. Slowly warmed up all day to reach 90s mid afternoon
Monday, October 22, 2012
Where's Clint when you need him?
30 Sep 2012 (Sunday) Salinas, California - Salinas, California - 55 miles
Once again the weather looked good, so we headed back to the coast, this time driving into Carmel-by-the-Sea, the town where Clint Eastwood used to be the mayor.
The town can only be described as 'quaint' or 'twee', but is rather attractive nonetheless. The town was busy, it being Sunday, but we managed eventually to find a parking space quite close to the beach. We sat around and watched people exercising their dogs on the beach for a while and then decided to go for a walk along the road by the coast. The road was lined with beautiful houses, some beach-front, others rising up the hill behind, all very expensive. Many houses that were for sale were being marketed by Southebys! Once again, we managed to find a bench to sit on and watch people on the beach. There were a few people surfing too.
Whilst sitting on a bench watching the world go by, we realised that hummingbirds were feeding in the trees close by. There were lots of Brewers Blackbirds feed on the ground as well.
After all this activity, we decided to walk into town and leave the car where it was parked. It was a bit of a haul up the hill into town and once again we passed many beautiful houses. Once in town, we stopped for coffee/drinks and did some more people-watching.
This obviously made us hungry so we decided to look at the shops and also find somewhere for lunch. Some of the restaurants were 'fine-dining' and appropriately expensive, but we found one off the main street which had more reasonable prices. I found my perfect brunch meal, a lobster BLT with hand-cut fries. There was plenty of lobster on the toasted ciabatta and several strips of crispy but substantial bacon to top along with avocado and black tomato.
After this extravaganza, we headed back to Salinas for a rest. Lynn and I sat by the pool all afternoon and read.
Later, Lynn and I drove about 1/4 mile to Applebys where we had a pleasant dinner.
Hotel - Laurel Inn Motel
Weather - Clear skies and sunny. Slowly warmed up all day to reach mid 70s
The Pacific,Mist and Golf Courses
29 Sep 2012 (Saturday) Salinas, California - Salinas, California - 65 miles
When we got up, the weather looked really promising with clear skies, so we set off for the Monterey peninsular. As we got closer to the coast, the mist started rolling in and by the time we got into Pebble Beach on the Pacific Ocean, it was quite thick. This was our first view of the sea since we had been in the USA.
We paid roughly $10 to drive the 17 Mile Drive, a marked route through the very exclusive area of Pebble Beach. The area consists of about 4 golf courses, including the famous Pebble Beach Course used for US Open Championships, beautiful coast and very expensive houses. The first part of our route took us through the residential area before we joined the coast. It was breezy and cool with heavy mist shrouding the views. This hadn't stopped lots of people from coming out to walk their dogs or go surfing. There was a lot of kelp floating in the sea and washing up on the beach, which suggests that there had been a storm out in the Pacific recently.
We continued the drive stopping regularly to take photos and watch birds, Sea-Lions and squadrons of Brown Pelicans. As the day progressed, the mist cleared so we could see further and it warmed up a little. Eventually, we reached Pebble Beach again and turned around to go to Monterey itself where we fancied a sea-food lunch.
Some of the golf courses had spectacular tees, fairways and greens bordering the ocean, several managed without fairways at all, just a tee on one jutting out bit of coast and a green on the next, rather challenging I suspect.
As it was a weekend, Monterey was absolutely heaving and it took some time to find somewhere to park that wasn't going to cost $25 for a couple of hours. We managed to find a public parking lot between Cannery Row and Fishermans Wharf and walked back to Cannery Row where we managed to find a restaurant serving fish and sea-food. Our table looked out over the bay and we could see harbour seals and sea-otters in the kelp. The food was very good too, especially the crab!
After lunch we all went for a wander around, Lynn and I around Cannery Row and Lin and Ken down to Fishermans Wharf to see more of the seals and pelicans.
After our day at the sea-side we headed back to Salinas and the hotel. During the evening, the mist reached Salinas and it got quite cool.
Hotel - Laurel Inn Motel
Weather - Clear skies and sunny until closer to the coast, then misty. Cool all day on the coast, the mist cleared early afternoon, but the breeze was still cool
When we got up, the weather looked really promising with clear skies, so we set off for the Monterey peninsular. As we got closer to the coast, the mist started rolling in and by the time we got into Pebble Beach on the Pacific Ocean, it was quite thick. This was our first view of the sea since we had been in the USA.
We paid roughly $10 to drive the 17 Mile Drive, a marked route through the very exclusive area of Pebble Beach. The area consists of about 4 golf courses, including the famous Pebble Beach Course used for US Open Championships, beautiful coast and very expensive houses. The first part of our route took us through the residential area before we joined the coast. It was breezy and cool with heavy mist shrouding the views. This hadn't stopped lots of people from coming out to walk their dogs or go surfing. There was a lot of kelp floating in the sea and washing up on the beach, which suggests that there had been a storm out in the Pacific recently.
We continued the drive stopping regularly to take photos and watch birds, Sea-Lions and squadrons of Brown Pelicans. As the day progressed, the mist cleared so we could see further and it warmed up a little. Eventually, we reached Pebble Beach again and turned around to go to Monterey itself where we fancied a sea-food lunch.
Some of the golf courses had spectacular tees, fairways and greens bordering the ocean, several managed without fairways at all, just a tee on one jutting out bit of coast and a green on the next, rather challenging I suspect.
As it was a weekend, Monterey was absolutely heaving and it took some time to find somewhere to park that wasn't going to cost $25 for a couple of hours. We managed to find a public parking lot between Cannery Row and Fishermans Wharf and walked back to Cannery Row where we managed to find a restaurant serving fish and sea-food. Our table looked out over the bay and we could see harbour seals and sea-otters in the kelp. The food was very good too, especially the crab!
After lunch we all went for a wander around, Lynn and I around Cannery Row and Lin and Ken down to Fishermans Wharf to see more of the seals and pelicans.
After our day at the sea-side we headed back to Salinas and the hotel. During the evening, the mist reached Salinas and it got quite cool.
Hotel - Laurel Inn Motel
Weather - Clear skies and sunny until closer to the coast, then misty. Cool all day on the coast, the mist cleared early afternoon, but the breeze was still cool
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Go West Young Man
28 Sep 2012 (Friday) Oakhurst, California - Salinas, California - 165 miles
After a late start, we headed out of Oakhurst on SR-41 for about 30 miles before turning east onto the route SR-145 across to Madera, an agricultural town. Here, we headed straight on into farm land on smaller roads before heading north again towards Chowchilla. Back on the main roads, we joined the US-152 heading west. The road was pretty flat until we passed Los Banos after which it became more hilly. We passed two reservoirs, one small and one huge. The huge one, San Luis Reservoir, had a very low water-level. We tried to go down to look at it, but we would have to have paid $10 just to park for a few minutes. On the way down the road we spotted a Roadrunner.
Once over the hills, we continued west and joined the US-156 towards Monterey, once again through farmland. Eventually, we joined the US-101 heading south to Salinas. We found the Laurel Inn Motel easily and checked in for 4 nights.
After settling in we headed to down-town Salinas for a look around. By chance, there was a rally of old cars and 'hot-rods' right in the centre of the older part of town, so we wandered round and looked at all the cars, bikes and boats on display. By this time, it felt quite chilly with a cool breeze blowing so we stopped in at a brew-pub on the main street for a beer before wandering on again to look at cars. The streets in the town centre were all closed and hundreds of people had come out to look at, and admire, the cars and speed-boats. Some of the cars had just been restored, others modified with huge engines for drag-racing and others were just made up cars. There were also very small speed-boats, with huge 5 or 6 litre engines on the back, all gleaming chrome.
Later we returned to the motel and ate dinner at a restaurant called the Black Bear Diner next to the motel. Good food, but a seriously confused waitress, who told us they only sold Bud Light and all the wine had run out. Neither statement was true. Regretably, it clouded our judgement of the place, we wouldn't be returning.
Hotel - Laurel Inn Motel
Weather - Clear skies and sunny until closer to the coast, then cloudy. Warm to hot all day until the coast then cool in the 60s with a NW breeze
After a late start, we headed out of Oakhurst on SR-41 for about 30 miles before turning east onto the route SR-145 across to Madera, an agricultural town. Here, we headed straight on into farm land on smaller roads before heading north again towards Chowchilla. Back on the main roads, we joined the US-152 heading west. The road was pretty flat until we passed Los Banos after which it became more hilly. We passed two reservoirs, one small and one huge. The huge one, San Luis Reservoir, had a very low water-level. We tried to go down to look at it, but we would have to have paid $10 just to park for a few minutes. On the way down the road we spotted a Roadrunner.
Once over the hills, we continued west and joined the US-156 towards Monterey, once again through farmland. Eventually, we joined the US-101 heading south to Salinas. We found the Laurel Inn Motel easily and checked in for 4 nights.
After settling in we headed to down-town Salinas for a look around. By chance, there was a rally of old cars and 'hot-rods' right in the centre of the older part of town, so we wandered round and looked at all the cars, bikes and boats on display. By this time, it felt quite chilly with a cool breeze blowing so we stopped in at a brew-pub on the main street for a beer before wandering on again to look at cars. The streets in the town centre were all closed and hundreds of people had come out to look at, and admire, the cars and speed-boats. Some of the cars had just been restored, others modified with huge engines for drag-racing and others were just made up cars. There were also very small speed-boats, with huge 5 or 6 litre engines on the back, all gleaming chrome.
Later we returned to the motel and ate dinner at a restaurant called the Black Bear Diner next to the motel. Good food, but a seriously confused waitress, who told us they only sold Bud Light and all the wine had run out. Neither statement was true. Regretably, it clouded our judgement of the place, we wouldn't be returning.
Hotel - Laurel Inn Motel
Weather - Clear skies and sunny until closer to the coast, then cloudy. Warm to hot all day until the coast then cool in the 60s with a NW breeze
Giant Sequoia and Massive Views
27 Sep 2012 (Thursday) Oakhurst, California - Oakhurst, California - 131 miles
We were faced with yet another journey along the SR-41 and its associated extensive roadwork in the morning. We had discovered overnight that friends of ours from Texas, Randy and Barb Walters had arrived just outside Yosemite in their camping trailer, so we had a lunch date in the park.
Our first stop of the the day, however, was Mariposa Grove, between Fish Camp and Wawona. We turned off the main road and headed a couple of miles up a side road to a car park in a grove of giant sequoia or redwood trees. Like their cousins in the New Zealand, the Kauri, these trees are massive. We had seen lots of very large pines in our travels, but the sequoias totally dwarfed them.
There was a trail up to one particularly large tree, named 'Grizzly Giant', so I set off up to it. The trail wound its way amongst other large trees, including one that had collapsed. Further on I saw a pair of white-headed woodpeckers that posed for photographs. 'Grizzly Giant' was suitably huge. Like the Kauri, it proved impossible to get a photo of a tree, it's possible to take a picture of the top or the bottom, but a conventional camera struggles to capture the whole massive thing. Having people in the picture at the foot of the tree helps give it some scale. The tree is generally agreed to be about 1800 years old.
Not far beyone 'Grizzly Giant' was another particularly large sequoia, the 'California Tunnel' tree. This tree had a tunnel cut through it in the 1895 so that horse-drawn carriages could pass through it! Once again, having people passing through helps to give a scale.
Back on the main road, we endured several sets of road-works before making it into Yosemite Valley and parking in the 'Village'. We quickly found Randy and Barb and had a very pleasant lunch sitting outside. We managed to catch up with all their news and after a couple of hours said goodbye and headed in opposite directions. They were slowly heading back to San Antonio via the Balloon Festival in Albequeque, New Mexico.
We headed out of Yosemite Valley for the last time and took our favourite road back south the SR-41, but this time after about 10 miles took Glacier Point Road heading east. This road slowly wound its way through pine forests from 6000 ft up to 7500 feet. After about 25 miles, we came to the car park and walk out to the viewpoint. From here, Yosemite Valley is 3000 feet vertically below and is probably gives the best view of Half Dome. Also from here, both the Vernal and Nevada falls are easily visible. It is certainly one of the most spectacular viewpoints I've ever visited.
From here, we returned the 25 miles back to the main road and then back to Oakhurst, fortunately the roadworks had finished for the day! In the evening, we found a chinese restaurant for dinner. We had quite a long wait for our food, but it was good when it came.
Hotel - Days Inn, Oakhurst
Weather - Clear skies and sunny. Warm to hot all day
We were faced with yet another journey along the SR-41 and its associated extensive roadwork in the morning. We had discovered overnight that friends of ours from Texas, Randy and Barb Walters had arrived just outside Yosemite in their camping trailer, so we had a lunch date in the park.
Our first stop of the the day, however, was Mariposa Grove, between Fish Camp and Wawona. We turned off the main road and headed a couple of miles up a side road to a car park in a grove of giant sequoia or redwood trees. Like their cousins in the New Zealand, the Kauri, these trees are massive. We had seen lots of very large pines in our travels, but the sequoias totally dwarfed them.
There was a trail up to one particularly large tree, named 'Grizzly Giant', so I set off up to it. The trail wound its way amongst other large trees, including one that had collapsed. Further on I saw a pair of white-headed woodpeckers that posed for photographs. 'Grizzly Giant' was suitably huge. Like the Kauri, it proved impossible to get a photo of a tree, it's possible to take a picture of the top or the bottom, but a conventional camera struggles to capture the whole massive thing. Having people in the picture at the foot of the tree helps give it some scale. The tree is generally agreed to be about 1800 years old.
Not far beyone 'Grizzly Giant' was another particularly large sequoia, the 'California Tunnel' tree. This tree had a tunnel cut through it in the 1895 so that horse-drawn carriages could pass through it! Once again, having people passing through helps to give a scale.
Back on the main road, we endured several sets of road-works before making it into Yosemite Valley and parking in the 'Village'. We quickly found Randy and Barb and had a very pleasant lunch sitting outside. We managed to catch up with all their news and after a couple of hours said goodbye and headed in opposite directions. They were slowly heading back to San Antonio via the Balloon Festival in Albequeque, New Mexico.
We headed out of Yosemite Valley for the last time and took our favourite road back south the SR-41, but this time after about 10 miles took Glacier Point Road heading east. This road slowly wound its way through pine forests from 6000 ft up to 7500 feet. After about 25 miles, we came to the car park and walk out to the viewpoint. From here, Yosemite Valley is 3000 feet vertically below and is probably gives the best view of Half Dome. Also from here, both the Vernal and Nevada falls are easily visible. It is certainly one of the most spectacular viewpoints I've ever visited.
From here, we returned the 25 miles back to the main road and then back to Oakhurst, fortunately the roadworks had finished for the day! In the evening, we found a chinese restaurant for dinner. We had quite a long wait for our food, but it was good when it came.
Hotel - Days Inn, Oakhurst
Weather - Clear skies and sunny. Warm to hot all day
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