After the stunning sunset in Bandon, Oregon, we continued to wind our way down the coast headed towards San Francisco, the City by the Bay. On our way, we made a detour to take in the mind-boggling natural spectacle known as Avenue of the Giants. The nickname 'Giants' does not refer to a football team, but rather to the towering redwood pine forest, whose trees have been growing, in some cases, for over a thousand years. A hike via the trails and over the thick detritus, afforded us with the opportunity to witness the size of some of these enormous trees, whose trunks were so large that they could not only fit a person within them, but also a car!
After we had returned from calm, tranquil nature to the loud, dirty freeway, we drove our way along to the little town of Ukiah. By this time, we both were feeling very tired from our journey. We collapsed into our hotel room, had a meager prepared meal that we were able to scrounge up at the local Safeway and then fell soundly asleep.
On the next day, we did a little reconnaissance of the vineyards we would like to explore in Napa Valley. We chose to do it this way, because it was currently Sunday and we wanted to go back on a less heavily visited day. With the vineyard selection completed, we checked out the Californian burger chain In-N-Out. It was very yummy and hit the spot as our Linner (lunch plus dinner).
As it was getting a little late, we finished our travels for the day at a town just outside of San Francisco, called Emeryville (home of the Pixar Animation Studios). From there we were able to see the fog rolling in over San Francisco bay. We took half a dozen pictures of the Peninsula and the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. We would find ourselves doing this many, many times over the next couple of days, all from different angles and at different times of the day.
While we were in the area, it miraculously stormed and rained over night. One local San Franciscan commented on the thunder and lightning, which he remembered having seen only once before when he was very young! This left us wondering if we had anything to do with this sudden change in weather – perhaps we had brought it, to the drought ravaged state of California and to this city that had not received a lick of rain in many months. (We often joke that we are the StormBringers! In Australia we seemed to some how have this affect when we visited Brisbane in 2007, which was under serious drought conditions – well, until we came that is!).
Back to the Napa Valley where we stopped at the Peju and Del Dotto vineyards, both of which produced some very fine wine. These vineyards had very good wine tasting rooms, with beautiful decor as well as some nicely landscaped gardens and knowledgeable staff. They were okay, but not as nice as Castello di Amorosa which was modeled after a 13th century Italian castle, taking eight years to fully build. Absolutely spectacular although the wine was not so great, compared to the other two vineyards we visited (interesting that it should work that way?).
After our trip around Napa Valley, we navigated our way over The Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco proper, were we stayed in a place called Russian Hill. An important thing to remember, wherever you go in San Francisco - you will undoubtedly find yourself at the top or the bottom of a hill, the point being there will definitely be a slope involved somewhere. It was getting late so we decided to take a quick stroll around and headed out to Chestnut street, which is a swanky place with many restaurants and shops. We checked out the new iPad PRO at the Apple Store, which was a pretty cool device and drew a few doodles with the new pencil/stylus.
The next day, we walked to Union Square, in downtown San Francisco (yes, you guessed it, over half a dozen hills!). Lots of interesting things to see, including a Christmas tree (oh no, so soon?) We had a nice meal at a restaurant called Hogwash, and then we caught the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train over to the Mission district where Melissa ordered a Burrito for dinner from La Taqueria. Then we parted ways, Melissa went to have some down time, while Colin went on to see Haight-Ashbury, in particular to see the Amoeba Music store. This area of San Francisco was the centre of the Hippy culture in the ‘60’s and still had a very chill, easy going atmosphere that was every bit as bohemian as West Queen Street West (in Toronto). Colin spent the next two hours wandering home, getting lost, running out of phone batteries, hanging out in a café while having his phone recharged by the friendly staff & customers and then finally heading home.
Next day, Colin headed out early to see Alcatraz as he had never seen it before. Melissa, having lived in San Francisco many years ago, had been out there a couple of times, so she made sure that Colin had a return pass and not a one-way ticket! She then sent him off to have the fun of being incarcerated by the US, while she took care of some of the tedious, inevitable house keeping (the laundry!). The trip out there was a little cold but it afforded the opportunity to take some nice pictures of San Francisco from the harbor. The tour of The Rock, was interesting and they had it setup so you could wear a headset and walk around the actual prison cells. It presented the listener with a first person perspective from a couple of guards and prisoners who provided the narration for these harrowing tales. Upon his return to the mainland, as a newly freed prisoner, Colin checked out the view from Coit Tower and then walked up Lombard street where he saw a flock of tourists perilously navigating their way down the crooked, steep slope on their Segways. We then went for a wonderful lunch at Pacific Catch out on the patio (Mmm, did somebody say Calamari?), the sun shining down on the both of them it was as if the summer had never ended.
Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to San Francisco, but before they left, Melissa took Colin over to Treasure Island to show him the place were she lived when she was working in the area in 2004. This location provided spectacular views of the city, The Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. In fact, these were basically the shots which we have shown you!
Next up: California Dreaming -- Southern Edition
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