Thanks San Fran for an awesome visit

Alcatraz...check
Tour on the bay...check
Aquarium...check
Old boat tour...check
Cable Car ride...check
Mexican lunch...check
Best sushi ever...check
Phenominal views...check
Sun tan...check
Laughing at the Sea Lion's antics...check
Crab dinner...check
Having a great hotel room with the views of the lights of Oakland and the northern part of San Francisco Bay ...check

Now it's nearly time to check out of here and on to the next part of the pilgrimage.

I have had such a great time here checking everything out. I even went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum! Something a little different.

The weather out right now (it's 4 pm) is about 85 F and the sun fairly melts you. I have been doing my sight seeing early in the morning and back "home" mid afternoon before the worst part of the day hits. With no parks around the shade is very hard to find so I figure the morning is the best time to move around. The weather I guess is a little surprising for the locals too. It's so nice that everyone is out doing things.

San Fran has very little in the way of green space. As it's built on a cliff or series of cliffs the buildings and structures are all shoved together much like Prague! Narrow little streets and some crazy hills and cable cars and trams and everything else thrown in makes it a challenge to move around.

The Cable car was fun but trecerous to ride on if you were just "hanging on"! The ride was not smooth by any means and when the driver decided to go, we went! It was a blast though. I was at the back of the Cable Car for part of the ride on the back "patio" they call it. It was great!

I walked back to the hotel (about a 2 hour walk) from the Cable Car end depot as the line up to go back was way too long to hang around in just for a ride back to the waterfront. The walk took me through the financial district and the fancy schmancy shopping district (think Saks 5th Avenue and the like). What a great walk!
I think I've covered quite a bit of San Francisco and totallly enjoyed everything!

Yesterday I was at the Aquarium of the Bay for 2 hours! It was so AWESOME! It's one of the type of aquariums that you walk through. So, so cool! There were two tunnels to go through, one of smaller fish and one of larger fish. The whole experience was fantastic.

The manta ray touch and play pool was really neat! I've never touched a manta ray before. They are so soft and a little slimy. They were so curious too! They kept coming to the sides to have a look at us. It was kind of eerie! 
The most relaxing part was watching the moon jelly fish go up and down like an aquatic lava lamp. There was even relaxing music playing too. They should have this at a spa!

Oh yeah
Alcatraz!
I didn't mention anything about that.
What a great tour! The boat ride across the bay to the island was great. Super views and a super ride.
Once on the island there are many options. A 20 minute movie is shown to illustrate the history of the island, a steep walk up to the cell block where an audio set is picked up to take you on a very effective tour of the cell block and the life there.
It's narrated by a former inmate and there are lots of sound effects through out the tour. Really something.
After you return the headset you are off to explore the island for the most part. The lighthouse pictured below is one of the most photographed in the world. A light has been here for over 200 years. The ruins are of the Warden's home. The staff lived on the island.

The cell block was eerie and neat all at the same time. Al Capone had been here. Movies have been shot here (Escape from Alcatraz etc) and there is lots of history in these cells.
Let me tell you that 6 X 9 is really, really small!
Yikes!

Well, I think every single thing that I had on my "do in San Fran" list is checked off. I've even had original San Francisco Sour Dough bread!
Yum!

Off to the next adventure....

San Francisco California-So much to do!

Hi there
After a short break, due to a very poor internet connection in Santa Cruz I'm blogging again...

First of all Santa Cruz was awesome and fun too! Watching the surfers in the swells of the Pacific off of the shore was great, the views were great. Meeting and acquaintance for lunch in Pacific Grove (she said she'd haunt me if I didn't call her when I was in California!) and drinking in the opulence of Pebble Beach was fantastic too. The fog and drizzle enshrouded the gigantic fields of strawberries, artichokes and brussel sprouts (now I know where they come from when they say "California" on the tag) were neat to see and the century old Boardwalk was so fun to walk on during a holiday weekend.

When planning a trip on the fly like this it's hard sometimes to figure out how long to stay in one place or another. Santa Cruz was a stopping place for other things that were out there to see. The hotel, though nice, was not as comfortable as I've been in other places. (Okay, a car alarm going off at 1:30 am today didn't help the overall experience, and it wasn't mine yay!)
Santa Cruz is not the most wealthy of towns and only a few miles away is one of the wealthiest, Pebble Beach. The difference is so vast, as is the terrain. To drive to the south means driving though fields and fields of crops. Then to huge sand dunes, then to lush treed and gated homes of Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach and the 17 mile drive. So beautiful. So manicured. So fancy.

Yeah, I went to Pebble Beach Golf Course (if you're a fan of golf you'll know that this is like going to a holy site, Mecca is Augusta National in Georgia, this is a close second to that).
A round of golf costs $495 a round and the caddie is expected to receive a significant gratuity and I didn't even ask what the cart would cost. There had been rain so carts weren't allowed when I was visiting. But there was no shortage of players lining up to be sent off.
Really something to see and just be part of. I sat quietly on a bench for a little while and watched a couple of groups tee off. Way out of my league. I took a score card for The Mother, she'll have to compare her distances with the one's at Pebble Beach. Good luck on that!

The fog here can be rather a challenge to drive in, or a pain, depending. Highway 1 along the western edge of California was lovely, I'm sure for part of the drive, as I didn't really get to see it I have no real clue. The traffic reports in the morning give a fog density rating for the bridges and highways. It's what can hold things up around here. Today the fog was to clear later in the afternoon on the highway but I didn't want to wait until later in the afternoon so I ventured out and other than a couple of spots of "where'd the road go?" I did just fine.

San Francisco roads reallly are steep. Very steep. Steeper than they should be for any safe driving. But I did it! Okay, I did catch myself saying "Wheeeee!" a couple of times and thanked God again for my nav system which guided me to the Best Western here down town. Driving here makes a roller coaster ride seem like a bunny hill. I can see why they shoot car chases for movies here. You could get airborne very, very easily.

There is so much to do here and I chose a place very close to Fisherman's Wharf and the downtown core. I'm 2 blocks from everything I want to do. I have already booked my ticket (no it's return) to Alcatraz and checked out the Trolley cars, acquarium, Chinatown and the rest of the sights I want to see. I missed the complimentary "Manager's Wine hour" here at the hotel because I was having way to much fun on the Piers having dinner and watching all the boats go back and forth. Maybe tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and the Golden Gate Bridge is RED not gold. Someone lied. Or picked the wrong colour. Maybe when the fog really goes away (right....it's San Francisco) I'll see it in a different light.

Better go charge up the camera!

Some sights for you.

First is a bronze statue at Pebble Beach Golf Club entitled "Just Like Dad".
Next is "lone cypress" from the 17 Mile drive between Monterey and Carmel, California
Then, "Alcatraz emerging" (I like that one).
Then my view from my sushi restaurant overlooking the bay. Alcatraz in the distance and just some of the boats whipping around. Busy place!

Cheers from San Fran

Wine country California-A pretty place

Yesterday I had a lovely time going through the Charles M. Schulz (spelled correctly now) museum. It was so much fun to read some of the early comics. See how he put them together and what the process was for some of them and also see what a humble and giving man he was.
Though not political he sometimes had a slant like that in his work or an educator but he also taught so much with his comics. He is also known as a child behaviouralist and observer of the joys of play and development in young people. So fascinating. I would suggest this visit to anyone who visits the Sonoma Valley and the wine country here.
As I'm not a wine person per se I didn't do a "wine tour" but enjoyed learning about the art of wine making in this area in downtown Santa Rosa. Very similar to the Ontario version but the air and mountain sides that the grapes are grown on are supposed to be superior to anything that we have. I guess that's one side's opinion. It's all very pretty to me and seeing the hills covered in vineyards is neat.

Santa Rosa is a divided town. The highway (101) divides it in "old" and "new" but is easily accessed from each side by tunnels. There is a junior college here and their hockey team (yeah! Hockey!) the Polar Bears, plays at the Redwood Empire hockey arena that Charles Schulz had built due to his love of hockey. The little cafe, the Warm Puppy, is right inside the door with lots of good viewing of the rink. The rink itself looks like it should belong in the centre of the Austrian Alps with lots of mock ups of Austrian chalets on the end walls and huge murals of the Alpan countryside. It's really quite fascinating (pictures later friends, I'm on the hotel computer). There was an "old guy" team that was playing when I was there and they were pretty good. Mr. Schulz played with this same team that was playing I later found out. He loved hockey. As did his Peanuts characters.
He spent a lot of time at the rink and at the Warm Puppy Cafe and had his "usual table". That table now has a "reserved" sign on it, as it always did, but now it has no chairs around it and just a vase of flowers on it. Very touching I thought.

Santa Rosa is a railway town as well and I think, like many places out here, that's how it came to be. It's now really supported by the wine industry and the off shoots of that (hotels, restaurants etc) but it's just a little town in the middle of California.

Surprisingly I haven't seen any of my tie dye clad hitch hikers around. I guess they don't do wine country. The hitch hiking in California is next to a sport I think. There are so many of them all over the place. I don't know where they are all heading but most of them have zero money and just moving on. The economy in this town appears to be good, sort of the first place I've noted that, the other's not so much.

Today I am heading to the coast again for a few days. Where I'm going I hear there's a surfer museum, a long board walk and a nice beach. I'm looking forward to that!

Oh yeah, the tree I thought was a lime tree is actually a lemon tree and I found a pretty good fruit to take and try. I'll check it out tonight and see if it's really edible. Okay, okay, I know for a tourist like me I think it's pretty exciting but really... a lemon tree! Right out side my door. Cool.

Yesterday I saw a Kiwi plant in the gardens I was visiting. Very neat too. I like this area. Everything grows here!

Right folks so it's off to stick my tootsies in the surf and see if I can find any sea lions or seals. I haven't seen those yet. I have seen huge herds of elk that are starting to gather for the winter. Quite a sight.

Later dudes!
(Hey, I'm in surfer country, I have to get that in!)

Giant trees to Vineyards and Palm trees

This state truly has everything in it. This morning I woke up to the fog and mist rising up off the Pacific and the waves and now I'm in the middle of the vineyards of the Sonoma valley. I have checked out the Avenue of the Giants. Seen huge piles of the biggest seaweed I've ever seen and elk on the move getting to their winter feeding areas.

I've seen over 2 dozen hitchhikers (4 I saw repeatedly as they got lifts to where I ended up stopping) some decked out in very interesting outfits. Yes, there were the dudes in tie dye!
I'm settled in my nice hotel for a couple of nights where I have a palm tree outside my patio door and the pool is just steps away. Oh yeah, there's a lime on the tree around the corner. How cool is that!

The crashing waves of the Pacific this morning were interesting because they were muffled in their sound. The foam on the top of the waves was so thick that I think that dampened the sound. It was really different to hear. The waves were very powerful despite the fact that there was no wind. There were many warnings over it.

The drive continued to be twisty but there were also warnings about having headlights on at certain points. Not a problem for me (Canadian cars) as my headlights are always on and come on automatically full if it gets darker. There were times today, driving in the morning with the sun out that my headlights came on because the TREES were blocking out the sun. The huge, gy-normous, towering redwoods blocked out the light. The road was slick from the heavy rain we had last night and it was dark and just weird to drive through that area but oh so beautiful. I opened the windows a bit to get the scent of the forest. So clean, and clear and fresh smelling. Fantastic.

Out of the trees the ocean was the attraction. At the Redwood forest information place I checked out the beach and the weird stuff that comes up on the waves. First of the waves can be very unpredicatable and there are things called "sneaker" waves. Guess they come along and sneak up on you and take you down and sweep you out to sea! Love the name!

California rocks dude!

The adventure continues in the Sonoma vine valley! Vineyards as far as the eye can see!

Pacific Coast ...WOW I'm in California now! Dude!

Well everything you've ever heard or seen or read about the drive on the Pacific Coast Highway (by-way!) is true.
It is a challenging, beautiful, breathtaking, overwhelming and AWESOME drive.
I was excited to drive it. It was so fun!

Highway 101 is not a straight road and it was through tunnels, over bridges and around mountains.
The Pacific ocean is so much more majestic than the Atlantic. The waves were simply pounding onto the shores. The shores are weird too. Lots of rock formations in the middle of the shore.
I saw my first pelican!

There are so many look outs along the way that I decided that stopping at every one would mean a really late arrival in Crescent City. I stopped at the most scenic of them and was awed by the whole scene. I can't really tell you how it made me feel. It was breathtaking.

There were some storms that had passed by but no snow on the roads, some in the forests when I was at one of the higher elevations. I guess the area is getting it's fall rain storms and that seems to cause some problems. Hey, I'm used to that.

I am really impressed how the Equinox (all wheel drive, dontcha know) held the road. Some of the roads were quite narrow with no room for error! I was completely confident in the way it held the road.

One of the things I noticed in the west coast is the little Espresso bars all over the place. Ontario has Tim Hortons, here it's little shacks that sell espresso and coffee. Neat!. Okay I'll have to try one of those tomorrow.

After a number of hours of driving (6 or 7 I think) I arrived in Crescent City, California. This is a fishing town and not really a tourist place. It's one of the places that being out after dark is probably not a good plan or at least that's the way I felt. The Quality Inn is clean but not  many services and I'm hoping the blog will post. They have a breakfast that sounds pretty good and there's a fridge and microwave too. Other than that there's not much going on here. That's okay, my real goal is tomorrow's destination and checking out all the big red woods around me here!

Well, there's a cold California rain falling outside and I'm hoping the internet here will let me post.

Cheers all!

Finally at the Pacific!

Today, this evening I finally touched the Pacific ocean to put part of my goals behind me for my pilgrimage year.
I have gone from sea to sea.
Wow!

Today I arrived, in the pouring rain, in Seaside Oregon after an eclectic drive from Surrey BC (after quite the questionning by the lady border crossing lady who wanted to know my complete agenda, I seemed to have satisfied her I guess as she let me through finally).

I have driven through potato farmland, grazing land, over mountains, through dark green forests and even took a little car ferry across the Columbia river. I've seen Mt. Ranier, Mt. St. Helens, the Seattle Space needle, the huge Astoria span bridge over the Columbia river delta, several huge liners ready for loading with grain and crops and tons of different crops and animals being transported to the shoreline. It's been really amazing. The last 2 hours of the drive was pretty rainy but that's been pretty typical for this time of year I've been told.

Seaside, Oregon is really a town on the seaside (really original in the naming of this place) and because it's October it's a little quiet but I still really enjoyed walking the couple of blocks to the beach to check it all out. I'm not too concerned about the stores not being open it's the ocean that I'm totally enthralled with.
This town is also the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail. I'll have to research that a little more but there is a large statue on the seashore. I did drive along the Lewis and Clark trail for most of the day. Perhaps it's where they ended up when they finally made it west! That's neat!

Tomorrow morning I hope to head back down to the shore before I leave to take daytime pictures.

Right, I know, I know I'm driving all along the Pacific coast and I'm going to be seeing this body of water over and over but....it's just so neat to be here.

Ahhhh I made it!!!

There are lots of hotels and motels here and some are right on the ocean and lovely (probably really expensive too) but the good old Comfort Inn is on a river that winds through town and my room as a little balcony overlooking the river and there are some ducks wandering around. It's really neat. I'm only 2 blocks from the ocean too. Oh yeah, there was a good sushi bar a block away too! Nice spot.
This is somewhere I'd like to come back to in the summer time and really enjoy the miles of beach in the nicer weather.

So tomorrow I really start to drive on the Pacific Coast By-way Route (as it's called) and enjoy the sights and sounds of this ocean!
I really can't believe my dream of being here so many months ago has come true. It's so great!

West Coast Hang out-Monday October 3

Hey gang
It's now October and I can't believe that! What a blast I've been having!
I arrived in Surrey on Wednesday the 28th in the evening after a fun drive through the Fraser Canyon from Salmon Arm BC to Surrey. It was an amazing drive! The land scape was so desolate but so beautiful too and the Thompson River was really moving. The road only had a few points of construction on it so it wasn't too bad but there were times that I think the poor Equinox had no idea what a straight piece of road was. The sun was shining and the breeze nice as I zipped up and down the hills and valleys.

Quite something isn't it! Wow, what a neat drive.

Thankfully the nav system took me right to my cousin's place because the part of Surrey they're in is all numbered street names. I'm okay with those but it's a little confusing in the subdivision they're in. My cousin T was out visiting with a neighbour when I drove in so it was nice to see a friendly face right off the bat. I arrived to a home. It was nice to "move in" for a few days and just hang out with family members I don't get to see very often let alone spend some quality time with. They have two puppies, Monty and Maya who are the cutest things on the planet. Bishon Frisee and Shitzu crosses. So adorable and so loving. They are fun to watch too.

On Friday I decided to head up to Whistler, the weather was supposed to be good for Friday but not for Saturday and Sunday so back in the good old Equinox and off to the Sea to Sky highway. After getting through the crazy construction on Hwy 1 and over the Mann Bridge I was smooth sailing to Squamish then on to Whistler. The highway, again, didn't have a straight piece in it the whole way. It was a fun drive but I'd hate to think what it's like on a snowy day. Little time for views on the way there but I noted a number of pull out places to stop and figured I'd do that on the way home.

Whistler is pretty quiet this time of year and I enjoyed walking around in the sunshine. The Olympic Plaza was a lovely place to sit and enjoy people watching.

I had hoped to go on the peak to peak gondola ride between Blackcomb mountain and Whistler but that was only running on the weekends weather permitting but no biggie. I loved wandering around the town and enjoying the sights. One of the chairlifts was working taking mountain bikers to the top of Whistler mountain. What a trip that must be coming down. All the riders I saw were very experienced and had all the right equipment and looked like they really knew what they were doing. I watched these guys and some girls too, for quite a while.

The drive home was good and I stopped to take some pictures along the way.

This is the Tantalus mountain range and is quite sacred to the First Nations here in BC. It was pretty despite the sun had gone behind the clouds.

On Friday T and I ventured off to visit my aunt, her mom, and go to downtown Vancouver. This was quite and adventure for T as she says she really doesn't go to Vancouver that often. Surrey has everything she needs. So it was a fun time for her as well. I had been in Vancouver about 5 years ago, maybe 6, I can't remember really but it was fun and I remember the downtown core quite well as I was staying in a hotel there. I remember the Skytrain (transit system) was really a neat way to get around. I also had another goal. Getting a ticket to the BC Lions, Edmonton Eskimos CFL football game. The stadium, BC Place, has been closed for a number of months while the roof was being fixed and the whole place upgraded. This was the opening game for the stadium. I wanted to go. So there was our quest.

We stopped by the seniors facility where my aunt lives and had a very nice visit with her. She's 91 and still bopping along. She loves her hugs and loves a good story (oh yeah and her trashy National Enquirers too)

We were giggling in this picture because she thought I was nice and warm and snuggly! Hey, what ever works for you when you're 91.

T and I set off for the Skytrain station and downtown. T was having a blast as we boarded and headed off. It was just starting to rain when we got off at Stadium station. I thought I might buy my Lions ticket there but the box offices weren't open. Not to worry I would find some where to get a ticket and the tourist info places would tell me.

I had remembered a really good sushi bar on a street downtown, I couldn't remember which of 2 streets it was on so off we went to find it. Not locating it but hungry we went to a crepe place. Holy Cow! was it ever good. I had a proscuitto, brie and egg crepe and T had a spinach, feta and egg one. Oh yeah, we both had coffee milkshakes too. This was completely awesome! The food was so good and so amazing. We had a blast.
As we exited I found my sushi bar had been in the building across the road from our crepe place but that building was being destroyed! Alas, I was on the right road though! 

Fortified we headed off to the water front to the tourist information place and Woohoo! I got my ticket! Being a sole ticket seaker I got one 3 rows from the turf off the 10 yard line right in front of the TSN broadcast stage. How cool is that!
Shopping time now and we headed to Gastown. T wanted to go to the jade store(s) and just be a tourist, I was looking for anything unique. In the jade store I found a necklace with 5 jade peas in a gold pod. It was the cutest thing (on sale too!) and so neat. I had to get it. T got a nice necklace and some earrings too. Very worthwhile stop.
At the beginning of Water street in Gastown there was a native artist store that featured silver jewelry with Haida carvings on it. We were both entranced. They had these silver beads (more like a band of silver) with totems carved into them. Each totem (frog, moon, hummingbird, raven, sun etc) has specific meanings. T was so taken with these pieces and their meaning that she decided we should get one each that "speaks to us". So I now have a silver frog totem bead and she has a silver moon totem bead. The beads are created by artist Travis Henry and mine indicates communication, stability and power of sound. Doesn't that fit me to a "t"?
T's is tranquility, inner peace and guidance. It too is perfect for her.
T was soooo excited that we had done this. It was fun!

After a stop at a coffee shop we parted ways and I headed over to BC Place for the beginning of the whole hoopla before the game. The Premier was there as was the mayor of Vancouver and the first person through the doors to the "new" BC Place was the longest holding season ticket holders. It was nice, the crowd was into it and all was good.
The fans were really into the whole experience inside too, the roof was retracted (where everyone oohed and ahhed) at the beginning of the game (think a huge Russian type blind that retracts into itself) and Sarah McLaughlin sang O Canada! Oh yeah, and the Lions won as well. The concession stands really had a problem but I got my hot dog and pop so I was okay but I know the whole food and beer thing has been a news maker out here. I had fun regardless. 

 Usually on my tour I don't go out at night but this was a different occassion and T had said it was no problem to pick me up at the Surrey Skytrain station so I was good there.
Just at the end of the game there are folks that throw little stuffed footballs out to the crowd. I had my head turned to make sure I had all my stuff and one bounced off my head into the guys lap in front of me! He said that I had really caught it and gave it to me and he and his wife and I started to chat. Seemed they were heading to Surrey on the Skytrain too and I could walk with them if I wanted. Great! I knew where to go but it was still nice to have a couple of people with me. Off we ventured. Crammed into a Skytrain we picked the right way to go by walking a bit to the first stop on the system so we could get a seat. It was still squishy but at least we were sitting.
It had been a long day. I was pooped! I think I needed a day off! So.... I took a couple! L and I watched sports on the big screen, T and I looked at family pictures and swapped stories and we had tons of good times. A good rest from my travels.

But the travelling bug was buzzing again so yesterday morning I looked at my maps again, planned my strategie and am now set to get on the road again and find new things to look at and enjoy.

I can't express enough my thanks to my western family for having me hang out with them and we've had a blast! It's been great!