Back on the Grid & Catching up - Wednesday and Thursday

WEDNESDAY
The Quality Inn in Petaluma was a nice motel..the elderly Chinese lady at the front desk was friendly and wanted us to be sure and eat a good breakfast. They had a good breakfast there so we pigged out both mornings.

Today we were thinking about going to a winery but decided that we would rather get to Sequoia National Park early...at least in daylight. I've been to enough wineries for a while and I told Jill I'd take her to Casa Rondeno in New Mexico sometime. Sequoia was a five hour drive south on a few freeways through Berkeley and Oakland and then on through Fresno and the San Joaquin valley.

I sometimes sense that people are concerned about my driving. Occasionally I hear people screaming at me while I'm driving and sometimes it is coming from outside the car. At times I feel I have a civic and moral duty to make other drivers' lives flash before their eyes. Maybe they will mend their ways. But, actually, today's drive to Sequoia was uneventful, traffic-wise.

The San Joaquin Valley is a huge garden -- industrialized farming seems to be the thing. Lots of grapes, fruit orchards and some corn. The soy bean processors were working hard...based on the smell. There was one cattle feedlot that came up on us before we could close the windows. Once we headed into the foothills we hit a bunch of orange groves. The air pollution kept getting worse as we headed south. This is obviously a serious problem...my eyes, nose and throat burned. We couldn't see the mountains and were surprised when the low foothills appeared out of the smog.

We got to the national park after 4 PM and it was getting dark as we climbed up into the mountains. We still had an hour to drive after we got into the park. About halfway up we pulled into an overlook to take some pictures and the entire valley below us was in a dense pink fog. The mountains were clear and seemed to float on a sea of smog. We continued climbing and saw a bear...then another one...then a third one on the road. The are Black bears and a little larger than an Old English Sheepdog. They were not afraid of the car and just went about their business. There were no other cars on the road. A little farther on we had to brake for three mule deer on the road. Jill saw something that might have been a Ringtail Cat climbing up the slope.

We got to the Wuksatchi Lodge just as the light was fading. We were glad we didn't stop at a winery because it was soon pitch black. We got into our room in the Stewart building and unpacked...it was a nice room. At 7,000 feet we had no cell phone or Internet service but the TV worked. The satellite radio in the car was going in and out as we climbed into the mountains. There was a little snow on the ground from a few days earlier.

We ate at the Lodge....good food. We ended up buying a couple sweatshirts because it was going to be cold in the morning and we didn't have sufficient warm clothes. We went back to the room and relaxed and were asleep by 9:30.

THURSDAY
We slept well and had a good breakfast at the lodge. We put on our matching Sequoia National Park hooded sweatshirts and started out. We saw a bunch of impressive Sequoia trees on our way up to the lodge but it was too dark to get a full view. Today we headed to the main grove and were stunned by the size of the trees. We took a hike around a large meadow among some huge trees. These were maybe 10 to 15 feet in diameter and went up about 100 feet before there were any branches. We took a bunch of picture. A little farther along the trail and we discovered a film crew that was shooting some kind of a travel company commercial among the trees. Other than the film crew and a few other people, we had the place to ourselves.

Next we went to see the tunnel tree....this is the one that you can drive through except that it is laying down across the road. We took a picture of our golden rental car going through the tree.

Our next stop was Moro Rock. There is a steep trail and 400 steps that take you up to the top of a huge granite rock dome that towers over the valley. We started climbing...and climbing. There were plenty of railings and the trail was paved or cut into the rock. It was very narrow and twisting in places but we panted our way up to the 6,750 summit observation area. Just as I was thinking I had gone as far as I could, a pregnant woman came down from the top. We met a little 72 year old lady at the lodge this morning who told us all the stuff she had done...including climbing up Moro Rock. Well, if those tow can do it, so can we. But, we had to stop and catch our breath at the top before we could take pictures or pose for pictures without looking like we were dying.

That 72 year old lady also told us that she was walking along a trail with a bear following close behind...like maybe four feet behind. She said it just followed her for a while but she finally had to turn around and clap her hands several times to make it run away. The bears seem pretty unconcerned about humans but that is a little too close. Jill bought some "bear aware" bells to carry with us, just in case.

Another discovery of the morning was that we had less than a quarter tank of gas and the closest gas station was an hour away in the town of Three Rivers, outside the park. We coasted most of the way down the mountains trying not to use much gas. We were the only car on the road for most of the way down. At one point we came around a sharp curve and surprised a mother bear and her cub standing on the road at the base of a steep slope. The cub got up the hill but the mother had a hard time finding a way up and got a little panicked. By that time we were past them and they were OK but they went on up the hill anyway. The cub was a tan color and had not turned black yet.

We made it to Three Rivers and filled up on gas. It was about 1 PM and we were hungry so we stopped in "The Three of Us" Bakery and got lunch. I had a huge omelet and Jill had a French Dip...pretty reasonable prices and good food.

We headed back up into the mountains. Our quest was to see the General Sherman tree...the biggest living tree (more or less). At least the General Sherman tree gets the credit as such. The tree is not easily accessible. Once you get to the parking lot you have to hike down a paved trail that winds down a ravine. Finally you see it and it is tremendous. It is maybe two to three times bigger around than the trees we were so excited about in the morning. It looks like part of the top of the tree is missing but it is still very tall. This tree has more volume ov wood than any other when measued in board feet. We took bunches of pictures and walked among the giant trees. This grove had several huge trees besides General Sherman.

We were tired after our second hike at about 7,000 feet. They were not long hikes but were challenging for us at this elevation. We drove back to the Lodge and made reservations for dinner and then drove farther up the slope to see the Lost Grove of Sequoias. This grove is pretty far up the mountain and across Little Baldy saddle so it is separated from the other big trees. There was no one else there so we had the entire grove to ourselves.

As we headed back to the lodge we had a view of the sun setting what looked like the ocean. Actually it was setting into the cloud of smog that engulfed San Joaquin Valley . I'm hoping that there was some kind of temperature inversion and that this is not typical. They did point out at the park museum that Sequoia National Park was one of the most threatened parks because of air pollution.

We ate so much for lunch that we just had tomato bisque soup and I also had a salad...but we got dessert to take back to our room for later. We watched TV and looked at our photographs before going to bed. Tomorrow we head back north and stay by the airport in San Bruno.

At Point Reyes

I thought I'd start the day's post be showing our golden rental car. I always thought that they charged you as if the car was made of gold but this time they actually provided us with a gold car. It is a Ford Focus and not too bad, except for the color. It gets good mileage. Jill says the color is beginning to grow on her. Hmmm.

We spent the day at Point Reyes National Seashore. The drive over the coastal hills from Petaluma was nice and looked like what we imagine Ireland would look like: green hills and small farms, mostly. Not much activity....we had the road to ourselves. There were lots of cows and a corral chock full of goats.

The day was mostly cloudy but there was a patch or two of sunlight. We drove up to the northern section of the park and saw some Tule Elk - there is an Elk preserve there. I'm not sure how many there are but we saw two groups and this isolated buck that was watching everything and everybody. There are a number of isolated ranches all through the Point Reyes area. These are mostly dairy operations so you get to see lots of cows and the occasional milk tanker truck.

The beach was a short walk down the hill and it was just about empty...only one other group of people there. The surf was pretty rough by our standards but we might not be good judges of that. We walked for a while but were a little shy about getting too far down the beach. The area close to the cliff was lower than most of the beach and would fill up faster if the tide came up and we would be cut off...so we stayed pretty close to the trail. The sea birds were all very busy and chasing each other. A lot of kelp had washed up on shore.

We went up to the top of Point Reyes by the lighthouse, which is several hundred feet above the ocean. From the top of the cliff you can see for miles along the beach and out to sea. This is a good whale watching spot. The California Gray Whales migrate past Point Reyes on the way to Baja California and this is the season when they should be going south along the coast. Watching for whales is sort of like watching for meteors...you don't quite know what you are looking for until you see one. Jill has good eyes and spotted them first. There was a pair swimming together that broke the surface. They were pretty far out but made a substantial disturbance in the water as they rolled and headed back down.

The lighthouse is perched on the edge of the cliff about 300 feet up from the water. As lighthouses go, it is pretty small but it doesn't need to be tall, just bright. The fog horn was blowing while we were there. The only ship we saw was a freighter heading west. The wind was pretty strong and there was a slight haze blowing off the water and up the slope.

We did all of this before getting lunch so we were getting pretty hungry. We decided to try to have lunch at Vladimir's Czechoslovakian Restaurant in Inverness. Joanne and I ate there once about 28 years ago on an earlier visit -- Vladimir was a memorable host. I spotted it as we drove through Inverness in the morning but when we got there about 2 o'clock it was closed. That was disappointing because it was really good food -- If I remembered it for 28 years, it had to be. Well, we were starving so we went to a nice cafe in Point Reyes Station which had great food...so we ate well after all.

We headed back to Petaluma by driving along Tomales Bay and then east through Marshall. We were originally going to drive up to Sebastapol and Healdsburg and stop at a winery or two but we decided we were too tired. We had a full day.

San Francisco - North Bay

We had a noisy night at the motel. Not from the motel but all the traffic noises. I'm not used to that anymore but I think the police sirens and trucks and motorcycles all went by our room...all night. Jill seemed to sleep through it. Maybe it is just me. Anyway, we got up and went to our local donut shop and sat at our window table to have breakfast and wait for the morning traffic to die down. This place is a great spot for people watching. The morning sidewalk drama was interesting to watch.

We checked out of our motel and drove over to Alamo Square to look at some of the "Painted Ladies" -- Victorian style houses. Some of these were featured in the "Full House" TV show. That is a really nice neighborhood and city park there, Alamo Square, is scenic but well used...lots of families and dogs.

We inserted ourselves into the traffic heading toward the bridge. Jill has been looking forward to the Golden Gate Bridge but I think she was a little nervous about the traffic to really enjoy it as we went over. On the other side we followed our directions to Sausalito and met Jim in the parking lot of his marina.

The houseboat marina is really pretty and each of the boats is very different in size and design. Some are clearly boats -- or at least they have once been a boat -- while others are strictly floating houses. Some have 4,000 square feet of living area but most are smaller and compact. Jim's is nice and serves as his home and studio. It looks bright and roomy. He is doing sculpture as well as paintings so the studio looks like a busy workshop.

Jim served as our guide for most of the day. We went up on the Marin headlands and got some interesting views and cool pictures of the Golden Gate and San Francisco from the heights above the bridge. We also got sort of a nickel tour of Sausalito and Mill Valley. Both are cool little communities.

We went to Muir Woods and hiked the trail through the Redwood groves. The trees are truly impressive in the context of the preserved forest. The trees also shelter an interesting environment on the forest floor. The ferns were very impressive. We left Muir Woods and went to have a beer at The Pelican, an exact replica of an English pub dating from the 1500s.

After leaving the Pelican we went to Muir Beach and walked along the water. There is a nude beach there but it was just too cold. There also was a cool dog that was having the time of his life playing in the surf. He was chasing the waves and running out to meet the water when it came ashore.

Jim took us to Joe's Taco Lounge for some Cali-Mex-Fusion food. I enjoyed my Snapper tostada. I don't think I've seen more hot sauce varieties in one place before. We dropped Jim off at the marina and headed to Petaluma -- it was dark and we had some adventures finding the motel but it was fine. Another good day.

The Amazing Race

We are still on central time so we were up and going before most people. Being a Sunday everything was a little slower anyway but we had a lot to see. We walked down Market St. to the cable car line, stopping for donuts at a nice shop along the way. I think that might be our breakfast spot tomorrow, too. There were no crowds to speak of at that time of the morning.


We bought a day pass that was good for all city transportation (buses, cable cars and trolleys) and then took the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf. Cable cars are based on a pretty primitive technology and the operators need to be on the ball. They seem to have a clamp and a brake and that is mostly it. You really don't see any 90 pound weaklings running the cable cars.


The weather was a little cool but the 30 mph wind that was expected never showed up. Once we got our bearings we started hiking along the Embarcadero. We encountered the sea Lions at Pier 39 and watched them for quite a while. They had a pretty good audience and I'm not sure who was watching who. Pier 39 has a lot of shops and it is a nice place to spend some time. Jill bought herself a knitted hat with ear flaps and a "bimple-bomple" on the top. It actually looks pretty good and is warm.

Alcatraz is the most prominent feature in the bay. Lots of people said we should be sure to see Alcatraz but I think that if you have seen one prison you have just about seen them all. It pretty much shows up in most pictures of the bay whether you want it or not.

There are hundreds of sailboats docked along the various piers. I can't imagine what the docking fees must be and some of the boats don't seem to be getting much use. I have always been a sucker for sailboats and I took a lot of sailboat pictures. This one came by the pier while we were standing there and was so close and so quiet that we taken by surprise.

We walked back to Ghiradelli Square and got the obligatory cup of hot cocoa, made the way it should be made....and with a bunch of whipped cream on top....yum. And of course, while we were there a guy in a full clown suit came by.

San Francisco is really one of the best places for people watching. We seldom heard English spoken for the first couple hours....at least American English. Later in the day we walked down Lombard Street and there was a group of about 15 Chinese men on some kind of a tour all standing in the street posing for pictures. Then came another tour group all dressed in red t-shirts followed by a group from India with the women wearing traditional Saris. These were all pedestrians. The line of cars trying to drive down twisty Lombard Street stretched back more than a block and there were kids on motorized scooters darting in and out of everything.

The actual maritime museum run by the National Park Service is closed down until next year but there are a number of historic ships moored by the museum. There are actually a couple places with old war ships and old sailing ships. We walked out on the municipal pier and got some pictures and watched people fishing for crabs.

By that time we were getting hungry for lunch. We wanted to eat lunch in China Town and took the Cable Car back up the hill to Lombard Street and hiked down to Columbus and and boarded another Cable Car that took us to China Town. We ate at the Far East Cafe, supposedly the oldest Chinese restaurant in town and it looked pretty old and very traditional. Jill had her usual chicken fried rice and said it met her high standards. I had Lemon Chicken which was interesting -- a batter fried chicken breast covered with a sweet lemon sauce. Almost like a dessert, really.

China Town was interesting but we were beginning to get a little tired. We had trudged a couple miles up and down hills and had gotten good use out of our transit pass but the crowds were getting bigger and we had seen almost everything on our list for the day. We climbed back up to Powell Street and caught a Cable Car that took us back to Market Street. Jill had enough energy left to go on a shopping spree at a huge Forever 21 clothing store and she made some good buys. We rode an old Philadelphia streetcar up Market Street back to our motel stop. Our gourmet supper turned out to be carry out from the neighborhood Burger King. We have had a full day. More planned for tomorrow.

We Arrived in San Francisco

Omar got us to the airport in plenty of time. We flew Delta from Kansas City to Salt Lake City and then on to San Francisco. Either Delta is flying miniature airplanes or the passengers are getting a lot bigger. These were Canadian Regional Jet (CRJ) planes and they had two seats on each side of the aisle. It seemed we were almost sitting on each other's laps. The plane from Salt Lake City was a little bigger but not much. I never have seen a passenger get an extension for the seat belt before but the guy across the aisle was too big to buckle his seat belt and they gave him and extender.


Apart from being cramped, the trip was good. There is a lot of snow in the Rockies already. It was pretty cloudy most of the way and when we got to San Francisco it was raining and foggy (surprise!). Our rental car is a bright gold Ford Focus. It will be easy to spot anywhere we go. It has satellite radio and Jill turned the radio on and we listened to the Mizzou-KSU game on our way into the city.


The motel is a little creepy but we are hoping it looks better in daylight and no rain. We are near the Civic Center and that is a good location for seeing the city so we will be OK for two days. We walked to Rocco's restaurant on Folsom St. which was about three blocks. We decided that this is about as far away from Jefferson City as you can get and still be on the same planet. The restaurant was great (Gnocchi was great) but the walk was an eye-full. We now know where to go to buy all sorts of skimpy leather thingies. If they didn't have mannequins we would not have been able to imagine how one would wear them.


We got back to the motel and locked the door. Jill finished up her homework and we mapped out our plan of attack for tomorrow. We called Jim and made plans to see him on Monday. We are not adjusted to the time change so we will probably fall asleep early.

On our merry way -- Kansas City

We got on the road about 5:30 heading to Kansas City. Today was mostly spent getting ready. Watson and Iris have been deposited at the vet's for boarding. Watson hates to travel and cried the whole way. Iris is the perfect traveller and didn't make a noise. She actually gained a pound since April so she is almost at 5 pounds....quite a milestone for her.

We are staying at a motel by the Kansas City airport. This is where we have started several trips in the past. It is a motel with a car parking service and a shuttle to the airport. At each of our earlier stays the manager/owner has been Indian or Pakistani. This time it is an Arab...I guess that's the way things go in our global economy. This guy is a lot friendlier than the old owner. The motel is in better shape, too, and very quiet.

Jill did some homework here at the motel -- much of her classwork is on-line, which makes it convenient. You can access the material from where ever you happen to be.

Tomorrow we fly in to San Francisco and get there about 4 PM local time. Looks like the weather will be cool but good otherwise. No pictures taken today so I went down and got a picture of Omar at the front desk. He handles security as well as check-in and complaints. Since he has to get us to the airport tomorrow I think I'll be very nice to him.

Next trip....California in November

Jill and I are taking a long-postponed trip to California in November. We will spend a little time in San Francisco and up north near Point Reyes and the wineries and then down to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. This should be an enjoyable trip. Jill has never been out there and Joie always wanted her to see the Redwoods.