San Francisco - Here We Come!

Before we head out we decided to tour the small town of Winters which we were nearest.  We walked the streets and stopped by a couple of spots for some wine and cheese tasting.  What a great experience - the staff were so friendly and we were even give a free bottle of wine.

From there we went to our next spot closer to San Francisco.  On our way through Fairfield, we toured the Jelly Belly factory,  tasted some samples, and bought some jelly flops (should have bought more).

We set up camp and the next morning we headed into San Francisco.  Following the GPS, it seemed strange that we were going through residential, and business areas - check the GPS - it said shortest distance - that had to be changed.  Then following the map, we seemed to be going around the bay rather than over the bridge - chech the GPS again - it said to avoid toll roads - that had to be changed.  As we go over the bridge, there are twelve lanes (I think) to go through the toll gates which immediately go down to four lanes. 

I must say that they have a very effective method of doing this.  The next day we go in again but this time all the settings on the GPS were set correctly, and we went down there pretty quickly.  BUT, coming home is a different story.  The signs indicate that rush hour is 3-7 p.m.  We never thought that if you started out during that time it would take that whole time to get home.  We sat twenty minutes without moving a block - do you think that patience was running a bit thin with our driver!!!  The next trip in was using the Rapid Transit.  Fortunately we found out that we were on the wrong train early enough so we could easily transfer to the correct one.  All part of the adventure.

San Francisco is unique, beautiful, and a great place to visit.  We did a city tour, a bay tour, and rode the cable cars.  The city tour took us to various spots in the city where we could get on and off at various points.  The golden gate park is huge and beautiful.  We got off and took a short walk while waiting for the next bus.  We also got to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, passed the area where the hippies hung out, and various other sights.  The bay tour was on a fishing boat operated by a couple of young fellows.  The narration they provided was informative and humorous as we went under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz.  Then it was on to the cable cars.  Here the lineups were long and some of the cars were pretty crowded.  Gerry got to hang on the outside right at the front which he said was the best spot.  Generally it seemed that the cars ran every 10 minutes or so,  except during shift change - it is more like 30-45 minutes.

We did some shopping downtown - can you image an Old Navy store that is 3 stories or a 4 storey Ross store?  They were starting to set up for Christmas as they were erecting a Christmas tree and had set up a skating rink.

Golden Gate Bridge

Sea Lions sun bathing on a buoy

Alcatraz

Remnants of the hippie era - added colour to the buildings

View from the cable car

 

















Now it was for some down time so we went to a Sandhill Crane Festival in  a nearby town.  There was some beautiful artwork and photography.  There were some musicians playing and a couple of them were playing Native American flutes.  They had a huge display, both to just see and for sale.  They offered a chance to try to play one.  After a short lesson they invited me to join them as they played.  Of course I had to decline as time was short (hehe).

As we toured the countryside we went for lunch at Foster's Bighorn.  The original owner was a real hunter, in North America and in Africa.  The display of taxidermy pieces is incredible.  The food was great and we had a super visit with the staff.  For more information, have a look at this website
 http://www.fostersbighorn.com/FBH_Web_Site/Home.html

We also toured Locke, a small town built by the Chinese.  The streets are very narrow as the old buildings still stand.

http://www.locketown.com/ 


I hope you enjoyed our week with us and may you have a great week next week.