San Francisco. Day1. A bit of everything...

Well the day seemed OK and although it was overcast when I looked out at our view of Lombard Street there didn't seem like much chance of it raining on "OUR PARADE"!!!

but as the great man Robbie Burns said "Best laid plans o' mice an' men gang aft agley."
just wait for the gang aft agley part - it's worth it. I can laugh about it now....

Anyway back to San Francisco, thats where we  were after all!!!

Well what to do? OK, we were tourists who didn't have everything planned. And although tomorrow was fully planned, for today, there was nothing "set instone"  so we went to the San Francisco Tourist Information Centre to gather our thoughts. 

And, Mrs Garmin was talking to us (at this stage) so we managed to get there OK - phew! We bought transit passes which would cover light rail, buses and the "Street Cars". That should get us most places..

Because tourists weren't too thick on the ground there were offers and we took advantage of a cheap deal for a double decker bus tour of San Francisco. Being goody, goodies we went to the front seat which was undercover. Meant we didn't get to sit in the sun but as it turned out there wasn't a lot of sun and there was even a bit of "Jim Maxwell would put it" mizzle around.

The tour was fine and we saw a lot of the sights without really stopping to see any of them. Although the view from Golden Gate vist point were nice

However the bus tour did give us a good overview and lots of ideas, but for those that know her a Mrs Frost with lots of ideas can be dangerous.....The bus driver had mentioned the area we had parked in wasn't a great one when we were doing our tour so we hurried back. Interesting concept that! Frosty hurrying oh well I guess I limped purposefully and as luck would have it the car was there with Mrs Garmin still in full view.

When we made back to the car and as it was raining a little we decided that it would be better to eat our Bourdin Sourdough Rolls in our luxurious suite. Maybe it would be better to put it - in our room... That gave us more time to think of the next move. Nothing like planning!

When we opened the San Francisco Guide Book the page opened at Wineries. I'm telling the truth! "Believe me I'm a Lifesaver"!

Well I think that is what happened and we boarded the Mighty Corolla and headed off in search of the Napa Valley.....It was sprinkling rain when we boarded the Mighty Corolla and plugged Mrs Garmin in waiting for directions.

We were waiting, waiting, waiting. But when Mrs Garmin clicked into action she seemed determined to send us to Los Angeles or maybe Mexico or maybe even Australia.

And as we headed south over the Golden Gate Bridge a decision had to be made. Hmmmmmm what to do.

Was it USE THE USE, FORCE LUKE USE THE FORCE!!!! 
Or maybe just use
USE A MAP FROSTY USE A MAP!!!!!!!!! 

Since I wasn't Luke Skywalker or even R2D2 or even Chewbacca we decided on a map. It couldn't be too hard to find a winery and hadn't we been lucky with the weather.......

 Oh well it's sprinkling & we are heading the right direction after all and there are only about 13 zillion wineries in California...

  

The sprinkles had become somewhat of a deluge but desire, determination, doggedness and maybe a bit of luck led us to Olivet Road, Santa Rosa. I know it wasn't the Napa Valley but there was a sign for the Hook & Ladder Winery http://www.hookandladderwinery.com/ and it was open and we were able to park nearby and they didn't charge for tastings!!! And the wine was very, very good.

Our experience in tasting wines and buying wines and trying to get over the Canadian border with more than 2 bottles each had us on a strict limit of what we could buy so reluctently we left with only the tastes and one bottle and the directions to the next winery....

The winery was at least 200 metres or for those using the other measurement 220 yards so we made it OK. Harvest Moon Winery www.harvestmoonwinery.com/was a warm, DRY and friendly haven for slightly damp travellers. Erin the Director of Hospitality (there's a job) was very hospitable and it may come as no surprise when we walked away with a bottle of Randy Zin. Before you ask any questions the owners name is Randy and the wine is Zinfandel - and it's very good.

There was one more winery nearby, Sunce http://www.suncewinery.com/. Even though it was after their closing hours the hostess let us in and we departed with 2 bottles, a 2005 Clear Lake Malbec and a 2007 Barbera.  All three wineries were very good and had a wide range of excellent wines.

Now when we left Sunce the conditions the conditions had deteriorated a teeny weeny little bit. We placed our faith in our map and Mrs Garmin and headed off in search of California Highway 1. Well we did find it but instead of the lovely coastal scenery we got

Well these were water views but we had expected the Pacific Ocean. However we did make it through the deepest waters although there were some interesting discussions.

Well it was the ocean although I wasn't getting out for anything. Except of course a drink and a feed!!! Guess what we found? A pub!!! What to do????? Oh well we were getting thirsty from all the stressssssss. After a refreshing ale and a glass of wine and a very nice meal we headed off. 

Now there is an important additive to most cars and whether you happen to be using Petrol (Australia) or Gas (Canada & the USA) cars go much better with that additive. Yes we were getting close to empty!!!

"But it won't be far to the next town, will it". Hmmmmm it seemed to be a long way after all and when we came across a small town, Stinson Beach,  the only with lights on in the town were at the Gym (where else) we called out. The owner was on a treadmill and was working hard but he did tell us the Gas Station had CLOSED DOWN!!!! 

Now what?? the closest Gas Station was at Bolinas. Now I didn't know much about Bolinas but it seemed like a long long trip to get there that night. Not sure whether many people reading this have been to Wyndham (formally home of the Wedgies) but I expected to see Brouser, Mota and Perry at any time. However Bolinas did have one thing.

IT HAD GAS!!!!!

Expensive gas but it would keep me from pushing the car all the way to San Francisco. The New Yor Times had an interesting article about Bolinas which I read on our safe return http://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/09/us/bolinas-journal-welcome-to-bolinas-please-keep-on-moving.html 

Well with the go juice in the Corolla we only had to make our way along the 47km (30 miles) to the Francisco Bay Inn. Mrs Garmin had different ideas but after the normal mutterings (actually profanities) and again reverting to directions and the map we made it safely to our home base. 

In 2010 Julie and I were Community Sponsors for a couple from British Columbia who were on a Teacher Exchange in Narooma. Alan and Paulette met us at our room (they had booked in that day) and we went over the excitements of our day amongst many other things. We did enjoy a couple of drinks......

In the next episode we go to Jail!!!!! 

Are you goin to Saaan Fraaaancisco???

Well before we left Yosemite National Park and headed to San Francisco we had remarked on how it was wonderful to see that this area was still essentially wilderness. This is due to a number of factors but much of the credit should go to John Muir. Muir was a Scottish immigrant who walked from San Francisco to Yosemite in 1868 and the first sight of the mountains devoted his life to the area. He was to the forefront of the creation of Yosemite NP, saving not only this area but many others both in America and around the world.

I think it was worth the effort

We had followed the Merced River on Highway 140 which was spectacular. But we decided to to take a Highway 120 for our trip to San Francisco. This stunning trip took us over mountains, alongside rivers and lakes and through some very interesting small country towns.....

 

When we finally wound our way along the Toulumne River and away from the Sierra Nevada Range we expected an easy 3 hour drive to San Francisco for the next installment of our adventure.

WELL Mrs Garmin has different ideas!!!!!

Mrs Garmin and the satellite were either

• not talking
• or the thought of entering what is arguably the most progressive city in the USA had effected her
•  or the tsunami and earthquake in Japan had an impact on her 

Whatever the problem we were we were in essence somewhat geographically challenged, or should I say misplaced, or maybe we were just old fashioned LOST!!!!!

We thought of using the Corporal Jones (Dad's Army) idea fixing bayonettes or maybe we "could call a friend" or maybe we could just cry!!! But as we didn't have a bayonette or know a nearby friend and there wasn't much point in crying we decided to get really old fashioned and............ use a map!!!!

Between the map, the road signs, the good driving and a bit of luck we found ourselves at the Francisco Inn on Lombard St, SAN FRANCISCO!!!

The trip had taken 8 hours instead of 3 and muttering was the method of communication! However a short walk found a great Japenese Restuarant and with a glass or two there were smiles again!!!

We were in San Francisco!!!!

Yosemite -wow!!!

We can thank Doug for the next part of the Californian Adventure.

Who's Doug? A teacher from Julie's Muskoka Beechgrove Public School http://mbs.tldsb.on.ca/. Doug has been to Australia and has done a teacher's exchange to Coonabarabran http://www.coonabarabran.com/ . To top off the reasons to listen to him he and his daughter play hockey. Seemed like an obvious Travel Consultant to me.

Well the morning was warm and we enjoyed the motel muffins and coffee as we boarded the Corolla headed towards Yosemite National Park. There was a tour of the valley floor and (as usual) we were needing a bit of luck and good direction of the road conveyance by the chief pilot to be on time. The roads were windy and steep but I guess you expect that when you are going to a National Park unless it is in the Australian desert.

But we weren't heading across the Nullarbor we were heading to Yosemite!!!

Another problem had us checking our clocks and worrying whether we would make it on time when our way was blocked by a traffic light due to a slight problem with the road

It fell down!!!!

Glad we weren't there, even with Mrs Garmin to keep us safe....

But good luck, and a bit of a squeeze,

But great driving won on the day we made it to the park on time and paid our Yosemite National Park http://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm entry fee. We then parked and sprinted  hurried walked determinedly (all sounds good doesn't it) to the  Valley Floor Bus Tour http://www.yosemitepark.com/Activities_GuidedBusTours_ValleyFloorTour.aspx

The pilot for this venture was Karen. Karen had some experience in this role having been in the job for 19 years and when you add her prior experience as a school bus driver she was well placed to both give us information and to keep any recalcitrant's under control! Anyhow I was too amazed by the scenery to step out of line at all.

Yosemite is stunning and my photographs don't go close to showing just how amazing it is!

With Karen's stories of bears in Camaro's, bears breaking into cars and eating laxatives and bears eating wedding cakes on our mind we said goodbye to her and to Yosemite. Another place where we left wishing we had more time to see and to explore but for now our thoughts were on San Francisco and all it in store.....

California dreamin

Well it came to pass that Julie had mid Winter Break and if you know Julie (and me) we never let an opportunity for a trip to pass us by. Now Mid Winter Break (Spring Break in British Columbia) is only for 1 week but a week gives a lot of opportunities....

I don't think any of Julie's workmates were going to be staying around and enjoying Canada's Winter delights unless they were skiing and as my skiing days unfortunately were distant memories we decided to look for a warmer sunnier place. So we asked and....  

Kinfolks said to "move away from here" , "so we loaded up the Truck and we went to Beverly" or at least we went to California which is where Beverly (Hills that is) is. The truth was that we had seen a great deal with Virgin America before we left Australia for flights from Toronto to Los Angeles so that had been decided while in Australia.

However to get that flight we had to get to Tronna and with another wet, snowy and foggy drive  spirits weren't exactly soaring. But the thoughts of sunny times ahead made the trip easier. It was good to find a snowbank to park on near Cheryls unit on the Avenue Road. (Not sure I really understand how that Road was named but who am I to argue.)  

Cheryl has done two exchanges to Australia including one to Albury which is where I grew up, (although some would question whether I ever did actually grow up)!! She said I probably wouldn't know the other place but not only did I know Sutton (pop 220) I knew a number of people who lived there. A least I knew the important people. Well, at least, I knew the beekeepers. The Bingleys and the Kershaws are beekeeping families from the area and their children and grandchildren were students of Cheryls that year.

Apart from teaching andTeacher Exchanges Julie and I have more in common with Cheryl. We all enjoy good wine, good food and good company, all of which were were part of the night. First a stunning bottle of Brokenwood Shiraz, we Australians know how to make great Shiraz, and then we went for a great meal at Cheryl's friend, Blair's, restuarant.

With our flight being at 5 pm we had time for a guided tour of Toronto the next morning before heading towards the Holiday Inn Express where the CuRVee would have a weeks holiday while we were in California. We were on time at the Airport but our plane wasn't so we were able to get some lunch. Things were normal, it was 4.30 pm!!

After getting through US customs (fun) it was up to Sir Richard or which ever Virgin Pilot was flying the plane to get us to California. The fight flew by (what a terrible pun, Dad would be proud) and before long we were in Los Angeles Airport (LAX). It was relatively sane.

A short bus trip to Alamo Rentals, where they checked our Credit Card and said just go out and pick whatever Mid Size car you want. Interesting concept but we forgo the opportunity to look for a Hummer and took a Toyota Corolla plugged in Mrs Garmin and headed to "The Hacienda Hotel" in El Segundo (near LAX)....

The next day it was sunny and WARM! Shorts weather, yippee!!! Then Julie discovered the exercise room, oh well time to see wheter I could still walk on a treadmill. Still got the basics worked out and managed to get myself really warmed up at least.

A shower, breakfast (in out room) and Julie brought the RockinCorolla to the front of the El Segundo and we were away and ready to tackle the Los Angeles traffic.

Well was the Los Angeles traffic ready for us?? Sure but then all we wanted from the LA traffic was for it to stay out of our way and to let us out. We had decided to leave LA at this stage and head for Merced for the night before a day at Yosemite National Park.

The traffic was OK, though I think, Julie's driving made it seem that way. And soon were winding through the hills past the famous names. And heading into the hills that ring the "City of Angels". When I call them hills some of them were higher than Australia's highest mountain so it was an spectacular drive for the first 2 hours.

And as Greg, Melissa, Paddy and Rajiv would remember from the Alberta Adventure in 2007 there is nothing better than a salad roll at a beautiful place......











It was worth the drive



to get a view like this

Gourmet fare of course. Oh well we all have to put up with difficulties don't we!

Then on past some of the one of the reasons that California thrived.... apart from the gold and the sun and the film industry and the agriculture and the forestry and on and on and on.......

  But we found the real reason and the true INDUSTRY



If you detect a little bias you may be right. But for those followers of the truly noble profession where no practitioner (apiarist) ever expands the truth they were flying well and there was a hint of a honey smell..... The Almonds were just about finished flowering but the bees were still flying very well.

We travelled through the amazing farmlands of the San Joaquin Valley where we managed to find a bottle of good Californian wine to help us get over the trip

Well at least it was a wine and it had been a long day.....but a good one!!!!