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!!!!!