A Walk in the Park

Crescent City California

Weather Max 17 Min 12 Rain in the afternoon (a lot of it)

Waffles with Blueberry Syrup for breakfast after another great night's sleep - wonderful.

Larry had the day off so we all went for a walk in the Jedediah Smith State Park. The day was overcast and cool but it made no difference to the sight of those magnificent Redwood trees and the many ferns and the running river. Everything seemed so clean and pristine. Some of these trees are many hundreds of years old.

These trees are immense

Larry and the boys 

Me and Gavan and Danny and one big tree

How good would this look in your garden?

Angie and Danny

 It was a really enjoyable walk with unforgettable scenery. One thing  of great concern was all the critters lurking in those trees, waiting to eat us.

Larry did have his gun with him but I think
the plan was to shoot me and leave me
 for the bears so they could all escape

Now add to the above "kill-me-and-eat-me" animals, the Brown Recluse Spider and the Black Widow Spider and of course our old friend the Rattlesnake and a walk in the park isn't really "a walk in the park".  Way more nasty critters than in Oz! Just saying.

Larry is the Police Chief in Crescent City so we stopped off at his offices and I got to try on one of their new Police Cars for size. They had everything in them except a Pizza Oven!! Check out the guns!

Flashing Lights and all

It was all very impressive. Larry's only  been in this position for a couple of months and he's  intent on being a hands on commander and leads by example. He's instigated changes that help both the Officers and their families in time of emotional need and also to recognise causal issues of the people they are interacting with. He's a good guy with great values and  the right person in the right job.  

Even MORE IMPORTANTLY......... Larry can bake - his Cinnamon Buns make Cinnabon taste EXTREMELY second class. Ross Blake - I know you won't believe me but it is true. They were SUPERB!! ...oh .....and the icing ....for the want of a better phrase....was the icing on the cake.

I will add that he is in no way modest about his baking prowess

Larry's hand made Cinnamon buns

Catch up...San Fran to Crescent City

3 November 2016

I was up at 5 am as my Amtrak transport was to leave at 7 am and I didn't want to risk being gridlocked in any early morning traffic getting to the depot. All went went since the guy had corrected my ticket the night before and I got on the bus to Emeryville. There was a 45 minute wait there and then I was to get a train to Martinez and then a bus to Arcada where my friend Larry would be picking me up for the final leg to Crescent City. When I was at Martinez I looked at my ticket again and this goose at the Amtrak office had corrected the first leg of the trip but not the second. Could not believe it. With 5 minutes to spare I managed to get to the counter and the woman issued me the correct ticket and got grumpy at me because I was in a hurry.  Was not impressed and will check all future tickets in fine detail.

Observation -I don't know why they bother making station announcements - and I'm talking everywhere in the world here - you can never understand a word they say.

I admit to being a bit nervous about the bus trip as a tour bus crashed in Southern California a couple of weeks ago and 19 people were killed. Don't tell anyone but I googled to find out where the safest seat in a bus is lol. For future record it's at least half way back, on the aisle and on the side NOT facing oncoming traffic. Guess where I sat.

The trip itself was long - I enjoy train travel but not so much bus travel. In fact, once we hit the mountainous areas in the north I started to feel a bit travel sick. Luckily I had some dramamine which I bought in case the Alcatraz trip was rough (but it wasn't). Of course the dramamine made me sleepy and I slept through a couple of long sections.  Not ideal but better than the alternative.

It was wonderful to see Larry and Angie again after 5 years and great meeting their little boys. They should be very proud of them....they are so polite and vcry loving. Gorgeous.

Angie :)

I had the best night sleep that I've had since I left home because it was so quiet. LA had ambulances because I was next to a hospital. Monterey had thin walls and noisy neighbours. San Francisco was just plain noisy and there were sirens 24 hours  day.


4 November 2016

A day that one minute was cool and the next warm depending on whether you were in the forest or the beach. The kids were at school and Larry at work so Angie and I went for a drive. This really is a most beautiful part of the coast and the sea mists are quite eerie. We saw Battery Point light house and you can really see the need for lighthouses along this coast because of all the rocks.

Battery Point Light House

Chilling - in every sense of the word
 - relaxed AND cold

Endert's Beach Lookout. Don't bother getting your
bikinis out...very cold.

This is the bridge that poor ET"s body
was found under. A movie the brings
me to tears whenever I watch it. To
the left is where Return of the
Jedi was filmed.

Huge pieces of drift wood on the beach

I indulged in clam chowder again for lunch with Angie at the Apple Peddler but somehow resisted the desserts

After we picked the boys up from school we played basketball. Getting the ball in the hole eluded me for some time but I finally got my ol" slam dunk going. It helped that the boys were half my size lol.

All in all a great day with great people and a another great night's sleep.

Morning company in bed while I finish
 my blog  xxxxxxzz

Last Day in San Francisco and a very good one.....mostly

Weather Max 21 Min 12

Today was a beautiful, sunny day and although it got to 21 C later in the day, the morning was crisp and cool. As this is my last full day in San Francisco I could not put off that walk over the Golden Gate Bridge and back again any longer. I Uberred to the start and the Asian Mr Uber told me twice to keep my phone on so I could look behind me to see if any one is sneaking up on me. After yesterday's scare I was a bit perturbed by this advice and when I got to the start of the Bridge I tagged on to the back of a family so we looked like a big group. I must point out here that the tallest person in this family was 5 ft and they were Japanese so I fit in very well. Once we got going I could see there were several Bobbies on Bicycles patrolling the bridge so I ditched the fam and took off by myself.

My new Japanese family lol
No English so just a lot of
nodding and pointing

Bridge Cops

She's so beautiful

How good would THAT be?

One of my happy places

The fog stayed on the horizon today

Numerous signs asking people not to jump but call for help :(

Just breathtaking

My powers of description could not do justice to the feel of today. As I said it was sunny and about 12 degrees when I set off - just crisp enough to keep my feet walking and my nose running. It was one of those HAPPY days. The sort of day when you are driving to work and you want to just keep driving....you know what I mean? This Bridge is just a lump of metal but there's something about it that I find exhilarating - can't explain it - no words. I could spend hours looking at it and admiring it's beauty.


The Bridge wasn't as long as I thought....the round trip was 5.3 km. Now that was from land mass to land mass. Or to be more exact........after a week of Vietnamese food.........from toilet to toilet. The actual Bridge is a lot longer as it connects to the roads either side.

The tunnels below have been renamed for Robin Williams and you can see the rainbow design over each tunnel to signify his braces when he was a street performer.

After my walk I celebrated with a snack and headed back to the hostel to repack everything ready for an early start tomorrow to Crescent City. 

Yum

I sat on my bed and got attacked by one of those NAPS that keep sneaking up on me lol. 2 hours later I forced myself awake and went to the laundromat to get everything ready to pack.  I was almost packed and got my bus/train/bus tickets out for tomorrow and checked them against the printout of the times they gave me and nothing matched. Grrrr. SO!! at 5 pm - peak hour - I Uberred to the Amtrak station to get it sorted and then Uberred back. The traffic was so thick this whole exercise took and hour and a half. GRRRR!! I was not a happy Vegemite. Anyway...it's fixed.

As I said at the beginning of my trip, this journey is to investigate the places I liked best last time and really get a feel for them this time. Monterey was easy - I loved it then and I love it now. However San Francisco as a whole is a bit of an enigma to me and I really don't know how I feel about it.

The sheer quantity of homeless and the drug addled people and the sights I saw will never leave me. I was ashamed and appalled. The sounds of sirens is constantly in the air - at least here in the Tenderloin. I have no answers. 
From what I gather the city is in a growth spurt and the technology industry is booming. This is bringing in new people who are skilled in this area and they are taking over the apartment blocks and doing them up. This means turfing out low income earners. They then end up on the street. I know I have oversimplified this but it is basically what is occurring.....and I know it is happening everywhere. This is the first time I have seen it on this scale.

The Church feeds the homeless 3 meals a day if they want it and they also get food stamps and about $400 a month from the government. But this isn't the answer and the sheer numbers of these people are growing every day. 

So...as much as I love the Bridge and the vibrancy of San Francisco I leave it a sadder person than when I came.

NO BLOG TOMORROW AS I WILL BE TRAVELLING

Bad decision made but all ok eventually...and a nice sunny autumn day

Weather Max 18 Min 11 - the sky is blue - the sun is shining - perfection

A slow start today. The weather is glorious and I was showered, breakfasted and ready to go early but decided I needed to finish the latest Patricia Cornwell book, Chaos.  I NEEDED to finish it because it is the most annoying of all her books and I NEEDED to be done with it. She used to write quite good thrillers but her last 5 or 6 books have gone progressively downhill. I live in hope of a return to former glory and keep buying the damn things. Kay Scarpetta is the most self absorbed, arrogant, belligerent, pseudo snob character ever to grace the pages of a book and her husband, Benton may be a brilliant FBI agent but he has the personality of a brick. This story was just repetitive garbled thoughts and I was halfway through it before I could grab onto a plot line. By then I had to finish it just to see if there was any light at the end of the tunnel. There wasn't. The only good thing about the book is I've finished with it and possibly finished with Patricia Cornwell.

Anyway.... I finally made a move and spoke to reception to see how to get to the Amtrak station to book tickets to Crescent City for Thursday. She told me to exit the building and turn right and continue on for about 3 miles. Because it was daytime and because I hadn't really ventured out in the area around the hostel much and because she gave me the impression it would be ok to do so...I followed her instructions. Bad decision....I hadn't gone far before I realised the error of my ways.  There wasn't just one or two drug addled people ......there were literally hundreds of them. I admit to being very scared. There was one woman passed out on the ground with open staring eyes. I would swear she was dead. The whole walk was in "your worst nightmare" category. After a while they started to thin out and I heard 2 women talking at the lights. They were scared too and had asked a policeman for directions and he told them to get off that street NOW and that it was an extremely dangerous place to be. We stayed together till we got to a better area and I'll not venture out there again.

At Amtrak I eventually sorted out travel arrangements. A bus then a  train and then a bus to Arcada which gets in around 5 pm. Then the bus to Crescent City leaves at 5.30 but they guy said I might miss it but there's another at 10.40.  What?  About 10 hours of travel just to Arcada. My friend Angie from Crescent City called and will pick me up in Arcada. This is a great relief because the chance of getting there in time for the final bus doesn't look good. All transport I've taken so far has run late. I really don't mind if they run late because generally I've got nothing but time....it gets iffy though when you have connected trains or buses to catch.

This was outside the Amtrak station.
I'm not sure if it was left over
from Halloween or if it is
someone waiting for a late train

I walked for some time and ended up in Union square and caught the Cable Car and tripped around on that for a while. As I said, the day was beautiful so it was most enjoyable.  The powers that be are in the process of erecting a giant Christmas tree in Union Square and also turning it into an ice rink for the coming Christmas celebrations. It's supposed to open tomorrow but it doesn't look close to being ready. Once they have it set up it will be great.

I never did any of these things ;)

Fun way to get up those bloody hills

I'm missing Derek terribly but I got my bulldog fix - this is Buster and he was just plain gorgeous. So soft and very cuddly.

Buster

I heard from my friend Ben (from where I used to work). He is over on holiday as well so we met up for a drink and chat. Nice to see a familiar face :)

Ben in Union Square

It started to cool down a bit so I returned to the Hostel to coffee and blog.  Tomorrow will be my last full day in San Francisco and - weather permitting - I will get up early and do that walk across the Bridge and back....maybe.  Laundromat in the afternoon and then re pack everything ready for an early start to Crescent City the next morning.

Started with a bang and fizzled to a zzzzzzz!

Weather Max 18 Min 13

I woke up to grey but dry skies so I decided to make the most of it  and go to Chinatown and Union Square. I hopped on to my trustee hop on/hop off  bus and took the scenic route - over the bridge because I never get tired of it - and through Golden Gate Park. It's a beautiful park and is bigger than Central Park NY. There was a young couple getting married in the gardens so all of us on top of the bus stood up and yelled ) MAZEL TOV!! They laughed and waved back lol

When I say grey I mean grey

Fishermans Wharf - the best the sky got all day.

It was cold on top of the bus - very very cold. Not so much the temperature but the wind factor.  I began to regret not wearing my big coat. I hadn't really needed it until now and have just been wearing jeans and trakkies. But now I WANTED my coat and I NEEDED my coat. This Brisbane girl isn't used to  this cold and it's only going to get colder as I go north.

This frozen look is because I AM frozen.

I don't know how people manage in San Francisco - the roads are so steep - if I walked to the bottom of a hill I would never make it back up to my house again. I would just have to  stay at the bottom.

This isn't even one of the steepest hills

I haven't been on a cable car as yet this trip but will do so before I go. I always thought the cable was on top but they are underground and actually pull the car up the hills. They would need something similar in place for me if i lived here. I know I would have no gears left in my car.... hill starts would be the pits!

Cable  Car

It's Halloween today and all week people having been walking around in costumes. Halloween isn't really big in Australia so it is quite odd to see people in suits walking down the street with a Scream mask on. I'm thinking the adults like it more than the kids lol. Case in point - see picture below - man pushing pram. Child isn't dressed up. just Dad. 

Scary

Random - San Francisco from the bus turn around point

 While I was turning into a blue eskimo on top of the bus I suddenly recognised the area and saw my hostel down the street. I hopped off with the plan of grabbing my coat, having some lunch and then continuing with my sight seeing. What actually happened was..I grabbed my coat...I had some lunch....and went back to my room and had a nap. Hence the title of todays blog.

Lunch - I think the Vietnamese name
for this is Yum Bloody Yum

This morning I  extended my stay here for another couple of days so I could catch up with young Ben who I worked with until recently. He's also on holiday and having a ball by the looks of it. I'll see him on the 2nd.

Tomorrow I'll go to Amtrak to see how I can get to Crescent City where I will be meeting up with wonderful Larry and family from our last trip and Kyle and Curtis and Jackelyn. These people turned  a van breakdown and an enforced 2 week halt to our last trip into one of the best times we had. My experience there was so good I had Crescent City Ca tattooed on my shoulder when I got home.  Now THAT's commitment.

An earlyish night tonight I think with a good book. They're showing horror movies downstairs at 2 am for Halloween but i imagine everyone will have partaken in a fair bit of jungle juice by then so I'll pass.  I don't think I'm ever going to get a regular sleep pattern going again so I give up. I'll just sleep when I'm tired.

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men/ Gang aft a-gley" Rabbie Burns

Weather San Francisco Max 19 Min 13 and rainy

For dinner last night I had my first ever Vietnamese meal at a poky little place over the road from the hostel. It was a pork dish and it was fantastic and it cost $8.80. A bargain.

Great food. Great Value

After 2 x 3 hours nights of sleep I popped a pill last night and slept for 10 hours straight. I could have easily gone back to sleep again this morning I but didn't want to push my luck and end up not sleeping tonight.

I awoke to grey skies and it was pouring with rain which effectively put paid to my plans for the day. The quote in the heading translates from the Scottish into the Australia's Murphy's Law. I had planned to do the walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and back but if its grey, cold and rainy where I am it will be 10 times worse on the bridge and then you can  add in some bloody big winds.

I spent some time Googling "what to do in San Francisco on a rainy day". I discounted movies because I save them for "too pooped to pop" days. There were a variety of museums and art galleries and indoor games places but I opted for the Musee Mecanique. This is next to Fishermans Wharf and it holds antique  and vintage arcade games. These date back 100 years or so and went up to Space Invaders and PacMan days. You can play the games and some of the earlier ones - like The Opium Den - are hilarious.

Old Arcade Games

The Opium Den

When I came out the skies were blue and the rain had stopped so I bought a 2 day "hop on / hop off" bus ticket (another granny discount - thank you, I'll take them all). We went over the Golden Gate Bridge again and into Sausalito. This is where the rich people live apparently. It's a pretty place but if I was spending a million or so on a house I would want it to be off the Tourist track. I did like the name of this Socks shop.

Good name for a shop in Sausalito.......

.......selling socks

One of the Tour Guides was saying that there are more dogs in San Francisco than children and dog walkers can earn up to $50k a year if they walk 6 to 8 dogs at a time. Woof!!

The bus driver on the Sausalito part of the trip was the original Basil Fawlty. She kept talking to herself saying something about a nachos chicken burger and moaning out loud to herself about being tired and she was checking her phone all the time. Any touristy things she had to say or questions she was forced to answer came in a ho hum voice. OMG!! She then phoned up - while she was driving - and ordered a chicken burger. Driving - on the phone - pouring with rain again. lol. As we left Sausalito she said "Come on. Let's go. I feel as gloomy as the weather."  I never gave her a tip. Everyone on the bus was just doing a lot of eye rolling lol

Mrs Basil Fawlty lol...mumbling
and playing with her phone. I was
too scared to get a photo from the front

We got back to the area by the bridge to wait for the big bus and the rain came bucketing down. There were about 50 people - men and women - all squeezed into the Ladies Toilets because there was no other shelter.  hehehe!

I hopped off the bus in the Ashbury / Haight area famous for my girl Janis Joplin and also Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and....as they say....many many more. This was where the whole hippy thing from the late 60's and the 70's and the summer of love started. A few of the people I saw there looked like they were there at it's inception. It amuses me that the whole peace and love thing originated in a place called Haight. Because of my great Vietnamese dinner last night I tried another meal for lunch in Haight and it too, was wonderful.  I think I have found me a new favourite cuisine. I ran in to my old friends.......Ben & Jerry and had a nosh. They are right at home in the Ashbury and Haight area with their slogan "Love, Peace and Ice Cream"

Haight

Ben & Jerry - Happy face

Hmmm  HAPPIER face

I think this means don't drive in the power lines

I was waiting to Hop On the bus again but had urgent need of a restroom and the McDonalds I was outside wouldn't let me use them unless I bought food. As I had just eaten (which is why I needed the bloody loo) I bought a burger and fries and coffee and gave them to a homeless man outside who was both surprised and delighted and I was equally delighted - and greatly relieved - to use the facilities.

Back on the bus the guide said San Francisco is the most expensive place in the world to live and a 2 bedroom apartment with 1 bathroom would be $3000 per month, which is nearly $4000 Aussie - very expensive and as the wages are very low, this would  explain why there are so many homeless people.

I saw a portable toilet on a building site but wasn't quick enough to get a photo - it was called the Honey Bucket. I kid you not. They obviously aren't on a Vietnamese diet.

The dodgy area that my hostel is in is called The Tenderloin. Apparently this is because there was so much crime here that no Police Officers wanted to work in the area. Eventually they paid them extra money to do so and the other Police weren't happy. They used to say they got so much money they could afford to buy tenderloin steaks. Anyway...this is the story the guide told but it doesn't make me feel any safer going out after dark.

Here are a few more pics from the top of the bus. We actually went past the Addams Family house but again too quick for a photo. grr.

City Hall - 5th tallest in the country

A random musical group of which there are many.
I like the sign "Clowns are People too"

Outside the Asian Art Museum.
The largest collection outside of Asia
but it still looks like a Pokemon to me

Lyrics from an old Beatles song but
I think it is in reference
to the upcoming election

All the high end shops in one little group

I got off the bus at Fishermans Wharf again and had a coffee and a beigert I think it was called. I still don't know what it is but it was hot and was served with cream and was tasty. It was almost donut-y.

Back at the hostel and it's blog time. I'm almost finished it now - how quick was that lol. (Actual time 2 hours). I have just crossed the road for another Vietnamese delight. A homeless woman approached me and said "can you give me some fucking money" and I said "no" and she said "why".  Well I cant think of any reason...good grief.

Tonights Dinner US$7.70