Final Summary Post

Hi there. It is now August 31st. We have been home for several days from our Northern California adventure. As you know from my last postings I was having difficulty with internet connections in California. Go figure, 1 1/2 hrs from Silicon Valley and I have a better internet connection in Owen Sound Ontario Canada!

Nonetheless, following is the rest of our blog that was not posted. You may, OR MAY NOT, be interested, but never liking to leave a job undone, I thought I would publish it after the fact. So, here you go...

And, now that I am home I think I have figured out how you can see the rest of our pics. Follow this link
Norther California adventure (Bill & Mary)

Friday, 8/24/12

Last Day - we were to be at the San Francisco airport by 1pm so spent the morning in a private Redwood forest with even larger trees - impressive. Also, noted the following on a passing fruit stand - Grapefruit 10 for $1.00. Only in the U.S.A.

Arrived at the airport, left on time and arrived in Toronto late Friday night, drove back to Owen Sound, arrived about 230 Satuday morning...and crashed.

Thursday, 8/23/12

Taking the coast road to Carmel, highway 1 down to Big Sur. Weather is cool, misty, low ceiling along coast, 57 degrees. Drive is similar to the route we took last summer along the Cabot trail in Nova Scotia.

Spent time in Pheiffer National Park between Carmel and Monteray. Saw, touched and learned about the giant Redwood and Sequoia trees. Great pictures.

Lunch and shopping in Carmel California where Clint Eastwood was once mayor, but now lives on his ranch outside of town. Mary purchased her very first "Coach" handbag from a Coach boutique on Ocean Avenue. Had lunch in Clint's former restaurant in downtown Carmel. Carmel is not a large place.

Returned to Monteray in the afternoon and spent a few hours touring the famous Monterary Aquarium. We walked (long walk) back to our Hotel, the Portelo and finished the evening with a lovely Last Dinner with our Tour Director and group.

Wednesday, 8/22/12

Gorgeous , bright sunny day.Traveling along the Merced River toward Monterey. At first deep in the Yosemite valley. Stopped along the highway for a stop light put there resulting from a rock slide ten years ago.They were unable to repair the road to two lane due to the extent of the rock slide.

San Joaquin Valley
Agriculture predominant economy of California in general. This valley serves as evidence to that.

Interesting anecdote - Sr. Joaquin Marianna - the five Joachins - bandits, rob from the gold miners and give to the poor in Mexico. Was the character that spawned fictional character, Zorro. Joachin and his wife wive had been robbed and she raped at their gold stake. Antonio Banderas Zorro movie refers to Joaquin Marrianna.

Only in California would you find an old beat-up truck
inside the fruit stand.

Visited a Roadside stop for fresh pistachios and almonds. Bought a bag of each. Nice fresh fruit.

Passed over California Aquaduct; carries drinking water to southern California including LA. Water from as far north as Oregon currently, could be from BC soon. Largest earthen damn in the world to support the water in the St. Luis reservoir, held until needed in the south.

Wind/solar only 14% of California power. Currently buy power on the spot market.

Temperatures very greatly during the day. That has been a trend each day. 86 in the morning in the interior, 68 degrees as we move west toward the coast. Everybody layers here.

Visited San Juan Bautista mission - one of 21 missions throughout California and one the largest. Still an active church. The Spanish used these missions to open up California along with the Spanish military. Built directly above the San Andreas fault.

Castroville - artichoke capital of the world. Currently being harvested.

Highlight, bucket list day - Toured 17 mile drive around Pebble Beach golf course, stopped and walked on the 18th green at Pebble Beach. Shopped in the Pro Shop, ogled everything!

Had a lovely dinner at Domenico's in the Wharf in Monteray. Feasted on Bay Scallops and Clam Chowder. Wathced boats come and go in the harbor while sea lions lazed on the rocks. Lazy bastards.

Tuesday, 8/21/12

Eastern Sierras, outside Lake Tahoe, Carson city. Trip down mountain beautiful view of Carson Valley from several vantage points down the winding road. Saw the location of opening scenes from Bonanza. Listening to the sound track from Dancing with Wolves while traversing the valley. "Silver tip" sagebrush throughout the Sierras. Great area for cattle ranching. Much drier area in this eastern Sierra area, more like desert. Purple asters dot the road side.

Topaz Lake rest stop. Beautiful little road stop. Man made lake fed by Walker river. Cotton wood trees, Aspen Birch, trees.

Traveling north through Carson valley heading to Yosemite National Park. Farm country surrounded by mountain range.

Visited Mono Lake Visitor's Centre. This is a inland salt water lake and migrating redevous for birdlife.

Tioga Pass in the Sierras to Yosemite National Park. 3rd most popular park in the US. 10'000 ft climb. Glad Doug was driving and we weren't!

Yosemite National Park

Pics of "El Capitan" famous among climbers and "Half Dome". Beautiful sunny day with light cloud - good for photos. Bus very comfortable.

Spent about 2 hours in the park. Huge rock formations and gigantic trees, but Mary and I were done in about an hour. So had a beer in the bar.

Staying at Yosemite View Lodge. Room not bad but not as nice as we have been used to. Very limited dining choices. Very poor restaurant. I ended up with the soup and salad bar, a poor one at that. Mary's special didn't arrive after an hour so we paid and left, settled for ice cream treats from the general store.

Tomorrow will be another long day on the road heading back west toward Monterey.

 

Monday, 8/20/12

Early morning rise for Bill today (445am) to be ready for Hot Air Balloon ride over Napa Valley. Preparations before leaving were only hampered by hydro outage in hotel at 4am, so showered by small flashlight, minor, but interesting inconvenience for all. Mary could not be convinced to join me so went with other friends met on the tour, Alex and Hannah. Beautiful early morning, not a cloud in the sky. Great ride, would certainly do again.

Later drove to Sacramento, lunch, then on to Lake Tahoe for night. Toured state capital building in Sacramento. Saw where "Jelly Bellys" are made; were unsuccessful in our pursuit of "Belly Flops", according to our guide the "seconds" of Jelly Bellys. Travelled up into the Sierra Nevadas, arriving for a Dinner cruise on Lake Tahoe.

Sunday, 8/19/12

Touring San Francisco, Lombard St., the winding, steep street often filmed in movies and TV shows, the "Painted Ladies" houses (depicted in the "Full House" TV series of the 1990's). We were in the Napa Valley at the Nicolson Ranch winery for a tour and outdoor lunch by noon. And wound up the day with a wonderful Napa Valley Wine Train tour and onboard dinner through the valley. The dining car was exquisite, vintage train car with brass, silver, and all the fineries of a bygone era.   

Saturday, August 18th
Haven't figured out how to put pics on the blog yet, but I will figure it out. Spent the day today touring San Fracisco including Golden Gate bridge park, toured famous landmarks and buildings, listned to the history of the city. We learned how significantly the earthquake of 1906 effected the development of the city. Toured fishermans wharf where Mary purchased zip-it purse from a young lady from Toronto...go figure. She had been working the cruise ships like Nicole, decided she liked SF and stayed...for now.

Mary (Forest Gump) bound for the other side
without looking down!

We WALKED THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE, about 3km, 200ft above the water. Yes, Mary made it albeit she clung to the inside walking lane with clenched teeth, but she did it! Was a beautiful day for it, but very windy which added to her nervousness.

Have met some nice folks on the tour. A young couple in particular, Hannah and Alex from Birmingham in the UK. Mostly Americans on the tour, several of whom have that American way of needing to be heard, but most just nice folks. 52 people in total with ages ranging from 19 to 88.

The tour guide, Larry is very good, and very punctual, which is helpful for and people who just cannot seem to be there on time. He provides a good history of the state and is very knowledgable.

China town tonight. Had a good dinner and informative tour of China town.

Pictures to follow when I learn how to put them into a blog.

Friday, August 17th.
Can never seem to get any sleep the first hotel night of a vacation. We are both very tired for the flight today. Neither of us can sleep in flight. Forgot to bring neck cushions which might have helped a little. Nonetheless are about half way across the US at this point, somewhere over Colorado. About two hrs left in the flight, almost five hours in total. Plane seems to be full, a number of kids...yoo hoo?

Air Canada - what a convoluted check in system. A trained monkey could organize that better. It took three separate lines just to get our bag checked.

And of course we get the big, black, middle aged female, with ATTITUDE US border officer who asked the same questions multiple times thinking she could make the big white Canadian middle aged man wet his pants. It almost worked.

On our way, next stop San Francisco.

We got here!!! About 530pm local time. Hyatt Regency, room overlooking the Bay. Can see Golden Gate bridge about 1 mile away. Great view.

Day 1 Crowne Plaza, Toronto

Arrived Toronto close to 6pm. Dinner down the street at Toni Romos. Short Ribs are great. However Jimmie will not be surprised that I sent mine back - half the rib was COLD! Mary's were fine of course. Yep, she just rolled her eyes.

Nice room. Shelley Hawkins at CAA Travel recommended it.

Flight for San Francisco tomorrow morning at 1015.

What do you do in a hotel room waiting to leave the next day? In the old days it might, I restate might, have meant one thing. Now, it means watching the wildfire news on CNN and the crying victims.

Thank goodness we leave soon.

California here we come...

This is day one of my Hotel California blog. Although we don't fly to San Francisco until tomorrow, Friday, I wanted to get a head's start on blogging for the first time.

Just for fun, wanted to see if I could add a picture, so how about this one of granddaughter Brooke.