Travelleity: June 2011

22 June 2011

Zephyr Trip: Day 8

Baker Beach

Japanese Tea Garden @ G.G. Park

Like all vacations, the final day seemed to arrive in a hurry. We slept in a little bit, then decided to hit up the Golden Gate Park for a few hours in west San Francisco. Golden Gate Park is a long rectangle oriented towards the Pacific Ocean; while similar to NYC's Central Park, G.G. Park is actually 20% larger. We lucked out in finding a free parking spot along one of the park's winding streets.

49er Roll

As lunchtime approached, we needed to address the fact that we had been in California several days but not had a bite of sushi. A little wandering south of the park led us to Hotei Restaurant, a nice little Japanese place. The sushi was delicious and fresh- especially their "49er" roll that included smoked salmon and paper-thin slices of lemon. So good.

Mine?!

We hiked back to Golden Gate Park, but after finding out most of the "mini-parks" within it cost $7+ per person [and don't even mention the $20+ museums], we decided to just hang out at the Shakespeare garden [with plaques listing all of his references to flowers/plants] and near Stow Lake with Strawberry Island and its electrically-helped waterfall.

Ring & Bridge - Reprise

We headed via car towards Baker Beach [with a brief fabric store detour], which is on the Pacific Ocean southwest of the Golden Gate Bridge. It sets up a beautiful view of the bridge and the Marin Headlands. It wasn't warm enough to attract any big crowds, but there were a couple bad surfers to entertain us for a bit.

Wandering around Viansa

Cas and I drove back across the G.G. Bridge, and made a beeline to the Sonoma Valley to squeeze in a wine tasting at Viansa Winery. It rained for a few moments on our drive- the only precipitation we saw while out in California. We sampled a few wines, then purchased a couple to take back to my Uncle & Aunt's home for the final dinner out west.

Our California Zephyr trip really worked out well- the Amtrak was on time, saw family in Denver & California, and overall the weather worked out. Already looking forward to planning another train trip, hopefully including a National Park or two. I think Cassie [or should I say "my fiancée"!] is now a lens-changing expert for SLR cameras too.

Stow Lake

Strawberry Island Pagoda

Golden Gate Park flowers

Manmade waterfall

Front coming in off the Pacific

I don't think I'll ever tire of photographing this bridge

Pointing to where I proposed in the Marin Headlands

Surf's up

Young grapes over Sonoma

Viansa Winery

Cas & I near Navato, CA

19 June 2011

Zephyr Trip: Day 7

The San Francisco Ferry Terminal

On board the Larkspur Ferry

Wanting a full day in the city, Cas & I took a ferry into San Francisco from Larkspur. Travel tip: double-check your rental car's internal clock- I ended up sprinting to the ferry because our clock was running 10 minutes behind! Weather-wise: despite a rainy forecast [I brought 2 umbrellas with us] the day turned out to be warm and sunny.

Yank Sing dumplings

The ferry dropped us off at the San Francisco Ferry Building, and we snagged a couple of transit Day Passes to allow us to maximize our streetcar/cable car rides. After hiking a couple blocks to the Rincon Center [also an old WPA Post office], we admired its 4-story indoor waterfall and then lunched at Yank Sing. The deem-sum style lunch was delicious, especially the house specialty soup-filled-dumplings!

On board Powell Street line

We caught a streetcar on our way to Union Square, and found a nearby fabric store to add to Cassie's growing collection. We took the Powell Street cable car line up through the center of town, and stopped off at the [free!] Cable Car Museum. Here you learn how San Francisco managed to keep its historic cable car fleet alive, and can see the dynamos that power the entire cable system.

The Buena Vista

After taking the Hyde Street cable car down to its turntable, we stopped for a beverage at The Buena Vista- where the Irish Coffee made its American debut. We had a good seat at the bar, near the bartender pouring entire lines of Irish Coffee. Tasty as I remembered, too.

Yum!

After getting our warmup drinks, we headed to Ghirardelli Square to grab some fudge and ice cream sundaes. We decided to wander down towards Fisherman's Wharf, and swung by the [free!] SF National Maritime Museum. Pier 39 was nearby, so we stopped to check in on the resident Sea Lions. While most were lazing about in the sun, there was one small pup that seemed to be on a mission to slither over all of his pals.

A Taylor Street cable car ride brought us near Little Italy, and we had an authentic dinner at Firenze by Night. Walking east to the Embarcadero, we caught our last streetcar back to the Ferry Terminal, and ferried back to Larkspur- hooray for public transit!

The Golden Gate

Alcatraz & the G.G.

The City by the Bay

Inside the SF Ferry Terminal

Waterfall in the Rincon Center

2nd floor of Fabric-Buyer's heaven [Britex Fabrics]

Powering the cables [inside the Cable Car Museum]

So that's why Irish Coffee has a kick

No doubt where to head next

Lighthouse lens [SF Maritime Museum]

Sea Lion life

End of the [Taylor Street] line

Turns on elbow grease

The Embarcadero

Bay Bridge at Night

08 June 2011

Zephyr Trip: Day 6 [Engage!]

Day 6: San Francisco, Marin Headlands, Muir Woods

Did I wake up knowing today [April 6th, 2011] was "the day"? I suppose so. The forecast at the time was calling for showers the next two days, so if I wanted a guaranteed-sunny day, this was it. Originally I had considered driving to Yosemite or Mendecino, but in the end it would have been too much vacation time wasted in a car. So I told myself Muir Woods was the place... unless we came across a spectacular view.

Yum!

Uncle Andy drove us to the SFO airport very early to pick up our rental car- early enough that it was still dark on our first pass over the Golden Gate Bridge. After getting our SUV [free upgrade!], we drove downtown to Washington Park to get breakfast at Mama's. However, due to a strange [for a breakfast joint] 8 AM opening, we were a little early. We used the extra time to hike to the top of Filbert Street and walk around Coit Tower. By the time we had soaked in our first panoramic views of the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate, Mama's had opened. Very tasty 'California' omelette for me, French Toast Sampler for Cas.

Fort Point Gopher

We set the GPS for Muir Woods, but detoured a bit when the route took us past the top of Lombard Street- I just couldn't resist idling down the 'crookedest' street in the world. We also decided to stop near Fort Point, which is at the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Again, amazing views of the Bay and bridge from both shore and pier.

Over the G.G. Bridge

After hopping back on Highway 101, we took the Golden Gate Bridge northbound [bonus: free in this direction]. I remembered Uncle Andy mentioning the nearby Marin Headlands as worth a stop, so we turned towards these hills that overlook the Golden Gate Bridge.

Something to call home about...

We found a small turnout overlooking the City, Bridge, and Ocean- and I knew it was time to get the ring out from hiding in my camera bag all week. I waited for other tourists to move on, and soon it was just Cassie and I on the overlook. During a 'lens change' for my camera, I 'dropped' a lenscap to give me an excuse to get down on one knee. When Cas turned around I had the ring out in the open, and asked "Will you marry me?" Yes, original writing, I know. She smiled, I hope a little surprised [other than the fact that she had helped me pick out the ring]. I stood and put it on her finger, where it has been most of the time since! The next 15 minutes involved calling the folks, texting, getting the GPS coordinates of 'the spot' and taking a few pictures.

The Marin Headland Drive

We continued our Marin Headlands drive [with a sparkly ring in the open] past the outdated naval batteries. Eventually passing through a 1-lane tunnel, we were back on route for Muir Woods. We stopped at a Whole Foods to pick up some pesto, salami, bread and cheese for a mini-picnic then drove down a narrow, winding road to the Muir Woods National Monument.

Entry

No picnicking allowed inside the Park, so we scarfed down lunch in front of the Main Gate. After a brief gift-shop stop, we started following the stream north. Soon the trees of the famed Cathedral Grove were towering over us. The tourists began to thin out, and we hiked through the quiet woods and up the switchback sides of the valley, passing a banana slug on the way. After a brief stop at a campground, we headed back downstream. Couldn't have asked for better weather for our first National Park/Monument visit!