Summer 2008 - The beginning

A planned beginning.

This summer we are heading back to the USA but this time with a difference. Instead of the usual fly drive we are going to fly in and take a train from San Francisco to Denver.

From Denver we are going to do a circular route out to the canyons in Arizona and Utah and back to Denver. All is booked and ready to go.

Back in the UK

So now we're back in the UK. We arrived back at 1.15pm after an interesting pre-flight experience. However, let's go back to Friday.

We packed and repacked to get all the breakables cushioned and into four bags and two carry-ons. we did it with space and weight to spare. We had two options of the farce of BA's inability to let us check-in on-line. We had been persuaded to use BA after not using them for a few years, however, we will not be using them again as their pre-fight log-in seems pretty rubbish. Anyway we could either leave our bags at the hotel, collect them later and go out to airport taking pot-luck with seats or go out to the airport early, check-in and come back to the city. We choose to do the latter.

We went down to breakfast to see our favourite waitress, Tracy. The Westin St Francis has to be one of the best hotels that we stay in; excellent service and excellent staff.

We checked out and headed out on the BART to the airport. At the check-in desk I mentioned about the inability to check in on-line and was informed that at least half of the flight had done so! On the way back to the city I composed and have sent off an e-mail about the appalling service. We will not be using them again!

We ended up at The Embarcadero and went up the National Parks Historic Ships. It was a delightful walk. They've various ships(!) there that are worth looking over including an old sailing ship built in Glasgow and a paddle steamer built in Newcastle. There was a car ferry, Eureka, that served as the connection across the bay as part of Route 101. We explored it and the Balclutha, the sailing ship. The day had been very sunny and very warm. It was a lovely day. All too soon it was time to head off to the airport again. It was a good day to leave. We took the F-Line tram back to The Embarcadero and was it crowded! We got off early and walked to the BART. It took about 35 minutes to get to the airport.

Once at SFO we went through the usual security searches; shoes off, all things into the grey trays; through the metal detector and then repacking everything back into pockets and back-packs, not forgetting to put shows on.

We then had to wait to board. The BA flight was late in, late boarding and late leaving! Those are three more reasons why we won't be using them again. We had seen that the flight had been late for several days in a row!

Once on board the in-flight entertainment and stewards was good. It was all video/music/tv on demand. After a meal, some wine and then a little more wine, I must have slept for about five hours as the next thing I recall is the cabin lights going up, my shoulder aching and it was just on two hours to touch down.

We landed 15 minutes later than the scheduled time having had a strong head wind that cut the flight time down. What was irritating was that the plane's stand was still occupied and we had to wait an additional 15 - 20 minutes. Once off it was the long trek to immigration, which was quiet and deserted. A pleasant official saw us through; a long wait for our luggage; finally out for our bus to Woking and surprise, surprise just as we had left it was overcast and threatening to rain now it was raining. Welcome Home.

Back to Winchester on the train and time to reflect.
Taking out the flights we had travelled for nearly three weeks and, as I wrote earlier, driven close to 3000 miles. We've meet fantastic people and always been treated well. Staff have been great and drivers have been courteous. None of them would have known we were British driving in a foreign country.

There may be other blogs that I write and others write describing their adventures but this is the final entry for this one.

Farewell.

Hello and Goodbye

Well, what a strange day. It's gone from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Going down to breakfast at the West St Francis is always an experience. It's so nice. For a comparatively small sum one can have a marvellous breakfast; from full English to Continental or both at the same time.

As we were tucking in we noticed that the waitress was the same as one we had when we came back in Easter in 2006. My partner asked her if she was here then and it was her! We chatted for a few moments explaining that we came to the St Francis at the end of our travels. She was so taken with the fact that we had been back several times that she gave us breakfast on the house. Well, we we were stunned and, in typically English fashion, we protested but it seems that she had the facility to do this. In the mean time a young couple from the South were chatting and we overheard that they were going out on bikes to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was too irresistible and my partner spoke to her. We ended up chatting about 'doing the bridge' and gave them some of the tips that we picked up yesterday. I talked with the young man and it turned out that he wanted to set up an internet business and when he knew that I taught ICT he asked for advice and I gave him the usual information that I usually teach but in a very shortened form! We chatted on for quite a while. One of the high points of this holiday is that it's been really good talking with real Americans and hearing their opinions as opposed to it being filtered through politicians or the media. We were really buoyed up by the free breakfast and talking with the young couple.

Our plan was to head out to Golden Gate Park and explore it a little. We found it quite hard to get a 71 bus out there. We did a little shopping before hand going to the Wells Fargo museum. They had a little exhibit on Wells Fargo on the Silver Screen. It was very interesting. One of the scenes was from the television series 'Tales from Wells Fargo' and one of the actors was a very young Jack Nicoloson.

We got out to the park and spend a very pleasant hour or so out there. One of the new features was a new cafe which served excellent coffee and sandwiches. Although it was a bit blowy the weather was fine. There are some lovely parts to the garden. It was rather like a large garden back home in a stately home. It was very well done. The science museum is still under construction and I suppose that we'll have to pay another visit to see it finished.

Instead of going back the way we came we went out on to Fulton and took a number 2 back to Union Square. It was a fantastic ride. We passed Alamo Square where 'the painted ladies' live. We ended up back on Union Square. We split for a while to do various bits of shopping.

I had to be back at the room by 18:50 so that we could do our on-line booking. I was up in the room by 6:15 waiting, The login was only allowed 24 hours before the flight. The time came and went and although I could log in I was unable to check in on line as promised. I was annoyed as it had worked so well when we had come out.

After repeatedly trying to check in we went off for our supper. So much for BA's improvements.

It seems that this will be the last entry in the USA. We have had a really good time and it's been one of the best holidays we've had. For nearly three weeks we've travelled about this country and meet some wonderful people; ordinary people who have made us feel at home and welcome. The worst hotel was the Quality Inn in Denver, which has not yet replied to my e-mail. It would be hard to point to one that was the best; the driving has been excellent as the drivers have been restrained and polite – none of whom would know that I am a British driver; The scenery has been stunning and I can't think of anything that has disappointed us.

The next entry will be back in the UK so it's farewell from me and I'll report on the journey home.

SF - again

Well, I didn't get around to finishing off the blog from yesterday so I'll do that now and go on to today a little later.

After reaching SF we aimed for the hotel and after a first unsuccessful attempt to return the car at O'Farrell I managed to take us around the block and get into the parking ramp. We had carefully planned the luggage carrying and soon ended up in the hotel, which was only a couple of blocks away. We upgraded our room to a slightly better specification and breathed a sigh of relief.

A quick estimate shows that I had driven over 3000 miles!

Anyway, we went out and acquired our passes for the local transport system, Muni and took the F-line down to Embarcadero to a diner we had eaten at before. En-route we heard several english accents which we studiously ignored and avoided.

After that we drifted back to the hotel.

Now for today.

We thought we'd make it over to Sausilito crossing the Golden Gate Bridge via the Presidio. We set out and the weather was overcast; I write overcast but it was quite odd. The overcast cloud was more like low-flying cloud. As we crossed the city the cloud came and went. It wasn't rain-type cloud - more like a fog. We went to a shop on Taylor and decided to hire a couple of bikes; we thought about a tandem but decided that single bikes might be better. We got geared up and set off.

This was my partner's first time driving/riding on US roads. I must admit I wondered how she would cope and she did rather well. We started off on the flat and went off along the water front and onto the Promenade. A quick spin along that and we had a steep hill to cope with. We dealt with that and rode along the Presidio and Crissy Fields. There were other cyclists like us and a few that were doing it as exercise; lycra shorts and the like.

We went to Fort Point at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge and could see the work being done to retrofit the bridge to cope with seismic activity. Up we went next to the bridge and was it cold and blowing! The mist was moving at high speed across the bridge and it was all crowded.

We rode across the bridge dealing with pedestrians, other cyclists and the wind. It was chilly and strong. However we soon made it across to the other side - We had ridden the bridge! Down we went to Sausilito and as we descended it became a lot calmer and warmer. On entering Sausilito we looked for somewhere to buy something to eat. We found a deli and bought two rather large sandwiches and coffee. We found somewhere to eat them. We fell into talking with a local tour guide. We chatted about nothing in particular but it turned out that his brother had become a British citizen!

We thought we would go back by ferry and set off for it. We arrived at the terminal in plenty of time. We waited and waited and then we could see the ferry coming in. We would have to wait another 20 minutes at least. Despite the haul up the hill back to the bridge we chose to bike it. The ride wasn't too bad; we had to walk up the hill on a few occasions. Soon we had reached the top and able to get back over the bridge. We were over the side in short order and speeding along the same route as we went out on. It didn't take long to get back to the hire shop. Leaving the bikes behind we set off on foot, grabbed a coffee at Barnes and Noble and caught a bus back to Union Square. We chatted with a chap on the bus and soon we were back in our hotel room.

We went to Loris's for our evening meal; on getting back to our room we cleaned up; got ready for bed and settled down for the night.

Tomorrow, or is it today, will be another great day in SF.

and so to San Francisco

Well, this will in two parts. The first will be about getting to SF and the second, about our part day here.

First getting here. We left Oakland with a plan of where we wanted to go. We set off following the satnav. It took us up and over the Bay Bridge. That's as good as The Golden Gate Bridge but less well known to the rest of the world. A new bridge is being built along side it to replace it. We headed south down through the city and down the peninsula. We stopped at one vista point to admire the view. A little later we turned off and started along Skyline Boulevard. Soon after we started on it we pulled off into a village and picked up a coffee and a fruit and custard pastry, hmmmm, delicious.

We rose further and further; the road twisted and turned tightly in places; we were in a forest and the views were quite something. After a while the satnav announced we had reached our destination. I knew that we hadn't.

We choose to go on a little further and spotted a vista point. As we pulled in I knew we had reached our destination. It was Skegg'sPoint! For a long time I've seen this mentioned and wanted to visit it. Now we had the time and ability to get there. The view from the point was obscured now due to tree growth but it looked quite spectacular what we could see. we had our coffee and pastry. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and it was lovely and warm

After a short time we headed off. We had decided to drive to SF via Half Moon Bay. It was a lovely drive down and we pulled into the town. A very touristy sort of place but nothing special. On we drove to SF.

Up to Oakland

Today has been quite a day!

We just about made it on time for our free continental breakfast. One of the things we've noticed is the way that certain groups of people behave in the breakfast rooms. Some will simply get on with it, others tend to sit and wait and are so formal to the point of irritating one. Anyway, we set off from Salinas heading north on 101. Part way we wanted to take some pictures and had to pull off to try and find one of our cameras. After a bit of a rummage in the luggage it was found and we headed off again.

As we approached San Francisco bay area the traffic got heavier and heavier, which is to be expected. What we had planned to do today was to visit a relative of mine that had been over here for about 35 years! The last time I had seen him was back in January 1970, so it was with some trepidation we drove to his house.

We had always wanted to see a typical american house. We had seen them in films and tv shows but those are just sets; we wanted to see the real thing. We arrived within three minutes of the time we said we would be there, which was amazing in itself.

I won't go into all the details but it was fantastic meeting him again. He had never met my partner and these situations are always a little tense but he put us at our ease straight away. Offering us coffee was a really good starter. He kindly showed us around his house, which was rented, and I can write that the layout is very much like one sees. I was fascinated by it all. A lot of the house is plasterboard and wood as they can survive better in earthquakes, and this is an earthquake zone of the first order. We talked about what we had done and what we were up to at present; chatted about family and how life had treated us over the years. He told us about his work in Canada and the USA and the problems and highlights of it. We must have spent nearly five hours there. He very kindly gave us a sandwich lunch and a dessert. I wish that I had gotten in touch before on our previous visits as it was so lovely and really enjoyable to see him. I know that one or two people back home will love what he's doing when I tell them.

It all came to end much too soon but we had to get up to Oakland and although it's not that far I knew that it would be a good idea to get there sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, it's not one of the bay's most salubrious areas; the hotel was cheap and in a good district.

We booked in and the receptionist greeted us beautifully. We got up to the room and went out for a walk. There wasn't a huge amount to see but the area is famous for the author Jack London who wrote 'Call of the Wild' a book I had read at school and we had visited the remains of his ranch over in the Sonoma Valley on a previous visit.

We went to the restaurant attached to the hotel for our evening meal and I ordered a 'patty melt'. I swear that there was enough for two people. However, one thing the waitress asked really impressed me, and it was something that none of the others had ever asked us. I don't eat fries (chips), they really don't appeal to me; the first thing she asked was would I like a salad with it instead and then would I like it with the burger or to start. Now, it's not usual to be asked the latter as usually a salad is served almost like a starter at the beginning of the meal. Later when we were pondering about a dessert she told us that the Brownie Mud Slide would easily do two people; what a sweetheart she was. I was very impressed by her and subsequently left her a larger than normal tip.

One thing on this trip that has been a repeating theme is the railroad. We seem to have followed it where ever we have been. Obvious it was in Denver but it's also here in Oakland hooting away.

That about wraps it up for today. The only downside is that the Internet connection here is poor in our room but for some reason I'm not overly concerned. I think that it's because I take the place for what it is and it's not purporting to be a super-duper high class hotel like the one in Denver. To get this entry out I'll go and sit beside the pool where, hopefully, the connection is better.

Buellton to Salinas

These last few days have been relatively quiet. I think that it's because we've done some of this before; not all of it but some of it.

Well, today we headed up to Salinas on Route 101. I had no idea what to expect in terms of what to see or visit. I hadn't investigated or researched this particular part of the trip in any detail.

We had our 'free continental breakfast', paid up and set off... across the lot and picked up some fuel. That's one thing that is so different to the UK, the pay and pump system. You decided on how much fuel you want, pay up front for it and then pump it. It makes for a much slower system but it does cut down on non-payers. I don't think that it'd go down too well in the UK.

Off we started and the scenery was lovely. The morning had started cloudy but it cleared very quickly giving us blue sky all around us. The scenery was similar to the Santa Monica mountains and the MASH look. The road unfolded before us winding up and over the range. The hills and mountains were brown scrub with patches of green trees and bushes. We expected to see some cattle but there none! We first headed along 101 North past Vandenberg. That's where the space shuttle can land and the US spy satellites are launched from – not that we were that close or one is able to see any sign of that. We were mostly inland until we swung through Pismo Beach, the last of the sea that we'll see until we reach the Bay Area. As we passed through San Luis Obispo we could see the Madonna Inn, a pink creation covered with sea shells. We had stopped by there back in 2002 and found it 'interesting'. It's worth looking; the web site doesn't do it justice, it is soooo camp and ott.

We passed near Camp Roberts with signs telling us not to pick up hitchhikers, I wonder why! We pulled in at a rest station and reviewed what we were going to do. We had rather hoped to find the odd tasting winery near a vineyard but we hadn't seen any; places to taste that is; lots of vineyards across the rolling countryside. We decided to press on and then, within a comparatively short distance, we saw a winery! This was too good an opportunity to miss.

Following the directions on the big sign we headed in its direction. There were only a few cars there and an equally few number in the tasting room. We settled down and my partner talked to one of the servers who corresponded with a woman in Wales. She explained one or two thing about Wales and larva bread. We ended up talking to a really nice woman from the Bay Area. We ended up doing the compare the USA and UK thing. I think that we knew more about the USA than she did about the UK. One area was the education system – which I might write I have a little knowledge of! The tax systems are so different but the overall effect seems to be the same. We did taste some very nice wines and one of the reds was very good; It was smooth and lacked a tannin taste to it. We must have enjoyed a good hour there at least. All-in-all it was a fascinating meeting and a great time was had by us all.

So, quite sober I might add, we finally headed Salinas-wards. Following the 101 had been easy and sure enough as we approached Salinas we saw the sign for the Best Western. We came off, parked and registered. After off-loading our luggage we headed into downtown Salinas or rather we would have if we hadn't have gone in the wrong direction, like the opposite direction! We pulled into the mall and I set up the satnav which took us into downtown, or rather what it thought should be downtown Main Street from what I had put in! With a little bit of sense and guess work we made it into a very quiet and deserted downtown Salinas. Unfortunately it was too late to go into the Steinbeck museum but we looked around the town anyway. Being deserted rather made it feel emptier than it should have. Anyway we had seen the area that he wrote about and been through Monterey before.

The next big decision was whether to eat out or in! We choose to find a shopping mall and eat in since we had a microwave. I found that there was a Wal-Mart a few miles away. Jumping back in the car we eventually found it. It was more like a meeting club and an entertainment for the locals. When I say these shops are large, you wouldn't believe how big they are unless you've been in one yourself. The Wal-Mart was not only big, the prices were very cheap and the goods were of good quality.

We bought our goods and headed back. We heated our food and had the rest of the apple pie that we bought yesterday and a bottle of the wine that we bought earlier.

Tomorrow it's Oakland and Berkeley! It's our last day on the move as after tomorrow night we are at the Westin St Francis and the car goes back to the rental company.