Monday, September 30, 2013

Redwood Forest

Ferndale was very quaint historic town with a lot of antique and artistry shopping. We found Mom a birthday present and shipped it from the little post office. We were to travel another 90 miles north to the Redwood forest but the locals told us to return how we came and follow the “Avenues of the Giants” a scenic rode that goes through massive Redwood stands. The drive was spectacular. We were in awe with each stand of trees we encountered. We would stop and take pictures and drive to the next grove until the sun was getting low in the sky. We pulled off the avenue and onto Hwy 111 to Heidelberg for our wine tour.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Wine Country via San Francisco

Sally has had a dream for years to visit “Wine Country” She did not know where or what region just somewhere near Sonoma. I did some research and found Wine Country Bikes in Healdsburg, CA specializing in tours via a bicycle. There were many options and knowing how important this was I chose a two day package with the 1st day guided and the second day on our own. I wanted to try a tandem so we paid the up-charge for the road bike tandem for both days. This was the focal point of our trip but the other sites we visited were just as memorable.

Day one had us flying into SF in time to watch the sunset from the plane for what seemed like an hour. We seemingly chased the sun across the Western US. We took the Bart train downtown to almost the last stop. It was a non-eventful ride where we got out was a little far from our hotel so we hiked a few blocks then realizing the hilss were a big obstacle we flagged down a cab to take us to the Hotel Beresford. The hotel was off the beaten path by a couple of blocks. It was built in the 1910. The front desk staff were nice and directed us to our street facing room. The hotel lacked AC so we opened the window to be greeted by the noises of local bar patrons visiting the attached hotel bar. The room was small with a bathroom that would only fit one. We decided it was fine and quaint. Our stomachs were empty after our 5.5hr coach flight. We hiked up the street to an art-deco bistro and had a fancy meal with our first wine of the trip. We walked around the area getting our bearings then retired for the night. The bar was really getting noisy now!

Saturday we had a quick carb loaded hotel breakfast and set off. We walked up to knob hill and grabbed a trolley; we bought a day ticket so we took it roundtrip enjoying the sites. It was early morning and there were very few if any other riders. We hopped off at the Sheraton and went inside and hooked up with the Friends of the SF public library tour group. Each day local volunteers take a walking tour around different parts of the city. We chose a mystery tour because it offered the possibility of my top three tours. Fisherman wharf, Little Italy or Chinatown. Today was Chinatown. The guide was a treasure trove of information and he set the stage of the tour with a quick 10 minute synopsis of the history of the town that became San Francisco. In Chinatown we went to a live market, saw locals hanging fish in their windows to dry, saw a fortune cookie factory and toured a temple. The amazing thing I took away was the massive Cisterns built under intersections that provided firefighters with water for specific sections of the city. Fire Hydrants were colored coded to indicate which cistern it was attached to. All of this was because earth quakes can destroy an interconnected pipe system that is used everywhere else. After the tour we walked around the homes that lined the hills overlooking the bay. We made our way to the wharf to watch the sea lions at the pier. They were the fun to watch, but the crowds were large along the wharf. We stumbled into a Biscoff store and ordered a coffee and a couple of cookies and we were off to see Lombard Street. Here is where we underestimated the hills. The walk to the Wharf was noticeably downhill which meant one thing…what goes down must go up??? We hiked and hiked and hiked through really nice neighborhoods finally getting to the top of Lombard. For me it was anti-climactic moment. I marveled at the million dollar houses that are right along the street but pity the owners that have to put up with all the tourists and their antics. That night I was awoken to Charlie horses in my legs from all the hill climbing. It had been a long time since I felt this level of muscle discomfort.

On Sunday we packed our bags and stored them with the front desk. We grabbed a cab to the Alcatraz fery and did the island tour in about 3 hours. It was a fascinating tour. We walked into town to catch a bus to the other side of town. We walked a few blocks to get to another bus line and watched the last four minutes of the Georgia game with a half-dressed female bar patron. The final bus took us out to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a fascinating visit reading about the history and the architectural marvels that make it so special. We walked half way across took some pictures then went back to the park to catch a bus back into town. While waiting I found an app that Bart provides that gives real time tracking for the next bus to arrive. Multiple busses come to this one stop but the #22 is the one we all were waiting for. Soon people realized I was tracking it and my phone became the hope for a lot of people around us. The bus took us within a block of our hotel so we jumped off grabbed our luggage and grabbed the next bus to the closest train station. In short we went to a Cal train station instead of the Bart station. It was a cool commuter train and we rode in the bicycle car but in the end we had to get a cab to the car rental center. While researching the cab rental location for the cabbie I realized Hertz was closed after 2pm on Sunday. To the airport we went to get a car with higher fees but that is what happens when one tries to be frugal. An hour outside of San Francisco I realized I left my phone on the bench waiting for our car to be brought to us. The Iphone app worked great showing its location through the day the phone never moved. We continued our drive north to Ferndale, CA. It was a long drive and we were 2-3 hours behind. I fought exhaustion as we rolled in around 10PM. The room was left unlocked and what was supposed to be a quaint inn was just a small motel. We crashed hard and slept solid since it was so quiet compared to our previous two nights sleeping in the city.