Our trip to California in 2003 was brought on by Linda's need to use up that accumulated vacation time.  I, of course, was delighted to have the opportunity to explore northern California with the new Canon Digital Rebel and try out the new polaroid and graduated density filters.  We arrived on a Saturday and took the shuttle to our hotels.com find, the Carlton Hotel.  This turned out to be a wonderful find.  The hotel, at Sutter St. between Hyde and Larkin, is amazingly and quite coincidentally around the corner from Randy and Steffie's apartment near Union Square.

 The Carlton is a friendly, comfortable place having a connection with Britain.  Next door is an English pub and around the corner is a fish and chips restaurant.  The topper is a wine happy half hour from 6:30 to 7:00 pm at which they serve a chardonnay and a zinfandel specially bottled with a Carlton Hotel label.  This became our meeting place before going out for dinner.  Most of our meals for the first three nights were Rand's choice, which means Indonesian or Thai.  A lot of these dishes were hot and delicious in the Modern Thai and Borobudur restaurants.  Dishes named Roti Prata, Soto Ayam, Sayur Asam, Sate Kambing, Teh Jahe Manis, and Bakmi G defy the imagination.  On the evening of the 9th we did a little bit of a change and enjoyed the sushi at Kyoto.

Carlton Hotel	Nov. 8th, 2003			Sunday Nov. 9th, 2003			At the top of Lombard Street
Used our $9.00 bus passes to the fullest	Fantastic overcast skyline of SF						Yerba Buena Park	San Francisco Museum of Modern Art sfmoma.org

Sunday we went wild searching for the elusive quark on the streetcars of San Francisco.  We got a bus pass and learned to use the Muni.  We got on to the Powell-Hyde line and rode down to the Victorian Park near Ghirardelli's and strolled around the waterfront.  The cable cars are a very friendly way to explore the city.  Most of the riders are tourists and they are instructed as to how to keep their body in the right place by the brakeman who is the master of his ship.  The best of them are merry, easy-going and keep up a pleasant patter while they do what must be the most grueling job requiring muscle and a delicate judgement.  Their bell ringing will echo in my memory.

In pursuit of Linda's need to see Pacific Heights after gawking at Lombard Street for a while we walked three blocks to pick up the 45 car on Union Street.  We were unsure as to where to get off but a little lady across from us wearing a black pinstripe suit (going to church, I guessed) told us she was going there too and that we should get off when she does.  Then Linda led me uphill for countless blocks leaving me huffing and puffing.  At the top of this climb was a church and the little lady in the pinstripe suit.  She informed Linda that we could have taken the streetcar a block over.  I couldn't hear her too clearly since I was still recovering from the climb.  By the time we got back to the Carlton my calf muscles were tight as a drum and throbbing.  I'm not sure that Pacific Heights was worth the climb.

We napped and went out for some late afternoon art museum browsing.  Arriving at SFMOMA at 4, the ticket clerk told us that we could wait until after 4:30, and there would be no charge.  We spent some time in their large shop.  At the appointed time we went up to the second floor where they had a small Matisse exhibit.  They had a number of pictures that our teacher of the DILR (Duke Institute for Learning in Retirement) course "Matisse, the other artist of the 20th century" had shown us.  It's a small world.

Sausalito was a treasure not to be missed by a photographer.  I loved the marina but Linda wanted to wander on into the shops.  We agreed to meet at later at the municipal parking area.  I was going to rent a bike to ride back to the marina but the bike shop was just a few blocks away from the marina.  There are some boats there that you can't believe.  I guess that many hippies can't afford the rent in SF and move here to live on the boat.  Not a bad life, and colorful.  I envy them.  When I had finished exploring the hippie marina I was ready for lunch.  We found Scoma's waterfront restaurant had a commanding view of the San Francisco bay.  A cormorant did his diving act for us and we kept looking around to see where he would emerge.  They stay under for 3-4 minutes at a time.  My appetizer of medium sized shrimp on a heap of crab meat on top of a heap of cocktail shrimp was just right.  Go there, do that. 

Next day we had to rent our car for a trip to Napa.  I liked the idea of touring the wine country but I wanted to see the sights along the coast.  What a brilliant day to take it all in.  We planned this down to the inch.  I reserved our Alamo rental along with the SF and Napa stays all on the internet at hotels.com.  The problem was that our pickup was to be at the Alamo at the Mosconi Convention Center.  That would have required another trolley ride.  I called and found that we could pick the Chevy up at their Bush Street location just 4 blocks away.  Excellent!  We got up early and trotted the 4 blocks to between Mason and Powell and rolled out shortly with the vehicle.

We went back to the hotel and picked up the luggage and set off west along Bush turning right at Divisadero near Pacific Heights.  Continuing north we proceeded to the well marked highway 101.  Stopping at an overlook near the Presidio we snapped a few shots of the Golden Gate bridge.  Then we went across the bridge, passing Sausalito, we made a left onto old route 1 into the Tamalpais Valley.  We got to Muir Woods a little past 7:30 am and walked the trail in a ghostly quiet.  There were few on the trail that morning and very little light trickled down for me to get a good shot of the trees.  I knew that would happen.  The roof of the restaurant was steaming with the morning humidity.  At the ticket office the attendant told us that if we go in before 9:00 am there is no fee.  Well we dropped our offering into the plastic box to help maintain such a marvelous trail just a few short miles from SF.

Continuing along the coast the views were marvelous from the cliffs above the Pacific.  Passing Tamalpais State Park we stopped at the town of Stinson Beach and found the only restaurant, the Parkside Cafe, offering quite substantial breakfasts.  I had the waffle and Linda had her eggs and bacon.  Go there, do that.  By now I was trying to judge just how far up the coast we could explore before having to find our way across the dusty hills to Napa.  I decided that Linda could probably bear the trip to Point Reyes.  This is a multi-use National Park which is mostly cattle grazing land for the many ranches that were "grandfathered in".  Along our right on the way in was Tomales Bay which is a long and deep body of water created by the San Andreas fault.  Similar to Loch Ness in Scotland it appropriately had the town of Inverness along St. Francis Drake Boulevard.  We chose to drive the 15 or so miles to the outermost point - the Lighthouse Visitor Center.  Then we hiked the short hike along the cliffs with wind-swept evergreens to seaward.  The lighthouse was closed that day but I got a marvelous shot from atop the cliff.  This park has miles of beaches and hiking trails that are without number and it is unparalleled.

Setting off for Petaluma we picked up the 116 and stopped briefly at Sonoma, a bright tourist-oriented town, that we would return to days later.  Shortly we came into Napa and were wandering the streets about at the end of our patience when up popped the Travelodge.

While I napped Linda arranged to take the Napa Winery Shuttle ($45/person).  Well worth it since we would have driven around for hours without knowing which winery to visit.  We were to see six wineries altogether and learn a lot about wine and grapes at the Mondavi Winery.  The Sattui was a great place to have a brunch, fresh sandwiches.

Next morning we set off for Sonoma.  Walking around the plaza we met a local artist noticing our apparent tourist quality told us of the local hiking trail to Governor Vallejo's house.  Off we went a few miles down the trail which to the locals is the jogging, baby stroller path.  On our way back to route 101 we visited the St. Francis Winery and had a wonderful tasting there.  I bought a delicious reserve Nuns Canyon cab and the Behler merlot to be freighted home.  They arrived before I did and waited at the Fed Ex until Monday for me to finally have those precious bottles.

Sonoma	Nov. 13th, 2003			Sonoma State Historic Park		St. Francis Winery & Vineyards
Luther Burbank Gardens, Santa Rosa	Lots of volunteers maintaining the grounds			Back in San Francisco on the 14th

Have to mention the breakfast that we had on our last day in San Francisco in a steamy, unassuming place called "Dottie's True Blue" at 522 Jones Street: large breakfast and reasonably priced. 

1998

Our whirlwind vacation in San Francisco, ostensibly to visit Linda's son Thomas, turned out to be exciting and satisfying in every way.  There was so much to see but with Thomas's help I feel that we saw some of the high points and excitement of the city.  We happened upon some of the best restaurants, accommodations and entertainment - hit upon hit.  Just lucky, I guess.  The photos here are high resolution shots taken with my new Nikon CoolPix 900 digital camera.  They are a little larger for your enjoyment but they will take a bit longer to load so be patient.

Inn 1890, 1890 Page Street	Oct. 21st, 1998		Send an e-mail for reservations at Inn 1890		We saw Great Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection at the Asian Art Museum.
Dinner at EOS, Haight Street	Evening, 21st		Visit EOS on the web	E-W Fusion Chef Arnold Eric Wong	Muscovy Duck Leg Confit to make your mouth water!
View from Diamond Heights	Morning of 22nd				Panorama of the city on a gray morning.
Golden Gate Ferry to Sausalito	Morning of 22nd			House of Nanking for lunch was memorable	Enjoyed Mongolian beef and marveled at the row of dusty beer bottles.
Chinatown	Afternoon of 22nd			Yerba Buena Park in front of the SF Museum of Modern Art
Dinner at ChaChaCha	Evening of 22nd			Visit the web site of ChaChaCha	We loved the Tapas!  Wonderful, warm, packed house of Thursday night.
Bicycle to the beach through Golden Gate Park	Morning of the 23rd		Overlooking seal rocks near the ruins of the Sutro Baths		Yes, they used to pump water for the city with windmills.
Took the cable car	Oct. 24th		Wandered around Fisherman's Wharf		Bought a new baseball cap from the Balclutha at the Hyde St. pier