Last Day in SFO

California is a very confusing place to drive, especially a 23 foot RV!  I was very glad to return the RV this morning and hop on BART to downtown.  Tonight I'm staying at the Holiday Inn; I fly out tomorrow morning for MSN. 

After I checked in to my hotel, I stopped at a cute cafe called the American Griddle and had a burger and salad.  Yummy!  To burn that off, I walked, and walked, and walked Market Street. 

 Don't you love the architecture?!  Just stunning.  I felt very much the tourist, always looking up! 

Lots of interesting people along the way also.  These gentlemen were playing chess.

And when I stopped at Coffee Beans and Tea Leaves for an iced tea, this gentleman was entertaining us while we sipped our coffee/tea.  He had a great voice!

I also saw a few doors along the way that I liked.

Okay, so the first door was hard to see through the traffic and pedestrians; take my word for it, it was cool.  :0)

Finally,  on my way back to my hotel I saw a farmer/flea market going on near the UN building.  Didn't buy anything, but it was cool to browse.

Heading down to the bar for a drink and dinner.  Sad that the adventure is almost over, but it will be nice to be home with Yogi; I really miss him!

Leaving Mendicino County

I left Mendicino this morning via Highway 20.  It was an absolutely gorgeous sunny day and I got great pics of the curvy, wooded road to Highway 101.  Luckily, there were turnouts along the way (large vehicles pull over and allow smaller vehicles to pass) and I could stop and take pics.

Today I was headed south towards Santa Rosa; the RV park where I wanted to stay was full, so I headed back into Santa Rosa and I'm parked at the campgrounds in the middle of town for the night.  I love Santa Rosa!  It is just beautiful here; I just wish I had more time to explore.  I have to have the RV back before 11:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and don't want to hit drive time traffic into Dublin.  BTW, Dublin is an adorable little town; the boulevards have metal signs with four leaf clovers on them...very Irish I guess. 

After that, I'm staying in downtown SFO and flying out Saturday morning for home.  The week went way too fast!

Heading South

Today is a travel day.  Shortly I will be heading back towards SFO, stopping for the night in Santa Rosa.  In the meantime, here are pics from my surroundings here in Mendocino.

Cabrillo Lighthouse and Fort Bragg

It stopped raining long enough for me to venture out to the Cabrillo Lighthouse and Fort Bragg's Glass Beach this afternoon!

There was a half mile walk to the lighthouse, but this is what I saw along the way.

I believe the deer posed for me in that second photo!  I couldn't believe how close I got.  Way cool.

This is the lighthouse itself.

I was not able to find a path down to the shore here, but did take some wonderful photos from the bluff.

I attempted to go to Russian Gulch State Park, but the parking for the RV was atrocious, so instead I went to Fort Bragg's Glass Beach.  This beach used to be a dumping ground for Fort Bragg years ago (I found old spark plugs on the beach) and all the glass dumped there was tumbled smooth by Mother Nature herself!  Not much glass to be found these days, just tiny pieces; but I did find some shells.  Beautiful purple shells...I thought it was illegal to take these also so I didn't take any with me. 

As you can see, all I found in the tide pools were the snails.  I was disappointed, needless to say.  I did see some teeny fish and another creature that was hopping around in a tide pool.  Mostly, it smelled fishy and seaweedy. 

Caspar Beach

Grabbed my thermos of hot tea and my camera and headed out to see what I could see early this morning.

You all know how I love tiny houses; this place is full of them!  Here's the cutest:

Not far from the road I could hear the crash of the waves against the rocks and shore.

And these weird "things" on the beach....I am assuming they're some kind of plant.  They reminded me of dead bodies (or snakes!) the way they were situated on the beach.  Ugh.

I looked down and saw a neat shell lying on the beach and was about to pick it up when I saw it moved....they snail was still attached!  I know what they mean when you move at a "snail's pace"; it's very slow.  The second pic shows the path he had taken in the sand.

As I crossed the street back to the RV park, a guy pointed out the rainbow up on the bluff.

Everything is so green and lush here....just love the gardens!

Listening to the rain on the roof of my RV as I type this....very relaxing way to spend the morning.  Hoping to get to the lighthouse, Humboldt Park and Russian Gulch this afternoon, in spite of the rain!

Napa

After a rough start in Dublin/Pleasanton, CA (just outside SFO) I drove to Napa, where I stayed the night in this:

This is my home for the next couple of days!  I really dislike driving it, but on the upside, it does require me to slow down and "smell the roses" instead of being in such a hurry all the time!  :0)

This was an adorable campground just outside of Napa.  It smells so good (pine) and looks just as beautiful with all the fall colors.  I could hear the birds chirping outside my window, see deer in the field (see pics below), hear wild turkeys gobbling, and listen to the rain on my roof last night. 

Gorgeous, huh?  I admit, I hated the RV so much I was only going to spend one night in it in Napa and then take it back.  However, after shooting these photos, I decided to keep it, driving to Mendocino, and park it for a few days.  So, tonight I write to you from Mendocino, where the ocean is just a few blocks away and where I will be walking the beach tomorrow morning.

I will post all my SFO pics on Facebook as an album for you all to see, as well as all the pics I took today.

The Golden Gate Bridge and Sausalito

What a beautiful sunny morning I woke up to on Sunday!  Since my hotel is in South SFO, I had to catch the BART train into the city.  Coming up from the BART, there were throngs of people waiting for the Powell Street street car, so I decided to hike to Fisherman's Wharf, which turned out to be quite the hike, but a great photo opportunity!  (NOTE:  I cannot post photos as the Internet connection is VERY slow.)

I rented a bike from Blazing Saddles for the day and took the bike path along the shore up to the Golden Gate Bridge.  I thought we had big hills here!  I ended up walking the bike up more hills than I anticipated,but at least I got a great workout!  The vistas from the Golden Gate Bridge were magnificent.  Picture bright blue water, tons of sailboats and birds flying everywhere against the back drop of the bridge.  Wow.  Quite unexpectedly it was very windy on the bridge and I found it hard to control the bike.

After crossing the bridge it's a two mile bike ride into Sausalito, some up hill, some down hill.  The hills I wasn't so crazy about, but it was worth it once I began the descent into Sausalito.  It is a very quaint city built into the side of a mountain.  Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to shop (!) I parked my bike and strolled the streets of Sausalito.

After taking the ferry from Sausalito back to Fisherman's Wharf, I returned the bike and searched for a restaurant for dinner.  I found a diamond in the rough at Joe's Crab Shack.  What a party place!  The staff is young, upbeat and friendly.  And the place was packed.  Dinner was HUGE.  I got a 1 1/4 pounds of crab legs (I forgot how much work they are; but with the assistance of a "tool" they gave me, it was easier to get to the meat), potato and corn on the cob.  This all came in a huge bucket, along with a bib and waste bucket for the legs.  I was full after consuming the crab and gave up on the corn and the potato.  What great atmosphere. 

I ended my day exhausted.  I could not wait to get back to my hotel; my head hit the pillow and I was out like a light.  Today is a rainy, dreary day, but my plans won't be ruined by the weather.  Wait till you see what I will be doing the rest of the week!

SFO

Arrived safely in SFO tonight.  Nice day for flying and met very interesting people.  I sat next to a woman from MSN to ATL who was retired Navy and on her way to Norfolk, VA (or "Norfauk" as she pronounced it).  On my flight from ATL to SFO I sat next to a guy who showed me his photos of northern California near Mendicino.  He gave me tons of tips of sights to see while I'm here. 

Sitting in my hotel room waiting for my food to be delivered from a local restaurant....I hope it gets here! The gentleman on the phone had a hard time understanding me and me him!  Oh well, that's part of the adventure!

Tomorrow I plan on taking a bike tour up to the Golden Gate Bridge, riding over it, and then taking a ferry back from Sausalito. 

Gallup to ABQ

I left Gallup, NM, this morning and headed toward ABQ.  But first, I had to make a few stops along the way.  Just a note about driving and finding places in New Mexico.  Whereas in Arizona once you get off the ramp, there's a sign telling you which way to go, left or right.  In New Mexico, you're expected to know where you're going.  What?!  So, I started out a bit frustrated this morning when I went exploring off the Interstate.

Although I have been to the Continental Divide in Colorado, it was a must stop today.  Yep, this is it.  Exciting, huh?

I saw a sign on the Interstate for Ice Caves and the Bandera Volcano, so I decided to check it out.  The first picture is the museum.  You can see they have tons of Hummingbirds flying around, and the grounds are wonderful for a picnic lunch after your hikes to the ice caves and volcano.  Today the smell of smoke in the air was very noticeable on my hikes.  The smoke cloud can also be seen in some photos along the path.

There were two separate trails, the volcano trail and the ice cave trail.  The first photos are on the volcano trail, with comments.

Lightening trees (photos above and below).  Trees that grow in lava tend to draw lightening strikes due to the iron in the lava. 

The brochure points out that this is a great place to see wildlife.  I didn't see anything in the way of wildlife, and was especially glad I didn't see the mountain lion or bear they said occasionally wander through.

 The path was rocky/sandy and all up hill.  Quite a climb!

 Lava fields.

Cinder cone.  A crack in the volcano swelled, sprayed lava into the air which hardened in mid air and fell to the ground as cinders.

Inside the volcano.

Along the path.

After a time out to get the rocks out of my shoes, and a bottle of water, it was on to the ice cave.

Bandera lava flow.

 In a forest I found cacti?

Example of twisted trees.  As you might imagine, trees have a hard time growing in lava and, therefore, have very shallow roots.  This results in the trees growing twisted.  And another cause of shallow tree roots is a lot of fallen trees in a wind storm.

Outside entry to the ice cave.  I counted over 50 steps down (and up!) to the ice cave.

The ice cave maintains a year round temperature of 31 degree or lower.  The ice in the cave is currently over 20 feet thick and as snow and rain fall in the cave, the ice builds up and deepens.  Some of the ice is over 3,400 years old!  The green on the ice is Arctic algae.  This ice cave served as a natural ice box for settlers and the Pueblo Indians in the area. 

After hiking out to the ice cave, the 31 degree temperature felt refreshing.  I sat for awhile in the peacefulness of it all and was rewarded by a bird flitting about the cave area.

 Another black bird.

You can see the smoke from the Arizona fire in this photo.  The tree in the photo is a Douglas fir and one of the oldest trees in the area.

Cattle on a lava hill?  How do they find stuff to eat?  This was taken back on the highway from the ice caves/volcano.

On my way back to the Interstate I checked out the sky and saw that the smoke was worse than yesterday.  Today, the clouds are not just white.

I decided to stop at the Zuni Canyon.  The views, as you can see, were spectacular.  Part of the road was rock and kicked up a bit of dust (you should see my rental car, uff dah!).  I was disappointed to see that the signs on the side of the road had multiple bullet holes in them.  One sign on the side of the road was difficult to read due to the bullet holes in it.  I didn't stay long.

My last stop of the day was the Pueblo of Acoma.  Prior to taking photos, photographers are required to obtain a permit and then you must keep it attached to your camera until you reach the Interstate.  The beauty of the area requires that a permit be obtained.  It is, needless to say, stunning.

The above photo is my favorite.  I came up a hill, turned a curve and there it was, this beautiful vista.


When I stopped to take the photo, I noticed a panel truck.  A voice called out to me to come and check out the jewelry.  I did and met Joe, quite the flirt.  :0)  He very graciously allowed me to take his photo, even though I didn't buy any of his jewelry.

As I continued my drive into ABQ, I counted no less than 7 State Patrol cars writing tickets to speeders.  One patrol car sat at the bottom of a hill where the speed limit dropped from 75 MPH to 65 MPH, on the way down.  The State of New Mexico made out like a bandit on speeders today!

Tonight I'm in ABQ and fly out at about 1:30 tomorrow afternoon.  There is a bit of a haze here in ABQ from the fires in Arizona, but I don't think it will be an issue for flying.  I'm expecting a long day tomorrow as my flight arrives in Milwaukee at 8:30 p.m., and then I'll have the drive home.  I'm not ready to come home...I just got started exploring!