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.