Thursday: Bill was up at 4am. It took one hour to rise, shower, and get thru airport security. The flight was uneventful. Met Randy at terminal 3 at SFO. We flew into SFO because I could book a flight using points. By the time we found out Tracy couldn’t make it, it was too late to fly into Oakland. We rented a hertz ($80). It was the longest car rental line plus also the slowest. Yes, they tried to upsell on everything. So much for their advertising about speed. Note to self - look into Hertz gold one pass or avoid Hertz. We drove down to Monterey with light and fast traffic. We spent 3 hours at the Monterey Aquarium. ($35ea).
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| The best exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium |
It was awesome. The jellyfish exhibits were stunning. Then we walked thru Cannery Row. That was the area where they canned the sardines, at least until they fished them to extinction. Afterward, we drove up the coast to the tip of the Monterey Peninsula. We drove past many expensive homes with multimillion-dollar views. There was one home that had parked in front of it, an old beat-up Winnebago pulling an equally decrepit 3 axle trailer. Yuk. From there we drove to and checked into our Monterey Surf Motel ($70). Basic and adequate. We went back out to a brewpub, London Bridge Pub, for hamburger sliders and beer. We split an order of sliders since it was late.
Friday: Coffee and tea in the room. We went for the 17-mile scenic drive ($9.75). We were surprised that it was a toll road around the peninsula. The guard said the price is deducted from most golf course restaurant bills.
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| Lone Cypress on 17 Mile Drive |
The drive took us thru expensive neighborhoods, Spyglass golf course, and finally Pebble Beach Golf Course. That was where we stopped for a late breakfast of crème Brule French toast with strawberries. Yum, and the price deduction made it worthwhile. We had a window seat overlooking the 18th hole and the ocean. Wow. Living large.
We need to remember this view next time we see a Pebble Beach golf tourney on TV. About noon, we drove up the coast to Santa Cruz. They had an amazing boardwalk, complete with carnival rides, video games, miles of very hot sandy beach, a pier, and very noisy seals. We stopped at an ocean side bar, Ideal bar and grill, for a very weak margarita and beer. We were hoping to head up to Half Moon Bay prior to catching up with Leah but ran out of time. Instead, we headed directly to Oakland where she was staying at her parents’ home since Leah was homeless. She just recently sold her house and moved in with them. The drive was great until we ran into 5 o’clock rush hour traffic at San Jose. To the non-Californian, it was an ordeal. For Randy, it was the standard operating procedure. The Tang house with its 3 bay garage was in an expensive suburb of Castro Valley. This is so not Leah. She drove us to Oakland for dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. Great food you eat with your hands. Every first Friday is an art festival. We walked around and checked out all the weirdness and wildness. Art exhibits, street performers, old cars. Then back to her parent's place to crash. Her parents were in NYC on vacation.
Saturday: The 3 of us drove over to Berkeley for a fantastic breakfast at La Note in Berkeley. Afterward, we drove across the bay bridge to San Francisco. We parked in the Presidio and walked to and toured Fort Point. It was a 4 story brick fort beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge just celebrated it's 75 anniversary. It was extremely windy, 20+, with white caps. The bay was full of monohulls racing. There was one windsurfer just screaming across the bay. Next week the area is hosting the Hobie 16 Nationals. Too cold and windy for my taste. Left there and drove over to LucasFilm Studios to see Yoda. Yoda is a fountain in front of the main building. We could hear the Parrots of Telegraph Hill in the trees. His office had a statue of his early hero. ??? The first movie maker. In the studio lobby were life-size statues of Darth Vader, a Storm Trooper, C3PO, and old movie posters. George Lucas must have paid major $$$$ for 23 acres of prime land in the Presidio. We drove back to Leah’s parent's place for a cookout. We took her dog Finley for a walk. After 1 block he sat down and stopped walking. He refused to get up. Leah pulled hard on the leash but that only dragged him across the pavement. It was very funny. Eventually, she had to pick him up and carry him. At least until we got back to her street. 10pm crash.
Sunday: Leah’s parents arrived home while we were sleeping. 11 am dim sum at Hong Kong East Coast. It was in Emeryville, on the bay facing San Francisco. What a view. After breakfast, Randy and I said our goodbyes to the Tangs and headed into San Francisco, leaving Leah and her parents to go buy a home. We headed into Chinatown to view the country’s oldest Buddhist temple. It was closed again. I tried to visit it on my last visit. Note to Selves: try a day other than Sunday next time. So we headed across the street to a park where there was a 15 member band playing ethnic music, many men playing and watching an unknown board game. Then we left Chinatown and walked to North Beach to visit the City Lights bookstore.
That area was an old hangout of the Beat Generation, notably Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Neal Cassidy. Of course, we had to go across the street to the Beat Museum. Well worth the $8 admission. Next door to the bookstore was the Vesuvius bar where the beat gang hung out and drank.
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| Time for an Irish Coffee |
So we had to belly up and have an afternoon beer. Then we headed up to the Coit Tower and then down to the headquarters for Levi’s. Randy tried to find a jean jacket but no luck. Then we followed the embarcadero back to the car. I wanted to see the gate at the entrance to Chinatown, so we drove there, found an easy street-side parking and took some pictures. I put a quarter into the parking meter before I discovered that the parking was free. We drove slightly thru Haight-Ashbury district, along the Golden Gate Park, and up the coast for a goodbye dinner at the Beach Chalet. Another nice view of the ocean. It was a leisurely drive to the airport. Arrived with plenty of time to spare, especially since both of our flights were postponed. I missed my red-eye connection in Philadelphia and had to waste 2 hours until the next flight home. Home at noon Monday.
More Bay Area June 2012 pics
Misc:
For Bill: a very cheap trip
free flight using points
$360 cash and Randy’s credit card
$40 SYR airport parking
