California Trip - Part IV

Alcatraz Day! We get up at 3AM to head over to Pier 33 to buy the coveted tickets for a trip to Alcatraz. All three of us had to go as you could only get the number of tickets of people that showed up. We were number 23-25 in line so assured of getting the tickets, now to wait for hours for the box office to open at 7. We learned from others in line that when you went to purchase you got whatever time they gave you, there was no picking the time you wanted to go. We had originally been thinking, up early, get our tickets, back to hotel for a nap, go over later in the afternoon. Not to happen, since we were so close to the beginning of the line we got the 8:45 trip and that was the first one of the day and by the time we got our tickets there was no time to go shower or anything but grab a quick bite for breakfast. During our 4 hour wait we passed the time by talking to others in line, sitting on the cold ground and trying to rest, and just generally being bored. Was it worth it? I say definitely yes!!! Alcatraz was so cool, so abandoned, so full of history, I love things like that. Would I do it again? Hopefully not, hopefully if I ever want to go to Alcatraz again, I will be able to plan in advance and get tickets beforehand.

The coveted tickets:

 

Photos for your viewing pleasure

 

  

  

First stop for the prisoners was here. They would get their clothing and bed linens, and proceed to the showers.

  

The showers were right in the middle of the room.

 

 

 

At the very least they had a beautiful view

That was our day at Alcatraz, when we got back we went to Eagle Landing Cafe for lunch and then to the hotel to rest. It had been a really long morning/afternoon, but it was well worth it. After a nap, Pat and I headed over to Ghiradelli Square to walk around a bit and ended up stopping at a brick oven pizza place on the street near Fisherman's Wharf. Super good pizza and just the perfect snack after our big lunch.

 

  

That's all for now, adeus.

California Trip - Part III

So to continue my story....... In the afternoon we took the bus to Presidio and walked over to see the Golden Gate Bridge, because what would a trip to San Francisco be without the Golden Gate Bridge. We hung around by the beach for awhile and then walked back to see the Palace of Fine Arts and find a bus back to the hotel.

So we didn't exactly get right by the bridge, it was a longer walk that it looked. I was hoping to get back there before we left, but that didn't happen either. Gives me a reason to go back to do more exploring.

The Palace of Fine Arts was not open since it was Monday, so we walked around the grounds and just sat and enjoyed the beautiful day. Another reason to go back to SanFrancisco? We took another death defying trip on a bus back to the hotel, went to dinner and called it a night. We had plans to get up very early to get those coveted tickets to Alcatraz in the morning.

That's all for now, adjö.

California Trip - Part II

Next stop - San Francisco. Left Ventura around 8AM and started the drive up to San Francisco via 101. Went through a lot of thunderstorms to get there, but when we arrived it was all sunny with no rain in sight. I managed to catch the crackling lightning when we were driving thru Santa Margarita... I needed a margarita.

 We checked into our hotel, the Marriott Fisherman's Wharf and headed out to see some sights. This is the view from our hotel window, it was a quick walk right down to the wharf.

It was very very busy, wall to wall people and I was hoping the reason was it was Sunday and not that it was summer and this is what we would have to deal with every day. I don't like crowds like this where you just move like a big mass of people. We walked around a bit and settled on Franciscans Crab House for dinner. It will probably end up being our best dinner in San Francisco. William has pretty much decided he was going to have crab every single day we were here and so he began. Food was really good and we had a relaxing meal. I had crab "sliders" and Pat and William had the mussels and crab legs. Great view right on the ocean, what's not to love!

 

 

After dinner we walked by the marina where all the fishing boats are and the guys that run deep sea fishing trips during the day do "mini-cruises" of the bay area at night. We went for a ride that took us around Alcatraz and back, giving us great views of the city and harbor.

 

 

 

Alcatraz looks so dark and mysterious and it is somewhere that we really wanted to go. Tickets for tours sell out months in advance since we were unaware of this fact and also since we don't plan months in advance we were not able to buy them ahead of time. Pat had read online that there are same day tickets available, they start selling daily at 7:30 and you have to line up early to get them. Monday morning Pat and I got up and went over to Pier 33 around 6AM. It was a kind of scary sort of walk there, not too far, but lots of homeless and scary looking people laying on the sidewalks. We arrive at Pier 33 where they sell the same day tickets to find a line so long that the security guard told us we could wait if we wanted, but they only have 100 tickets and there are over 200 people in line right now. It was determined the earliest arrivals were there at 3AM........ oh my. We didn't wait we walked along the water over to Pier 39, not much open so early in the morning. I however love being out before everyone else when I can take pictures without hoards of people in them and just enjoy the quiet and the bustle of the wharf waking up for the day.

 

 Unfortunately for me, it was off-season for the sea lions. Apparently in the summer most of them head on down to San Diego for mating season and don't return until the Fall. I love the sea lions and was looking forward to seeing hundreds of them all over those floating pallets, but it was not to be so I enjoyed the ones that were there laying out basking in the sunshine.

That's all I got for now, Shalom.

California Trip - Part I

Pat, William and I decided to hit the road in search of adventure this past summer. Destination San Francisco. First stop Ventura. We left early Saturday, July 18th driving a bit more than half way to our destination. When we arrived in Ventura we were a bit early for check-in and decided to walk around by the pier and find some lunch. It was rainy and the beach and pier had been closed for the first time in forever because of a lightning strike in the ocean. Didn't find anything on or in or near the pier that we wanted to eat, so we started walking up the beach for an alleged sighting of a restaurant up the road. The only thing we ended up running into was Joe's Crab Shack, which was right across the street from our hotel. Oh the irony of it all, travel out of state, to the ocean and I am eating at Joe's. A place that we have here and a place that I am not a huge fan of. Well the drinks are always good :)

 

 We stayed at the Wyndham Garden Ventura Pierpont Inn. The Pierpont Inn has quite a history, the property used to be right on the ocean and back in the day was quite the place. Thing is it is no longer back in the day, no longer right on the ocean, but still it was full of history and character and if you could forget you were breathing mold when you were in the room was quite charming. 

They had a brochure from over 60 years ago brought to them by a couple that came to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary and brought the brochure from their honeymoon with them. Doesn't it look like just the greatest resort for honeymooners 60 years ago?

 Along that tree line to the right were the bungalows..... since torn down and the building where our room was is now standing. I think she said it was last remodeled in the early 1980s.... let's just say yellow tile and locker room showers must have been popular back then. Here is a couple pictures of the bathroom. Really quite amusing and really thankful we were only there one night. This was taken looking down over the shower area.

We went to dinner in the town and it really is a very nice, quaint beach town. Saw my first snail, there are a lot of really neat looking buildings in town including City Hall, the movie theater and more.

 

We even found a couple of caches while walking around

 

 Great first day, great beginning to our summer adventure.

That's all I got for now, Auf Wiedersehen

Cave Creek

The hike in Cave Creek was special because William joined us. Doesn't happen often so mark it down - April 12, 2015. We drove up to Cave Creek for an early AM hike in the foothills. There is always something different to see everywhere you go, everytime you go. It might be the flowering plants or a waterfall or a creek or well you just never know what. Sometimes it's wild animals, but not this time.

 So let's get started. This is called the Jewel of the Creek and we took the Dragonfly Trail.

How cool is this flower? I call it a fairy duster, not sure what it really is, but I think there really is some flower called a fairy duster or pixie duster or something like that.

This is the flowering Ocotillo or as I call it Nature's Barbed Wire.

This place was pretty full of Saguaros. I imagine when they flower it is quite the sight to see.

And finally a little water feature, every good hike has a water feature somewhere in it. Had to cross that little creek on those thin little boards, it was interesting.

 

That's all I got for now, Adios