Day One With Tammie and Mark at the Ranch on Salmon Creek

Yesterday, we drove from San Francisco to Northern California to spend a couple of days with our blogging friends, Tammie and Mark. Here are a couple of pictures from our drive up.

Stopping for a morning coffee in wine country...

Lunch in Mendocino....

Grandfather Tree, a giant Redwood...

We also took a walk through a Redwood grove in a state park after meeting Tammie and Mark...

Here's Tammie and Mark's house then a photo of our bunkhouse where we stayed...

This was our view from our bedroom window this morning in the bunkhouse where we're staying...

After breakfast, we rode with Mark and Tammie to pick up some large rolls of hay to take out to their cows and bulls...

We didn't feed them from the truck, we dumped the hay roll. These two decided to grab a quick snack while we were doing something else.

In the afternoon we took a wonderful horse back ride through their beautiful ranch. Betty rode Chica and I rode Willy...

One of the views from our ride.

Tammie and Mark are no longer our 'blogging' friends -- they're our friends and we're grateful for them.

All in all, a great first day.

 

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Walking Day in San Fran

Yesterday, Monday, was our driving day in San Francisco. Today was our walking day. We left the hotel about 10:00 AM and walked down to Beach Street and then North to Ghirardelli Square where the famous Ghirardelli chocolate is made.

I love chocolate! In fact, when God rested on the seventh day he made fudge. That's how important chocolate is.

Then we walked down to the National Maritime Monument and toured the square rigger Balclutha. It was built in Scotland in . It served to take lumber to Australia, goods up and down the California coast and hauling Alaskan salmon to US markets. For an old Navy guy it was an interesting event.

After our tour of the ship we walked over to the Wharf and had lunch. Betty got clam chowder and I got a crab chowder - both in a sourdough bread bowl. They were both delicious.

I loved watching the old trolleys and cable cars run around.

For our dessert we had a Freddos at Peets Coffee - basically a frozen, blended coffee drink similar to Starbucks' Frappucino.

After a rest at our hotel, we met an old Navy friend, Chris, and his wife, Linda, who live in Mill Valley, California. We had a lovely visit and dinner with them.

Tomorrow morning, we head North to visit with our blogging friends, TJ and Mark.

 

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Walking in John Muir's Footsteps

Today, Monday, was our first full day in San Francisco. We decided to make it our driving day so we headed North over the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately, because of the fog we could hardly see any of it.

We stopped in Sausalito hoping to see their Labor Day Arts and Craft fair, but the parking situation was pretty terrible - plus they were charging $10 to $20 just to park. Our other destination was the John Muir National Monument.

Fortunately, we decided to take a shuttle up to the park because there were millions (OK, thousands) of people there and the parking was terrible. Being senior citizens the shuttle only cost us $1 each for the round trip. We walked about 2 1/2 miles through the redwoods and it was a great time.

When we returned to our hotel we decided to walk down to Fisherman's Wharf and we had supper at The Franciscan Crab Restaurant. Betty got a crab alfredo dish and I got mussels and shrimp - both were delicious. And to top it off we had a great view of Alcatraz as the fog bank moved in and out.

 

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Drive to San Francisco

Today, Sunday, we drove the coast highway from Los Angeles to Santa Cruz which is just South of San Francisco. It was a beautiful drive with a lot of twists and turns. It reminded us of driving the Road to Hana on the island of Maui.

We arrived at our hotel at about 5:45 PM and settled in for a rest. Here are just a few pictures and a couple of videos from today.

Part of the coast line through Big Sur...

We had lunch at San Simeon...

Elephant seals in Big Sur...

 

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Driving Los Angeles

Yesterday, Friday, we decided to drive around LA. Everything you have heard about LA traffic is true. It's horrible.

We started the day by driving through Hollywood to see some of the tourist sites. We didn't stop to get out - too many people, but it was still fun to see Sunset Blvd., Hollywood and Vine, Graumann's Chinese Theater, ABC Studios, Capitol Records, Wilshire Blvd., Rodeo Drive, etc.

Then we drove down to see the La Brea tar pits and that was more interesting than we expected. The oil is still bubbling up in the pit.

After that we drove down Santa Monica Blvd. to Santa Monica Beach where we had lunch at a neat little seafood restaurant across from the beach. After lunch we walked down to Santa Monica Pier which is a big amusement center.

We finished the day by driving up the Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu. Today, Saturday, is a rest day and we're regrouping for our drive up the coast to San Francisco tomorrow.

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