San Francisco RV Resort, Pacifica, CA:  Drove up Rt. 1 through Golden Gate Park to a place called Lands End, which is a high point of land west of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Beautiful up there with old growth pines.  Smelled wonderful!  Drove through the Presidio which is a lot bigger than we thought.  Dropped back down to the Palace of the Arts, parked on Marina and walked a mile or so back to the Palace of the Arts.  Beautiful buildings that were part of the 1915 Exposition.  Walked back to where we parked on Marina past some beautiful town homes with great views of the bay.  Drove down by Union Street, parked, and browsed the tony shops on Union St. and had an early dinner at a neat little restaurant on Union.  Drove back in rush hour traffic again.  Mike is a saint!  A beautiful day today.  Sunny and 71 in San Francisco.  65 here at our park and clear skies.

The Golden Gate taken from Lands End

The Golden Gate from another perspective.

Lands End

Some of the housing at the Presidio

Palace of the Arts

Alcatraz

San Francisco RV Resort, Pacifica, CA:  Drove back to San Francisco this morning.  Had to be at the tour office on Leavenworth St. between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. to pick up our Alcatraz tour tickets.  Luckily, our tour was at 12:30.  At least that’s when we boarded the ferry.  So we walked down North Point and stopped at the Hollywood Café and had breakfast.  Then continued walking down to Pier 33 and got in line for our ferry.  After we boarded, it was a short ride out to Alcatraz.  Another beautiful day.  It was a very interesting tour.  There were about 70 employees out there and their families who lived on Alcatraz in employee housing.  Actually, it was a great place for families.  There were several boats over to San Francisco every day.  And the children of the workers took a ferry to San Francisco to school every day.  The cell block was on top of “The Rock” and we had an energetic walk up the equivalent of a 12-story building.  One of the amazing things on this island was the gardens.  They built a fort out here in the 1860s during the Civil War.  And then it became a military prison.  That’s when they started the gardens.  They took soil from the adjacent islands and brought it over to Alcatraz which was basically a limestone rock.  During the time of Alcatraz as a federal prison, the families, and even the prisoners, worked on the gardens.  And they’re thriving today.  I bought a book, “Breaking the Rock” by Jolene Babyak who lived on Alcatraz as a child.  Her father was the acting warden.  It’s about the amazing escape in 1962 where four convicts escaped after placing dummy masks in their beds and spending months of digging through concrete, stealing supplies to make life vests and a raft.  Three of them were never seen again.  Should be a good read.  After our tour we had dinner at the Franciscan Crab Restaurant on the bay.  Then walked back to our parking garage and headed back.  We thought we’d head east on North Point to the Embarcadero and then on to the 280. That would have been a great way to get out of town if the Giants hadn’t been playing a game tonight at the AT&T Stadium on The Embarcadero (sigh).  We were in gridlock traffic until we passed the stadium and then it was clear sailing.  Made it back okay.  And no marine layer tonight.  70 today in San Francisco!  A beautiful, sunny day!   

A hang glider sailing along the bluff behind us.

A little bird has a nest on the edge of the bluff behind us.

The lighthouse and Warden's quarters on Alcatraz.

Approaching Alcatraz.  Power plant on the right.  Storage building in the center.

One of the cells.

View of San Francisco from Alcatraz.

Some of the gardens.

San Francisco

San Francisco RV Resort, Pacifica, CA:  Drove into San Francisco today.  Found out the Alcatraz tour was sold out until the end of July and the only way we could get out there was to take a city tour.  So we bought a 48-hour hop-on/hop-off tour which included Alcatraz.  Took the double-decker bus around San Francisco. Tomorrow we go back in and go out to Alcatraz and can jump on the bus again if we want.  After the bus tour we had lunch on Pier 39 at a really nice seafood restaurant with great views of Alcatraz, San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Then walked down to Ghirardelli Square.  Wanted to take a cable car, but people were lined up to get on, so we didn’t bother.  I liked it much better when I was out here in 1982.  I did all the driving back then and it seemed very easy to get around and not as many people.  Today there were SO MANY PEOPLE.  Of course Fisherman’s Wharf is a very touristy area.  Drove back to Pacifica.  Mike did all the driving—bless him!  As we were driving back the fog started rolling in.  The view in back of us is now shrouded in fog.  70 today.

Coit Tower

Ferry Building Spire

Beautiful City Hall

China Gate--Chinatown

Alcatraz

Golden Gate with the fog rolling in

Little seal on the dock--Pier 39

Ghirardelli Square

Same shot back in 1982

Homes on the hills around San Francisco.  Would you want to live here?

KOA, Moss Landing, Monterey Bay, to San Francisco RV Resort, Pacifica, CA:  Left Moss Landing this morning at 10:40 a.m. and took the Pacific Coast Highway north to Route 17 northeast.  Route 17 was a winding, twisting road up over the mountains through a lush conifer forest—a beautiful conifer forest.  Then dropped down into a pretty valley northeast of San Jose and took 280 northwest back to the Pacific Coast Highway just south of San Francisco.  Got to our park and were set up by 2:00.  Our site backs up to the Pacific on a 50-ft. bluff.  Beautiful!  You can hear the waves crashing in below us.  The sites here are really close together, but the view out our back window is priceless.  After getting set up we drove south on the Pacific Coast Highway, since we decided not to drive it with the fifth wheel in tow.  But it was doable—even though it would have taken us longer.  They’re just finishing up a tunnel and bridge to go around an area of the PCH that has a lot of rock falls.  Probably costs the state a lot to keep this section of road open.  Drove down to Pescadero and then turned around.  Mike drove down and I drove back.  It sure seemed a lot different than the drive I did down to Carmel from San Francisco back in 1982.  Half Moon Bay was a tiny little town back then.  Now it has a population of 13,000 with lots of traffic and lots of traffic lights.  Still a beautiful drive though.  On the way back we stopped at an eatery Mike saw on the show, “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives”—The Gorilla Barbecue.  Really good.  Back to our park and waiting for, hopefully, an amazing sunset.  68 here in Pacifica but felt warmer.  One bad thing here.  Even though we have cable TV, we don’t have AMC channel.  The first show this season of “Breaking Bad” is on AMC tonight.  But we can’t see it.  Grrrrrrrrr!

The view behind our site!

Yikes!

Just south of San Francisco

The beautiful California coast

Another beautiful view!

The PCH isn't scary.  This is scary--Red Mountain Pass, Colorado--no shoulder or guard rails!  And we drove this with the fifth wheel in tow.  

KOA, Moss Landing, Monterey Bay, CA:  Spent the morning catching up on e-mails, banking, etc.  We got a break from the marine layer in the form of a nice sunny day.  After lunch we drove over to our little seal and sea otter colonies.  The seals were all asleep on the beach.  The sea otters were all asleep out in the little bay.  In the open sea, the sea otters wrap themselves in the kelp which anchors them and keeps them from drifting while they sleep.  Had dinner at the Whole Enchilada and then back to our park.  Tomorrow we leave for Pacifica which is just south of San Francisco.  We were going to drive up the PCH, but the park where we’re staying at in Pacifica doesn’t recommend we do that.  So, we’re going to have to find a different route (sigh).  Mid-60s today.

The old post office in Moss Landing--the new one isn't much bigger.

Probably a mercantile building at one time.

Nap time at the sea otter colony.

Sound asleep...

There were a bunch of jelly fish in the little bay.

Whale Watching

KOA, Moss Landing, Monterey Bay, CA:  This morning we boarded a 60-foot cruiser for some whale watching out in Monterey Bay.  Only a few miles out we started seeing them.  There were so many I lost count.  Mostly blue whales and a couple of hump back whales.  It was really great!  Then the vomiting started.  There were some big rollers out there as we were idling.  Fortunately, I don’t get sea sick—unless it’s alcohol related.  Unfortunately, Mike does.  He was on the back of the boat most of the time miserable.  At least he never threw up.  Several others did and they just hosed off the back.  And it was a beautiful day for it.  You could actually see both ends of the bay, which is unusual so they tell us. The Monterey Canyon is just off Moss Landing which is 10,000 feet deep.  It’s deeper and wider than the Grand Canyon.  We were back by 2:00, but Mike was wiped out.  Just relaxed the rest of the day. 

Two blue whales--one blowing and one showing its fluke

Another blue whale.

We wake up to these guys every morning.  They've taken over one of the docks at the marina.

Out for a sail on Monterey Bay

Santa Cruz

KOA, Moss Landing, Monterey Bay, CA:  The marine layer gave us a break this morning.  It moved back out to sea pretty quickly.  Still cool though.  After lunch we drove up the coast to Santa Cruz and beyond.  The PCH went away from the coast until we reached Santa Cruz.  And the traffic around that city was terrible.  Once we got north of Santa Cruz we were back along the coast.  Drove north to about 40 miles from Half Moon Bay and then turned around because the temps dropped into the 50s and it started misting.  Drove back and when we got back to Santa Cruz we drove along the ocean on West Cliff Drive.  Pretty little harbor area and a nice beach.  Even though the temps were in the low 70s and the water was probably in the low 60s, there were people out there frolicking in the water, surfing and wind surfing.  These people are nuts.  Back to our little fishing village and relaxed the rest of the day.  We actually had a home cooked meal this evening—pork chops, mashed potatoes, and a vegetable.  Oh, and this weekend is the big event in LA they’re calling “carmageddon”.  This weekend they’re shutting down the 405 in both directions for several miles because they have to demolish a bridge or something.  They’ve been talking about it since we arrived in California.  Glad we won’t be there.  It’s a weekend people—STAY HOME!  Upper 60s today.

North of Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz Harbor Light