San Francisco adventures
I arrived in San Fran at 7am yesterday courtesy of Corbetto who was dropping Felix off at the airport. I took the BART to 16th & Mission streets where Alastair met me with his son Wilder.
We stopped for coffee and then headed to their apartment on Oak & Pierce streets. I have a set of keys which is really cool so I'm free to come and go as i please.

I headed downtown by myself after lunch, walking through a slightly unsavoury part of town by accident (Franklin/Market streets). I hopped on the street car headed for Fisherman's Wharf to escape and got off at the Union Square visitors centre before heading to Pier 33 so I could get a ticket for the Alcatraz tour and City Pass.

Now for the real drama!

As I was leaving pier 22, headed towards 39. three motorbikes mounted the wide pavement and started doing some tricks - wheelies and going round in circles on just one wheel etc. I gathered this wasn't a normal street act by everyone staring and looking a bit shocked. They then got back on their bikes and zoomed off, apart from the last one who pulled a HUGE wheelie without looking and saw the cyclist too late!

The motorbike, a large road bike, crashed into the cyclist, knocking both parties to the ground. Everyone gasped and ran forward towards the scene as the motorbike guy looked like he was getting back on his bike to ride away so someone tackled him! This all happened 10 meters from me! The two other motorbike guys left pretty sharpish at this point.

The cyclist was OK luckily, just some grazing and shock. There were 3 police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck on the scene before too long to check everything out and apprehend the motorbike guy.

I carried on walking at this point and took Stockton st. At the intersection with Lombard street I was able to see the major zig-zag section from a distance, but will visit properly another day. I wasn't too sure where to go, but i figured out a route towards Washington Square Park and then along Union street. I had a feeling that Macondary Lane was around somewhere, which is Barbary Lane in Tales of the City  books, bit couldn't find it on the map as it is too small.

At Jones street i decided that I'd done enough walking so took Jones st south, climbing a very steep hill (all the cars have to park at 90 degrees to the road), but I knew the view would be worth it and it was. half-way up I stopped to take a look and saw Alcatraz island lit up by the sun but surrounded by a sea of fog. Turning back to the steep hill I looked up and saw Macondery Lane!! I simply couldn't believe it.

I plucked up the courage to go up the wooden steps, which are very high and looked rickety, and went along the lane. It is a meter wide cobbled path which is shrouded in an arc of trees, shrubs and flowers - really pretty. There are also apartment houses on each side - I wouldn't mind living in one of those!

I then managed to jump on a cable car back to Union Square and make my way back to the apartment.

It is safe to say that on day 1 I fell in love with the city and on day 2 nothings changed this.


Monday, August 10, 2009 | Category: | 0 comments

Ode to the Pool and Growlers
The Pool:
The sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky. A pool with palm trees and a spa hot tub. Gorgeous flowers; reds, purples, pinks, blues. A light warm breeze flutters and the heat is delicious. 
The pool is crystal clear, a light aquamarine blue. Four steps at one end ease the water wary in. Once ensconced in the pool you can swim lengths, perform hand stands or just relax. Heaven.

The Growlers:
Beer. I wasn't a big drinker of this liquid before my travels, some of you might remember me equating it to the smell of the day after a party or even cat's piss on one occasion, but this might have been referring to lager!
I have been converted however by the Davis Growlers home-brewing quartet; Francis, Mike, Andy and Christopher. I have sampled English pale ale, American pale ale, wheat beer, coconut beer, ginger beer and many more besides. I have even harvested hops for future batches of beer and learnt many a trivia fact from the process. Did you know that hops are a sedative?
Thanks guys, I think you  have created a future home-brewer and definitely a beer convert!



Monday, August 10, 2009 | Category: , | 0 comments

Camping in Siltcoos with Francis, Frank, Felix & Cat
The boys (Felix & Francis) arrived on Tuesday around 3pm at Annie's house to pick me up. However they had been melting in Francis' car for around 5 hours without air con in 40 degree heat!! Therefore with Annie's permission they stayed the night as it was near impossible to get back in the car again after experiencing Annie's gorgeous cool cottage.

We got up at 6:30am and headed onto the I-5 north to Winston and then west to Coos Bay and the coast. We finally settled on a camp site at Siltcoos. It was really nice, they are deluxe camping spots compared to the UK where you get a field. Here you get a mini driveway a picnic table and a fire pit. Although we were primitive campers according to American standards as we only had tents. People here pitch up with their huge RVs (motor homes), 5 quad bikes, car, truck, huge gas BBQ/kitchen!

We went for a walk to Siltcoos Lake, dune running at Jessie M Honeyman's (I know a very similar name to my own!!) and wanderings on Siltcoos beach. Plus we also found a great little bakery 'Sugar Shack' I think it was called, and had to partake of the coffee and doughnuts on several occasions. Yum!!

We wanted to see the huge redwoods on the drive back, but miscalculated the popularity of the camp site so we decided to just do the return journey in one day!! That amounted to about a 13 hour drive and included a huge mountain rage for 3.5 hours and an elevation 3000 ft!! There were tons of gold prospecting rigs in the river we drove by, we guessed someone might have found a nugget or two and everyone else was there for the 'pickings'.

We drove back along the coastal road and then inland towards central valley and Davis, it was a fun drive and we chatted lots and drank lots of coffee too. We got back about 11pm so wasn't too bad.

The next day I was back chilling by the pool. Bliss.



Wednesday, August 05, 2009 | Category: | 0 comments