California Trip {Days 6 & &7}

We started our morning with breakfast at David's Delicatessen , which was a few doors down from our hotel. (It's the blue sign in the picture below.)


We drove to the North end of the Golden Gate Bridge to park our car, then we walked across the bridge and back. It was a 3.4 mile walk. The walk lane was not too big. We had to deal with lots of bikes. The most frustrating thing was the people who didn't follow the "walk on the right side" signs.



After our walk across the bridge, we drove to Muir Woods. We had been to Muir Woods before. My grandfather took Chris & I to San Francisco in 1997. I had just found out that I was pregnant with James before we left. We did a lot of the touristy stuff on that trip, but I was suffering from morning sickness for most of it. Muir Woods was one of the places that I wanted to revisit when not dealing with nausea.

This little deer was not bothered by all the visitors watching.

We ate lunch at the restaurant at Muir Woods and I did not take a picture of that.


Our last timer shot of our trip!


After Muir Woods, we went back to the hotel to recharge. My legs were killing me from all the walking we did that day. So after we rested, what did we decide to do? We walked to Chinatown!


We bought a few gifts for the kids in Chinatown. We didn't have a whole lot of time to wander around because we had theater tickets for that evening. We couldn't stay in the theater district without seeing a play.


We went back to the hotel after Chinatown to change for the theater. We grabbed a quick dinner at Lori's Diner which was across the street from the theater. We didn't have time for anything else.


The night before we were looking for a play to see. The play at Stage Werx sounded interesting and it was just a couple of blocks from our hotel. The play was "Juno en Victoria" and was described as "Jane Austen meets Mythology". It was a very small theater and there were only about 10 people in the audience, including us. But we enjoyed the show and would recommend it to anyone who was in the San Francisco area.

That is the end of Day 6. We did not take any pictures on Day 7 - it was time to go home. We woke up, then grabbed a quick breakfast at another chain - Starbucks. Then we walked a few blocks trying to find a post office so we could mail postcards to the kids. We first stopped at a store that had a sign that said "we sell stamps", but they were out of US ones. The guy at the store gave us directions to a real post office, but we couldn't find it. We also looked online and got directions to another one that did not exist. Frustrated, we decided to try to find one on the way to the car return and airport. We found a post office, but it was closed. I went inside to use their machine to get stamps and they did not have a self serve kiosk. So we had to find another post office, this time we had success. We were able to mail the cards.

Our flight was delayed, but our connecting flight ended up being delayed, too, so we were able to make it. My parents picked us up at the airport around midnight. We headed back to Georgia the next morning.

We had a wonderful trip and hope to go back sometime soon with the kids.

California Trip {Day 5}

We checked out of the Dolce Hayes Mansion and started our "Geek" tour. We mapped things out on the GPS. Our first stop was 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA.


For those readers who are not familiar with this address, this is the Apple headquarters.

Maybe this image is more familiar.

It was amusing to people watch here. We were behind a metro bus that stopped and let off dozens of Apple employees. They were mostly young, casually dressed (jeans or khakis and button down shirts) and nearly everyone was wearing a backpack. The Apple campus was HUGE! Apple has a Company Store open to the public. Chris bought a polo style shirt there. We also picked up some little things for the kids, too. While in the store, Chris played around with an IPad on display and found a little place for us to eat breakfast. So that's where we went next.


Breakfast was at Bobbi's Coffee Shop. I had a delicious veggie omelet. Yum!


Our next stop on our Geek tour, was 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA.

In case you aren't familiar with that address, it is the headquarters of Google.
The Google headquarters (Googleplex) also encompass several buildings. There were yellow bicycles with baskets outside the buildings for employee use in getting from building to building.


The Computer History Museum was next. This is the largest computer history museum in the country.

This is a PDP-1 computer. It is significant because of the the control panel on the lower right that students built for playing a video game. The concept of video games didn't exist before this, so for video game fans out there, this was a crucial moment in history.


An original Pong video game machine.

This is a Cray Super Computer.


This is one of the first personal IMB computers. Chris had one like this in his dorm room at college.


This is an Apple 1 computer. You had to assemble the computer yourself and it did not come with a case. This one is signed by Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak.


The first Nintendo video game system. We received one as a wedding present in 1991 from my sister.

Then it was on to 367 Addison Ave. in Palo Alto, CA to take a look at this garage.

In case you're wondering why we would stop to look at someone's garage, it is the Hewlet Packard Garage - the birthplace of Silicon Valley.


Now finished with our Geek Tour, we made our way back to San Francisco, our final destination.


We checked into our hotel, the Warwick San Francisco, then went walking and exploring.

In all the excitement of our geek tour, we forgot to eat lunch! So we stopped at Annabell's Bar & Bistro for an early dinner. It was happy hour and all drinks & appetizers were on sale. So we feasted on a some bacon wrapped prawns, sweet potato fries, and an arugula pesto pizza.


We went to bed early, we were tired from our geeky adventures. I wish I could say we slept well, but we are not used to sleeping in downtown areas. There were whistles blowing (hailing taxis), horns honking, and lots of loud, drunk folks in the streets of downtown San Francisco.

California Trip {Day 3}

Breakfast this morning was at the House of Bagels. It was something we came across as we were driving through town. We had coffee and bagels, imagine that!


We drove about 45 minutes for today's outing to Hearst Castle.
There are several different tour options at Hearst Castle. We chose one that was geared for visitors who had never been there before. It was an hour and 45 minute tour. We saw a movie about William Hearst and the building of the estate before our tour began.

A little tidbit of information - Construction on Hearst Castle began in 1919 and ended in 1947.


Here I am enjoying the view. Wouldn't it be great to wake up to that view every morning?

Here is one of the guest houses.

Here Chris stands in front of the gorgeous Neptune pool.

A different view of the same pool.

Walking through some of the gardens.



The main house, or "Casa Grande".

This is a picture of the Roman pool -for those rainy days when you want to swim.

After our tour, we ate lunch at El Chorlito, a Mexican restaurant near Hearst Castle.


On our way back to Paso Robles, we stopped at one more winery. We drove by lots of wineries on drive back, but the Summer Wood Winery caught our eye.



This winery was a much smaller one compared to the others we had gone to. Their wines are not sold in grocery stores or served in restaurants. We were told they only produce about 2500 bottles a year. There was a tasting fee - we had a choice of $5 per person for 5 wines or $10 to taste all of their wines. We chose to taste all. It was nice to have a choice. And at both wineries where there were tasting fees, we were given the chance to share the tasting between the two of us if we wanted.

A picture of us in front of the Summer Wood vineyard.


Now I must provide you with some back story. The day we left San Francisco on our drive along Highway 1, we passed by hundreds of bicyclists. We assumed it was some organized bike event. Thanks again to modern technology, we (I mean I, because Chris was driving and California has a strict no cell phone use when driving law) looked up the event after seeing a possible event name on some shirts. The event was the AIDS/LifeCyle - Ride to End AIDS. What was impressive, was that this was a 7 day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. We looked at their schedule, and it turned out that the "pit stop" on day 3 was in Paso Robles. So we made a point to go to their stop destination and check it out.



Here is the camp for the night. Though some cyclists chose to stay in hotels. There were several checked in at our hotel. In fact, for that one night, the Paso Robles Inn had no vacancies. I think if I was participating in an even like this and giving up a whole week of vacation, I would stay in hotels, too! I can't even imagine what it would feel like to ride 80 plus miles in a day and then sleep on the ground in a tent that night!

This was our last night in Paso Robles. We dined at Artisan's, downtown, of course. There were some cyclists sitting at the table next to ours. We have so much respect for them and the cause that they were supporting.

Not only is that the end of day 3, but it is the end of our trip in Paso Robles.

California Trip {Day 1}

We started our first full day in California with breakfast at our hotel. We purchased our stay at the Hilton Bayfront San Francisco through Priceline. We had a choice of getting a room that included breakfast for about $10 more than a room without, so for convenience we opted for the one that came with breakfast. Well, when we checked in, the staff told us that they don't offer breakfasts with any of the rooms. The next morning, Chris called Priceline and they made arrangements with the hotel for us to have breakfast.

After breakfast, we hopped in the car and started our scenic drive down the California Coast.







We stopped at a beach along the way. There was an $8 parking fee, so we chose to keep on driving. A little bit further, we found Pescadero State Beach which did not have any parking fees.


We used the timer feature on our camera quite often on this trip.


We had never seen a tsunami warning sign before.


The beaches are so different from the Florida beaches we have visited so frequently. The kids would have a blast climbing on the rocks.


We stopped at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse which is also in Pescadero. Thankfully, the lighthouse wasn't open for climbing. I did that at Tybee Island this past April. It's one of those "Been there, done that" moments for me that I don't need to repeat. There is also a hostel at Pigeon Point for those interested.

We saw harbor seals out on the rocks.

Another timer photo of us.


We needed food. We stopped for a snack at Emily's Bakery in Santa Cruz. I had a chai latte and the best coconut muffin I have ever had. To be honest, I had never had a coconut muffin before. I had never heard of coconut muffins before. Now, I am obsessed with coconut muffins. Look for future blogs on the subject.

We drove by fields and fields of fruits and vegetables along Highway 1. We saw artichokes, strawberries, cauliflower, cabbages, lettuce, and more. The fields were huge! Here are some purple cabbages - they looked more purple in person.

I knew that I wanted to stop by at least one mission on our trip. The first one we found that was located right off the highway was the Soledad Mission.



The interior of the mission.


The olive grove at the mission.

We passed by lots and lots of these bells. At the mission, there was a placard labeling one as "El Camino Real". Thanks to technology in the form of smart phones, I was able to look it up on our drive. The bells mark the trail to the 21 missions in California. Evidently the monks used to sprinkle mustard seed to mark the trail with yellow flowers.

We arrived at our hotel in Paso Robles at about 3:30. Check-in was supposed to be at 4. We checked with the front desk and our room wasn't ready yet. We hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we chose to walk somewhere and find some food.

We ate our late lunch at the Odyssey World Cafe in downtown Paso Robles. Our hotel was perfect walking distance to all the restaurants.

After our lunch, we went back to the hotel. It was about 4:10 and our room was still not ready. So walked around downtown some more. Sometime after 4:30, our room was finally ready. We got settled in, then explored the hotel grounds and the Paso Robles area.

Around 9pm or so, we decided it was time for dinner. Nothing was open! It was a Sunday night, but all the restaurants in the downtown area were closed. We got in the car and drove around until we finally found something open. And we had to break one of our travel rules. When we are on vacation, we only eat at new restaurants. We don't eat at chains or places we've been to before. We had to add an exception to our rule, we don't eat at chains or places we've been to before when at all possible! We found a Panda Express that was open in a strip mall a few miles away.

And thus concludes our first day in California.