More Bay Area Stuff

What else have we done in and around San Francisco?

On Sunday we went to a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Especially for Giants games there are extra ferries that drop people off right next to the stadium which is a great way to reduce traffic jams and is very convenient for the fans. Of course we were on one of those ferries. We went to our seats and watched the game. A tradition is to eat and drink a lot during these games but we kept our consumption limited to garlic fries (not that we did not want to drink but at US$ 8,50 per cup of beer we decided not to...). Besides just being an entertaining event I have to say that I find baseball boring! A lot of waiting and the action is over in no time... not my sport.


The next day Shosh, her dad, her aunt and I visited one of the oldest beer breweries in San Francisco: Anchor Beer Brewery. They have free tours every day and you get to taste all their beers afterwards. The brewery itself is small, clean and the tour was good! But the tasting afterwards was even better :-) They are known for their so-called Steam Beer, but my personal favorite was the Old Foghorn! You have to make reservations if you want to be in the tour, but it is certainly worth doing when you happen to be in SF.

The next day we did not go anywhere. The San Francisco area was experiencing a heat wave so we decided to take it easy. I fixed the bicycles we were going to use on Friday and together with Bruce I temporarily fixed the car window with a piece of Plexiglas. The afternoon Shosh and I spent at the pool and in the evening we had dinner with an old friend of Shosh. On the way back from dinner we stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge to take some pictures and that's it...

California is known for their wine production, so we had to go and see some of it. Bruce loves good wines and has visited many of the wineries around his home. So he took us on a tour through wine country. We started in Napa Valley and worked our way down to Sonoma. We stopped at several wineries, had a picnic and did a couple of tastings. The entire area is beautiful, the wine was good and the weather was even better. Overall a very, very nice day.

Yesterday Shosh and I loaded the bikes in the pick-up and drove towards the city. Our first stop was at the Golden Gate. We unloaded the bikes and made a tour over the bridge, through Piscadero and back over the bridge again. However the weather did not decide to cooperate and provide us with sun and blue skies... we got fog and cold air! Nevertheless again a good trip. The afternoon we spent in the city doing some shopping and just sightseeing the beautiful houses and roads.


Today we won't do a lot. Just some repacking and preparing for the next part of our trip which will lead us through Yosemite National Park, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.

Toedeledokie,
Der Rudi un Die Shosh

California...

From Arcata to San Rafael: 300 something miles.
(click on the map to see the route in Google Maps)
After we left aunt Jan we drove down the 101, the famous Highway 1 and the Avenue of Giants. This last road is named after the huge Redwoods (trees) that grow in this area. These trees reach up to 120 meters and are pretty thick as well (although not as wide as the Sequioa tree). Besides driving between these trees we also drove through one :-) Of course we made several more stops in order to stretch our legs, have a nice beach walk (finding a dead baby whale and a dead sea lion... pretty smelly!) or just to admire the views.
That night Shos and I were going to have our first night of camping. We found a nice campsite, had no problems setting up the tent and had some good barbecue.


The next day we visited Confusion Hill, a place that supposedly has "strange" magnetic forces... funny, but nothing spectacular. The drive further south on Highway 1 was again great. I would recommend it to anyone that has a chance of doing it!!! There was only one small, but very annoying problem created by yours truly. I broke one of the pick-up's back-side-windows... I was trying to close it and while doing so it shattered into a bagillion pieces. Probably it hadn't been used in a while and got stuck or something and my "force" was enough to make it crack. Luckily there still is a mosquito screen so it doesn't look like the the window is open. After this we decided not to drive to far, but to find a campsite and have a nice quite evening with a couple of beers.


Since we were camping close to Fort Ross and our camping fee included entrance to the Fort we decided to visit it first thing in the morning. Fort Ross is a nice little place that tells you about the history of California and the influence of the Russians in this area and is well worth a visit. After the visit we drove the remaining couple of miles to San Rafael where Shosh's dad lives. No problems except for a traffic chaos in the city itself... But around three o'clock Shosh saw her dad again for the first time in over two years.


Today is the 4th of July a.k.a. Independence Day. My first real one, since we don't celebrate this day in Holland. A couple of friends came over for breakfast and in the afternoon we went to the big county fair. Lots of stalls, exhibitions, food and rides and of course later in the evening fireworks. One of the funniest things on the fair was the Ham Bone Express, a miniature race track for piggies. Of course we had to take our Piggy to go and see it ;-) The fireworks were nice but not extremely spectacular (I expected a little more bangs on this special day...).


The next day I did something I had never done before: going inside a real prison (San Quentin). Shoshannah and her dad regularly visit one of the prisoners on death row. He heard about me in letters and asked if I would like to join Shosh during the next visit. Kind of strange but I agreed and I have to say that it was a wonderful visit. Joe is a very nice man and he truly appreciated my being there. In the afternoon Shosh, her brother David, his girlfriend and I went to THE city (San Francisco). We visited Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, went to see the sea lions only to find out that it is mating season and they all traveled to warmer places and drove over Lombard Street. We didn't cover everything we wanted to see, but Shosh and I are going back, so we'll have another chance to play tourists.


This week we'll be going to a baseball game, more San Francisco, a beer brewery, wine country, fix the car window and who knows what else!!! Looking forward to everything!

As Arnie would say: I'll be back!
Ruudje

Part One of The USA Road Trip

From Tacoma to Eugene to Eureka/Arcata: 581 miles
(Click on the picture to get an interactive map!!!)

Our first real stop was in Eugene, WA. Not for the city or the fact that the American Olympic Trials are being held there, but because our friend Trish lives there. We arrived a little late due to heavy traffic on the Interstate 5, but we were still in tome to catch the women's 10.000m finals. Pretty cool start for our stay there I must say!

The next day we (and that includes our friend Paula) went to the famous Oregon sand dunes and although very pretty for me they were just the same dunes as we have in Holland... The cool part was that here they also have massive sand plains and it was extremely foggy. That gave us the opportunity to shoot some cool pictures.

Of course we also had to eat something and in our case that was ice cream and salt water taffy. And us not wanting to end up like so many other Americans (read: HUGE... I never believed that they really are that fat, but it is true!) we engaged in some intense Wii playing :-) During our time in Eugene we stayed at Trish's dad who was kind enough to provide us with an great, soft bed, a shower and all the food we could eat...

Later that night we crashed a party called the "Wilgus Invitational". First drinking at a guy's home, only to go to the local golf course after dark and play glow-in-the-dark-golf! Since it was an invitational and we did not have invitations we stuck to watching, drinking and having fun!

The drive from Eugene to Eureka (California) was absolutely awesome. As soon as we hit the Redwoods I was as happy as can be. Driving here (on Highway 101) is fantastic. I won't say more, just watch the video below and you know what I mean!

On Monday Shoshannah´s aunt Jan, Shosh and I drove to Ferndale (after sleeping in, trying to get rid of the jetlag). Ferndale isn't very spectacular but known for its old Victorian houses and worth a short visit. Later on we also went to the beach for a nice walk and trying to decide what to do exactly in the next few days before going to Shos's dad in San Rafael.


Oh yeah, you might be wondering who/what that little, golden, round thingy with the cute eyes is... well, that is Piggy. We brought him from China so he can keep us company during the trip. Besides that it is way funnier to take pictures with piggy and a building than taking a picture of just another building! We love him and you will see him in many more of our pictures ;-)

Fastfood Hug,
Ruud, Shosh & Piggy