Sunday, Sep 19, 2010

Last day of vacation….up early to catch shuttle over to airport  at 7:00 am.  Got to airport, checked in for our 9:05 Southwest flight to San Diego and had breakfast.  Flight to San Diego took about an hour and we caught our connection to Nashville at 11:45.  The flight to Nashville only took about 3 ½ hours (must have been a big tailwind as it took us 4 hours just to get to Las Vegas on the way out).  We arrived at Nashville, picked up our luggage and caught the Fly Away shuttle to pick up the cars.  Lynn, Patsy, Gwen and David stopped at Logan’s for dinner while Paul, Sandra, John and Karen had chili at the Wells.  It was a successful vacation – saw everything we wanted to see and more and no one got sick or injured.

Sat, Sep 18, 2010

Left Lodge at 8:00 after breakfast, loading luggage and a couple of photos. Drove south on 41 about 40 miles and then headed east on 145 just north of Fresno. From 145 we took 99 north (just barely made it onto 99 as Paul whipped it sharpley to the right after almost missing the exit) until we got to 152 and headed east. We saw several Raymond Roads, pistachio trees and tomato harvesting just before we got to Los Banos.  We took a bio break just before Los Banos.  On 152 we headed past San Luis Resevoir and over mountains towards Monterey. We thought we were on fire but it was John munching on corn nuts.  We had a lot of crosswinds going over the mountains. We picked up 156 in Hollister after passing Casa de Fruta stand. After Hollister we saw a lot of agriculture - tomatoes, soy beans, onions (lettuce or beets). We arrived in Monterrey around noon and walked down Cannery Road. We had lunch at the Fish Hopper and did a little shopping. We drove over to Carmel-by-the-Sea and did the 17-mile drive around the peninsula and Pebble Beach. We drove back to  the Marriott Courtyard at San Francisco Airport.  Paul and Lynn drove over to Airport Van Rental to return the van. AVR dropped them off at the airport car rental. They took the air train over to the terminal and the called Courtyard to pick them up. Some people walked over to Chili's for dinner and others rested and watched Texas beat Texas Tech.

Friday, Sep 17, 2010

Some of the gang wanted to rest Friday and some were going to drive to Tioga Pass. After morning breakfast everyone but Paul decided to take a short drive to Oakhurst about 12 miles down the mountain from Fish Camp. Stopping at an information center we decided to drive the 30 miles over to Mariposa and tour the California State Mining and Mineral Museum. We turned off 41 and made a right on 49.  We made the right turn onto Fairgrounds Road in Maripoa but missed the museum.  I think we had used all our brain power determining the names of all the people on The Real McCoys (Amos, Luke, Kate, Lil Luke, Hassie and Pepino).  Once we ran out of blacktop and onto gravel road, we decided to turn around.  Finding the museum behind a Mariposa Fairgrounds sign, we toured the museum, learned about the gold rush of 1849, about the mining process by going through a mine replica, and about gemstones and minerals. We drove back to Oakhurst and had lunch at Pete's, after a couple of turnarounds with the wonderful directions given by row 2.  We did stop at Katie's Kitchen first and Gwen went in to check the place out - decided not to eat there after she saw only one customer eating and the place smelled.  Pete's gave huge potions of food and we were all bloatated when we left. We drove back to the Lodge with girls singing all the Disney and Mickey Mouse songs.  When we returned to the Lodge the ladies tried to work a puzzle on a towel sitting by the pool. The table was too small and the towel was all wrinkled and they required additional shade Paul provided by throwing towels over the umbrella. Some of the guys took naps during puzzle time.  After pool drinks we went back to room to pack and then a light dinner in the lodge bar (Jackalope).  Service was a little slow and the fire alarm went off. The staff congregated in the lobby during the alarm so we sat around for 10 minutes listening to the alarm trying to decide if we were to leave or stay. The alarm turned out to be false.  After dinner Patsy played Frontierville.

Thursday, Sep 16, 2010

Temperature 40 degrees with high expected to be in 70's in Yosemite Valley Left lodge at 7:00 to go to Yosemite Valley. The ladies all had their matching red San Francisco shirts on. We made a stop outside the tunnel and did the "tunnel view" - a spectacular view of the valley with high granite peaks on either side. Our second stop was a view of El Capitan and the Bridal Veil Falls. We went to Yosemite Lodge and had breakfast and picked up tickets for a tram tour of the valley.  We lingered around for an hour for the 10:00 tram.  The tram tour had an excellent guide (Virgie) and went past Merced River, El Capitan, Tunnel View and Cathedral.  We spotted several climbers including a man with Cerebral Palsy who started his climb on Sunday and hopes to complete the climb by Friday. It takes the climbers about 4 days to ascend the cliffs. They carry all their food and equipment in a bag they hang behind them (200 pounds). They pull the pack up and clip it on the cliff. They then start the process over again.  They sleep on ledges or in a sling.  Everything they carry up they bring back down. One wonders how they take a bio break. After the tour we had lunch at Yosemite Village and then visited the Ahwahnee Indian Village and museum, Ahwahnee Lodge and Ansel Adams studio. We ended the day's visit by driving up to Glacier Point at an elevation of 7,200 feet and looks directly into Half Dome and overlooks the Yosemite Valley.  As we left Glacier Point Sandra's seat fell into David's lap and we all had a good laugh.  We arrived back at lodge around 6:00 pm and walked over to Timberlodge Pizzeria for dinner. We called it a night after dinner.

Wednesday. Sep 15, 2010

Paul called - since van rental was not on airport grounds we cannot take the shuttle but need to catch a cab to pick up the van.  On vacation, you have to flexible and carry extra cash : -). We made it to airport van rental (after I gave my GPS to cab driver), picked up the van after adding liability and collision insurance for $35 and drove back to hotel. Gang was waiting with luggage. We loaded up luggage and headed east over Oakland Bay bridge. After getting over bridge we drove about an hour and stopped at Wal-Mart to get some water, snacks and a fold-up stool to help getting in and out of van. Next stop was Livermore I-HOP for breakfast and drinks to go.  Driving out of Livermore on 580 we saw high hills with wind turbines.  We picked up highway 205 to 120 towards Maneca (San Joaquin Valley)\Sonora.  We picked up Hwy 99 off 120 in Maneca and drove south towards Modesto. After getting on 99 Paul dug into the whoppers box for a snack. After a short stay on the road we stopped at a rest area for a bio break and changed drivers. Lynn drove through Merced then got on 20 ½ near Madera (not sure why they name road in ½ increments). We drove 20 ½ through Pistachio groves and then picked up Raymond Road.   We stopped at the Raymond General Store for a snack and bathroom break.  The store was built in 1914 and had a bar and pool room in back. It was pretty cool. We swapped drivers back to Paul and drove east on Raymond Road to Highway 41. Making a left on 41 we stopped in Coarsegold for gas and then headed toward Fish Camp at the southern entrance to Yosemite.  We arrived at Tenaya Lodge around 4:00 and checked in.  Around 4:30 we went up to Mariposa Grove to see the giant Sequoias. We took a tram tour through the lower and upper groves. The lower grove is more dense with the larger trees while the upper grove is more open with trees not as large because the upper grove has had a controlled burn.  The Mariposa Grove is estimated to be about 1,800 years old with Sequoias living to be about 3,000 years old. We saw such trees as the Fallen Monarch, the Bachelor and Three Graces, Grizzly Giant, California Tunnel Tree, Faithful Couple, Clothespin Tree, Galen Clark Tree, fallen Wawona Tunnel Tree and Telescope Tree.  We left the grove and came back to the lodge and had dinner at the Sierra Restaurant.

Tuesday, Sep 14, 2010

Morning started with Lynn and David picking up some Burger King take out for Wells, Coulsons and Rays.  We are not sure what the Masons had for breakfast - they were not discussing beyond Karen having a breakfast bar.  We met early in hotel lobby to make some decisions about the van pick up and plans for Yosemite.   Paul and Lynn will catch the airport shuttle and bring van back to hotel to pick everyone up.  Sandra got a call - Terrific Tours was stuck in traffic and would be late (either Trevor or DJ - she got a call from each).  We boarded the Terrific Tours van at 10:00 and headed towards Sonoma, going over the Golden Gate. We made a stop at Muir Woods National Monument and took a short walk to see some 1,000 year old Redwoods, deer and chipmunks (I assume the deer and chipmunks were not that old, only the Redwoods). Getting back on the van we went past Infineon Raceway, one of NASCAR's famous road courses and through Marin County (San Rafael), home of  San Quentin penitentiary.  It is also the town where Lucas Films is doing the special effects for the new Star Wars movie. George Lucas lives on Lucas Valley road on Skywalker Ranch (just saying).  We arrived at the small town of Sonoma around 1:00 and had lunch at the Sonoma Cheese Factory.  After lunch some visited the Sonoma mission.  We boarded the van and drove to Benziger winery, took a wine tour and learned how they used Biodynamics to grow their grapes without any chemicals and about the multiple layers of soil laid down by a now-inactive volcano.  We also learned about growing grapes on hillsides and how the heat gets trapped during the day and then valley is cooled at night by the fog being blown in by the Pacific ocean.  We visiting B. R. Cohn winery, home of the manager of the Doobie Brothers.  They had some cool looking cars (46 Willys, 41 Woody and a hot rod – David got pictures – Lynn’s camera battery died so he only got one pic).  We drove back to hotel, arriving around 5:30. After a short break we headed down to In-n-Out Burgers (highly suggested by DJ from Terrific Tours) for some double cheeseburgers and fries (animal style with cheese, onions, ground beef and thousand island dressing). I don’t think they use mayonnaise or mustard in California on burgers, just thousand island.   Although bloatated, Karen forced us all to walk up 2 more hills in the blowing, cold wind to Ghiradelli square to get some chocolate. It was so cold, the girls sopped at a store on the way and bought 4 matching fleece jackets ($11 each).  We walked back to hotel.  Lynn, Paul and David stopped in and had a quick beer in Vintner's (hotel bar).  It was the time to pack - Wednesday will be a travel day to Fish Camp's Tenaya Lodge, just outside Yosemite's southern entrance. 

Monday, Sept 13, 2010

We had an early continental breakfast in the hotel and then headed down Bay Street to Pier 33 to catch the ship over to Alcatraz.  The  ride was only 12 minutes over to Alcatraz.  After climbing four 100-yard switchbacks to the top of Alcatraz we picked up our self-guided audio tour radios and walked through the cell blocks, the dining area, administrative area and other parts of Alcatraz.  The audio tour was done very well and lasted about an hour.  We did a little shopping  at  the NPS store, got our National Park books stamped and then made our way back down the rock to catch the ship back to SF.  Lunch was at Bubba Gump’s at Pier 39; food was excellent with a great view of the bay.  After lunch we made our way to Powell and Mason street to catch one of the famous trolleys up the long hills on our way to Grace Cathedral.  After disembarking, we had to climb another long hill up California Street to Grace Cathedral.  At this point legs ached and all were getting tired but the Cathedral was beautiful.  Our next destination was Chinatown.  Our thought was this was one street with some Chinese restaurants but it turned out to be a “town” taking up several blocks and really unclear where it started and finished.   We made our way down the long hills on California street to Stockton street where Chinatown  started.  Walking down Stockton, we learned that this really was an area where Chinese lived and not just a tourist destination.  The sites of all kinds of foods and the smell coming out of the mom and pop grocery stores reminded some of us those days when we lived in the Philippines.   By this time everyone was really getting tired so we tried to figure out where to catch the trolley back to Fisherman’s Wharf.  Walking down level streets we finally figured out the only way back was to climb the hills back up to Mason street.  Feet, ankles and knees swollen we caught our trolley back to Powell-Mason station and then walked the 2 blocks back to our hotel.  After a short  rest, John, Karen, Paul and Sandra went to Hooters for some wings while Lynn, Patsy, David and Gwen ordered Dominos and viewed some of the pictures that have been taken so far.