My idea again this vacation was to post some of what we've been doing out here in San Francisco but time has gotten away from me and I'm just now getting around to sharing.
On Friday Jon ended up working later than he was supposed to so we were much later getting out of Illinois.
We finally left after 8PM for Indianapolis where we had reservations at the Holiday Inn to park/sleep/fly. We got to bed late and asked for a wake-up call for 3:45 so we had time to shuttle to the airport, 15 miles away since they've moved. The wake-up call came but I fell back asleep. Thankfully Jon got up but we missed the first shuttle. We caught the second shuttle and arrived at the airport at 6:00AM for our 6:45AM flight. Thank GOD we had our boarding passes and were able to check our baggage at the curb. When we got to the gate we didn't even sit down; we walked right onto the plane.
We arrived at San Francisco a half hour late because of closed runways due to the fog.
For lunch we walked up Chestnut street to an outside cafe where we had a light lunch. We walked through China town and part of Russian Hill. Later that evening and had dinner at a seafood restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf.
Sunday (Mother's Day) we managed to figure out public transportation
well enough to make it to Oakland in time for our 10:00AM Zeppelin Airship tour. There are 3 Zeppelin airships in the world; Germany, Japan and as of October 2008 San Francisco. The difference between an airship and the Goodyear blimp is the airship's propellers are on the envelope instead of the gondola. The Goodyear blimp is completely collapsible and the NT airship is a semi-rigid airship that gets its shape from gas pressure inside the envelope. The NT Zepplin is the the length of a Boeing 747 and travels 35 mph at 1,200 feet above the ground. Once in the air we were able to walk around the cabin and take in the view of the 360 degree vistas through huge windows. The gondola is much smaller and I guesstimate it to be 20-ft long and approximately 5-ft wide.
Later that day we toured
On Tuesday we got up early and rented a car. We traveled down historic route 1
to Ano Nuevo,the site of the largest mainland breeding colony of the northern elephant seal.
We took the 4-mile round trip hike to the south beach where there were 100 or more elephant seal on the beach. This is their moulting season
and I have a picture of the fur they shed during this time. While on the beach they don't eat or drink so they look lazy but in fact they're conserving energy.
From there we traveled to Montery in hopes to visit the aquarium but because of a prior commitment later that day we skipped the aquarium
and instead did some shopping, met a really cool dog,
and took the famous 17-mile drive
through Pebble Beach and the Del Monte Forrest.
The drive winds through the forrest and along the coast
and past the Cypress Point Club, Spyglass Hill Golf Course, and Poppy Hills Golf Course.
After the scenic drive we headed up route 101 to Joan's house in Oakland where we visited with her and her family and had Chinese for dinner. We weren't able to stay long because we wanted to return our rental car before 10PM to avoid extra costs. We'll get together with them again this week.
On Friday Jon ended up working later than he was supposed to so we were much later getting out of Illinois.
We finally left after 8PM for Indianapolis where we had reservations at the Holiday Inn to park/sleep/fly. We got to bed late and asked for a wake-up call for 3:45 so we had time to shuttle to the airport, 15 miles away since they've moved. The wake-up call came but I fell back asleep. Thankfully Jon got up but we missed the first shuttle. We caught the second shuttle and arrived at the airport at 6:00AM for our 6:45AM flight. Thank GOD we had our boarding passes and were able to check our baggage at the curb. When we got to the gate we didn't even sit down; we walked right onto the plane.
We arrived at San Francisco a half hour late because of closed runways due to the fog.
For lunch we walked up Chestnut street to an outside cafe where we had a light lunch. We walked through China town and part of Russian Hill. Later that evening and had dinner at a seafood restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf.
Sunday (Mother's Day) we managed to figure out public transportation
well enough to make it to Oakland in time for our 10:00AM Zeppelin Airship tour. There are 3 Zeppelin airships in the world; Germany, Japan and as of October 2008 San Francisco. The difference between an airship and the Goodyear blimp is the airship's propellers are on the envelope instead of the gondola. The Goodyear blimp is completely collapsible and the NT airship is a semi-rigid airship that gets its shape from gas pressure inside the envelope. The NT Zepplin is the the length of a Boeing 747 and travels 35 mph at 1,200 feet above the ground. Once in the air we were able to walk around the cabin and take in the view of the 360 degree vistas through huge windows. The gondola is much smaller and I guesstimate it to be 20-ft long and approximately 5-ft wide.
Later that day we toured
On Tuesday we got up early and rented a car. We traveled down historic route 1
to Ano Nuevo,the site of the largest mainland breeding colony of the northern elephant seal.
We took the 4-mile round trip hike to the south beach where there were 100 or more elephant seal on the beach. This is their moulting season
and I have a picture of the fur they shed during this time. While on the beach they don't eat or drink so they look lazy but in fact they're conserving energy.From there we traveled to Montery in hopes to visit the aquarium but because of a prior commitment later that day we skipped the aquarium
and instead did some shopping, met a really cool dog, and took the famous 17-mile drive
through Pebble Beach and the Del Monte Forrest.
The drive winds through the forrest and along the coast and past the Cypress Point Club, Spyglass Hill Golf Course, and Poppy Hills Golf Course.
After the scenic drive we headed up route 101 to Joan's house in Oakland where we visited with her and her family and had Chinese for dinner. We weren't able to stay long because we wanted to return our rental car before 10PM to avoid extra costs. We'll get together with them again this week.
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