Halloween - my first Trick or Treat

Wednesday 31 October 2018 - Halloween

Gavin's Halloween Pumpkin

Breakfast at Denny's and an early start north.

Perfect.

I got into my big truck (still makes me giggle) and drove from Fort Bragg to Crescent City which took about 4 1/2 hours. The coastline of northern California is quite incredible. One minute you see beautiful craggy beaches and then you are right into deep dark redwood forests with mist swirling around.  Quite eerie. Some of these redwood trees are just humungous and defy belief.

Danny & Gavin dwarfed 
by a 2,500 old tree

Beautiful coastline

After getting settled in I went to visit with Larry & Angie & their kids Gavin & Danny. Larry is Commander of the Crescent City area of California Highway Patrol.  He came to my rescue in 2011 when my rental van gave up the ghost on a country road and we've remained in touch since and visited a couple of times.

I had my first experience of Trick and Treating with his sons Gavin and Danny.

Danny and Gavin

There were some very clever and cute outfits on some very clever and cute kids....and puppies.

Add caption

A good day but my hyper vigilance while driving drained my energy .... sleep is needed.

Aah got me a truuuuck!

Tuesday 30 October 2018

After I finished my blog last night I headed out to Mel's Diner for a grilled cheese sandwich. Very tasty. I love the decor in this place and they even have one of those little juke box doohickeys on the tables.

Grilled Cheese Sanger

Table top juke box

Mel's Diner

Good bye San Francisco. Time to head farther north. I uberred to a north side Enterprise Car rental to minimise having to drive myself through the chaos SF calls traffic.

I've rented a car for the next 12 days with the plan of leaving it in LA when I leave. Another plan gone awry. The rental for a compact car for 12 days is $350 but if I leave it in LA it will be $850.  Whaaaat? While I was humming and hahing and lifting my bottom jaw off the ground, the manager came in. The girl told him the issue and he asked me what type of vehicle I drove in Australia. When I told him it's a VW Transporter Camper Van he offered me the choice of 2 vehicles he had on the lot that he was currently arranging to go back to LA. If I took one he would waive the $500 fee.

I chose the smaller of the two but it is a pick up truck so  quite large. It drives like a dream though so I'm very happy with our deal.

I had a 3 hour drive to Fort Bragg where I'm staying the night in a less than desirable Motel 6.

My room smells of bleach and I'm not convinced it's not had a crime scene clean up.

Once I'd booked in I went for a drive to see the sights and that took about ten minutes so I hit the local Denny's. No dinner for me tonight. The best nachos I've ever had with freshly made corn chips followed by a decadent chocolate lava pudding.  Back to the motel for a post meal nap.

Make me fat dessert

Nachos

There's a glass beach here and I tried to get to it but it's part of a State Park and there were no Rangers in the office and the road was blocked so I'll try again in the morning before I leave.

Glass Beach - Stock Photo

Crabs and Sashimi and Oysters and more in San Francisco

Monday 29 October 2018

In San Francisco there's a  little seafood shop called Swan Oyster Depot. It's tiny, old and very famous and you need to queue up to get in. Apparently this was Anthony Bourdain's first port of call whenever he got to San Francisco and I can understand why. If you are ever in town you must add this to your itinerary but get there early.

Anthony Bourdain's favourite seafood in SF

Tiny shop - no tables.
Just a stool at the counter.

This place opens at 10:30 am and is so popular you need to line up. Under strict instructions from my daughter, Lee I was there at 9:30 and was first in line. By the time I entered the shop the queue snaked right back to the next block. Only about twenty people can eat at any given time so there were some very patient people out on the foot path.

Lee had already texted me  the "must have's" so I just flashed my phone at the very nice man behind the counter and said "I'll have these, please"

This is what I had.............

Crab, wonderful bread, prawns
and 2 different sauces. These were the
best and freshest and
tastiest prawns I've ever had. 

6 different types of oysters x 2
and a very spicy sauce top left.

Look at the size of that oyster
YUGE!!

Sicilian Sashimi. A bucket list
thing - raw fish hmmm.
OK  ... I admit it was tasty.

I toddled out, feeling very full but pleasantly so and walked the 2.5 kms back to the hotel to counteract the bread :)

Lunch will not be needed so I'll repack my bags ready for an early start north tomorrow morning and I'll take a walk later to say goodbye to San Francisco.

San Francisco...... Now you see it..... now you don't!

Sunday 28 October 2018

The plan was to hit the sight seeing early but the  morning news on TV pretty well ruled that out! No point in going out in this so I stayed in  and caught up on my blog and allowed the fog time to disperse.

Who stole San Francisco

I got an Uber to the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped for a danish and coffee to fuel my walk across this beautiful bridge.

It was warming up nicely in town but it gets very cold on the bridge so I was glad I brought a jacket. Being Sunday the bridge was packed with people from all over the world. San Francisco is really a great place to people watch.

Interesting outfit for walking
 across the bridge

These guys were so nice

The bridge itself was shrouded in mist most of the day. Very eerie but I so enjoyed it - I love that bridge..... I don't know why. Over 2000 people have committed suicide by 
jumping off. There are signs everywhere saying don't jump but I guess they didn't see them.

Here are some of my bridge pictures :)

Alcatraz

Who stole da bridge?

I had lunch at Fisherman's Wharf - a rather yummy Clam Chowder in a bread bowl. Once again this  area was way busy as it was Sunday. Too many people for me.

This is where I lunched

Clam Chowder

After lunch I boarded a double decker tour bus to get away from all the people milling around and spent the rest of the day riding around up top in the open (alternating freezing and sweating depending on the bus's location) -  seeing the sights and learning the history of the city.  

Interesting fact - San Francisco  has 96 Starbucks but only 23 Gas Stations.  

Interesting person - Big Alma Spreckels (she was 6' tall)  became known as the Great Grandmother of San Francisco. She was a wealthy socialite who convinced her much older first husband, sugar magnate Adolph Spreckels, to donate The California Palace of the Legion of Honour  to the City of San Francisco. This is where the term Sugar Daddy was spawned. She's now my latest hero - She's quoted as saying "I'd rather be an old man's darling than a young man's slave".  She had also been a nude model before she met Adolf - a bit naughty as she was born in 1881.

Interesting fact - A lot of San Francisco is built on reclaimed land so the  buildings above are not secure if there is an earthquake. In fact whenever there is a quake they have to knock the buildings down but they just rebuild again in the same way. Crazy. 

Interesting fact - the Millennium Tower that's 58 stories high is sinking.... and tilting. Penthouse apartments cost $19 million dollars and lower ones $2 million. Now however, due to the sandy soil it was built on and the insufficient foundations in place the building is actually tilting. It has sunk 17 inches and has tilted 14 inches since 2008 and they don't know how to fix it.

The leaning tower

P.S.    I've noticed in my USA travels so far is that a Stop sign seems to be optional. A bit disturbing :(

Monterey to San Francisco.

Saturday, 27 October 2018

I needed to hand in my rental car by noon in San Francisco so my plan was to travel Highway 1 (for the coast views and lesser traffic) and leave about 8:30 as the trip from Monterey to San Francisco takes  approximately 2 hours. My GPS is a bully and took me a completely different way and in the interest of not causing a multi vehicle pile up I just decided to go with the flow. I mentioned yesterday that I was going to drop the car off on the south side and pick up my next one in a few days on the north side - the theory being that I would not get caught up in any San Francisco traffic. HA!!!

Below are the reasons my plans fell apart 

• As I approached SF the fog loomed in on me - BLIND
• I didn't know there the hell I was - LOST
• The traffic was horrific even approaching SF - SCARED
• Throw in the oldie but goodie - WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD

What's that saying about the best laid plans of mice and men? sheesh!.   Why did I think that Saturday morning traffic would be light - it was just plain YUGE and CRAZY! The Enterprise car rental place was cunningly hidden away at the back of a strip mall - impossible to find without the fog - never mind with.  I did however,  against all odds,  find it and got my bags unloaded etc and then  realised I'd failed to fill it up with petrol. If I left it for them to do it would cost $100. F****!! The guy said there's gas station just up the road and then he said those fateful words that over the years make my blood run cold.... "you can't miss it".  As soon as someone says that I should just walk away and abandon everything. Yes - I got lost. Yes - in humungous 4 lane traffic. Yes - I wanted to cry.  I did eventually find the gas station but you're required to pay in advance. I told the woman it's not my car - I don't know and can't guess how much the gas will cost. In the end I gave her $60 on the proviso I get any difference back or pay more if needed. It took $48 and I got my change then jumped in the wrong side of the car again. How embarrassing - she was watching me. Felt like a dick! 

I should have left breadcrumbs because I got lost again.  What good is a GPS that doesn't tell you to turn left until you are actually AT the turn when you are 4 lanes to the right. Stress levels rising but eventually I found the bloody place and handed in the keys.

I Uberred to my hotel - The Mosser.  Halloween is evident everywhere - even on the Uber App lol

See the little Batmobile?

I was a bit concerned about this hotel as the reviews were varied  but I was delighted. It's an old style hotel and I have a small room and en suite -  it's clean and comfortable and the staff are very friendly.  The dude out the front, Joe, helped me with my bags.

Joe the friendly Doorman

The location of the hotel is perfect. Last time I was here I stayed in The Tenderloin which was just plain scary. This is much better. Within 500 meters any way I go there are 3 Starbuck's, a Peet's Coffee, 2 movie houses, Target, Westfield Shopping Centre, Bloomingdale's, Denny's Diner, Mel's  Diner, a big food court, a United Nations of various types of restaurants... and as they say....much much more!

.

Check in wasn't till 3 so I left my bags and went to the movies to see Halloween.  Just what I needed. A rise in stress levels lol 

Waiting to enter the Cinema

There's a protest going on at The Hyatt right across the road. Many employees banging drums and chanting - yes - with loudspeakers. I was concerned about the noise but I can't hear them in my room.

Once settled  I  ventured out for a walkabout and decided on Mel's Diner for dinner. 

Real old school diner decor.

Short ribs - I really chose this
 for the veggies.  Yummy

After all the stresses of the day I showered, jammied and hopped into bed and watched the World Series Baseball. My team snatched defeat from the jaws of victory so I closed this day off for once and for all. zzzzzzzzzzzzz!