Traveling to Truckee

 In the middle of the week, we rented a car and headed inland. I ordered a compact car and while the tried to have us upgrade for just $10.00 more, we said "no thanks" and yet, still they gave us a Dodge Avenger. In case you don't know, that is not a small car. Driving that up the hills in the city was not an easy task.

Three hours from San Fran is a pretty little mountain town called Truckee. At 5,817 ft above sea level, Truckee is a cute little train stop town. My friend Scott was house sitting there this week and we went to stay for a few days.

Truckee is on Lake Tahoe, one of the most beautiful places I've seen. We drove around the rim for a while and made some stops at some very cool overlooks.

 While we were so close to the border, we decided to go to Nevada. And duh, when in Nevada, you must gamble. We lost $2.00 in the slots and I was done!

 

The lake was cold and choppy. I touched the water for about 0.2 seconds and confirmed that it was in fact very cold water.

Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the US. Second only to Crater Lake (another beautiful amazing place). It is also the 26th largest lake in the world.

                             

We spent the night in at a very cool house in Truckee. We grilled some dinner and drank beers on the porch. I was very happy to have porch beers in the snow! The winter in Virginia has been one of the warmest ones in history. It was nice to have some snow in Cali over Spring Break.

Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places!

Golden Gate and the Giants Game

On the way back from Muir woods we took a detour to an amazing overlook of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was dusk and it was beautiful! 

A few things I have learned about the Golden Gate Bridge: The Golden Gate Strait is the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The strait is approximately three-miles long by one-mile wide with currents ranging from 4.5 to 7.5 knots. Building the bridge took just over four years.  Construction commenced on January 5, 1933 and the Bridge was open to vehicular traffic on May 28, 1937. There are approximately 600,000 rivets in each tower.

The bridge really is cool. We drove over it a few times and while you have to pay a $5.00 toll to come into the city, it was fun to drive over it and feel really important.

On Monday of our trip we went to the San Francisco Giants game. It was an exhibition match vs. the Oakland A's. Tickets were only $10.00 which is great since beers were also $10.00 each!

The stadium was pretty cool with amazing views of the bay. One bad side to that... the BIRDS! Anyone who knows me is aware of my complete paralyzing terror of all things with beaks and wings. With the stadium being by the bay, the seagulls were out in force. As the game went on, there were more and more of them. Around the 8th inning I couldn't help but envision what happens after all of the people leave the stadium at the end of the night. The overwhelming frenzy of beaks breaking peanut shells and cleaning up crackerjacks. What started as a fun night at the ballpark turned into the setting for many of my nightmares.

Don't get me wrong, it was a great game and a lot of fun. For someone who doesn't really watch a lot of baseball or care too much about any particular team, I have been to quite a few important parks and games and this was one of the best.

Artistic Alcohol

While on break, I decided to develop a new hobby...Photography... more specially, photography of beverages!

Here's my work:

We begin with a lovely Zifandel at Stinson Beach.

Then we have AMAZING Irish Coffee at The Buena Vista Cafe.  The Buena Vista Cafe is known for its Irish Coffees. 

Buena Vista also has a very lovely Guinness.

We visited City Lights independent bookstore and visited the bar next door. Vesuvio, very cool place.

I think this photo can speak for its self.
In case you did not know, The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company factory is in San Fran.

One of the nights we were there, Erin's sister made us dinner.
Anchor Stem beer is made in San Fran. We like to drink local.

Pit stop on the way to Tahoe. You can't have a road trip without Subway!

In Truckee, we stayed with my friend Scott and enjoyed some Ruthless Rye IPA. When in the Sierra Nevada range we should drink Sierra Nevada beers.

Wine tasting in Napa.. Yes Please!  We visited the Twomey Winery. We had a lovely Merlot and some Pinots. It was a great little pit stop on our journey back to San Fran.

After returning to San Fran from our trip out to Tahoe and Truckee, we went exploring in the Mission District of town. We found the Zeitgeist bar with plenty of outdoor seating and trees to lean on. It was an awesome atmosphere.

This one is Erin's masterpiece. While we were at the Jack London bar, she took this one.
*Note the tilt of the foam, that is how slanted the entire bar was.*

On our last day in San Fran, we hung out in Dolores Park. It was an experience to say the least. However, anytime you can drink outside (still not sure if it was legal or not) either way, its a good day!

Tulip Time at Netherlands Carillon

                                             

My roommate read an article about the Tulips at the Netherlands Carillon, near the Iwo Jima Memorial. The article was warning us that time is running out to see the tulips in full bloom and being as we missed the Cherry Blossoms, we decided to head over today and make sure we saw them.

The Netherlands Carillon is a gift from the Dutch people in honor of American aid received during and after Wold War II.

The carillon is next to one of my favorite memorials, the Iwo Jima Memorial. The U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, inspiried by a Pulitzer Prize winning photo from World War II,  honors the Marines who have died defending the United States since 1775.

Muir Woods and Stinson Beach

On the first full day we were there, Erin's sister and brother-in-law picked us up at our hostel and brought us to  Muir Woods, a Redwood forest discovered by John Muir in 1908.  

"Muir Woods has a rich and varied history, from its use by the Coast Miwok people, to its early days of tourism and the Mount Tamalpais Mill Valley Scenic Railway, to an era of conservation, to modern preservation. In each era, the forest has been affected by the actions of humans, for better or for worse."

 Amazing and majestic are words that can not even come close to describing how cool this place is.  The freshness of the air and the awe that surrounds you can not really be described.

It was my HAPPY PLACE!

  We hiked around for about 2 hours I guess. It was phenomenal!

(Look at the Tracker Jacker hive!) wink wink...

   

We estimate it would take about 12-15 Erins to circle the entire tree!

After the woods, we went to Stinson beach, which is approximately 3.5 miles of beach that you can only get to by taking Hwy 1, the curvy-twisty road (we will discuss more in future posts). I am fascinated by Pacific coast beaches and one thing that is very high on my bucket-list (that has yet to happen) is to camp and have a bon-fire on a Pacific coast beach.

 Unfortunately, bon-fires are NOT permitted on the beach at Stinson Beach, so I guess I will have to keep working on that plan.

 

The beach was cold and windy and wonderful!

We stayed for a while and had a great meal at a little beach-side restaurant. The first time I had fish tacos... they were really good. I still don't think Taco-Bell should be trying to sell them, but right next to the Pacific Ocean, the concept seemed right.

Overall, not a bad way to spend our first full day in San Francisco!