The Streets of .... San Francisco

Napa Valley (Carly): 2 January 2007

Happy 2007 everyone!

I had a terrible hangover on New Years Day, which is generally to be expected, what was different about this year was that there was no  lounging around feeling sorry for ourselves built into Dad's plan! We had a great fry-up for breakfast and were surprised when the waitress suggested Dad took us kids to a local arcade - how old did she think we were???

First stop was the Petrified Forest which the guidebook was pretty scathing about. We were all very interested though as a volcanic eruption 3 million years ago had buried trees which were already up tot 2,000 years old. Over the years the cells were replaced with silicone until the trees were gone and only stone remained. We had a good trek through the forest and then went into the shop where Dad went a bit wild, even buying these annoying magnets which when thrown in the air make a loud banging sound. Ads and I had seen them all over the world and couldn't believe Dad actually wanted some!

Next was Old Faithful Giza, Dad was a bit disappointed as it was formed by drilling not naturally but it was impressive nevertheless. It spurts water up to 50 feet high every 5 to 30 minutes. As the height and wind direction was changeable we got wet on a few occasions. Even more amazing though were the fainting goats. When they are scared they lose muscle control a topple over. Farmers used to breed them to protect their flocks of sheep from coyotes - the coyote comes, the goats faint and the sheep all escape unharmed.

Final stop that day was the V. Suttui Vineyard. We explored the cellars and learnt about the impact of prohibition on the local vineyards. After a good explore we had a delicious picnic of bread cheese and wine outside in the sun! Another night of poker rounded off a great day!

The next day we visited Bodega Bay (the setting for Hitchcock's 'The Birds') deer spotting as we went. We also went to Point Reyes where we did a spot more whale watching but once again had no luck. We also went to Muir woods - a red wood forest because Dad and the boys were disappointed that they didn't get to see any giant red woods. They were huge but to me a tree is a tree and nature spotting was impossible due to the number of noisy Americans wandering around.

Carly xxx

The Rock, Pier 39 and wine country  (Carly): 7 January 2007

Hi again,

Our opinion of San Francisco improved beyond belief on our second visit. I didn't put much about the last time we were here but lets just say that all we saw were sleazy alcoholics who unfortunately unlike the silent English variety are very vocal and anxious to stop you for a chat!!! We got to the point where we didn't want to leave the YMCA where we were staying and only braved it to walk very quickly to the Mall we found which luckily had a cinema!

This time around we saw the 'Princess Diaries' side of the city. It was like being in a totally different city and we liked this part of it!!!! We had a crazy few days and it was fantastic despite the fact that Mum, Dad and Scott were soon to leave us.

We saw the beautiful Golden Gate bridge! yes shock horror on our first trip we had not even made it there! I didn't know this but apparently the bridge was named around the piece of water which it crosses which during the gold rush was dubbed the Golden Gate.

Pier 39 was great fun, a real touristy environment but the amazing part was the seals and sea lions bopping around the pier. There were tons of them and they were sooo loud!!! They were really funny sat on floating platforms in the harbour, rolling over each other and diving in and out of the water. Even though we had already seen tons of seals and sea lions on our trip we were mesmerised and spent hours watching them playing and fighting.

We did a walking tour which was good fun but way too hilly for our liking. Parts of the city are practically mountain-like!!! On the way we saw the Ghiradeli Chocolate Factory, sadly a shopping complex now, the Marine Museum complete with a houseboat. San Franciscan's used to tow their houseboats up the bay for the summer and live on them. It sounded like a fun way to spend your summers. Coit Tower was built in the memory of a lady who loved the city and left it a fortune for improvements. After climbing a few mountains we spotted Francis Ford Coppola's beautiful green house and a Milan-style shopping centre. On the way home we took a walk through China town and Adam and I felt like we were back in Beijing!

The cool looking pyramid building was a striking contrast to the beautiful town houses complete with towers and spires. The mixture should look very odd but somehow in hippy San Fran it works! Talking of odd we took the compulsory ride on a cable car, we sat on the outside and watched the driver working hard with his two levers.

Everyone enjoyed our day trip to Alcatraz. It was one of the most interesting parts of the US so far! We took an audio tour around the jail which was dictated by guards, former prisoners and people who grew up on the island. Dangerous criminals and those who were a high escape risk were sent there and two of the most notorious prisoners were the Birdman and Al Capone. We explored Broadway, Time square, Seedy Street, the library, the washrooms and the dinning room. The cells were 3 levels high and pretty small. Some had been made up with beds and posters to give us an idea of what they looked like when occupied. The worst part was the isolation cells. One prisoner told of of the game he used to play in these pitch black cells to pass the time; he would tear a button off of his clothes, spin around and throw it. He then crawled around until he found  it again. I couldn't even begin to imagine how depressing such an existence would be. Prisoners got 8 hours pf exercise a week, but those in isolation were reduced to one hour. Everyone was most excited by the escapes. Some of them were very elaborate, including papier-mâché heads and digging holes with spoons, and three of the escapees were never found, they were all learning Spanish but no-one knows whether they made it to South America. There were also some dangerous riots during the prisons time in which guards and prisoners lost their lives.

In another building there were displays on various periods in the Rock's history including its use as a military prison and the Native American occupation of the Island in 1969 in protest of their treatment at the hands of the US government. I couldn't believe it when I read that the government had taken Indian children away from their families and sent them to boarding school to "kill the Indian and leave the man". It is a bleak island but apparently a wild life haven. Back at Pier 39 we had some traditional clam chowder in sour dough bread bowls and talked about our amazing day out.

Once Mum, Dad and Scott left we settled back into our old routine - we spent hours in the Macy's sale and got Adam a warm coat for Chicago with a ton of other stuff and went to the cinema!

Love Carly xxx