TO TTN PONDEROSA VIA VALLEJO

Leaving San Francisco in the Tuesday morning traffic we headed across the Bay Bridge and the zigzag detour connecting the old and the new bridge construction, causing a major daily back-up. We did not have far to go, however, as we were going to the Elks Lodge in Vallejo, where we visited an old friend, Rich Eschenburg, an engineer with whom I worked in the Philippines some 45 years ago and his wife “Gee”. Rich had married a lovely Filipina and had asked me to be his Best Man at their wedding in Manila (Makati), and of course, everyone said it wouldn’t last! It had been about twenty-five years since we last met and we enjoyed catching up on the missing years over luncheon on the Vallejo waterfront.

Wednesday (6/23) we set out for the TTN Ponderosa Preserve on the South Fork of the American River near Coloma, where in 1848 James Marshall discovered gold while building a saw mill for John Sutter and touched off the great 49er gold rush; changing California forever.

Amazingly, for the third year in a row we were able to get our preferred site on the south bank of the American River where we could monitor the rubber rafts, tubes and kayaks plunging through the whitewater rapids, with their screaming and hollering passengers. Although the weather was turning warmer (in the 90’s), we sat on the banks of the river with some of the other campers enjoying our favorite libations.

One day we headed 10 miles up the road to the tiny, two block town of Cool (it wasn’t!) and the Happy Palace Restaurant. This is an unusual restaurant as it serves real Chinese food here on Hwy 49, in the heart of the Gold Country. The owners/cooks came from Hong Kong to the Bay Area a few years ago and were looking for a restaurant they could buy. It turned out to be here in Cool, and they seem to be doing quite well. The owner’s wife remembered us from a year ago and even mentioned how much they liked a dish that Fran had suggested that they add to the menu. Another day we headed for Folsom where Fran had found a new hamburger “joint” called SMASHBURGER and believe me, they are terrific! It was profiled on The Food Network, and I believe they have one in or near Tempe, which we had never heard of before watching the TV show. There are a number of variations in their menu; we tried the Mushroom-Swiss and the Spicy Baja burgers, both great!

BTW, It took some time but after great difficulties in placing the photos in these blogs I finally read the instructions! Pretty smart, eh? It turned out that there was a newer version of Blogger that along with other improvements, made it much easier to install the photos. I had assumed that with a new computer and Windows 7, I would have the latest of everything, right?----Wrong! So now I hope all will go well (or at least better).

Well, that’s enough for now. Bye!

SAN FRANCISCO, USA

Our first day of beautiful clear skies was followed by typical summertime cold, fog and wind, not days for picture taking!
So, we headed downtown to the two-story B&M Mei Sing Cafe on Second and Jessie Streets, between Market and Mission Streets, where we have been eating since about 1975. B&M were formerly located in a tiny space across the street but soon bought the current building to accommodate the huge throngs of office workers lining up to eat there each day. The attraction was simple: great, cooked-to-order Chinese food in plentiful quantities and very cheap, always a recipe for success. Although we have since retired and moved to Arizona, we still return whenever we are in "the City."

On traveling around the city to our old haunts and the many attractions, we noticed a number of small yellow open three-wheeled vehicles called "GoCars." They are rental cars for two people and equipped with GPS units to guide tourists around the city and, when near an attraction, they automatically give a description of the site. They apparently are available in a number of major cities around the world; and yes, they are mulit-lingual! The cost is from $90 for two hours to a maximum of about $180 for five-plus hours. We thought they were really cool, at least until it rains!

Fort Funston is on a bluff overlooking the ocean beach on the southwest side of the city and has become a part of the Golden Gate National Seashore, a huge area along the California coast reserved for public recreation and activities. The Fort dated back many years and, in the 1930's, had large coastal gun emplacements to protect San Francisco from attacking ships - attacks which fortunately never came. In the 50's, during the so-called Cold War, a Nike missile silo was built here as well, but likewise, was never called upon to fire in anger. Now the area is used for hang glider flyers who leap off the cliffs and soar over the ocean surf; unfortunately, no one was flying while we were there. Another use of the area is for exercising dogs, one of few areas in the city where they are allowed to run freely and unleashed (but still must be voice-commanded), and there were many dozens of them, some quite large, mostly well behaved but a few........oh, well!

On Sunday, with the improving weather, we again visited Twin Peaks together with Fran's sister, Judy. On a bright sunny day there were hundreds of tourists there as well, many arriving in three large buses and it seems the latest fad is to take very animated photos rather then the time-worn stills we are all familiar with. On the count of three, they would all jump into the air with arms waving in all directions while the camera registers them for posterity. Of course, I sneaked in a photo of my own just for fun.
The tourists were from all over the world, speaking in many languages, and some sporting flags of their home country. But it can get really crowded on the small roadway circling the top of the twin hilltops. The adjacent picture with Fran and Judy shows the northern half of the city with Market Street providing the vertical slash at the left of the photo, a sight we never tire of seeing.

That's all for now. Bye!

TO "MY CITY BY THE BAY"!

Leaving Morgan Hill we decided to take the somewhat slower but infinitely more scenic route of I-280 to San Francisco. This freeway once had the distinction of being one of the most scenic routes in the country and it is no less beautiful today. It winds along the

bayside slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains on its way north passing between the bay cities and the Crystal Springs Reservoirs. Yes, reservoirs, as there are actually two of them end to end for some twelve miles along the rift valley formed by the famed San Andreas Fault of the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 fame. The reservoirs are a part of the San Francisco water supply system built by the then City Engineer at the turn of the century, about 1900. His name was O’Shaughnessy, a far sighted Civil Engineer who somehow managed to build dams and reservoirs in the Yosemite National Park then bring the water to the Crystal Springs through a series of six to eight foot diameter pipes (Aqueducts) 160 plus miles long. Without this system, the City by the Bay and surrounding cities could not exist as they are. Of course the system has been upgraded over the years and now serves over two million people. The reservoirs and surrounding watershed lands were bought by the City and are owned and operated by them. There is no public access to the reservoirs and although there are many fish in the water, no boats or fishing is allowed.

So we had a magnificent view of the hills and reservoirs on our way to “The City” and then the freeway swings over the hilltop to show an overwhelming view of the bay. We were fortunate to have a truly beautiful summer day with no sign of the traditional fog that always follows a few days of sunshine. Leaving the freeway, we dropped down through San Bruno and then climbed back up to the Elks Lodge on a hillside in South San Francisco where we will stay for a week while visiting our old “home town.”
We were then off to visit our friends the Lutz’s (remember Santa Barbara?) who took us off to lunch at a Dim Sum restaurant on Clement Street. Clement is the “new” Chinatown of San Francisco replacing Grant Ave. which has become primarily for tourists, whereas Clement is not a tourist attraction and provides all the necessities for the Chinese community. The ladies spent time in KAMEI, a large store for house wares with some 50 feet of shelving with different electric rice cookers, alone. We then were off to Twin Peaks for a magnificent view of San Francisco and the Bay from Oakland past Alcatraz and then the Golden Gate and the great Pacific Ocean. Twin Peaks are some 950 high in the center of the city and provide wonderful views of the bay. Of course I had neglected to bring my camera for this opportunity, sob!!

<>

Thursday we visited the gravesite of my parents in Colma and then it was off to the Tanforan Mall where Fran satisfied her shopping fix and we took in a movie, “The Prince of Persia”, good show! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That’s all for now folks!

STILL AT MORGAN HILL THOUSAND TRAILS

We are still in Morgan Hill and keep finding all the great things to do in the region. Fran spent a day at the Gilroy Outlets; and with dozens of wineries to choose from, we narrowed our choices down to Guglielmo on the East side of the valley where we ran into a group of about sixteen MG's on a car club outing, Solis in Gilroy and Clos La Chance near the TTN Preserve. We found a coupon on the Internet for 50% off our first purchase at Solis so of course that’s where we bought most of our wine! Clos La Chance is a fancy schmancy winery up on a hill with beautiful views overlooking the valley and vineyards but the prices were up there to match. Fran bought Port from all three wineries we visited; wonderful with a piece of dark chocolate!

Strawberries, apricots and cherries are in season now and there were a dozen farm stands in the area to choose from. Our friend Maxine Tibbs told us that Uesugi’s had the best strawberries, so that’s where we went! They also had cherries, apricots and nectarines, all good!

More searching on the Internet turned up “OD’s Kitchen” in beautiful downtown Gilroy. We dropped in on Sunday but found that they only serve breakfasts on Sunday. Not to worry, breakfast was great! Gilroy was known as the Garlic Capital of the World but we were told that garlic is also being grown in many other countries now. Nevertheless, they host a Garlic Festival every July and manage to include garlic in everything they cook. OD’s Kitchen was so good we went back on Monday to try their Garlic Mushroom and Green Chile Cheeseburgers. Both were really worth the drive. (BTW, OD stands for O’Donoghue).

We stopped in to an auto parts store one day and when the clerk heard that we were from Arizona he said, “Hey, send your Sheriff Joe up here; we could really use him!” Small world!

If I haven’t mentioned it, the Thousand Trails Preserve here is really quite nice, nestled in a valley with many trees to provide shade and an excellent pool. Since there are no sewer hookups here we are in a water conservation mode. No dishes or dishwashing, (paper plates) Navy style showers and generally using as little water as possible since it all must go into our holding tanks. The tanks can be dumped when we leave but it is too much trouble to move the coach until then. There is a “honey wagon” but at $15 it is just a bit much. There are no activities here now as in other Preserves; perhaps it is too early. We will be leaving here on Wednesday on our way to San Francisco, our old home town. ~~~~~~~Bye for now!

MORGAN HILL AND JARDINES DE SAN JUAN

Leaving San Benito, we headed north through Hollister toward the Morgan Hill Thousand Trails Preserve but first we had to refuel at the Garlic Farms complex, including their Truck Stop, which had a really good price for diesel fuel. Unfortunately, we arrived just minutes after a U. S. Army military convoy of some ten trucks. These were five really big tank transporter flat beds and about five Humvee type vehicles. If you haven't been in any diesel truck stops, there were 14 pumps and numerous big rigs already there. The soldiers had taken over and were out directing traffic like a military operation, although they were very nice about it. Then when it was finally our turn, the stupid card reader wouldn't work and Fran had to go into the office with our PenFed card (and stand in line with half a dozen Army guys waiting to pay for their fuel). Since our motorhome will not fill quickly (just spits it back since the truck stops have high-speed nozzles), it took a while to fill. Then Fran's card wouldn't work, so I went into the office with my card and it wouldn't work either. I finally had to use another card which did work, but no 5% fuel discount as with our PenFed card. We still had to fill the PT Cruiser with high octane gasoline which was on the auto fuel side of the complex. About this time the PenFed fraud department called to ask if we really were using our card so far away from home and for hundreds of dollars, which of course we were. They have called previously to check, which I appreciate, as they are watching our account; but in this case, it was a real pain in the ...... (you know where). All in all, it was the worst refueling experience we have ever had.

We finally did get to the Preserve and a couple days later headed to San Juan Bautista for a luncheon, again with our friend Maxine Tibbs.
The Jardines (Gardens) de San Juan is our favorite restaurant in this area, serving excellent Mexican fare on a beautiful patio in their Spanish garden.

A beautiful sunny day brought out the vivid colors of the blooming plants, together with a vast array of succulants, many of which had a beautiful display of colorful flowers, not usually expected of cactus (cacti?).