By Jason
We are ridiculously behind in posting what’s going on in our lives in NorCal (this is what the kids call it). We have been fairly busy, though, what with all the gestation going on.
Last month my parents came for a visit and we gave them our comprehensive tour of the Bay Area. They flew in around noon and Ann brought them directly from the airport to Google for lunch. I gave them the grand tour (which, despite all the practice, I have yet to master) and we ate at the No Name Cafe. Within 10 minutes my Mom managed to get the all cooks singing Canta y no Llores. It was one of those great moments that is both endearing and a little embarrassing. Dad was impressed by all the different languages spoken and how people seemed so social and engaged in discussion. It really isn’t like any other workplace.
The next stop on the tour for which I have pictures available was San Francisco – hopefully we’ll post an addendum later to fill in narrative gaps like this. We parked near the financial district so that we could take the cable cars up California Street and then down to the Hyde Street Pier and Fisherman’s Wharf. I think my dad could have ridden the cable cars up and down the hills all day. Mom kept wondering whose idea it was to build a city up and down so many steep hills in the first place. I think it was a conspiracy between cable car union and the post card industry.
To get an idea how steep the ride is, here’s Mom and Ann with Hyde Street in the background:
As always, you can click on the photos to see larger versions. Next is a picture that should be pretty familiar to anyone who’s traveled with my Dad – reading all the informational signs:
Next we took a cruise around the bay, out to the Golden Gate and around Alcatraz Island. Here’s a photo on the boat with the bridge in the background.
This picture is a little more newsworthy but also a bit sad. Can you tell that the tug boat is pulling something? That would be a dead whale, which had drifted under a pier and was stuck for a few days. We just happened to be heading back as they towed it out to sea. I wasn’t the only one taking pictures, it looked like the city’s entire fleet of news helicopters were circling above.
Next we wandered around Fisherman’s Wharf for a bit, taking a look at the Lefty’s leftorium, which is just like Ned Flander’s store in the Simpsons, and the other shops and galleries. We walked down to the end of Pier 39, which you can see here:
Our next adventure was to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, which we also visited with Ryan and Jessi. Next door is the Roaring Camp Railroad. We couldn’t take the ride because this part of the year they do group events like weddings, but we got to watch as one of the old steam locomotives headed out.
Dad got to talk a bit with the engineer. One thing you might notice in the picture is that the train doesn’t have the usual pistons and connecting rods on the sides of the driving wheels. Think of the arm motions you would make if you were pretending to be a train in a game of charades. Since these trains had to go up steep grades they actually had three big pistons up front with a central drive shaft down the middle.
Here we’re watching the train leaving the station. Ann is eating old-fashioned horehound candy which does wonders for nausea.
The big attraction of the park is the giant redwood trees. You can get an idea how big they are from the picture below. We had a chance to crawl inside one tree that was completely hollow inside, maybe 15-20 feet up.
One thing I don’t have a picture of is a giant banana slug. I have been hoping to encounter one every time we’ve taken a trip to the redwoods with no luck. As we headed back down the trail we heard a bunch of commotion ahead of us. On the ground was a (relatively) small, very stunned banana slug. Apparently some kids had run ahead for their parents and found it on the tree. They dared each other to kiss it, at which point on of the little girls freaked out and knocked the poor thing off.
Our next day was spent in sunny San Jose, where we visited the Winchester Mystery House. There’s no real mystery, but it is a great story – Sarah Winchester, wife of the creator of the Winchester rifle, was left a widow with a ridiculous sum of money. She worried that she would be haunted by the ghosts of all those killed by her husband’s rifles. Supposedly a psychic told her she must never stop construction on her house (ghosts don’t like loud hammering), so she didn’t. The end result is a sprawling complex with no central plan and lots of expensive details:
Here’s a picture from one of the upper floors but this doesn’t really give you a good idea of how big the place is. It’s a lot of fun, though the tours are a bit pricey and our tour guide was less than knowledgeable.
It used to be on a big estate but now it’s right in the middle of San Jose, you can see office buildings behind us.
Mom liked the place because Mrs. Winchester had lots of mini-steps built in the staircases. It was like the house was designed for her.
As always, there are more photos of the trip here.
Up next: shirt trips to Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve.