USA 2009

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US Part 5 West Coast

July 11 - 12th
On our way down from Yosemite we merged with Hwy 49… I wonder if it is just coincidence that the number of the Hwy in this region is 49 as 1849 was the big year for the migration of often young boys to California to participate in the hunt for the promised gold: the 49’ers… Well, anyway, we were on our way to Sonora when we stopped by a railroad museum in Jamestown. The Railtown 1897 State Historic Park was open and we took a ride with one of their old steam engines. It sure was a slow ride, no wonder it was possible to attack the trains with horses or even run along them to catch it if you fell off your horse. I was happy we sat in 3’rd class wooden benches as this was the only “aircon”-car on the train. We sat in an open air part of the wagon. The engines whistle made a terrible noise when passing the road x-ing, the crossings are apparently called x-ing in the US ;-).
Sonora, like most of the towns along Hwy 49 has an older historic part which is really nice to stoll along. It gives a feeling of the times around the turn of the century 19th to 20th. Most of the old houses are preserved and there are lots of antiques shops. Only the horses and cowboys are missing…

We stayed only two nights in Sonora. The second day we went up to Columbia State Historic Park. This is also an old preserved town from the times of the gold rush. The kids enjoyed some rudimental 10-pin bowling with small wooden balls. Me and Johanna could probably have spent more time here it was really a nice place, but not enough action for the small ones. We had to move on. Next stop was the Sutter Gold Mine in Sutter Creek. The plan was to go into the mine and then to pan for some gold. The kids were simply not interested in the mine… “we have been in mines before” (the copper mine in Falun)… Ok, we go for the panning then… Naaa, it seems too difficult to find the gold flakes, we’ll go for gems instead they said… So there we were in the mid of the California Gold District panning, not for gold, but for gemstones that probably weren’t even from there…

July 13
Sacramento is the capitol? of California (We didn’t see Arnold either :-( ). We stopped for lunch at Joe’s Crab Shack by the Sacramento river. I tried to tell the kids that it was the same river (up river) where my dad had caught a Salmon in 2005… were they interested? -Nope!… they were much more interested in the plastic or maybe stuffed (who can tell these days…), Great White that was hanging in the roof (who is interested in fishing stories anyway?). The Crab Shack was a cool place for lunching (bought the t-shrits) a bit like the Bubba Gump’s shrimp place at Santa Monica. The Crab Cake can be recommended… (Emil and Joe “stole/ate” mine and Johanna’s starter).

We continued the trip to Napa valley where we crashed at my cousin’s place (he’s got a pool, was the first comment from the overheated kids). It was a quite hot afternoon and we spent the rest of the day swimming, grilling, playing table tennis, laughing and relaxing. According to the kids this was the best hotel on the trip… I’m not sure they really know what a hotel is…

July 14 - 17
Using Napa as our base we toured around San Francisco area for a couple of days. The first day was still warmer than usual in Napa which meant that the June fog would probably stay out at sea so we decided to go for some sight seeing along the coastline. A late takeoff as usual brought us into Muir Woods National Monument just in time for lunch. Again we were looking at huge trees as we did in Yosemite. These trees also belong to the Cypress family and are called Coastal Redwood or California Redwood. The ones we saw in Yosemite were Giant Sequoias… As the Giant Sequoias are the biggest meaning most massive (heaviest) trees in the world, the Coastal redwoods are the tallest reaching up to 115.5 m (379.1 ft) in height.

We continued to the Golden Gate Bridge and the weather was to our favour, no fog! It was quite windy and cool by the water but we got some great pictures of the bridge and the city behind from the view point on the northern side of the bay entrance. Time was slipping away from us again and we decided to return to Napa before the rush hour traffic started. A short walk to the first column on the bridge ended our first day in San Francisco.

Day two we got away in a decent time. It was much cooler and the bridge was totally engulfed in fog (we were so lucky with the weather the day before). When getting out of the car at Fisherman’s Warf which was our first stop it was only 13C. We walked along the piers and visited the Maritime Museum. We saw some crazy swimmers in the water. It must have been freezing in the harbour waters. Across the water we could se Alcatraz the infamous prison where so many films have been made. Sadly, the tickets to this place had to be bought several days in advance over the internet ,which we had not done, so we could not make it this time...

Then we took the Cable Car all the way to Union Square where we did some fancy shopping at Victoria’s Secret and Tiffany’s… I had to buy a delayed birthday present to someone… Anyway, we worked our way back to the Pyramid Building and China Town. Later on we visited The House of Nanking for some dinner, a small informal place with great food. Inside there was a picture of Jaime Oliver (The famous chef) who apparently had visited the place not too long ago… We continued back with the Cable Car to Fisherman’s Warf where we left the car and drove up on Lombard Street so that we could drive down the most crooked street in the world… Heading back towards Golden Gate our route took us by the lovely houses in Pacific Heights, A place where I could consider living for a while. On the bridge and later on, on Hwy 101, the fog had pulled back a bit and it was amazing to see how it rolled down the hillside towards us on the freeway like a waterfall of mist, where it then evaporated into thin air.

The last full day in SF/Napa was dedicated to Shopping, Mainly clothes. The Napa Valley Premium outlets were our first target. We had to buy two extra bags to be able to get it all home. The kids were wonderful and good sports during the day. They sat down in the outdoor area of the food court and played with their new handheld Nintendo- and PSP- games all day, occasionally one of them was called in for some fitting… perfect setup!

-Thanks A and C for your hospitality and patience with us. We all loved it, especially the pool according to the kids! We had a great time at your place and we will have to talk more about that next fishing trip both in Sweden and in the high Sierras…

Last day in SF we did some packing and cleaning, before we drove off towards the Sheraton Airport Hotel. We found some last minute shopping in the Hillsdale mall. Then we returned the car. It had been good to us even if we found some problems along the road… It got dirty... ;-) and someone funny had written “Wash me!” in the dust on the windows, however it was spelt “Wach me!” or maybe the perpetrator ment “Watch me!” ?. I am suspecting the kids.
Further, and more serious problem was that the shock absorbers were finished on the rear axle, this had some nasty effects on the driving when going over smaller bumps in higher speeds, especially when there was a slight curve. After all it was not such an old car; it was 2009 year model and had only 19000 miles on the meter. I guess we are not going to import one…
The total mileage for our trip on the west coast turned out to be 2241miles or some 3600km from LA to SF. That was not the shortest route :-) … We actually had a small guessing competition about the mileage and Joseph guessed 2240… He was only 1 mile wrong!
If we add the distance we did on the east coast it became more than 4000km all and all.

The Next morning On July 18 at 06:00 the flights took off and the vacation was over for me Emil, Casper and Axel. Our trip home went via Chicago to Stockholm. But for Johanna, Joseph and James it’s not over yet… They caught a plane via Phoenix to Orlando FL…

TBC….

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Photos

Railtown 1897
Everything was black and white in those days...

Legends Ice Cream, Books and Antiques
What a great combination...