July 2014 Northern California to Chicago


Advertisement
Published: July 4th 2014
Edit Blog Post

PAGE FIVE



Tuesday 1st July

We have enjoyed staying at Ukiah, it has been very hot and we have made good use of the pool.The temperature drops sharply as we leave, we stop in Santa Rosa to have a look around and we buy a small present for Mycroft! There are lots of Jacaranda trees and with the car windows open there is a faint smell of aniseed from the fennel growing at the roadside.We stop in Novato for lunch and it is a really lovely place, very pretty with some wonderful shops and restaurants. It is very hot and sunny again and we visit the Whole Food Market which is enormous, lots of food to taste although we only buy peaches and cherries. After an al fresco lunch George buys me a lovely silk dress for my birthday which is in two weeks time. Heading for the Golden Gate Bridge a swirling mist descends suddenly and we can only see part of the bridge, there are signs lit up saying "no cash at bridge" so we assume it's card only but when we get to the toll there are signs saying "no stopping" and we drive straight through
San FranciscoSan FranciscoSan Francisco

Heart Sculpture at Union Square
without paying - don't know why. It has just been announced today that the Golden Gate Bridge is to get a suicide barrier at a cost of $76 million, 46 people jumped to their deaths last year and approximately 1600 people have committed suicide there since it opened in 1937.

On the way to return the car we drive through San Francisco and straight up Lombard Street, it is very steep!

Wednesday 2nd July

We take the Caltrain into the Bay Area today, we meant to take the BART but we didn't know there was more than one system! When we get off the Caltrain we are not where we want to be so we take the Muni Tram. It is warm and very windy, we go to the Visitor Information first and then walk to Union Square then through China Town to Little Italy where we have coffee. There is a lot of street entertainment, lots of people and lots of food particularly fish. George has clam chowder in a sourdough bowl and I have crab cakes for lunch, there are masses of huge seagulls waiting to steal any leftover food. We continue walking, making a circuit of the Bay Area, past all the Piers and we spend some time around Pier 39. There are views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge; after walking for quite some time we are back at Union Square and we take the BART back to San Bruno where we are staying. We are both surprised to be sunburnt, we didn't notice it was so hot because of the wind and I am quite annoyed with myself as it is a long time since I have been really sunburnt. I hope it's not painful tomorrow as we are flying to Chicago in the morning.

Thursday 3rd July

We check into the airport for our flight to O'Hare Chicago and our seats are not together, we ask to change but because the flight is full we are told we will have to ask someone to move.

Breakfast in San Francisco, dinner in Chicago and it was nearly luggage in Vancouver! Fortunately we notice the baggage handler putting the wrong label on our suitcases. I think it must have been "luggage handler trainee day" as the plane was held up with us sitting on it for about 45 minutes
San FranciscoSan FranciscoSan Francisco

Workers dispute
waiting for the luggage to be stashed. When we arrive in Chicago we are held up because of a backlog of arrivals due to bad weather on the east coast. One good thing happens - someone is kind enough to move seats on the plane so that we can sit together. We are staying at the Best Western for two nights and eat in the hotel restaurant as we are very tired this evening, as we leave the waitress says "have a good 4th".

We are looking forward to it.





Additional photos below
Photos: 19, Displayed: 19


Advertisement



Tot: 0.189s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0527s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb