December 20, 2024 - Go to Fresno

 Title: December 20, 2024 - Go to Fresno

Hike Info : Description

Hike Info:

Type:  Car

Description:

Our final few hours in the City. Tonight we want to go to a Christmas Party of someone we really have not hung around with for several years. So we will not be doing too much here. I got up at 7, while Sherri got up about an hour later. This gives me an opportunity to catch up on a few things which I write about. Then at 9, we get to Noah’s Bagels, around the corner from the hotel. This seems like it is the place we are going to for our final mornings. I ordered a Farmhouse while Sherri has a Power Egg Sandwich. We eat in our rooms and then pack up.

We manage to leave after 10, heading south on 280. While I think we can make it to Fresno on this tank of gas, if we are delayed, we may be in trouble. So we stopped in Gilroy for gas at Costco. Along those lines, we also go into the store to pick up a few things. And then, why not have a hot dog as well.

And then we are off on our final leg of our trip. There is traffic off and on all the way back. So we get delayed, arriving home right at 3pm. Then it is time to unload and rest for a little while before going to Karol’s Christmas party. It has been a good trip

December 19, 2024 - San Francisco, Main Library

 

Title: December 19, 2024 - San Francisco, Main Library
Hike Info : Description : Background :  Extra Photo's 

Hike Info:

Type: Walking

Trail head: San Francisco Main Library

Trail: Larkin St, Lombard, Francisco, Hyde, Ft Mason, …

Destination: Cow HollowInn

Distance:  4.00 miles

Start Time: 1:15

End Time:   4:14

Travel Time: 2:59  (1.34 mph)

Moving Time: 2:02   (1.97 mph)

Elevation Rise:  617'

Descent: 692‘

Maximum Elevation: 347'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Once again I got up at 7:30 after a good night’s sleep. I wrote up yesterday’s activities until Sherri woke up. She gets up a little after 8. We eventually made it down for breakfast at the Cracked and Battered--where we ate last time we were here. Sherri had a Belgium Waffle and I had a Breakfast sandwich.

SF Main Library-Maya Angelou

We got headed out around 10:45 for the San Francisco Main Library. We caught the 101 bus, which is not a Muni bus, but a Golden Gate Transit bus. It is a bit more expensive, but more comfortable. I am concerned because it looked like it rang up a $11 and change charge for both Sherri and I. But in reading about it, we need to tap out as well to get the funds back onto the card. We rode the bus almost all the way to the library. I tap out without issue, but it looks like Sherri may have double tapped it. Not sure what that will do-we will see when we get home.

Lunch

When we got off the bus, we started one way-the right way it turns out, but I got turned around and we walked a block the wrong way before I figured we are now going the wrong way. So we turned around and went into the library.

Stairs at the George Sterling Park

The first thing which we do is find out if we need to renew our library card-no we don’t, but the person extends the date when it needs to be renewed to 2029. That should give me time to get a few more books checked out online.

The main reason why we wanted to go to this library is that there is an exhibition of Maya Anglou. We find out that it is on the 5th floor. While we may be enchanted with stairs, that would seem to be a bit much. So we took the elevator up. And yes there is a display. Three glass cases of information, mostly concerning her time at Glide Memorial Church. We looked at the items about 10 minutes worth. Then investigated a display-more displays than Angelou about a local Chinese tycoon, Lew Hing. Interesting. We then came back and watched about 30 minutes of a PBS documentary on Angelou called Rainbow in the Clouds. 

 

Looking down from Park

After that, we went out and found a place to sit and enjoy our lunch in front of the library, with the San Francisco City Hall looking towards us. By the time we finished up, it was about 1pm.

Gary descending down Lombard

Our next destination is Ghirardelli Square for you know what. But to get there, we have to first work up an appetite which means walking the 2 miles there. We head up Larkin Street. After a few blocks, the character of the street changed. There are more stores with iron gates as well as people seem to be wandering aimlessly. I make a remark to Sherri that this seems to be an interesting part of the City.

But a few blocks later an older man asks us a question about where a street is. We explain, we are not sure. But then I look it up on Google Maps and it looks like Pine is a few blocks ahead. We talked with him a bit. He is newly from Nepal, but speaks English well enough to pass for any of our people whose parents were immigrants. We enjoyed walking with him until he got to his street.

 

 

Alcatrez Island

Now Larkin is climbing. We reached the top of one of the ridges, only to descend again. Then up we go again. Earlier Sherri had suggested walking down Lombard Street. Not the portion of Lombard our hotel is on, but the part with the curves and flowers. This is only a block away from Larkin, so we cut through George Sterling Park where there are stairs leading into the Park and then at the end. And oh the views we saw of Alcatraz and the Bay Bridge. I was reading that from here you can see the Golden Gate Bridge as well, but I must have been out of breath. Then to top off our visit, on Hyde Street we rest a few minutes when a cable car comes by. This is a wonderful city.

Francisco St Stairs

There is a group of tourists at the top of Lombard and Hyde. Not sure if they just came up, are going down or trying to decide if they are going to try driving down it. Whatever they are going to do, we start down first. The backdrop to this street is amazing with the Bay, the City and Coit Tower lending ambience to an already magnificent street. There is a handrail for us old ones and the steps are not as steep as some of the other ones we have been on like Baker, Greenwich or Lyon. Still it is a long stairway.

Now we have a decision-go back up Lombard or go down Leavenworth. We decided that we would go down Leavenworth until we hit the Bay. But that decision was short lived. We saw some stairs leading up to Francisco Street and up we went. This drops us onto Hyde where we promptly went down some more stairs-actually I do not see any references to stairs here, so I am thinking these are just grooves in the sidewalk as a photo suggests. 

 We follow Hyde down to North Point and over to Ghirardelli. There we imbibe our lusts with a Mint Bliss Sundae. That is not enough for Sherri as she also enjoys hot chocolate-what could be better than hot chocolate from Ghirardelli?

Ascending to Fort Mason

When we exit Ghirardelli, there is a pretty brisk breeze which chills us. Once again, I am a bit underdressed. Our walk back to the hotel will loosely follow Route 6 in our stairway book. This will take us through Fort Mason. We walk along the Bay for a short way until we spy the stairway climbing up the cliff towards the Fort. There are some people pulling weeds along the hill side. The trail brings us around the ridge to a short set of stairs up. When we go up them, we see Battery Black. It looks like a canon from the Spanish-American War era.

After examining the canon we head to the final ascent of the days-about 15’. Here we head down a street, next to the hostel. Then slip down MacArthur and then do our final descent of the day, down into the old buildings area before emptying onto Buchanan. We slid around the streets until we hit Chestnut. Steiner comes up quickly and then our hotel room welcomes us.

We both are content to spend the rest of the evening in the room, reading and writing. Even a sandwich will satisfy us. After watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, it is time for a shower. Then bed.

Background

Mary Burk, along with Adah Bakalinsky, wrote a book called Stairway Walks in San Francisco.

Extra Photo's

Coit Tower from Lombard

Alcartrez Island from Lombard

Coit Tower

Ghiradelli Mint Bliss Sundae

From the Maya Angelou exhibit

Sherri descending Lombard

More of the Lombard St Stairs

Yerba Buena

Lombard St

Sherri at top of Francisco St Stairs

Coit Tower

SkyStair Wheel

Gary contemplating the climb to Fort Madon

Battery Black

Butano Peace Memorial

December 17, 2024 - Go to San Francisco

 

Title: December 17, 2024 - Go to San Francisco

Hike Info : Description :  Background :  Extra Photo's :  Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Fort Funston, Nike Missile Site

Trail:  Coastal Trail, Horse Trail

Destination:  This was a wander with hope of doing a look

Actual Destination: 

Distance:  2.45 miles

Start Time:  2:09

End Time:   3:53

Travel Time: 1.44  (1.42 mph)

Moving Time:  1:15  (1.96 mph)

Elevation Rise:  286'

Descent: 292‘

Maximum Elevation: 177'

GPS Tracks

 

 Description:

I slept well last night dreaming that I had failed to get in a writing assignment for a class-which I do not think I ever took. At least I think I never took it. If I did, there is an assignment which I did not do-too late to worry about it. I still woke up at 6:30 refreshed. I had gotten most of my stuff ready yesterday. This morning it is things like taking out the garbage, loading my thumb drive, and a few things. Then breakfast. About that time Sherri gets up. By the time we are all ready to go, it is 9:30. Sherri starts off driving.

Battery Davis

She drives until Los Banos when she spots a Starbucks and pulls over for a latte. When she comes back, she decides that it is my turn behind the wheel. So I became the commander of the car. I drive over Pacheco Pass and down to Gilroy. There we stop and have lunch at In-An-Out. And then we are on our way. We take 280 into San Francisco, but instead of going on our regular route towards the Presidio and Cow Hollow, we go over to Lake Merced and to the Fort Funston of the Golden Gate Park Recreation area.

We park our car where the Nike Missiles used to be pointed skywards to defend The City. We start our walk along the Coastal Trail. This trail is paved and marked by the presence of crows and dogs. The crows seem to expect handouts. While this must be one of the favorite spots for dog walkers of the area. Most of the dogs are well behaved and off leash. There just is many of them.

View from Battery Davis

After a quarter mile, there is a big mound between us and the ocean. This is Battery Davis, a relic of pre-World War II. We walk through one of the tunnels and see where the cannon would have been mounted. Also enjoy the view of the ocean.

Sherri, the Sandwalker

Up until this point, the trail has been paved. But sand has a way of encroaching even the works of man. We start having to act as sand walkers to continue on the Coastal Trail. It is still good to look out and see the ocean beyond the sand dunes. Afterwhile we come to a junction and I ask Sherri if she wants to continue following the Coastal Trail all the way to Marin County or return via the Horse Trail. Put that way, she chose the Horse Trail.

Stairclimbing Gary

This trail is high on a dune above the Great Highway. We go along with the undulations of going up and down the vegetation covered sand, sometimes ducking under trees. Eventually we hit the pavement again and the walking is easier.

 

 

And then we come to the stairs. In San Francisco, we are suckers for stairs and start climbing them. These stairs offer access from John Muir Drive up to Battery Davis. From there it is a short walk back to the car.

Sherri notices on a map that there are some more stairs. We decided that if we have only walked about an hour, about 2 miles, we might as well find these stairs. We went out of the parking lot towards the Ranger’s Station. Google shows a path down to the beach. The idea is to go down and take the stairs up. But when we get to the cliff, there may be a way down, but for a couple of old people, we are using our acquired wisdom not to go down this. We just walked along a trail at the top of the bluff. We did find where the stairs are. But decided that there is not a lot of reason to go down them so we could go back up them again.

Gary wondering where are the Christmas lights

Once we get to the car, we take off for Cow Hollow, rejoining 280 through Golden Gate Park into the Presidio. There we turned onto 101 and found our hotel, Cow Hollow Inn. We check in and the lady gives us the room we requested, 315. This is the same room as before. She also suggested rooms 338 and 339 being comparable with good views. Good to know.

By the time we get settled in, it is just past 5. We must be getting old as we both rest until 6. Sherri is getting hungry and I cannot say I am far behind. We decided to walk down to the Marina and see what Christmas lights there are. If we find a place to eat first, we will.

We do go down to the Marina as there are not any eating establishments which meet our fancy. When I was a child, my parents would take us up to the Marina and the boats were all decked out in lights. Also the houses along the waterfront were amazing to view. Either my childhood memories are vastly inaccurate or the Marina has lost its Christmas thrill. There was only a Christmas tree with lights and one boat. A bit disappointing. At least some of the houses had lights.

We returned to Chestnut ready to eat. We found an interesting Mexican place called Las Mestizas. A hole in the wall place. We each had a burrito. The helpings were ample. The food was satisfying, We waddled out of there and back to our hotel room. By this time, it is 7:30 and we pretty much pack it in for the night. Sherri watching a movie and I did my writing. It is a good day. Let's see if I make it to 10.

Background

Battery Davis

Battery Davis. Major General Richmond P. Davis, a Coast Artillery officer who served in France in World War I. From Wikipedia

TripAdvisor

Las Mestizas. The sign at the entrance says authentic Mexican food. You can hear the meat frying for your order, so you know all is fresh. It is a small place on Chestnut in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow District. My wife ordered a burrito bowl-a burrito without the wrap-and I a wet burrito. The burritos were filling, and tasted good, but not overpowering. The seating was basic as they made the most of the small space they are in. The help was shy, but took care of us.

Extra Photo's

The lone boat with Christmas lights

Steps to the beach

Sherri going up the steps to Battery Davis

Top of the Golden Gate Bridge

 
Flowers and Plants