20120809 Redwood City CA Cool, clear, warm afternoon
Active day today - we arose early, grabbed a quick bite in the lobby, and headed out. First to the Caltrain, then a ride into the Caltrain depot in San Francisco. We walked across the street and boarded the Muni light rail and rode it to the Embarcadero stop, almost at the foot of Market Street but underneath it as a result of the re-do of Market back when. Then we came to the surface and found the boarding location for the Hop-On-Hop-Off tour bus.
The hopper took us all over downtown. When we reached Pier 39 on the Alcatraz shore we hopped off and bought tickets on the Blue & White Line’s tour boat to go under the Golden Gate Bridge, and around Alcatraz and return in one hour. It was chilly (Dolores bought a sweatshirt along the waterfront to cope) on board, with temps in the high 60’s and gusts to 28mph. It was a little choppy but not bad.
The cloud layer still hid the upper structures of the bridge, so we’re happy we crossed it and got good pictures earlier. Good illustration of cloud layer or fog and what it does to visibility - for a short time the bridge was closed due for poor visibility and again later when they had do talk a person out of suicide by jumping.
We came back in, and rounded Alcatraz, a dismal site. It’s no longer maintained by the Park Service but you can take a tour to it.
Then we returned to Pier 39. We walked around and found the Chowder Hut, where Dolores had a crab and I had fish & chips. We hiked to the Maritime Museum run by the Park Service and on to the foot of Hyde Street, where we hoped to catch the cable car. But the line was too long, so we hiked back a block or two and re-boarded the hopper.
We off-hopped at Union Square and strolled around. In the middle of the stroll we received a call from Lana that Jamie was doing well in 3-year-old school, and had had a dental checkup (very good), and picked a new pair of shoes for himself. Crossing back, we had a glass at Lefty O’Doul’s bar, a throwback to the old days.
We started hiking toward the Caltrain depot while trying to flag a cab. Dolores has a bone spur that occasionally gives her trouble and did today. We finally caught one and went on to the depot. We didn’t have to wait very long before boarding a Baby Bullet train out to Redwood City. It scurried right along, passing many of the stations and stopping only at four.
We grabbed the car and returned to the motel, where we put up our feet for a spell. Then we went to Susan & Bryant’s place.
We played with the cats, then observed the cooking of the pork chops in the Egg cooker. Susan fixed up a great huge salad. The port chops were incredibly moist and good, and the salad was perfect. We ate our fill with an ordinary white wine we’d brought along.
After dinner, Bryant logically connected Dolores’s iPad to the MacTV so we could show pictures on the big screen. We reviewed the pictures from our Baltic trip earlier this year. That, on top of the good food, almost put everyone to sleep.
So we returned to the motel and setttled in.
Quite a day.
Picture Link20120810 Redwood City CA Clear, cool then warm
Last day in Silicon Valley. We loafed over breakfast, and went to S&B’s place.
Then Susan showed us how to get to Fry’s Electronics, which is very close to where Bryant works. I picked up a disk drive to replace the one in my MacBook (greater capacity, faster). Dolores found Photoshop Elements 10 on a good sale price and grabbed it. Then we walked around California Ave for a few minutes before we joined Bryant for lunch.
Nice lunch in Jean’s, chatting away and enjoying the beautiful weather. Afterward, we said our goodbyes to Bryant and went on.
Next was the Computer History Museum, which is what it sounds like. I had a lot of fun remembering old computer stuff, and seeing some things I knew about but had not seen. Excellent little museum. It has a store with nice items but they are not yet on-line.
Then we went back to the house and checked in on-line for our flights tomorrow.
Then we said our goodbyes to Susan and went back to the motel to organize and pack, while Susan prepares for her first training day with Apple tomorrow.
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