All 3 of these points of interests are completely different, but were all beautiful.

1st stop of the day was Twin Peaks: Twin Peaks are two hills with an elevation of about 922 feet near the geographic center of San Francisco.

I had read that when visiting Twin Peaks you should probably bring a jacket, but when I looked at the weather for the day it said it would be in the 80’s. I grabbed a jacket and told Trisha to do the same, just in case. And guess what….we both needed our jacket. It was so windy and cool outside. From the lookout point and on top of the peaks you get a breathtaking view of the city. We climbed 1 of the peaks to get a higher view point.

After the Peaks, we went to find the Tiled Steps: Tiled Steps are 163 steps (which I walked up and back down) inspired by the world famous steps in Rio de Janeiro. It is a beautiful mosaic picture and there are beautiful plants and flowers along the steps. When I was there I saw names on some of the tiles, so I googled what that was and found this: “The names of over 220 sponsors were actually woven into the sweeping sea-to-sky design and, amazingly, over 2,000 handmade tiles and 75,000 fragments of tile, mirror and stained glass went into the finished piece. There were a total of 163 separate mosaic panels created, one for each step riser.”

After the Steps, we went to the Sutro Baths. The Sutro Baths were “a large, privately owned swimming pool complex built in the late 19th century. The building housing the baths burned down in 1966 and was abandoned. The ruins can still be visited.”  There is not much too the actual baths, but there is a wonderful hiking trail. We walked part of it but want to go back to finish the trail.

Enjoy the pics:

Day 2 of having to stay out of the hotel brought us to San Francisco.

I had a list of 5 places I wanted to see that day. We only made it to 2 of those places, Lombard St and Legion of Honor.

We started out on Lombard street. We parked on Jones Street right at the corner of Jones and Lombard. However we had to walk a block uphill to get to the bottom of the crooked part of Lombard street. My legs got a great workout, because I wanted to also walk up to the top part of the crooked street. It was beautiful with all the flowers.

Before we went to Lombard street I found out that there are 3 famous houses on Lombard street. Only 1 of them is actually part of the crooked part of the street. That house was also the only one that I could find a street number on. So I took a guess as to which houses were the other 2.

After taking pics at Lombard St. we headed to the Legion of Honor. I didn’t realize it was a museum until we got there. I just thought it was going to be some cool architecture. We took pics of the architecture and then decided to go to the museum. I liked the outside better. Off to the side of the museum there was a Holocaust memorial, that was interesting too.

Here are the pics of the day:

Real World House

Real World House

Home to Pat Montandon

Home to Pat Montandon

Home to Pat Montandon

Scottie’s apartment from Vertigo

Scottie’s apartment from Vertigo

Dorothy Spreckels Munn 1942 by Salvador Dali

 

Still Life with Skull, Leeks, & Pitcher 1945 Pablo Picasso

 

Waves Breaking 1881 Claude Monet

 

Water Lilies Claude Monet

  

From the Story of Snow White 1912 Maxfield Parrish

I just thought it was funny that the baby looks like he is giving the peace sign!

Pair of Leaping Carp Vases Chinese Porcelain

Season Sarcophagus Roman AD 260-280 (Marble)

On our journey to California we kept seeing a lot of bummer stickers that said Mystery Spot. So I googled found this out:

“An area about 150 feet in diameter located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz. Within the Mystery Spot the laws of physics do not apply. It appears as though every law of gravitation has gone haywire, turned topsy-turvy and just doesn’t make sense. Some unseen magnetism or phenomenon just upsets all former ideas of equilibrium. What is it that makes one stand up leaning backwards or sideways? The sensational Mystery Spot is a series of surprises that are unique, different, and inexplicable!”

This made us want to see it, so we added it to the list of place to see.

The hotel is undergoing some renovations and they had to test each fire alarm and smoke detector to see if it worked. So for 2 days from 9-4 fire alarms would be going off. We decided we didn’t want to be there for that, so we planned 2 days of adventures! After those 2 days I was exhausted.

The Mystery Spot was pretty cool! We bought tickets online but we got there way earlier than expected. Luckily we were able to exchange our tickets for an earlier tour. Before or after the tour you can take a hike on a trail that has some California Redwoods.

So after our tour we went on the hike. We got lost, because the trail wasn’t easily marked. Now it might now have been so bad if it hadn’t been one of the hottest days. Still not like Texas heat, but it was in the upper 90’s. The hike round trip should only take you about 30 minutes, but ours was a lot longer. I was so happy to get back to the car, where I had a bottle of water waiting for me!

Once we left the Mystery Spot, we headed to Monterey for lunch and the 17 mile drive. We ate at a place called Islands. There used to be one in Plano, but they closed it down. It was a very yummy lunch and I was starved after our hike.

The 17 mile drive was beautiful. I could have stayed there forever. We saw deer on 2 different golf courses. I wonder if they ever get hit my golf balls????

Dad, I took some pics for you around Pebble Beach. I think you need to play here and I will go with you to enjoy the scenery!!!

Here are all the pics from the day:

Took this just for my brother-in-law!

For my brother-in-law

This place is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

While it’s not free, it is a definite must see. It was here that I found that I have a love of taking pictures. I am working on technique. You will still probably see my finger in a few pictures 🙂

There are 3 rooms and then there was a special exhibit while we were there. The special exhibit was butterflies. I didn’t get the name of all the plants/flowers, so don’t ask me what is what 🙂

There are also a ton of flowers outside and there is even a clock in the garden.

Enjoy the pics!!

A garden clock

When we were exploring Hawk Hill we could see in the distance a lighthouse. We found out it is only open 3 days so we decided we need to come back and check it out.

It was quite a trek getting from the car to the lighthouse. Be sure to have your walking shoes on!

Here are pics from the day.

You probably can’t tell but the 2nd, 3rd and 4th pictures have some sea lions on the rocks.

Sorry if you see my finger in any pics.

There are so many places to explore, that we had to make a list of everywhere we want to go.

I love looking at the Golden Gate Bridge and the water, it is just so peaceful. So I found several places to go to where we can see the Bridge and the water.

First place was to go to Hawk Hill and Kirby Cove. This is located on the Sausalito side. We took a little hike up and saw some breathtaking views of the Bridge and some other lovely views.

After climbing back down, we got in the car to go find Kirby Cove. There are lots of pullover spots along the winding road, but it was quite crowded for a Thursday. There were no parking spots.

We found what we thought was Kirby Cove and drove around the small parking spot for like 5 minutes until someone finally left.

Not sure of where to go, we found a security guard who pointed us in a direction to hike to Kirby Cove and told us how we could drive to it. I said we could hike it, since we had already found a parking spot.

We started up the hike and we weren’t so sure about it and where it would take us. So we got back in the car and went to where the guard told us to go. But of course there was no parking spots, so I said we would just come back on Monday when the lighthouse is open to visitors.

Here are the pics I did take, some of them were taking while Trisha drove down the winding road.

Look for more pics next week when we visit the Lighthouse and some other fabulous places (still haven’t figured out what all places to visit).

At the end there are some pics that I took from the lobby of Lucas Film and the Yoda fountain out front.

Friday May 17th was my birthday and for once it was cold. I really wanted to wear a dress or skirt with sandals, but since I knew I would be going to the pier and it is alway colder, I had to settle on jeans and boots 😦

My plan was to sleep in, but I knew it probably wouldn’t happen, since family and friends would either call or text me. However, I wasn’t expecting the first text to come at 5:45am pacific time. When I heard my phone go off and saw the time, I was like who in the heck is texting me so early…..So who was the first person, drumroll please….. it was a freaking wrong number. I couldn’t believe it.

The text exchange went like this:

Hey Cindy it’s Denise are you coming (with a smiley face bearing its teeth).

I didn’t respond, because I was sleeping, but a couple minutes later I get another message from Denise:

Omg I bet your asleep lol (Do I correct her usage of the word your???)

Instead I say, You have the wrong number.

She replies with Ohh sorry lol

I think the fact that she uses lol means she isn’t necessarily that sorry.

On to the good stuff, I had many friends and family call/text/facebook me on my birthday which is always nice.

I had really been wanting some Mexican food and finding it was proving to be a real task. Several of the places I found on line turned out to be grocery stores with a side Mexican food shop. I really wanted to find a sit down restaurant. I finally settled on a restaurant outside of San Francisco.

It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t the best. Still need to find a good Mexican restaurant.

So after eating lunch, headed to Pier 39 to go to the Aquarium. The aquarium was really nice. I have posted pics below.

After leaving the aquarium, Trisha surprised me with tickets to one of the attractions I wanted to go see, a sunset cruise around the bay. When I saw this online, I thought this could be a fun way to see the bay. There were quite a few people on the cruise, which kinda of surprised me since, I didn’t think there would be that many tourists. I had so much fun on the cruise and I learned that I get sea sick when in the cabin. When I was out on the deck I felt better. They had some food on the cruise, which was ok. It probably would have been better if I had been feeling better.

The cruise went by Alcatraz, Angel Island, Tiburon and under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was just beautiful and VERY COLD!!!!! Pics below.

One of my favorite parts of Pier 39 is Trisha’s Mini Donuts. I love these little cinnamon sugar donuts. So on the way back to the car we got a back of donuts to split and started looking for a Starbucks, since we were so cold. It was a perfect way to end my birthday!!!

One thing we were going to do was drive thru neighborhoods of the cities we like, but we got off to a late start so we saved that for Saturday.

Saturday we drove thru Redwood City, San Bruno and in San Francisco we drove thru the neighborhoods of Westwood Park and Glen Park. We definitely found some nice streets, so now I just need to see if there are any available houses for rent or nearby apartments or condos.

After driving thru the neighborhoods, I asked Trisha to take me to see the Painted Ladies….What are the Painted Ladies you ask?

Here is a hint of a tv show that had the Painted Ladies:

What ever happened to predictability?

The milk man, the paper boy, evening T.V

You miss your old familar friends, but
waiting just around the bend.

Everywhere you look (everywhere)
There’s a heart (there’s a heart)
A hand to hold on to.
Everywhere you look (everywhere)
There’s a face of somebody who needs you.

When you’re lost out there and your all alone
A light is waiting to carry you home
Everywhere you look.

If you guessed Full House, you are correct. The houses you see at the opening of the show are known as the Painted Ladies and the park in front is known as Alamo Square. Here are some pics of the houses now. You should look up the history of the Painted Ladies, I found it quite interesting.

I hope you enjoy all the pics…until we talk again, get out there and enjoy life 🙂

So, went to the Ghost Town for the Wild West festival…it was ok.

It was very hot, reminiscent of Texas heat, which I thought I was getting away from.

The balloon people didn’t come back, but that turned out to be ok, since it was hot outside and the heat from the balloon might have done me in. I will be looking for another place to do a tethered hot air balloon ride.

Then we headed out to Fremont.

I am glad the traveling is done and I don’t have to pack up each day and get in the car for hours upon hours.

More to come later as I start the actual adventure of living in California.

Hope you enjoyed the blog and here are the extra travel pics.

This building is made from bottles. Pretty cool!!

Thursday was a very low key day. We hung out in Flagstaff and for once didn’t have really anything on the agenda.

Trisha went back to the Observatory to look at the Sun thru a telescope.

After that we went to the movies and saw The Croods. It was a very cute movie.

I wasn’t feeling well, so we went back to the hotel so I could rest and try to get rid of my headache.

Friday we headed out to Yermo, Ca. On the way we saw a tourist attraction called Bearizona, we pulled over to see what it was. It was a drive-thru wildlife park but it was $20 + tax per person. We decided to pass on that and maybe come back to it later.

So we arrived in Yermo but didn’t have any plans for the night, but found out there is a tethered hot air balloon “ride” going on at the Ghost Town we would be going to on Saturday. So we headed over there…I chickened out and I am really kicking myself about it now. I am really hoping they will do the same thing again tomorrow. Trisha went up in the hot air balloon and thought it was fun, but hot!

Tomorrow we will go to the festival at the Ghost Town and then head on to our final destination.

We left Albuquerque heading to Arizona for the Petrified Forest, Painted Desert and Meteor Crater.

Started off the morning with a trip to Starbuck’s. I am addicted to their Vanilla Chai Tea Lattes. Just typing that makes me want one 🙂

Stopped off for lunch at Subway and Trisha helped some people in need.

Once back on the road Trisha got a text message from her bank about a fraud alert…she called the bank and found out that the gas station we stopped at yesterday had a preauthorization of $126.00. I have never heard of a gas station having such a high pre-authorization fee, $1 yes but nothing higher.

Went to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. It was cool. I went when I was younger, but Trisha had never been.

Then we headed to the crater, as soon as we turned down the road Trisha saw a sign saying the crater closed at 5pm…it was 4:51 and it was 6 miles to the crater. When we pulled up to the gate there was a guard and he said we just made it. As long as you got to the gate by 5 you could go in 🙂 Looking at the crater was pretty cool, when you think about how it came to be.

After seeing the crater we drove to Flagstaff and went to Lowell Observatory, where we got to look thru an old telescope and see the Moon. We also got to look thru a smaller telescope and see Jupiter and Saturn. Saturn actually looked fake, like there was a sticker of it on the end of the telescope.

It was a great day!!

Here are some pics: