California

The World Tour Begins!

...after seeing an american turn onto the oncoming traffic...

Wednesday 18/01/06    Its started! Recovered from my do, I've now joined Staz and Frankie at their abode in San Rafael, 10 miles from San Francisco. To get to his house we had to drive on the huge freeway and go over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was a great introduction to the place.

After a pants airplane trip (do not fly BA) I got over the jet lag and spent my first day exploring San Rafael under the glorious winter sun (sorry, got to rub it in....). The locals are really friendly, in fact I've probably already had a dozen conversations with shop keepers, etc, all interested in England and how long I've been here,etc. it's quite hard to get to anywhere!

The roads are all 3 or 4 lanes, mostly 1-way but a few (confusing!) are 2 way. Staz offered me the use of his car, but after seeing an american turn onto the oncoming traffic, I declined his offer! Relying now on my trusty legs and the american bus system, though my trusty legs did walk me in front of a huge 4 x 4 earlier. Not good.

In addition, already been to a 24hr drive-thru pharmacy which also sells cigarettes and alcohol (nice), seen an indian restaurant called Gaylord, had a budweiser at 11 this morning, and been approached by a guy who, without a shadow of a doubt, was trying to chat me up.

Thursday 19/01/05

Got a bus into San Francisco this morning, another beautiful day, it was a lovely trip except for the guy puking at the back! The first thing I noticed about the city was its size. I don't think its any bigger than London or New York, but because the land undulates so much, from high up you can see over the whole expanse of the city and out onto the surrounding bays. This allows you to differentiate the various areas, such as the financial area, and it allows you to get your bearings much quicker. My memories of New York were of towering skyscrapers, my memories of San Fran will be of all the rooftops and hills, and surrounding water of the bays- a lot less claustrophobic. The roads going up the hills are great, so different to the usual flat city roads, they make you want to be Steve Mcqueen in Bullitt and go tearing down them!

I was also surprised at how multicultural the city is, there appears to be far more hispanics and asians than white americans, no bad thing but my previous idea of America was not one where the whites are in the minority! Shows how ignorant we can be. Everyone was very helpful when I asked directions or wandered round shops, though there were quite a lot of homeless, and quite a few people who appeared to be worse for wear on drugs or similar. I suppose you get those everywhere though.

My first port of call was Pier 39, one of the main tourist attractions and the area where all the ferries and trams leave from. Way too touristy for me! It boasts of 110 specialty shops, most of them appeared to be souvineer shops and junk food outlets! Also bright garish colours; vastly different to the rest of the city. The pier is home, however, to a colony of sealions, which all appeared to be enjoying the mid-day sun. Supposedly they are normally very noisy and active, but they all seemed very relaxed and peaceful when I was there.

Following my bit of nature watching, I caught a bay cruise out to the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz. The bridge is an amazing feat (British design of course!). For those interested in facts: Completed in 1937, length of suspended portion: 1.2miles, height of towers: 746ft, 5000 gallons of 'International Orange' paint used annually!

In contrast to the sense of awe the bridge gives you, alcatraz gave me the heebie-jeebies! Though I haven't been on it yet, just from going around it I got a bad feeling from it, I don't know whether it was the run down buildings or just the stories you hear of the conditions the inmates suffered, I know I wouldn't spend a night on it though! The seagulls seemed to like the island though, and nature appeared to be reclaiming it for its own. I can't see them renovating the old buildings to keep it open to visitors as they fall into disrepair, though it is one of the most visited tourist attractions in america, and I wouldn't put it past the yanks! Just been informed that 'Alcatraz' means seagull, it was named by the early spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala in 1775 after the amount of seagulls on the island.

After gettin back to land I walked over to Lombard Street, the windiest road in the world. Two things spring to mind about this: 1) don't walk, it's uphill and a bloody long way; 2) its just a wonky road. I saw it, took a couple of photos, and had to walk back again! It is funny seeing the people queue up just to drive down it!

Before heading back to San Rafael I had to take the obligitary trip on the trams, which have been running now for 123 years. Again, good British engineering! I hadn't realised it operates via a cable under the ground, which is constantly moving at 7.5mph, and the trams grip it when they want to move, and release it when they need to stop. A good system of getting them up the hills, but when they grip the tram lurches forward, people were always being thrown backwards when caught unawares! Great fun though, my favourite form of transport in the city.

A great day, walked for miles, lots of fresh air, fell asleep on the bus on the way back, luckily San Rafael was the last stop!

 Friday 20/01/06

A relaxing day spent setting up this site and doing a few jobs in town. In the evening went to Nicasio, about 12 miles north of San Rafael, up in the rolling hills of West Marin County, with Staz, Frankie and her friends Jack and Suzanne. Nicasio, which means "the hidden one", had its beginnings somewhere around the mid 1800s, and is located at the exact center of Marin County. If I was looking for contrast on this trip, and to see the 'real' america, this was it! The town square consists of Rancho Nicasio (best to describe it as a country saloon!), St. Mary's Church (est. 1890), a general store, post office and a volunteer fire department. Basically, a proper cowboy town! The Rancho Nicasio was brilliant, I have never seen so many dead animals on the walls, half the guys had proper cowboy hats and boots on, I was half expecting a herd of Buffolo to come roamin' through during the dinner. Dinner for me consisted of a steak on the bone, and it must have been almost 2 inches thick and totally uncooked! If you ask for it rare, you get it rare! Luckily the potato soaked up the blood! I have never had such a tender piece of meat!

The locals were all really friendly though, and almost everyone got up to dance to the U2 tribute band, everyone was up for a laugh. After dinner we all proceeded to get very drunk, which was good!

21/01/06

(Warning: boring horticultural stuff coming....) This morning Staz and I went to Muir Woods National Monument, a remnant of the coast redwood forests which blanketed most northern California coastal valleys before the 1800s, when they cut them all down! By 1900 the forest was one of the last uncut stands of ancient redwoods, spared only because it was difficult to reach. Local businessman William Kent acted to protect the redwoods in 1905 by buying the land and donating it to the Federal Government, and in 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed it a national monument. The President suggested that the area be named in honour of William Kent, but Kent asked that it be named after conservationist John Muir.

John Muir sounds like my kinda guy, being one of the very first conservationists. His family emigrated from Scotland in 1848, and after brief studies at the University of Wisconsin, he left school for what he would later call "the University of the Wildeness". During his lengthy wanderings Muir contemplated the relationship between humans and the rest of nature, concluding that all life forms have inherent value and a right to exist.  He believed humans are no greater or lesser than other forms of life.  His writings brought broad public acceptance of conservation as an environmental ethic, and he inspired generations of advocates to work to protect wilderness and natural areas. 

The woods were brilliant, I couldn't come over to California and not see some of the giant redwoods, even Staz enjoyed it! It was a great change from the hectic lifestyle of the city, and the air was so much cleaner and cooler. The trees (Sequoia sempervirens) were the stars of course, even though they weren't as wide as I was expecting (I learnt that the Coast Redwoods grow tallest, but the giant sequoia redwood grows larger in bulk, having diameters of up to 40ft). Many were over 600 years old, their shallow roots finally giving up to wind soon after, though many do get to 2000 years and one (which the foresters had to cut down) had been found to be 2200 years old. I did chuckle when I though that many of the trees were there hundreds of years before America 'existed'. The trees grow to 370ft with a 22ft diameter, and have bark up to 12inches thick, to withstand fire. The worlds tallest living thing is currently a coast redwood in Northern California.

Anyway boring stuff over, it was a great trip and a really relaxing change.

In the afternoon, because it was such a lovely day, Frankie and I went up to the hill just next the the Golden Gate Bridge to see it from high up. I decided to drive, just for the experience, and got us there safely! The views were stunning (see photos), I love the bridge, the photos don't do it justice to its majesty. However we then had a bit of a run-in with the police! We had taken a few photos and seen a few people walking up from another vantage point, and there was a film crew setting up too. Being the people we are, we decided to ignore the 'The Path Is Closed For Your Safety' sign and go take advantage of the better view, as lots of people appeared to do. However after about 5 minutes a policeman came walking down the path, and demanded to see our ID. Frankie only had her California ID on her, whereas of course I only had my British driver's licence (which seemed to irritate him immensly :-)). Before we knew it the film crew and us were being marched over to the car park where 3 (3!) cop cars were waiting for us. All the police were really moody and serious, we were told that it was a National Security incident as the bridge is supposedly a possibly terrorist target, and 'we don't take this matter lightly'. Poor Frankie was terrified, I carried on taking photos at first! One of the policemen went and sat in his car with all of our IDs and started filling out forms, and from the seriousness of the police there was me thinking that I was going to get deported and Frankie worried she would ruin her chances of staying in the country. Finally Frankie was called over to talk to him, I started following before being screamed at to stop where I was, and she was told she was getting a citation. This is basically a ticket, not a criminal record but a fine, of $120!! I got off scott free due to being British (but sharing the fine as a bit unfair since I was the one who wanted to go!).

A very funny incident when we look back on it now, I couldn't believe how over the top the police were, all we'd done was go about 10ft past a rope, in the UK the police would just have told us to get back! And if they are that worried about the bridge, why are tourist boats etc allowed to sail underneath it! And no cars are checked or searched before crossing. Sense of humour needed me thinks. So I hope you like the photos, they cost me enough to get!

In the evening Staz and I went into San Fran to experience the night life. We went to a couple of bars before following some people up an alley to this signless bar, which turned out to be a real gem, no tourists in there and great music. We then proceeded to get hammered, I'm still really suffering as I write this now, the day after!

22/01/06

As previously noted, not a good day for doing much, Staz and I went into San Fran this morning for a couple of hours, but after a bit of breakfast we both felt too rough to do much, so drove back to his! I took the car out this afternoon into the countryside and walked off my hangover, a combination of exercise, fresh air and amazing views. The countryside was a shock to me when I first got out of San Rafael, when I used to think of California I didn't picture rolling green hills and amazing views, very much like areas of England. Because of John Muir, very few buildings have been built for many years, they are only allowed to build within the confines of the urban areas. This is why places like Nicasio are still so small, and are not much bigger than they were 100 years ago, and why in such a short space of time there is such a contrast between the city and countryside. I think our government could learn something from the Californians!