San Francisco & Beyond, Sep 7-14
Mike and I spent a week in northern California, starting in that most European of American cities, San Francisco, then visiting friends in the East Bay Area and driving up the Pacific Coast Highway to the delightful village of Mendocino.
The Sierra Nevada mountains as seen from the plane.
A walk through Chinatown to trendy North Beach, where we found a charming trattoria.
Coit Tower and the TransAmerica Tower as seen from Fisherman's Wharf...
...from where we took a ferry across the bay to Alcatraz Island (aka 'The Rock').
Can you spot Mike in the cell and the exercise yard?
We toured the former federal prison, which housed the country's most notorious and hardened criminals from 1934-63, and came face-to-face with a real-life former inmate, Darwin Boon!
Macondray Lane is a pedestrian street lined with Edwardian cottages, flowering plants and trees, entered at one end under a wooden trellis and at the other via a flight of steep wooden stairs.
A view of Alcatraz from Russian Hill.
When we stopped for a breather in this tiny park, I spotted these parrots which I guess were those featured in the recent documentary film The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.
We arrived at SBC Park (for a Giants v Cubs ballgame!) just before the sun went down.
Dinner at a Basque restaurant in NoBe on Friday night. (Look at those desserts!)
Saturday morning brunch at a café near our hotel in Nob Hill.
Refreshments on the pool-side deck of Ceri and Anthony's home in Pleasanton.
Sampling the town's nightlife.
Touring the vineyards of Livermore Valley - what a way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
Back to the Harris's to sample our day's purchases.
Continuing our journey northwards through the scenic Russian River Valley. (The t-shirt says 'California' by the way!)
We met up with the Pacific Ocean at Jenner on the precarious Highway 1.
The view from our 'Library' room at the gorgeous Joshua Grindle Inn in Mendocino, our base for the final two nights.
Starting the day off with some wine-tasting in Mendocino County's Anderson Valley.
We stopped at Hendy Woods and took a walk among the redwoods.
A flight of beers at the Anderson Valley Brewery in Boonville.
Across beautiful countryside to Ukiah, the county seat, then north to the logging town of Willits.
From there, along a winding road to the ocean at Fort Bragg. (Look at the sky in the last two pictures to see what difference driving a few miles inland makes!)
Finally, back to permanently-misty Mendocino, which was built in the style of a New England fishing village (and was the filming location for Elia Kazan's East of Eden starring James Dean).
