2 Aussie Nomads

In my last post I mentioned that the weather has turned bad.

AC/DC said it very well with their song “Shook me all night long”. Ain’t that the truth.

There was the rolling of the ship through the swells which made you feel like you were stuck in a lift that kept going up and down, with the associated swooping feeling in your stomach.

Then there was the constant jerking left and right as (I assume) the ship’s autopilot tried to maintain a course.

And then there was this constant vibration coming through the floor which felt like a wheel seriously out of balance.

Except ships don’t have wheels.

If it was my ship, I’d have been getting that checked out.

Then to round it out there was the occasional shudder that went through the ship. It felt like we’d hit something.

So all in all, not a great night sleep.

We went to the show prior to that and sat behind our Kentucky friends from dinner the other night. I’m not saying it was him, but someone either had some serious body odour issues, a serious wind problem, or something dead in their pocket.

He did have an amazing comb over though. I was impressed.

Yesterday I did the ship tour. Saw the medical centre, print shop, galley, laundry, engine room and bridge.

It was great! Loved it.

Yesterday afternoon we were treated to a performance by the Princess Pop stars. A group of 70 and 80 something’s singing the classics like Sweet Caroline.

More come overs. It must be what you do when you are bald. And old.

Something for TOTIL and I to look forward to in 20 or 30 years.

We are waiting to disembark and enjoy our last day in San Francisco. Hire car up into the Napa Valley is the plan.

Weather looks good so far.

Then board our flight home tonight 10.45pm.

Sigh:(

Ciao

#G&KTAKEUSA

… downtown.

That’s where we are today. Downtown Victoria Canada.

The title of the last post clearly had both of you who read the blog stumped.

It was a reference to a song that commemorated the first funicular opened on Mt Vesuvius in 1880.

Sorry, maybe that was a bit tough.

The good news is that our liferaft came back. The crew must have been having liferaft races in Ketchikan.

The bad news is that the weather has gone bad. I expect that the vomit bags will be out tonight.

Victoria is a pretty little town. The forecast was for rain so we are carrying our raincoat and umbrellas, but as you can see it hasn’t progressed past overcast.

Typical.

Not a great deal to report today, sorry. You’ve probably gathered that from the lack of quality content and philosophical insight.

We have found a shopping centre that provides all of the basic 1st world necessities … internet, washrooms (toilets), and coffee.

I’ve probably signed my life away for Canadian spam emails for the rest of my life in order to get free internet, but it will be a nice change from the spam I get now.

Tomorrow is our last sea day then we dock in San Francisco Sunday morning. We have another hire car Sunday before flying home Sunday night.

Hopefully we will get up to the Napa Valley.

Tomorrow I will be doing the ultimate ship’s tour thanks to the family who bought it for me for my birthday. I’m really looking forward to that.

I’ll give you an update on that in the next post.

Time to wander back to the ship before it sails without us.

Ciao

#G&KTAKEUSA

This blog may be a lot of things, but I like to think it is informative. Educational too.

Today we spent the day in Ketchikan Alaska. A very pretty little township.

If you like wandering the streets looking at souvenir shops then this is the place for you.

The last couple of days have been planned shore excursions, so they have been pretty busy. It was nice today not having to rush off the ship to be on the pier early for something.

After our unsuccessful search for the northern lights last night (or early this morning to be correct), we slept a little later than usual.

I woke and showered at about 7.30 and TOTIL was a little after that.

In fact I had time to go down to the International Cafe on level 5 and order a brewed coffee, consume it, and make a new friend.

Dale is a forestry ranger in California. He has the perfect job – riding quad bikes through the forest in summer, and riding snow mobiles through the forest in winter.

He also calls everyone “pardner” … as in “howdy pardner” and “thanks pardner.”

Sounds pretty cool. If I call you “pardner” when we get home, you’ll know where it came from. And who to blame.

So you’ve possibly been pondering the title to today’s post. In the interests of attracting a higher quality of readership, I’ll leave it for you to figure out yourself. There may be a subtle clue later in the post.

Feel free to comment with your answers if you think you’ve worked it out.

So today we wandered around Ketchikan. We docked at about 11.30am and disembarked after the great unwashed at about 12.30pm.

I gather that back in the day, Ketchikan had a thriving red light district.

Any young ‘uns reading will need to ask your Mum and Dad to explain a red light district to you.

Dolly must have been the head Madame in town because there is still a building there in her honour.

There is also a married man’s walkway that allowed married men to navigate the back way to Dolly’s place.

Ketchikan also has a funicular that is quite famous. We were told to find it and go for a ride to the top of the hill.

Unfortunately – or fortunately according to your perspective – the funicular was not operating today as it was closed for repairs.

TOTIL was keen … me not so much.

This travelling can be hazardous to your health.

New York had Chevy Suburbans.

California had earthquakes.

The Yukon had avalanches.

And now Ketchikan has Tsunamis.

Yikes.

We came back to the ship to find that the liferaft outside our window is missing. That’s a little concerning.

I’m currently confined to quarters. To be precise, I’m sitting here in my underwear.

You may have noticed that every picture I’ve been in for about the last 2 and a half weeks I’ve been wearing the same jeans.

I was quite happy taking them off each night and standing them in the corner, but TOTIL decided they needed a wash.

So I’m sitting here in my underwear as a protest.

I’m hoping that she put the “do not disturb” sign on the door, because if Alex our cabin steward comes in he will get an unpleasant surprise.

Well, did you work out the title of the post?

That’s about it from Ketchikan Alaska … We sail very soon and I will lose internet access again.

Ciao 

#G&KTAKEUSA

We had agonised over whether to spend more than $200 each for a shore excursion while in Skagway today.

Feedback from others was that the White Pass Railway trip up to the Yukon (Canada) was worth doing so we locked it in.

And what a great day 🙂

We started the day with an early breakfast onboard in the International Cafe around 6.45am. We’ve gone with the hot breakfast every day since we’ve been on the ship, so we thought we’d go for a sugar overload as a quicker alternative.

And coffee, of course.

I understood that the forecast for today was 10°C but either I was mistaken, or those jokers at the weather bureau yanked our chain and got it wrong.

When we left the ship this morning it was 1°C.

We rode the White Pass Railway from Skagway for almost 2 hours up into Canada and the Yukon.

What a breathtaking trip!

To think that early gold seekers used to walk the same route is amazing.

We arrived in Canada, showed our passports and changed over to a bus which took us the rest of the way, stopping at various places for photo opportunities.

Yukon is the 60th parallel, representing a point 2/3 of the way from the equator to the North Pole.

The scenery was absolutely breathtaking – snow capped mountains, clean fresh air, crystal clear lakes. And cold air. Breathtakingly cold.

The sky was so blue and the sun so bright it was difficult at times to get decent photographs.

And the glare coming off the snow on top of many mountains around us made it even harder!

We stopped for lunch at Carcross. The Caribou Crossing Trading Post to be exact.

Roast chicken, baked potato, coleslaw, and “all you can eat” donuts.

And coffee. Not the best coffee I’ve ever had, but not the worst.

Certainly the best coffee I’ve ever had in Canada. Actually also the worst coffee I’ve ever had in Canada, as it happens.

During the trip we’ve been keeping our eyes peeled for wildlife. Nothing significant to report although we did have a brief encounter with a brown bear.

Only kidding. The bear was stuffed … a bit like me after the “all you can” donuts 🙁

To be honest, I’ve started sucking my stomach in when TOTIL takes a photo with me in it.

In some pictures it may look like I’m grimacing … that’s because she has taken too long to take the photo and I couldn’t hold it in much longer.

On the way back to Skagway we stopped at a few photo-worthy spots including Emerald Lake – a stunning, clear lake with an amazing colour.

We also stopped briefly in Carcross itself.

Here’s a fun fact: you can see these poles at the side of the road. I’m told they get 30-40 feet of snow in the winter so the snow ploughs use the poles to know where the edge of the road is. The line between white and red is the position of the guardrail.

Sorry it’s a bit hard to see in the photo below.

Apparently the snow plough drivers work on the basis that “if you are in the white you’re right. If you’re in the red, you’re dead.”

It is very confusing here. In Australia we have toilets and bathrooms.

In the USA they have restrooms.

Now we are in Canada, they have washrooms.

A great day in Skagway and the Yukon.

We rounded out the day with a birthday dinner at the Crown Grill on the ship.

After dinner, we went to the “Best of Brirish” show at the Princess Theater.

We had heard that some passengers got to see the northern lights a couple of nights ago. There was a chance of seeing them again very early this morning, so we go up at 1.00am and sat staring into the sky until 3.00am but didn’t see a thing 🙁

We certainly weren’t blinded by those lights.

Maybe we’ll try again tonight.

Ciao
#G&KTAKEUSA

I did a terrible thing yesterday. Awful.

I got up at 6.00am to go for a walk around deck 7. As is my custom, I went down to the International Cafe on level 5 for a pre-walk coffee. There is some evidence that a coffee prior to exercise opens up your arteries. Or something like that.

So I ordered my first unlimited brewed coffee for the day, collected it and went to sit down.

Then a horrible thing happened. As I went to sit down I felt my phone falling out of my pocket and I reacted … and spilled about one third of my coffee all over the table and floor.

Now I know that it’s unlimited, which means that I can just go and get another.

But we all know that unlimited coffee isn’t truly unlimited. I mean, at some point it will run out.

It’s not possible for there to be an unlimited supply of coffee. So me spilling my coffee inevitably means that there will be that much less for someone else.

I was devastated.

But the show must go on, so I cleaned up my mess and drank my remaining two thirds and had a punishing 45 minute walk around deck 7. In the cold.

I made an error the other day too.

I said that it was very, very cold. 2 very’s as I recall. But I was wrong.

In the overall scheme of things, the other day was balmy.

Yesterday was cold. Very, very, very cold. Maybe even very, very, very, very cold.

Bitterly cold. Much colder than the other day.

Cold enough to freeze the you-know-what’s off a brass monkey.

Which funnily enough – as I understand it – is a nautical expression, and not rude at all.

But I digress.

Yesterday we were in Glacier National Park. It was really cold. I might have mentioned that already.

I felt like a Sara Lee pastry. I was wearing layer upon layer upon layer.

Underwear, then thermals, then jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt. A hoodie. And a heavy jacket. Plus a beanie and a scarf. Then there is that extra layer of fat that I seem to be carrying around.

It certainly made going to the bathroom far more complicated than usual.

So yesterday we sailed into Glacier Bay National Park.

I can’t even begin to explain how amazing and spectacular it is … so here are some photos.

Even the pictures don’t really give you an idea of how spectacular or beautiful it is. Or cold.

I suppose that, by definition, for all of that ice to float around in the water and not melt quickly, it’s cold.

We spent the day sailing into various parts of the park with commentary from a National Parks ranger.

Looking at glaciers which are absolutely amazing.

TOTIL and I had some puzzling conversations yesterday.

8.30 (after a big breakfast): Do you think we should skip lunch today?

10.00 (going for coffee): Do you think we’ve put on weight?

10.15 (at coffee): Did you want to see if they have any of those chocolate donuts left?

10.17 (As I’m returning with a chocolate donut): Why did you only get one?

11.45: Did you want to get an early lunch?

2.45: Did you want to go to high tea?

5.15: Did you want to have an early dinner?

All this eating. They will be wheeling me off the ship like cargo 🙁

The other interesting thing in the park is the sea otters. These little critters were virtually extinct from hunting for their pelts several years ago, but now they estimate there are about 9000 in the park.

They are elusive little beggars though.

We were told that there are are also black bears living in the forest, and while I’m sure they are there, we didn’t see any.

I think I heard that they get about 90 inches of rain here annually – about 225cm or 2.25 metres. As you can see from the photos, only blue skies this week.

We sailed out of the national park around dinner time and are now sailing towards our next port of Skagway.

Forecast for tomorrow is cold again – 10 degrees C – so I’d better not pack the thermals away just yet.

More soon.

Ciao

#G&KTAKEUSA

What a gorgeous day in Juneau Alaska.

Normally at this time of year the clouds are down almost at ground level, with heavy rain.

No rain here today. Just blue skies.

It’s a beautiful day in Alaska.

The weather is very cold. It may say it’s 14 degrees but if you take the wind into consideration it’s quite a bit less than that.

We sailed into Juneau this morning to some spectacular scenery and beautiful blue skies.

Juneau is a very pretty little township.

Here’s a fun fact: Juneau is the capital of Alaska but you cannot get to it by road. The only ways in are boat or plane.

Today was our first port of call. We had planned a shore excursion to the salmon hatchery …

… followed by the Mendenhall Glacier.

The walk to the glacier was on a bear trail … I’m not sure if that is like a nude beach? It was a bit cool for clothing optional, me thinks … 🙂

Fortunately Yogi and Boo Boo were not around today.

Then dinner at a salmon bake. I’ll never be able to eat salmon at home again 🙁

Back to the ship soon as we sail out again at 9.30 tonight.

Maybe there will be more line dancing tonight? I hope not.

Ciao

#G&KTAKEUSA

I have a confession. I have done something that I’m embarrassed about. Maybe even ashamed of.

I think that my boys would be ashamed of me too. Most of them. One of them not so much. He does it all the time.

I’m embarrassed to even put it in writing in the blog.

I’ll tell you about it later.

My last post was a little rushed. We were sailing out of San Francisco and two things were conspiring against me. Firstly I was rapidly running out of mobile/cell coverage, and if I didn’t post very quickly, it wouldn’t have happened.

Secondly, we were minutes away from the mandatory safety briefing and life jacket demonstration.

So I didn’t really even get a chance to proof-read the last post before publishing it. Hopefully it made sense.

Well, hopefully it didn’t make any less sense than anything else that I’ve posted.

Sailing out under the Golden Gate Bridge was absolutely amazing. Such a spectacular and iconic sight. Once in a lifetime.

It was also very windy and very, very cold. You might pick that up from the pictures.

We are onboard the Grand Princess. This vessel is no less confusing to find your way around that it was in NYC.

I understand that the ship has a pointy end an a blunt end, and I also know that by looking out a window you get an idea of the direction of travel. Water goes rushing past from the front to the back.

From there you can work out port side and starboard side, but inside the ship it is like a mirror image of itself, end to end. There is a staircase fore and aft but none midship, so you come down a flight of stairs and have to look out a window to work out what direction to head.

The number of times we have confidently walked towards the middle of the ship only to find ourselves at one end is unbelievable.

And some staircases only go down to level 6. So we are trying to get to the dining room on level 5 and we run out of staircase. We have to go back up a level, back to another staircase somewhere else in the ship and try again.

To be honest, I’m convinced that they move the dining room every night, because I’m sure it is never in the same place 2 days in a row.

There is a high proportion of Americans on board. I guess that’s to be expected on a cruise out of San Francisco.

Normally we opt to share a table for meals, so we get to meet new people every day. In fact, I’m trying to keep a mental image of the people that we have dined with, and I’m certain that I’ve never seen them again.

Many of the people that we have met are lovely, but I have to say that there are a few … weird ones … on board.

At dinner on our first night we met Frank, a guy about our age travelling alone. He is from Phoenix Arizona.

He asked a difficult question: What is an Australian’s stereotypical view of an American?”

I wasn’t really sure how to answer that and make it sound like a compliment. I suppose – to be honest – that my view prior to coming to the States would have been overweight, loud and obnoxious. I must say though my pre-conceived view is not entirely accurate, although many of them are overweight, and many are loud. Quite a few are both overweight and loud.

But I can’t say that I have found many to be particularly obnoxious. I can say that we have had a very pleasant experience here, particularly in California. The people have been very friendly, helpful, and accommodating.

Not gas station attendants so much. Nor rental company staff. But everyone else has been great.

So, back to the people on the cruise. There are lots of people roughly our age or older and it is nice swapping stories and understanding what life is like in the States.

Other than Frank, we’ve met a couple from Fresno, and a couple from Oakland (I thought she said Auckland initially), and a couple from Seattle. Quite a few come from around San Francisco.

There are lots of elderly people too, which is to be expected.

But there are also some quite unusual people.

There is one guy that I’ve seen a few times who wears an eyepatch. Maybe he’s a pirate. He doesn’t have a hook or a wooden leg, so I’m not really sure.

There are a couple of blokes that we saw who looked to me like ex-military. They just had that look about them.  Big, solid guys of about 60, with that military haircut.

Both wearing lots and lots of bling. Both wearing an enormous gold ring on their ring-finger with an enormous solitaire diamond set in it.

But what was really odd was they they were both getting around on these tiny, portable, electric scooters like they were disabled. Only they weren’t, because they would zip in, park their scooters, and hop off and walk away like everyone else.

Unusual.

Last night we had dinner at a table with 2 other couples and a single lady from Australia.

One of the couples seemed like real country hicks … you know the type – TV would stereotype them as a couple from somewhere like Kentucky. When asked if they wanted something from the bar to drink, he asked for a glass of milk.

OK.

I’m finding that I am starting to think and speak in American. Put it in the trunk. Stand on the curb. Call me on my cell.

There was one couple that we dined with on our first night:

Me: “How are you?”

Man: “I’m doin’ real good”

Hopefully you will never hear me say “I’m doin’ real good”. If you do, please slap me.

We purchased coffee cards prior to boarding which gives us 15 speciality teas or coffees each, plus unlimited brewed coffee.

I’ve discussed the medicinal benefits of caffeine in a previous post, so I’ve been self-medicating … and trying to confirm the meaning of the word “unlimited”.

I’ve also been taking my coffee with cream (as in “would you Ike that with cream and sugar?”)

So far so good with the unlimited brewed coffee, but I think I am going to have to back it off a bit before I get back home. I may be over-medicating.

This cruising is supposed to be relaxing.

You may recall from a few days ago that we went to Alcatraz and Lombard Street. That was a day when we hit a new all-time record and walked about 20,000 steps and my smart watch says I climbed the equivalent of 30 flights of stairs.

Yesterday was Friday, our first full day aboard and at sea all day.

Yesterday I did almost 15,000 steps and – wait for it – the equivalent of 58 flights of stairs. We have steadfastly refused to use the lifts on the ship, but 58 flights of stairs … no wonder my legs are sore and tired.

This cruise is different to anything that I’ve done before. Normally when we sail north the weather gets hotter the further north you go. Before long you are in shorts and a T-shirt. The weather is beautiful – perfect for sitting out on the sundeck.

While we are again sailing north, this time it’s getting colder as we get closer to Alaska.

According to the TV, it’s about 14 degrees outside. There are still people getting around in shorts and thongs, but TOTIL and I are wearing several layers and still feeling the cold. Up on the top deck the wind is almost cyclonic, and very cold.

Some people are still using the hot tubs up on the top deck. They must be insane.

This time we have taken a cabin with an obscured view. Even with the life raft out there, we can still see the water and we still get natural light, so it’s all good.

And it’s nice to know that there is a life raft nearby if we hit an iceberg.

OK, it’s confession time.

There is a theme each night on the ship. Tonight (Saturday) is formal night, but last night was Country and Western night.

Country and Western is not my favourite genre in music. Or clothing.

TOTIL and I went into the Explorer Bar after dinner and participated in part of a Country and Western trivia night. Then we sat through a band performing Country and Western music. There was lots of yee -ha-ing, woo-hoo-ing, boot scooting and foot tapping. 

I’ve never intentionally listened to a Country and Western band before. Maybe I never will again.

Lots of people came along wearing their best country and western outfits and got right into it.

And then they got up doing line dancing. You’ll be pleased to know – although probably not surprised – that I maintained some dignity and didn’t participate in line dancing. One has to draw the line somewhere.

Food has been excellent. Despite walking 15,000 steps and climbing 58 flights of stairs, I fear that 3 courses, 3 times a day is going to take its toll. And the unlimited coffee with cream isn’t helping.

I’ve been trying to get up early and walk 30-40 minutes around deck 7 each morning to try and minimise the damage, but I’m not so sure it will be successful.

I have a working theory that all of that chewing at mealtimes is also burning some additional calories.

I think I’m kidding myself.

Ciao

#G&KTAKEUSA

Good morning San Francisco.

Another glorious day here on the west coast. Forecast is for a top of 19 degrees and sunny, so that means that anything could happen. It’s the weather bureau’s last chance to make me wear the wrong clothes for the weather.

We packed up all of our stuff this morning, and ate all of our remaining food at our AirBNB.

We did one last load of washing and loaded up the car.

Programmed up Gina to take us to the cruise terminal for a short 11 mile drive … that took us about an hour to complete.

Yesterday, I was pondering whether the population of San Francisco was 870,000 or 7 million.

I’m now convinced. It’s 7 million and every single one of them was out in their car, in the city, doing their best to frustrate my attempts to get to the terminal.

On the way, we drove up (and down, and up ..) and down one of those classic SF streets that is steep, then flattens out for the cross road, then is steep … and so on.

The ones you see in the movies where the car comes tearing down the road, gets airborne and lands in a shower of sparks.

I wanted to give it a go, but there were 2 problems: TOTIL wouldn’t let me, and you can’t get airborne doing 5 mph.

We finally got to Pier 27 where the ship departs, and I dropped TOTIL off with the luggage while I went back into the traffic to fuel up Eric and drop him back to Alamo.

I asked Gina for directions to the nearest gas station and headed off.

Don’t you love those words “you have arrived at your destination which is on the right hand side” … and I sat there puzzled, looking at a construction crew jack-hammering up the concrete where the gas station used to be.

Sigh 🙁

Asked Gina for her next choice of gas station and set off again.

Finally found one, gassed up Eric, and set off for Alamo .. driving somewhere between a San Fran taxi driver and someone who is possessed. Maybe they are the same thing?

TOTIL wasn’t with me so the normal rules of engagement with other road users were no longer valid.

That little journey was all of about 5 miles – and took almost 2 hours 🙁

Traffic is horrendous.

Anyhow, I dropped off the car, hoofed it back to the terminal … and here we are – setting off to Alaska.

We’ve now done the mandatory life-jacket demonstration and the sail away party is about to begin.

They keep paging a Bon Voyage guest – someone onboard to farewell a passenger – and he is not responding, so we may have a stowaway 🙂

All for now. I’ll post when I can.

Ciao

#G&KTAKEUSA

There’s a conspiracy going on – I’m certain of it. In fact I think that there are a couple of conspiracies going on.

And I’m not happy about either one of them.

The last few days have all had a similar weather forecast – 19 or 20 degrees with some cloud. It’s supposed to be somewhere between cool and cold.

The last 2 days we have gone out dressed appropriately for the forecast and sweltered all day. Not that I’m wearing a snow suit – just a long sleeved T-shirt and jeans. I also hauled around a spare sleeveless pullover and wind-breaker just in case.

And sweated. Like a fat kid in a marathon. All day.

Well, those charlatans at the weather bureau aren’t going to get the better of me for 3 days in a row. Same forecast for today, so I wore a short-sleeved T-shirt and jeans, and took a light hoodie for warmth in the unlikely event that it got cool. Dumped out all of the unnecessary stuff that I’ve been hauling around.

So guess what? It was freezing today.

And I shivered. All day.

It got me wondering whether people who study to be weather-people all undertake similar initial, core studies as psychics and tea leaf readers, and then branch out into a speciality towards the end of their course.

I’m certain that their forecasts are all equally vague, with the resulting accuracy about the same.

”Today we are looking for a high of about 20 degrees, with the possibility of clouds or sun. Maybe rain in the afternoon. Maybe not.”

Bah!

Today was a bit of a more relaxed day for us. There was not a great deal that we wanted to do, so we had a bit of a sleep-in, had a leisurely breakfast, and then headed off to the Japanese Tea Garden with a view to arriving before 10.00am.

On Wednesdays, it is free entry before 10.00am, and that is $18 USD better in our pockets.

So we got our stuff together and hopped into Eric.

I may not have specifically introduced you to Eric previously. Eric is the black Chevy Impala that we are getting around in.

A very manly car, so we gave him a manly name.

The fact that we needed to turn on Eric’s seat warmers first thing probably should have been an early warning that we were facing a cold day, but we didn’t recognise the clue.

On the way to the JTG, TOTIL was given the responsibility of selecting suitable music to play on the wireless on the way there.

Now, I would have chosen something appropriate for the outing, like “Turning Japanese” by the Vapors. But TOTIL instead chose a Spotify playlist called “Theme songs from movies”, or something like that.

When “Saturday Night Fever” came on, it reminded me that there was an advertisment on the TV last night for a cruise, somewhere in the middle of one of the episodes of LHOTP that we watched.

If you don’t know what LHOTP is, you will need to go back and read last night’s post. Sorry.

So the advertisment was for a “Disco Cruise”, starring KC & The Sunshine Band of “That’s the way, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh ..” fame.

There is a song that you don’t want to get stuck in your head! Uh-huh!

The cruise aslo featured the Villiage People and many others from that era … although I’m pretty sure that none of them ever put out a “best of” record.

If there are any young ‘uns reading along today, you’ll need to ask your Mum and Dad to explain a “record” to you.

If you are interested in the details of the cruise, I’m sure that I can get them for you. Rest assured, I won’t be going.

But I digress.

So we fired up Eric, asked Gina for directions, and set off … right into 6 lanes of parking lot AKA the morning commute.

Sigh 🙁

Now, here’s a curious thing.

If you believe everything that you read in Wikipedia, Brisbane has a population of 2.4 million people.

Likewise, according to Wikipedia, San Francisco has a population of only 870,000. I don’t know how they calculate that, but I can only assume that every one of them must have 5 cars each – kids included – because I fail to understand how so many 6-lane freeways can be clogged with so many cars for so long.

Further Googling suggests that the Bay Area – from the Napa Valley down to San Jose, and including San Francisco – has a population of a little over 7 million people, so that possibly explains it.

Anyhow, we finally made our way out of the car park and got to the JTG at about 9.30am.

It is a very pleasant and relaxing Japanese garden, and I think it reflects the fact there is a significant Japanese population in SF (… well that’s my observation, possibly not a fact).

It was very peaceful and relaxing. We stopped and shared a cup of Japanese tea.

My only complaint would be that the Japanese have a bit of a thing for gentle waterfalls and gurgling streams.  That fact – combined with the 2 cups of coffee that I’d had for breakfast and the colder than anticipated weather – meant that … well, I’m sure that you can work that out for yourself.

The JTG are set within Golden Gate Park – an area close to the San Francisco CBD that is 20% larger than NYC’s Central Park. It is over 1000 acres.

After the JTG, we went for a drive around the park and stopped to have a look at the Huntington Falls …

… and then further on to the bison enclosure.

Now, you are probably wondering to yourself why there is a bison enclosure in the middle of the Golden Gate Park … and that would be an excellent question.

If anyone knows the answer, please feel free to comment so that all of us can know why there are bison in the park.

The only real significance of this for me, was that it made me realise that I haven’t had any red meat for almost 2 weeks.

Sigh 🙁

After the JTG, the falls and the bison, we figured that was enough excitement for the morning and we would head back into town.

We left Eric parked just outside the park and waited for the 5R bus to arrive.

San Francisco has another unusual road rule, although once you’ve been to SF it probably makes some sense.

The rule is that when you park your car at the side of the road, you must angle your wheels in towards the gutter if you are facing downhill, and angle your wheels out if you are facing uphill.

Many of the streets are very steep, so this is a rule that has been introduced here.

So the 5R bus turned up, right on time … on the other side of the very busy road, and heading in the other direction.

Sigh 🙁

We crossed over to the other side until the next 5R came along.

Me: “Are you heading into town, near Union Square?”

Driver: “Nope, you need to catch that one from the other side of the road.”

Heavy sigh 🙁 🙁

Back to the original side, wait for the next bus, tap on, $2.50, and 22 stops later we were in the city.

Here is something a bit random. The picture below is an advertisment that was up in the bus.

You’ll probably have to click on the photo to enlarge it, but I’m a little bit confused about the words “… not everyone loves Simon and Garfunkel…”

I don’t know of anyone that loves Simon and Garfunkel, so I’m not really sure what their point is?

Again, if you have any ideas, please feel free to leave a comment and enlighten us all.

If it happens that you do like S&G, then I’m sorry, you are in the wrong place. You don’t belong here.

We found Union Square – not much to see there.

By this time it was well after 1.00pm and time for lunch.

We have had a bit of a multicultural day today, starting with the Japanese Tea Gardens and progressing to Chinatown for lunch.

Yelp is pretty big here, and there was a restaurant that got some very good reviews, so we went there for lunch.

Funny little place. We were squeezed in at a table with a few other people, and I’m certain that we were the only English speaking people there.

We ordered meals, they arrived in a flash, and were excellent. Stuffed to the gills with Chinese food. About $15 for 2 meals including drinks.

Everyone else in the place were speaking Chinese, so I have no idea what they were talking about.

Probably us.

After lunch we went for coffee to a little place called Blue Bottle Coffee.

There has been a couple of times in the States that we have gone for coffee and been told – “No cash, card only”.

Here is a tip – don’t ever try and work out the cost in AUD when you pay for something on card – like a couple of cups of coffee.

2 coffees at $4.50 each plus tax = $10.25.

Paid on card, and converted to AUD = $14.25 for two thimbles of coffee.

But it was a nice brew. Even if it was gone in 2 mouthfuls. That’s about $3.50 per mouthful.

Sigh 🙁

Something really exciting happened on the way home today. We were standing on the corner of Kearney and California Streets in the city, and the Google Maps car drove past.

With any luck, we will be immortalised into Google Street view and it will be proof that we really were here, and not just making it all up 🙂

After coffee, we caught the 5R back out of town and found Eric waiting patiently where we left him.

While it was still early, we thought that we would go and have a look at a few last things.

The tiled stairs …

… and Land’s End.

As you can see, the weather had turned particularly cold by this time and I’d stopped enjoying myself as much as I could have, if I’d been wearing warmer clothes 🙁

Here’s a fun fact: TOTIL is getting better quality images on her iPhone 8 than I can get on the $3000 worth of Canon camera gear that I am lugging around, so credit for all Land’s End images goes to her.

After all that, we browsed a shopping centre for a short while, picked up some dinner and headed home.

Here is another fun fact: fuel in the USA is cheaper than Australia. They have two sets of prices for cash and credit card, with separate prices again for regular, Plus and V-Power, all per gallon.

Regular is about 86 RON, Plus is 88/89 RON and their top shelf superior fuel for advanced engines is 91 RON – the same as our regular fuel at home.

I’ve had a few headaches recently … probably stress-related from a combination of driving on the wrong side of the road and having TOTIL shouting at me every time I drift onto the right side of the road (which is also the wrong side of the road).

We purchased some migraine relief from the pharmacy.

Here is another fun fact: migraine relief tablets here contain caffeine.

So the next time you see me having a cup of coffee, be assured that it is only for medicinal purposes.

The title of tonight’s blog should be fairly obvious. This is our last night in San Francisco and tomorrow we are moving out.

Eric will be refuelled and dropped back to Alamo, and we board the cruise.

I’m not sure how much internet access I’ll have on the cruise, but be assured that I will blog when I can.

Probably after shore excursions.

I started the blog tonight talking about conspiracies. I have a second conspiracy theory that I’d like to share.

There is not only gender inequality (I’ve previously spoken about the lack of restrooms for men), but there is also height discrimination.

Both TOTIL and I have been wearing step counters, and she is consistently doing 10-20% more steps that I am.

I’ve worked out why – I am taller that she is, so my stride is longer, so she takes more steps to cover the same distance.

The moral of the story? If you are going to do a step challenge, make sure that you are challenging giants because they take less steps. That means that you will win.

Alternatively, if it is a team challenge, make sure that you have a bunch of short people on your team.

Ciao

#G&KTAKEUSA

It was a little bit somber here in the USA today. 17 years since the 9/11 attacks that brought down the World Trade Centers in NYC.

There wasn’t a huge deal made if it, but there were flags flying at half-mast around San Fransisco today to remember those who lost their lives.

I know that the date of today’s post is 12/09, but it is still 11/09 here in the States.

Yesterday I talked about a number of “firsts”, but I missed one. The extra one occurred when we arrived in Monterey and I had to do a reverse parallel park on the wrong side of the road.

Our Chevy Impala has park assist installed … although I don’t know how to use it. I worked out how to turn on the seat warmers, and I worked out how to get Gina talking in metric, but the mysteries of park assist still elude me.

It just seemed easier to do a reverse park the old-fashioned way, before park assist … and the result was a perfect park first time. TOTIL was impressed.

And she is not easily impressed.

It’s funny that driving a left-hand-drive car is suddenly starting to feel normal. So far, the only time that I have missed something is getting back into the car after gassing it up … twice. Both times I’ve tried to climb back into the passenger side and wondered why TOTIL is sitting in my seat.

Sigh 🙁

We had another first today.

We caught the subway into the city, on our way to see Alcatraz. I continue to be impressed by the friendliness of Californians.

The process for paying for our parking and adding credit to our Clipper cards was not intuitively obvious to us, so we asked someone for help.

Once again, this young lady went out of her way to show us the process and then watched and assisted as we added credit to our cards.

Even asking for directions in the city, the locals are friendly and helpful – a real change from our experience in NYC.

So today we went to see Alcatraz Island, which was a federal penitentiary until about 1963.

Alcrataz Island is also known as “The Rock”, hence the title of tonight’s post.

Alcatraz was the highest security prison for the worst criminals, and it was considered to be escape-proof. Even though Alcatraz Island is only about 1.25 miles from the SF mainland, the combination of water temperature and rips meant that prisoners could not get safely to the other side.

It’s most famous inmate was Al Capone.

It’s probably fortunate that Trip Advisor wasn’t around between 1934 to 1963 because it wouldn’t have got good reviews. Accommodation at Alcatraz was cramped, cold, and there was no privacy.

Solitary confinement was worse, often totally dark.

Inmates got to shower twice each week in communal showers … and they were normally only referred to by their number, not their name.

Here are some more pictures of Alcatraz … as you can see many of the buildings are damaged or being renovated.

We spent a few hours on Alcrataz Island. They have a free audio guided tour which gives you a great insight into life inside the prison.

Very well worth doing!

After Alcrataz, we had a bit of a look around Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39.

TOTIL was able to tick another item off her bucket list – she had clam chowder for lunch.

We also went and had a look at the sea lions.

Actually they weren’t hard to find … initially we followed the smell, then we followed the smell and the honking sound that they make … and then we found them.

Lucky we had finished our lunch first, because I wasn’t in the mood for eating after that 🙁

The weather here on SF is a bit hard to plan for. The forecast was fine and a high of 19 degrees C, so we dressed accordingly.

That’s twice that we have made that mistake now.

The temperature must have got up to about 25 degrees when we went for a walk to see Lombard Street.

SF is a very clean and pretty city, and very laid back. Unlike NYC, there are not as many tourist attractions around SF, and they are not as close together.

Whereas in NYC you can hop on the subway, pop up at a new station and there is always something to see, SF is more of a driving city.

Public transport is a bit less effective, and you find yourself walking through suburbs to get to see other things of interest.

So we had a bus ride and a 20 minute walk to Lombard Street, and it left us feeling a bit worn out and overheated.

While we did get a number of tips about things to see and do in SF, it seems that nobody thought to tell us that the road to get to Lombard Street was rather steep 🙁

But the climb was worth it.

After Lombard we went for a walk through Chinatown …

… saw our first cable car …

… and decided that we needed coffee. It was 3.30pm after all. There was this coffee shop that got great reviews on Yelp, and it was on the way back to the train station.

You know how in Brisbane, coffee shops around the city close at about 3.15 to 3.30 each afternoon?

So I said to TOTIL, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we got there and it was closed?”

It wasn’t (funny), because it was (closed). Famous last words 🙁

We caught the train back to our local station – Pleasantville – and collected the car.

Here’s a fun fact: trains in Brisbane are either 3-car units or 6-car units.

Subway trains in NYC are typically 8-car units, while in SF, they are 10-car units.

This blog might be a lot of things, but it is informative. Stuff that you probably couldn’t find on Google 🙂

Speaking of Pleasantville, here are some more pictures of houses in our street, as promised yesterday.

So that pretty much brings us to the end of the day.

I’me feeling more confident driving now, so we don’t rely on Gina as much.

We decided to go for a bit of a spin to the beach before dinner … and ended up hurtling towards San Jose at 70mph … took a wrong turn, switched freeways/interstates without realising it, got stuck in the flow …

So we woke Gina up, asked for some help, and made it to the beach eventually.

We don’t normally get to walk on the beach and watch the sunset, so we took the opportunity.

Weather had turned a little chilly, as you can see. TOTIL still had a wonderful time, as you can also see.

She is smiling, and there is no risk of skin cancer.

It was a beautiful afternoon on the beach despite the temperature.

I made the mistake of taking off my shoes and going for a walk in the water. I’ve never had frostbite before, but I think I came close today.

All toes still attached I’m pleased to report.

We have ended the day with another first. We have turned on the TV for the first time in the USA – in almost 2 weeks.

TOTIL switched on the box and started scrolling through the channels.

You know how in Brisbane, we can switch through the channels and not find anything to watch? No difference here in SF.

TOTIL started scrolling at channel 715 and got to channel 1130 and found nothing of value.

Then she stumbled across old episodes of “Little House on the Prairie.”

Sigh 🙁

Now I wish we’d never bothered switching the TV on. You’d think with all those channels they’d have some quality material, like Fawlty Towers, or Get Smart?

Ciao

#G&KTAKEUSA