San Francisco - Santa Barbara - 15/1/13

Tuesday morning we were up early again so that we could check out of the Hostel, have breakfast in a cafe next door and pick our car up. It was a monster. I'd ordered a 'standard' SUV (Jeep Grand Cherokee or similar. Turned out to be a Chevrolet 'Tahoe LT' V8) so that we could travel in comfort (estimated distance ~4000 miles). It's one of those ones that require climbing into. That kind of size. It's bigger than a Mercedes SUV that we have in the UK. What is a 'full-size' SUV you may ask? I'm going to tell you anyway. Bloody gigantic. Roughly the size of a Mercedes Sprinter van, or Ford Transit. Enormous. Big enough so that we, in our frankly silly-size car, feel slightly intimidated.

We headed south around 10am out of SF with a minor detour due to one-way systems and, er, navigational hitches, headed for Highway 1 - the Pacific Coastal Highway. Weather was bright and sunny, if a little chilly, but as we got further south it warmed up to around 15-20 degrees.

Our view on the right whilst driving was the Pacific Ocean, on the left, National Parks consisting of forests, vertical cliff faces, ravines and awesome vista . Stunning. Better than stunning. Slightly frightening at times with sharp turns that clearly, if not taken, led to a couple of hundred feet straight down into the drink. Neither of us were sure how a piece of arnco might withstand a 2 tonne SUV impact. We stopped at a place called 'Big Sur' around 2pm for lunch. Burritos were chosen, and of American portions. Both of us managed to eat about half before being too full. Big Sur wasn't actually that large, as we soon left it and emerged onto the coastline again.

We arrived in Santa Barbara at Arlene's house (found via Air B'n'B, a great site for finding unusual places to stay) around 6.30pm, after travelling for 8 hours with a half hour break and had covered 361 miles. It was dark and Arlene's place was in the hills above the town and not trivial to find, stuck way up some winding lanes amongst millionaire's houses. All of Santa Barbara looked nice, wealthy, but these houses were a cut above, although Arlene's wasn't as she and her husband had moved here about 50 years ago when it was still quite a small place. Arlene was lovely, probably in her 70s, but didn't look it, fit as a fiddle with a house that was a treasure trove of things that she had collected over the years and enchanting & welcoming. We chatted to her for a while but, feeling hungry, headed out to the Enterprise Fish Company restaurant, recommended by Arlene. When we arrived, it turned out that they had a special on Lobsters for $29 (usually $50) - it was cooked to perfection, served with liquid garlic butter, shoestring fries and grilled vegetables. Frankly, awesome. No other words. I washed it down with Sierra Nevada ale, one of their dark ones, and was suitably tasty while B stuck with a cranberry juice that was, perhaps needless to say, one of the best she or I had ever tried. Still feeling that a small corner could be filled, pudding was a molten chocolate cake (recommended by the waiter - a hot sponge with melted dark chocolate in the centre), served with vanilla ice cream, strawberries and dusted with icing sugar. It sounds heavy, but was deliciously light. B says that she was in heaven.

Got back to Arlene's around 10.30; she was asleep and we flopped into bed completely shattered. It had been a long but fabulous (darling!) day of driving.



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San Francisco - 14/1/13

From the Alacatraz boat looking back towards Fisherman's Wharf and the city

This morning we were up early (7.30) so that we could get the first boat to Alcatraz. That was amazing. Approaching it across the water was definitely foreboding. It was really interesting, with a superb audio tour to accompany you and guide you round. Fab views of SF bay and Golden Gate bridge. The whole place is just fascinating - especially with so much popular history and legend attached to it. Certain places inside the jailhouse were certainly eerie, particularly the solitary confinement cells; both of us had strange chills while standing in one, and I remember feeling relieved when I noticed that the barred doors had chains on them to keep them open. The audio tour mentioned above really enhanced the atmosphere, as it was narrated by ex-prison officers and reformed prisoners (after the experience of Alcatraz!), had recordings of interviews with inmates and also had background recordings of the cells doors shutting, of riots and clattering mugs as new prisoners were brought in. It also got pretty cold while standing outside on the bluffs - the wind really iced you up inside, and looking down at the rocks, and sea currents (which you could see in the patterns on the water's surface) really brought it home how desperate some prisoners must have felt to attempt the 1 1/2 mile swim to the shore. Some of the more poignant recordings of the cons were related to SF directly - saying that if the wind was in the right direction on big 'party days' (for instance New Year's eve) they could hear the sounds of merriment and voices. The recreation yard was fairly small although was probably a bit of a sun trap at certain times of the year, giving the prisoners some welcome respite from the cold, damp and draft of the prison itself; even inside the main block there seemed to be very little protection from the Bay winds, giving you the impression that it was a thoroughly miserable place to be and not just because your freedoms were suppressed. 

After lunch (at a restaurant called Scoma's) we hired 2 bikes to go from Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate bridge itself, cycle across it and into Sausalito on the other side and get the ferry back. The ride was around 8 miles, completed in 2 hours or so. The winds whipping across the bridge made it slightly more taxing than both of us thought necessary but it was well worth it. Fantastic to actually be there and so close to such a world-renowned landmark, but sadly I imagine that your average San Franciscan barely sees it any more. People tend to tune out things that are familiar, but as a visitor, it really is impressive. Much longer than it looks too. As we came down the other side, we'd been told that it was all downhill to Sausalito. While this was true initially, it quickly became apparent that this was as big a fib as it was perhaps possible to be, making it necessary to go up a hill almost as large as the one on the other side to get to the bridge proper. Despite this, we made it to the ferry with 5 minutes to spare - otherwise would have had to have waited around another 90 minutes for the next one as well as missing an easy bike return. The sun was setting over the bridge on the ferry back which was absolutely glorious and profiling Alcatraz in shadow. You can see why people rave about SF bay. 

Another relatively minor point that San Franciscans perhaps don't notice any more, was the experience of travelling on their trams, confusingly called cable cars. (When I first heard this, I could have sworn I hadn't noticed any large towers suspending cables and it took me a while to associate that that's what they meant). This was great fun, and when busy, the drivers encouraged punters (i.e. B and I) to hang off the running boards holding on while it rattled and clanked up and down those famous hills. Not a health and safety officer in sight.

The lunch that day, incidentally, was distinctly average. As we've got further into the interior of the States, more and more we have been thinking that it was worse than average. A lunch we had a Denny's (on 21/1/12) on the road was better than that lunch, and at roughly a tenth of the cost. Scoma's, alternately christened Scummo's, Scammo's or Smuggo's, depending on the time of day and depth of feeling, has certainly been on the receiving end of some pretty strong language.

San Francisco - 13/1/13

Sunday we were up early-ish, made it back out to Haight for breakfast and a wander about the shops. This is one of those neighbourhoods where every shop is an independant. Not a chain in sight (unless a SF local chain), which is just perfect. At the end of the main street was the Golden Gate Park, a huge place, really pretty. I think it's about 2-3 miles long and a mile wide, of which we walked about half before coming back to Haight and checking out SF's biggest independent record store, Amoeba Music. I think they claim that it's the US' biggest independant store - not sure about that one. There was loads of cool stuff happening in the park - including a boating lake, and a mini roller rink. Someone had got a system up and running, mic'd himself up and was leading a dance session, with others roller-skating, roller-blading, bmx-ing around in a loop, joining in as and when they felt like it. At one end of the park, called the 'panhandle' there was loads of homeless folk, panhandling - guess that's where the name came from. There was also a coffee shop there, next to an organic supermarket, where they served speciality coffee via condensers, vials etc. It was also here that I got used to the 'half and half' milk mix they have over here. 50% milk, 50% cream. Mmmm. 

We then made it back to the hostel for a rest in the early evening and went to the cinema in the evening.  Fabulous place. Superb screen - Sony 4K digital, great sound and very comfortable reclining seats, for not much more than it costs to go to a UK one ($12 apiece). I would go to the cinema a lot more if our screens were that quality. We saw Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' - about slaves, one slave in particular, hooking up with a German bounty hunter. Pretty brave subject matter for the States. Definitely worth a watch, but is pretty long at around 3 hours. Another trip to the same sushi joint before bed - yum!

San Francisco - 12/1/13

Saturday morning was a bit of a lie in, got going around 11, did a wee bit of essential shopping (US sim card,  three day bus permit etc.),  then headed out to the 'Mission' district, situated between 16th and 24th street. The main drag  turned out to be pretty run down, and also not - wealth next door to poverty unusually close together; on one street there was an old tramp digging through a bin to get food, while on the side of the pavement was a luxury organic vegetable delivery truck carting expensive food into nice homes. It had quite a nice vibe to it in some parts and not in others - the nicer parts were set back from teh main drag, really pretty townhouses, almost a colonial design with lots of character and colour. We also found a really interesting alleyway that had been painted by locals over the years since the 70s called Balmy Avenue, plus an equally good one on another street that was carrying on the tradition, but only started in the last few years. There was also a really lovely cafe called La Boheme (just off 24th street) which served for lunch particularly nicely. Running parallel to Mission Street was another called Valencia, which looked a lot more fun and lively. We were planning to go out there in the evening, but decided not to, as I'm sure it would have been fine, but was also quite a long way to go.

Saturday evening turned out to be a playoff game for the local American football team for a place in the super bowl, a big deal here, so we watched that and met some friendly Americans. The SF 49rs won fairly easily - great atmosphere as you can imagine. Against our better judgement, it was in an Irish bar in the centre of Downtown which didn't turn to be too bad (just expensive) and B was really chuffed that they served Magners. We had been planning to head out to Haight (another district) for some drinks, but were a bit tired and in need of some refreshment. After the game had completed satisfactorily (to the locals) we headed out to Haight, much nicer that Mission. Although Haight seemed pretty dead, we found a rum bar that was busy,  met some more Americans and had a lovely time. There was one chap who's birthday it was - so I introduced him to the delights of Sambucca. Turns out that the rum cocktails in this bar were pretty strong, so we left before I disgraced myself - rolled in around 1am. 

B noticed the amount of homeless people in SF in general, and around 90% of them (it seemed) had some sort of mental health problem. Talking to themselves, shouting at doors, riding buses (or 'muni' transport) to keep warm. In the evening it was even more prevalent; it was rare to see an empty shop doorway without a homeless person sleeping in it - we guessed that the homeless situation was so bad because there were just no shelters available, either due to budget cuts or lack of care. It was a pretty sobering thought considering that it is a 1st world country and more than a little bit sad.

San Francisco! 11/1/13

Arrived at SFO about 6pm. Neither of us had had any sleep for about 24 hours, as the plane was pretty uncomfortable. Had a quick bite to eat at a sushi place up the road (delicious), then passed out around 10. Our hostel was pretty much in the centre of Downtown, 5 minutes from Market Street.