San Francisco, Part 2

The Golden Gate Bridge emerging from the trees.

     After exploring Land's End and catching lunch at the Seal Rock Inn, we headed towards the Golden Gate Bridge to view it up close. We drove by some pretty amazing houses to get there and stopped at a lookout along the way. Once at the bridge, I learned a few things very quickly. The bridge is a lot longer than it looks in the pictures, you have to pay to drive on the bridge, and it is a huge tourist attraction, complete with gift shops and cafe. We decided that a walk on the bridge would do us more good than a quick drive, traffic, and tolls. As soon as we got close to the bridge entrance I noticed Alcatraz on the river, and we could also see Downtown San Francisco and the Bay Bridge. Since it's such a long bridge, it was breezy and slightly rainy, and we were running short on time, we decided to just walk to the halfway point and back. It was a cool experience, but not the most pleasant. The traffic was extremely noisy and the bridge wobbled underneath our feet, which made me kind of uneasy at first. I started thinking about earthquakes and how this would be a poor place to be if a big one hit, but I got over it as we kept walking.
     The views were amazing. And it was surreal to see the architecture of the bridge up close. There were signs noting the directors of the building of the bridge with many years, names, and dates. I learned that construction of the bridge began in 1933 and was completed in 1937. Beneath us was an old fort that I would love to explore sometime. And one of the neatest parts for me were the locks fastened on the bridge gates with names of couples engraved on them. How romantic to lock your love forever on the Golden gate Bridge!

Alcatraz through the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge.

David, Adele, and Me on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Locks of Love.

     Afterward, we drove through Golden Gate Park on our way to Haight Street. I didn't understand what was so exciting about it until I experienced it. Haight and Ashberry, or as my brother Patrick referred to it, Hashberry, was definitely an experience. It had some crazy hippie shops and a lot of eccentric people.

Every day is Halloween in the store Loved to Death.

Adele as a Hippie!

Random legs sticking out of a storefront window.

After buying a few souvenirs, we drove to Uncle Tom's house to pick him up along with Indy and go out to dinner. We went to the Beach Chalet right along the coast of Ocean Beach. We had a great dinner and sampled the restaurant's brews. Across from the restaurant, there were people lighting bonfires and fireworks on the beach, which made very nice entertainment. Eric didn't make it to San Francisco after work so we took him some dessert, but not before we paused for some pictures with Uncle Tom.

 

David and Adele Barndollar's Visit to California: Google and San Francisco, Part 1

While exploring Lands End we found a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge

We were so excited during the days leading up to our first out of town visitors in our new apartment in Mountain View. David and Adele Barndollar came to stay with us on October 28th; they arrived hungry from their long plane ride from Miami into San Jose, so we went out to find some food almost as soon as they got to see our place and meet Mia. David had heard of the famous In and Out Burger in California, so we went to the nearest one, which is very close to our apartment. The burgers there are delicious, though very greasy, and the menu is quite simple. You can choose from a regular hamburger, cheeseburger, or a double-double burger. You can also add a shake or fries. The cool part is what's not on the menu. If you know what you're doing, you can order it "Animal Style," and you get a burger cooked in mustard, with extra spread (Thousand Island dressing), grilled onions, and pickles. It costs extra, but it's amazing! I could go for one right now.

After David and Adele got their In and Out Burger experience, we went to Safeway to get some healthy groceries and beer for the week. We hung out at the apartment for awhile and waited for Eric to get done with work. David and Adele got to see part of our neighborhood when we went for a walk with Mia to Sylvan Park. Mia warmed up to her grandparents right away! She loved when David would take her for walks. I think she thought they were new to her family and she owned them as much as she owned us.

David takes Mia for her morning walk

When Eric finished with work we went to Google for dinner. While we waited for the food places to open, David and Adele got a brief tour of the Google Campus and got to try out the employee transportation. They are bright red and yellow bicycles with one blue and one green tire. And they all had white handlebars with baskets in front. We have pictures of David and Adele riding these bikes which we will try to get up soon! There was a big Halloween event there so it was swarming with miniature Buzz Lightyears and little Princesses. It was very crowded with the family members of Google employees, but we found a nice table outside. David and Adele got to try out a lot of the different options in the cafeteria-style eatery that we chose to go to. This was only one of the many different places to eat on the Google Campus, but it offered the most choices. There was a line for building your own burritos, and lines for burgers, Indian food, Chinese food, pizza and pasta, and a salad bar. We all tried something different, and I made sure to sample from the dessert section and grab a cup of coffee. The best benefit of this great selection of food is that it was all complimentary, paid for by Eric's hard work at Google.

Since Eric had to work the next day, David and Adele took me out to explore San Francisco. I had never gotten to see much of San Fransisco since we only visited once with Uncle Tom. We drove along 280, which is the more scenic route with less traffic. David and Adele were able to experience the beautiful green mountains on one side of the road, and the brown, grassy mountains on the other side. We stopped at a vista lookout along the way and captured a few great pictures.

Adele and David with a view of the Mountains and a lot of fog.

I didn't know this body of water existed until we drove up the vista lookout.

Our first goal once we got to San Francisco was to find the ocean. So we drove through the narrow, treeless streets of urban San Fransisco to get to the beach.

City on one side of the road....

Beach on the other!

Our next plans changed a little as we drove along the coastline and found the ruins of the Sutra Baths. With lots of paths and tunnels right next to the ocean, we just had to explore. The ruins are just north of the Cliff House restaurant, where David says an Alfred Hitchcock movie was filmed. We explored for about two hours, looking at the ruins of the Sutra Bath Houses that had fallen into the ocean, and following a dark tunnel that led to a dangerous opening of rocky cliff constantly being hit by monster waves. There we found an old railroad track leading straight into the ocean, along with other man made things that had been swept into the sea. See my albums on facebook for more pictures!

Ruins of the Sutra Swimming Pools.

Man-made tunnel that we think was for the railway.

There were openings in the floor of the tunnel where you could see the waves crashing underneath.

End of the tunnel, a very dangerous, rocky cliff. The railway into the sea was to the right.

Apparently, in 1880, Adolph Sutro developed the Bath Houses as seaside attractions in Land's End. He developed the Cliff House, the gardens of Sutro Heights, and seven swimming pools. He felt that the 10 cent train fair to reach the attractions was outrageous, so he developed the Ferries and Cliff House Railway. People could ride the steam train that wound along the scenic coastline for just five cents. Periodic landslides apparently kept damaging the railway, so it was replaced with an electric trolley in 1905, however, a large landslide completely destroyed the railway and the Sutro Bath Houses in 1925. Everything fell into the ocean, and even concrete paths built later were swept away by the waves. The construction we saw there was very recent and still ongoing.

 

Ruins from a view on the hill.

David and Adele right above the ruins, and you can the Golden Gate Bridge in the background!

After all of our exploring we ate lunch at Seal Rock Inn, which was very near the Sutra Baths, and it was a neat underwater themed cafe, with signature meals named after Land's End and the Sutra Baths. It was food typical of a brunch place. I got coffee, chili, and grilled cheese. We found a great place to go and explore on a warm weekend. As it was very dog friendly, Mia could probably come next time.


Coming soon, San Francisco, Part 2!

Dog or Mountain Goat?

Mia

Since Bekah asked to see more pictures of Mia, here they are. We did some more research on dog breeds to try to find out what Mia is actually mixed with, and have come to the conclusion that she is mostly Miniature Pinscher mixed with Chihuahua. Because we don't know anything about her past or breeding, we can't be certain, but she looks mainly like a Miniature Pinscher and her only real Chihuahua characteristics are her shorter legs and a bit of extra fur around her neck. Her facial features are very similar to the Min. Pin.'s. She doesn't have the big round eyes of the Chihuahua or the short rounded nose. She also doesn't have that frail appearance, her body is very straight, smooth, and muscular. It was easy to assume she was a Chihuahua because of her size and big ears, but look at the difference between the pure bred Chihuahua and purebred Miniature Pinscher:

Mia

Mia

Purebred red Miniature Pinscher whose ears and tail have been cropped.

Chihuahua

 

Chihuahua

This Miniature Pinscher could be Mia's twin if it's ears and tail had not been cropped. Lucky also looks very similar to this dog. Mia's nose is long like the pinscher's, and she has very strong, muscular back legs. She also has a white spot on her chest (covered by the ribbon for Eric's birthday), which is a common characteristic of the Miniature Pinscher. Here's a picture of a Miniature Pinscher whose ears and tail have not been cropped:

Min Pin on the right--looks like Mia to me! The dog on the left looks like a Chipin.

Apparently the name for a cross between Min. Pin. and Chihuahua is a "Chipin." So Mia is our little Chipin. Although, she definitely proved to share similar characteristics with the Mountain Goat, when she jumped from rock to rock on my recent hike with Eric's parents in Saratoga. Due to her wild animal behavior, Eric and I also have suspicions that she is mixed with fox:

Whatever she is, she is still my favorite girl. We just need to work on our puppy social skills and stop scaring away all potential friends. Since dog training only took us so far for a large price, I might start borrowing Caesar Milan's books from the library. The Dog Whisperer has to have some good advice on how to train a Miniature Pinscher/Chihuahua/Fox/Mountain Goat.

The Pumpkin Festival at Half Moon Bay

These pumpkins were over 1500 lbs.

On a misty and chilly morning in Silicon Valley, Eric and I decided to get up at 5am to beat the infamous traffic of the Half Moon Bay Annual Pumpkin Festival. We left Mia in her crate to go back to sleep and drove along the dark and mountainous Highway 92, which would take us on a longer and more scenic route to Half Moon Bay. The drive itself was just magnificent. We drove along the curviest road I have ever seen (which Eric compared to Horse Cove Road in North Carolina), continuously twisting and turning up the mountain of Eucalyptus and Redwood trees. We kept going up, and up, and up and thought it would never end. Once we got up the curving mountain, we drove past some of the most beautiful fields and mountain views we have ever seen--everything looked untouched and pristine, and it was eerily quiet in the early morning mist. After about a 45 minute drive, we came out of the mountains and drove onto Highway 1, which runs right along the pacific coastline.

It was really the first time since we visited here in June that I had seen the ocean up close, and this was very different from the east coast ocean I was used to. This is a colder climate with farmland right off the water that often suddenly drops off at the edge to form a steep cliff. The waves along Half Moon Bay we heard were some of the greatest surfing waves in the country. They were powerfully crashing off the sides of the steep and sharp rocks, which I was glad to observe from the highway rather than up close. We weren't able to stop and get a good picture, so maybe next time.

We made it to Main Street in Half Moon Bay before the big rush and found easy parking, but we still had to wait an hour in line to eat the famous pumpkin pancakes at the breakfast run by Half Moon Bay High School. It was all you can eat pancakes, though, plus all the free stuff we were sampling while waiting in line; since we didn't want to hold up the mile long line behind us, we didn't take too many. There was a big group of high school boys (and some adults) who made the pancakes right in front of us on huge outdoor griddles. The pancakes tasted like pumpkin pie and were thick, fluffy, and delicious. The chicken sausage was just okay, but that wasn't the main attraction anyway. I don't know if we will wait in that line again, but it was definitely worth the experience.

The rest of the festival started around 9am, so after eating our pancakes we went to check out what else was going on. I was really interested in sampling the pumpkin ale brewed especially for the festival by Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. They were also selling special pumpkin festival wine, but it was a little too pricey. So after getting our pictures with the giant pumpkins that placed in the national pumpkin weigh-off and exploring the many, many art and craft vendors (it was very similar to the Three Rivers Art Festival), we paused to watch a little football on the giant LED Screen while I had my glass of ice cold Pumpkin Ale. Unfortunately, they weren't selling anything by the bottle, so I didn't get to bring any back with me.

The biggest attractions at the Pumpkin Festival are the drinks and the food. Besides pumpkin ale and pumpkin pancakes, they of course have pumpkin everything else: pie, cheesecake, bread, rolls, ice cream, smoothies, and even pumpkin macaroni and cheese. There were traditional festival snacks like hot dogs,  nachos, and popcorn, but there was also a lot of sausage to choose from, clam chowder in bread bowls, roast beef sandwiches, and what I was really excited for: loaded baked potatoes. Eric had a couple hot dogs, and we shared a slice of pumpkin cheesecake. We got a loaf of pumpkin bread to go and tried not to eat too much of anything else (there were tons of free samples).

Loaded Baked Potato

We weren't too interested in any of the bands playing, and we weren't interested in buying glass blown pumpkins (or any of the other artsy stuff for sale). We even skipped out on the haunted house. By noon, the area was so crowded it was hardly worth staying because you couldn't really move. I convinced Eric to stay past the parade, but after that we decided to leave. It was such a neat and historical little town, and I really want to go back just to explore when it is less crowded. There were little restaurants, shops, and bed and breakfasts. I would love to explore more of the beaches as well.

This is the Bed and Breakfast I would love to stay in!

Before we went back home, we decided to check out the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company to see if we could buy some of the pumpkin ale. While looking for it, we got a little distracted by the magnificent beaches and had to stop at one and explore. They were sandy and rocky at the same time, with lots of vegetation. Where else in the world can you find giant redwood trees, mountains, beaches, and pumpkin farming, all in the same location?

We decided to climb out on this rocky pier. It was a lot of jumping and balancing, but it was so cool to have the waves crashing up against the rocks and to have such a great view. There were a bunch of people fishing on this pier, hundreds of brown fiddler crabs, and a lot of sea gulls. I was heartbroken when we saw a seagull with a large bait box hooked into its chest. The bird looked like it hardly noticed it and was used to just living with the box stuck into it. Every time I tried to get closer the bird flew farther away, and I didn't know who to call or what to do. I doubt the bird would ever let anyone get close enough to take it out. It's really sad to see what human's waste can do to animals. There was a lot of garbage left behind on those rocks from fishermen.

There are people surfing in the background

The multicolored vegetation was so pretty

The town of Half Moon Bay and the Mountains--a view from the pier

Eric way out on the pier

I was able to zoom in to get a photo of this poor sea gull. 

After our rock climbing adventure, we went searching again for the brewery, but when we found it and asked them about the Pumpkin Ale, they said they were out. Oh well. It seemed like a neat restaurant and might be a nice treat to go there when we visit Half Moon Bay again.

On the way back home, we passed a few pumpkin patches and thought it would be a good idea to get our Halloween pumpkin while we were here. Neither of us had ever been to a pumpkin patch before (at least that we can remember), and we have definitely never been to one squashed between the ocean and a mountain range, so we stopped at Bob's Pumpkin Patch and had another new adventure. It was our first pumpkin as a married couple!

I have never seen such a huge pumpkin patch. Of course, it may not have been a real pumpkin patch. The pumpkins were very strategically placed among large green weeds (to give the look that they had actually grown there?). Maybe the stems and leaves were just cut away. We did see some things that were truly growing in the field. Right next to already cut orange pumpkins there were large green watermelons still growing in October.

There were wheelbarrows to carry your pumpkins in.

Look at that open sky!

Even if they didn't grow here, it looks really neat.

One of these objects does not belong...

This cool, very old truck was rusting in the pumpkin field and decorated for the occasion.

This was not actually the case, but still fun

Our pumpkin!

So we had a great time at the Pumpkin Festival and in Half Moon Bay, though we rushed to get home after we realized we had left Mia for about 9 hours by herself. I felt really guilty, and we still had a hour drive home. The mist had cleared as the day went on so the drive back was prettier, as we were able see the views from the mountains and the sun lit up all of the fields and trees. The drive back down the curvy mountain of Route 92 was not as enjoyable as the drive up. The higher traffic flow and our eagerness to get back to Mia made us a little queasy as we twisted quickly down the road. I was driving and still had motion sickness, so I imagine it was worse for Eric in the passenger seat. We had to take a nap when we got home because we didn't feel too great, and we had also had a long day.

This was one of our first big outings since moving to California, and we made the most of it. Eric doesn't get a lot of time to take a whole day off. If anyone is thinking about visiting next year, this would be a great time to do it. The pumpkin festival is a very unique occasion, and Half Moon Bay is a great place to experience.