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!