San Francisco/BigSur/Yosemite Trip Report
Jul 27th, 2005, 01:02 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,586
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
San Francisco/BigSur/Yosemite Trip Report
Hi all. Two weeks ago we got back from our family vacation to Northern CA. What a great vacation destination!
We flew from PHL to SFO and arrived early afternoon, so we got a chance to explore some of the city on our first day. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Fisherman's Wharf, which was perfect for us - great location, reasonable price. We walked down to Ghiradelli Square and planned to take a cable car, but the line was realllly looong. So we decided to walk. I forgot just how hilly SF is!! We walked up to Lombard, and walked down the curvy part, with about 150 other people. I cannot imagine actually living on this street! My husband is fascinated with how the cable cars work, so we checked out the Cable Car Museum, and then walked up to the Grace Cathedral, where we walked the labrynth. This was actually our 2nd maze of the day, since we took the SFO Air Train to get our rental car (comments on that later). The labrynth and rose window at the Grace Cathedral are copies of the Chartes Cathedral. I was there back in Oct., but they don't allow you to walk the labrynth there - it was covered with chairs. By now we were pretty tired, so we caught a cable car back down the hill.
Our 2nd day was a Sun, and we were still on east coast time, so we were all ready to go by 8am. We decided to drive around the city - what a treat to drive around with no traffic. We drove down the curvy part of Lombard St. and then over to the Golden Gate bridge and Presidio. It was foggy and weird to know that this huge bridge was so close to us and that we could not see it. We walked some of short trails here and then headed to the Exploratium when it opened at 10am.
I've read that the Exploratorium is the best science museum in the country and it's easy to see why. What a fascinating place. It's a huge space with no rooms - just lots of hands-on stuff, most of which are mesmerizing. I found that on the way to the bathroom, I kept getting sidetracked by wanting to check out all different kinds of stuff on the way there. My older son loved wandering around checking everything out.
We had reservations for the Tactile Dome - a 12 room maze of corridors, slides, ramps, etc. all totally in the dark! I went through with my sons, who just loved this. They let you go through several times, and they had a blast.
By now the fog had lifted and the day was gloriously sunny. I had only been to SF once before, in Aug., and it was foggy, damp, cold and a bit rainy the entire visit. I think we saw the sun for about 10 minutes. This time the weather was wonderful and it was great to see the city in the sun! We wanted to get back outside, so we drove up to Muir Woods. I just love hiking in the all the great parks of the West, and this was a great walk. Yes, it was crowded with people, but the redwoods are so amazing. Living back east, there are just no comparable experiences.
My son had been begging to go to a Giants game, and as his luck had it, they were in town, so my husband and he went to the game. My younger son and I walked around FW and ate at Rain Forest Cafe. It is an interesting place, but too Disney-ish for me. The walk through the entire 1st floor gift shop just to get to our table seemed a bit much. We walked back over to Ghirardelli Square for a (really expensive) sundae. In the back, there is chocolate making demonstration. My younger son, for whom the word "hyperactive" is an understatement was mesmerized by the large vats of chocolate. He stood still for over 5 mins. just watching the chocolate go around and around and wondered what it would be like to take a bath in there!
The next day was also sunny, so we had a great ferry ride to Alcatraz, where we took the audio tour. What a fascinating place. Got a few pix of the boys in the isolation cells.
We ate lunch at the Hard Rock (at older son's suggestion; I know I'm getting old b/c I wonder why it has to be so loud in there), and wandered around FW a bit more. Before we left the city, we stopped in a sports outlet store in the Presidio that was like a cheaper REI. Bought a few good things there. Then we drove down to San Jose, b/c we wanted to go to Raging Waters the next day. That evening we didn't know what to do in San Jose proper, so we drove out of town and spent an enjoyable evening miniature golfing. We stayed near the airport and weren't sure if it was a bad neighborhood or not. It wasn't as bad, as say the area around the Phoenix airport, and I know that you cannot usually find expensive home developments clustered around an airport. We decided it was not the best neighborhood when we saw a business called (and I am not making this up), "Bad Boys Bail Bonds". Don't think we have that chain in Phila. (and yes, I think it is a chain b/c I'm pretty sure we passed another one in San Jose), although I'm not really up on those things.
We flew from PHL to SFO and arrived early afternoon, so we got a chance to explore some of the city on our first day. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Fisherman's Wharf, which was perfect for us - great location, reasonable price. We walked down to Ghiradelli Square and planned to take a cable car, but the line was realllly looong. So we decided to walk. I forgot just how hilly SF is!! We walked up to Lombard, and walked down the curvy part, with about 150 other people. I cannot imagine actually living on this street! My husband is fascinated with how the cable cars work, so we checked out the Cable Car Museum, and then walked up to the Grace Cathedral, where we walked the labrynth. This was actually our 2nd maze of the day, since we took the SFO Air Train to get our rental car (comments on that later). The labrynth and rose window at the Grace Cathedral are copies of the Chartes Cathedral. I was there back in Oct., but they don't allow you to walk the labrynth there - it was covered with chairs. By now we were pretty tired, so we caught a cable car back down the hill.
Our 2nd day was a Sun, and we were still on east coast time, so we were all ready to go by 8am. We decided to drive around the city - what a treat to drive around with no traffic. We drove down the curvy part of Lombard St. and then over to the Golden Gate bridge and Presidio. It was foggy and weird to know that this huge bridge was so close to us and that we could not see it. We walked some of short trails here and then headed to the Exploratium when it opened at 10am.
I've read that the Exploratorium is the best science museum in the country and it's easy to see why. What a fascinating place. It's a huge space with no rooms - just lots of hands-on stuff, most of which are mesmerizing. I found that on the way to the bathroom, I kept getting sidetracked by wanting to check out all different kinds of stuff on the way there. My older son loved wandering around checking everything out.
We had reservations for the Tactile Dome - a 12 room maze of corridors, slides, ramps, etc. all totally in the dark! I went through with my sons, who just loved this. They let you go through several times, and they had a blast.
By now the fog had lifted and the day was gloriously sunny. I had only been to SF once before, in Aug., and it was foggy, damp, cold and a bit rainy the entire visit. I think we saw the sun for about 10 minutes. This time the weather was wonderful and it was great to see the city in the sun! We wanted to get back outside, so we drove up to Muir Woods. I just love hiking in the all the great parks of the West, and this was a great walk. Yes, it was crowded with people, but the redwoods are so amazing. Living back east, there are just no comparable experiences.
My son had been begging to go to a Giants game, and as his luck had it, they were in town, so my husband and he went to the game. My younger son and I walked around FW and ate at Rain Forest Cafe. It is an interesting place, but too Disney-ish for me. The walk through the entire 1st floor gift shop just to get to our table seemed a bit much. We walked back over to Ghirardelli Square for a (really expensive) sundae. In the back, there is chocolate making demonstration. My younger son, for whom the word "hyperactive" is an understatement was mesmerized by the large vats of chocolate. He stood still for over 5 mins. just watching the chocolate go around and around and wondered what it would be like to take a bath in there!
The next day was also sunny, so we had a great ferry ride to Alcatraz, where we took the audio tour. What a fascinating place. Got a few pix of the boys in the isolation cells.
We ate lunch at the Hard Rock (at older son's suggestion; I know I'm getting old b/c I wonder why it has to be so loud in there), and wandered around FW a bit more. Before we left the city, we stopped in a sports outlet store in the Presidio that was like a cheaper REI. Bought a few good things there. Then we drove down to San Jose, b/c we wanted to go to Raging Waters the next day. That evening we didn't know what to do in San Jose proper, so we drove out of town and spent an enjoyable evening miniature golfing. We stayed near the airport and weren't sure if it was a bad neighborhood or not. It wasn't as bad, as say the area around the Phoenix airport, and I know that you cannot usually find expensive home developments clustered around an airport. We decided it was not the best neighborhood when we saw a business called (and I am not making this up), "Bad Boys Bail Bonds". Don't think we have that chain in Phila. (and yes, I think it is a chain b/c I'm pretty sure we passed another one in San Jose), although I'm not really up on those things.
Jul 27th, 2005, 01:55 PM
#2
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 19,419
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This is a nice report! Glad you enjoyed your vacation!
I have a question. "we stopped in a sports outlet store in the Presidio that was like a cheaper REI" - which store is it? Where?
Maybe the locals know? I don't but curious to know.
I have a question. "we stopped in a sports outlet store in the Presidio that was like a cheaper REI" - which store is it? Where?
Maybe the locals know? I don't but curious to know.
Jul 27th, 2005, 02:30 PM
#3
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,110
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I liked your comments about the GG bridge in the fog. I have driven across it when I couldn't see anything of the bridge except the roadway 10 yards in front of my car - talk about a stange sensation - LOL.
I am familiar with the neighborhood in SJ which you described and know the Bad Boys Bail Bonds you mentioned - my husband has a t-shirt from there - LOL. That really isn't a bad neighborhood at all. When we were looking to buy a house last year, we wanted to buy one in that neighborhood - but we got out bid. Such is life.
I am familiar with the neighborhood in SJ which you described and know the Bad Boys Bail Bonds you mentioned - my husband has a t-shirt from there - LOL. That really isn't a bad neighborhood at all. When we were looking to buy a house last year, we wanted to buy one in that neighborhood - but we got out bid. Such is life.
Jul 27th, 2005, 05:01 PM
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,586
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
acwst - thanks, I could not remember the name. It is a great store. It is in what used to be a supermarket and there still are the signs overhead that say "deli", "bakery", etc. I got 2 North Face shirts and my husband got 2 Salomon hiking shorts for a good price. I love shopping in stores I can't shop in at home.
San Jose, cont'd
The next day was a Tues. and we went to the Raging Waters water park. What a blast. My kids are a bit older now, 12 and 10, so we all now enjoy the same rides - no more being stuck in the kiddie area! It was not crowded and we got on all the slides several times. We loved the Dragon's Den, where you are in an inflatible and go down a steep tube slide into a large bowl, where you circle around a few times (my younger son said we were flushed down the toilet), until you go down a shorter slide to the end. We've been to water parks, but never experienced a ride like this before. We stayed here until the late afternoon and then drove down to Monterey. We spent the evening walking around Cannery Row. We've been to many aquariums (Baltimore 2x, Mystic, Camden, and my husband and I just recently visited the one in Maui) so we didn't feel bad skipping the aquarium here, although I've heard it's very nice.
Big Sur
We spent the next day hiking and driving between Carmel and Julia Pfieffer Burns SP. Our first stop was to Point Lobos. What a great park. My kids don't love to hike as much as my husband and I do, and what is nice about Pt. Lobos is that there are so many short, but very scenic hikes. We started by doing the Sea Lion Point Trail, and saw some sea lions. We actually didn't see any on Pier 39 in SF - we were there early in the morning and there were none there. It was really foggy, but it didn't take away from the scenery. We walked around to Devil's Cauldron and just stood there a while watching the sea pound away at the rocks. The ocean sure is angry here. After this hike, we did the Cypress Loop which was a beautiful hike with a lot of impressive ocean views. We knew we'd be passing Pt. Lobos again later in the day (we were going to head to Merced), so we left thinking we'd do some driving and maybe when we came back we'd get to see the park with less fog. I've since learned that certain areas of Big Sur are foggier than others, and once we got a bit south, it was beautifully sunny and I really enjoyed being the passenger on this drive. We stopped for lunch at a deli outside Big Sur-Pfieffer SP. I wish all delis had the kind of selection they have here! It was like a gourmet deli in the middle of nowhere! I had a basil-tomato-mozarella sandwich and my husband got a huge burrito he said was excellent. If only we could go hiking and have such great lunches all the time! You Californians sure have great food!
Our next stop was to McWay Falls. It's a very short, level hike to one of the most scenic spots in the state. The waterfall falls into a cove on the beach. The ocean water here is the most vivid shade of turquoise blue. It really is a stunning view. It would have been great to access the beach, but the cliffs are really steep and signs warn that many people have gotten seriously injured or got trapped by the tides.
At this point, we turned around to make some headway into our long drive to Merced on the way to Yosemite. On the way back, we stopped again at Point Lobos. It was a bit less foggy, and we hiked the Bird Island Trail. It passed the pretty China Beach, where the water is green-ish jade color and there is a rock arch on the side. Such a great diversity of interesting and scenic hikes here!
So we drove onto Yosemite, and planned to spend the night in Merced. We reached Merced around 5:30. Uh, Merced looks like it's seen better days. The town looked mostly deserted, and I wasn't sick of driving yet, so wwe called ahead to our Yosemite Hotel (Yosemite View Lodge) to see if they had availability for that evening. They did, so we cancelled our Holiday Inn Express reservations and drove on to El Portal, only about another 90 mins.
We originally planned on staying at the Yosemite Lodge, and in hindsight, we are happy it was booked. We've stayed at Yosemite Lodge once before, and while it is very conveniently located, there is no TV or AC. I don't mind the lack of TV, but it is great to have with kids. We were so impressed with the Yosemite View Lodge. It was price-y - $180, but these rooms were amazing, especially considering we were in the middle of nowhere. The rooms were large, had a tiny kitchen, a fireplace, a balcony facing the Merced River, and a largish bathroom with a jacuzzi tub! (And, for the kids, a TV and a pool, and 2 restaurants).
Yosemite's next...
San Jose, cont'd
The next day was a Tues. and we went to the Raging Waters water park. What a blast. My kids are a bit older now, 12 and 10, so we all now enjoy the same rides - no more being stuck in the kiddie area! It was not crowded and we got on all the slides several times. We loved the Dragon's Den, where you are in an inflatible and go down a steep tube slide into a large bowl, where you circle around a few times (my younger son said we were flushed down the toilet), until you go down a shorter slide to the end. We've been to water parks, but never experienced a ride like this before. We stayed here until the late afternoon and then drove down to Monterey. We spent the evening walking around Cannery Row. We've been to many aquariums (Baltimore 2x, Mystic, Camden, and my husband and I just recently visited the one in Maui) so we didn't feel bad skipping the aquarium here, although I've heard it's very nice.
Big Sur
We spent the next day hiking and driving between Carmel and Julia Pfieffer Burns SP. Our first stop was to Point Lobos. What a great park. My kids don't love to hike as much as my husband and I do, and what is nice about Pt. Lobos is that there are so many short, but very scenic hikes. We started by doing the Sea Lion Point Trail, and saw some sea lions. We actually didn't see any on Pier 39 in SF - we were there early in the morning and there were none there. It was really foggy, but it didn't take away from the scenery. We walked around to Devil's Cauldron and just stood there a while watching the sea pound away at the rocks. The ocean sure is angry here. After this hike, we did the Cypress Loop which was a beautiful hike with a lot of impressive ocean views. We knew we'd be passing Pt. Lobos again later in the day (we were going to head to Merced), so we left thinking we'd do some driving and maybe when we came back we'd get to see the park with less fog. I've since learned that certain areas of Big Sur are foggier than others, and once we got a bit south, it was beautifully sunny and I really enjoyed being the passenger on this drive. We stopped for lunch at a deli outside Big Sur-Pfieffer SP. I wish all delis had the kind of selection they have here! It was like a gourmet deli in the middle of nowhere! I had a basil-tomato-mozarella sandwich and my husband got a huge burrito he said was excellent. If only we could go hiking and have such great lunches all the time! You Californians sure have great food!
Our next stop was to McWay Falls. It's a very short, level hike to one of the most scenic spots in the state. The waterfall falls into a cove on the beach. The ocean water here is the most vivid shade of turquoise blue. It really is a stunning view. It would have been great to access the beach, but the cliffs are really steep and signs warn that many people have gotten seriously injured or got trapped by the tides.
At this point, we turned around to make some headway into our long drive to Merced on the way to Yosemite. On the way back, we stopped again at Point Lobos. It was a bit less foggy, and we hiked the Bird Island Trail. It passed the pretty China Beach, where the water is green-ish jade color and there is a rock arch on the side. Such a great diversity of interesting and scenic hikes here!
So we drove onto Yosemite, and planned to spend the night in Merced. We reached Merced around 5:30. Uh, Merced looks like it's seen better days. The town looked mostly deserted, and I wasn't sick of driving yet, so wwe called ahead to our Yosemite Hotel (Yosemite View Lodge) to see if they had availability for that evening. They did, so we cancelled our Holiday Inn Express reservations and drove on to El Portal, only about another 90 mins.
We originally planned on staying at the Yosemite Lodge, and in hindsight, we are happy it was booked. We've stayed at Yosemite Lodge once before, and while it is very conveniently located, there is no TV or AC. I don't mind the lack of TV, but it is great to have with kids. We were so impressed with the Yosemite View Lodge. It was price-y - $180, but these rooms were amazing, especially considering we were in the middle of nowhere. The rooms were large, had a tiny kitchen, a fireplace, a balcony facing the Merced River, and a largish bathroom with a jacuzzi tub! (And, for the kids, a TV and a pool, and 2 restaurants).
Yosemite's next...
Jul 28th, 2005, 01:24 PM
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,586
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yosemite
The scenery in Yosemite is AWESOME. Since we got an early start mid-week, we didn't experience the horrible crowds you hear about in the summer. Our first stop was the short walk to the base of Bridalveil Falls - what a picture perfect waterfall. Then we rented a raft and floated down the Merced. This was a GREAT way to see the beautiful scenery of the valley - views of Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, etc. The last time we were in Yosemite was many years ago, in August, when many of the waterfalls dry up or run very low. We barely saw Upper Yosemite Falls - it only existed only as a wet spot on the rock face. Well, this year with the high amount of winter snow, the waterfalls were amazing! It was a whole different experience seeing the falls so full. The only problem with the float trip was that it was so short. We brought a lunch and pulled over to eat it, but we quickly became lunch to the mosquitos, so our lunch break was very, very short. After our float trip, we got on the shuttle bus, which does a good job of getting everyone around the park. We stopped at the Visitor's Center, and got our National Parks Passport stamped, then headed over to Lower Yosemite Falls. We walked up the base. My sons do not enjoy hiking, but my older son really likes to climb up and around boulders. Scrambling over rocks and up steep hills is a lot of fun, but hiking on an established trail is "wicked boring". Whatever sense that makes! Well, at the side of Lower Yosemite Falls is this huge pile of large rocks that people were climbing around and up to get closer to the base of the falls. So we did this, which was fun. The closer we got, the better the view and more we got drenched by the spray from the falls. This was welcome, b/c the temp was 97. My son said this was the most fun he's ever had in a national park. That evening we just hung around the Yosemite View Lodge.
The next day we headed back into the park to hike to one of my favorite waterfalls in the country - Vernal Falls. We saw this last time hiking down from Glacier Point on the Panorama Trail. This time we started from the Happy Isles Nature Center and walked the one mile up to the view from the bridge. My sons constantly reminded me that the one mile walk was all UPHILL. It's funny how when we were at Raging Waters, they climbed probably the equivalent of over 100 sets of stairs getting up to top of all the water slides without any problem, but hiking a measly mile exhausts them. Vernal Falls looked great - it was twice as wide this year from when we saw it last. I tried to hike a bit more to get a better view, but realized I'd have to hike pretty much most of the way up the Mist Trail, and didn't want to leave my husband and kids behind for too long. I would have loved to go on further and to see what Nevada Falls looked like, but it was not to be.
We then left the park b/c we had the long drive back to SF. We stayed this night near the airport. My husband remembered this restaurant he really liked from his last business trip to this year, which he thought was called the Hungry Pilgrim. (Uh, the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth Rock, not SF!) Anyway, our desk clerk indicated that the restaurant he was thinking of was the Hungry Hunter, and gave us discount coupons.
We flew home uneventfully, the next day. (This is never a given for us - we fly USAir). (By the way, what's up with Terminal B at SFO? It looks like a ghost town.) This was one of the best family vacations we've taken - there was so much to do, and so much variety.
The scenery in Yosemite is AWESOME. Since we got an early start mid-week, we didn't experience the horrible crowds you hear about in the summer. Our first stop was the short walk to the base of Bridalveil Falls - what a picture perfect waterfall. Then we rented a raft and floated down the Merced. This was a GREAT way to see the beautiful scenery of the valley - views of Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, etc. The last time we were in Yosemite was many years ago, in August, when many of the waterfalls dry up or run very low. We barely saw Upper Yosemite Falls - it only existed only as a wet spot on the rock face. Well, this year with the high amount of winter snow, the waterfalls were amazing! It was a whole different experience seeing the falls so full. The only problem with the float trip was that it was so short. We brought a lunch and pulled over to eat it, but we quickly became lunch to the mosquitos, so our lunch break was very, very short. After our float trip, we got on the shuttle bus, which does a good job of getting everyone around the park. We stopped at the Visitor's Center, and got our National Parks Passport stamped, then headed over to Lower Yosemite Falls. We walked up the base. My sons do not enjoy hiking, but my older son really likes to climb up and around boulders. Scrambling over rocks and up steep hills is a lot of fun, but hiking on an established trail is "wicked boring". Whatever sense that makes! Well, at the side of Lower Yosemite Falls is this huge pile of large rocks that people were climbing around and up to get closer to the base of the falls. So we did this, which was fun. The closer we got, the better the view and more we got drenched by the spray from the falls. This was welcome, b/c the temp was 97. My son said this was the most fun he's ever had in a national park. That evening we just hung around the Yosemite View Lodge.
The next day we headed back into the park to hike to one of my favorite waterfalls in the country - Vernal Falls. We saw this last time hiking down from Glacier Point on the Panorama Trail. This time we started from the Happy Isles Nature Center and walked the one mile up to the view from the bridge. My sons constantly reminded me that the one mile walk was all UPHILL. It's funny how when we were at Raging Waters, they climbed probably the equivalent of over 100 sets of stairs getting up to top of all the water slides without any problem, but hiking a measly mile exhausts them. Vernal Falls looked great - it was twice as wide this year from when we saw it last. I tried to hike a bit more to get a better view, but realized I'd have to hike pretty much most of the way up the Mist Trail, and didn't want to leave my husband and kids behind for too long. I would have loved to go on further and to see what Nevada Falls looked like, but it was not to be.
We then left the park b/c we had the long drive back to SF. We stayed this night near the airport. My husband remembered this restaurant he really liked from his last business trip to this year, which he thought was called the Hungry Pilgrim. (Uh, the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth Rock, not SF!) Anyway, our desk clerk indicated that the restaurant he was thinking of was the Hungry Hunter, and gave us discount coupons.
We flew home uneventfully, the next day. (This is never a given for us - we fly USAir). (By the way, what's up with Terminal B at SFO? It looks like a ghost town.) This was one of the best family vacations we've taken - there was so much to do, and so much variety.
Jul 29th, 2005, 08:49 AM
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,586
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just wanted to finish with some general observations:
FOOD - What great food you all have in California! Here in Phila. we have some great, top rated restaurants, but we found good food everywhere on this trip, even in places I would never expect to. I had a great roasted red pepper and goat cheese sandwich at the cafeteria at the Exploratorium! Usually in museum restaurants, you are happy if the food is just decent and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I also mentioned the really good food we found in a deli on Big Sur. We didn't eat in any "fine dining" establishments, but we ate well!
SFO AIR TRAIN: Uh, who designed this? What a maze - let me see if I got this right - you get your luggage, then get on an elevator, will all your bags, and children, in tow, then walk across a parking garage, where you get on another elevator to a long ramp to an escalator to the Air Train. Wait for the train, go 5 or 6 stops to the rental car garage, where you get on another elevator and then finally get in your car. All without any signs to guide you. However, in the SF airport's defense, I realized that, even after negotiating everything above, from when the plane landed to when we got in the rental car - this whole stuff only took one hour. In PHL, after one hour you might not even have your LUGGAGE yet. Maybe PHL needs an Air Train? Maybe not, but they need something to deal with the airport!
WINDMILLS - What do all those giant windmills do that are a bit east of SF?
FOOD - What great food you all have in California! Here in Phila. we have some great, top rated restaurants, but we found good food everywhere on this trip, even in places I would never expect to. I had a great roasted red pepper and goat cheese sandwich at the cafeteria at the Exploratorium! Usually in museum restaurants, you are happy if the food is just decent and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I also mentioned the really good food we found in a deli on Big Sur. We didn't eat in any "fine dining" establishments, but we ate well!
SFO AIR TRAIN: Uh, who designed this? What a maze - let me see if I got this right - you get your luggage, then get on an elevator, will all your bags, and children, in tow, then walk across a parking garage, where you get on another elevator to a long ramp to an escalator to the Air Train. Wait for the train, go 5 or 6 stops to the rental car garage, where you get on another elevator and then finally get in your car. All without any signs to guide you. However, in the SF airport's defense, I realized that, even after negotiating everything above, from when the plane landed to when we got in the rental car - this whole stuff only took one hour. In PHL, after one hour you might not even have your LUGGAGE yet. Maybe PHL needs an Air Train? Maybe not, but they need something to deal with the airport!
WINDMILLS - What do all those giant windmills do that are a bit east of SF?
Jul 29th, 2005, 09:03 AM
#9
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 74
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
WOW similar trips--I did not even realize the links until just then!--
Yea I loved 46/41 thru the wineries to San Simeon-- took a little time but cool--but darn similar
I posted underoo pic link under my report
af
Yea I loved 46/41 thru the wineries to San Simeon-- took a little time but cool--but darn similar
I posted underoo pic link under my report
af
Jul 29th, 2005, 09:37 AM
#11
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 45,322
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi karens, enjoyed your trip report, thanks for sharing. I think we have great food too.
Now about SFO, I sure agree with you. It is pathetic. And considering how many international passengers use it I can't imagine what the powers to be were thinking, especially with the lack of signs. I hate having to use SFO!
Now about SFO, I sure agree with you. It is pathetic. And considering how many international passengers use it I can't imagine what the powers to be were thinking, especially with the lack of signs. I hate having to use SFO!
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Weespxx
United States
6
Sep 2nd, 2017 05:15 PM
ccrosner
United States
19
Sep 24th, 2006 05:22 PM
