Day 6 - Oakland CA to Ukiah CA



Day 6 - 22 June 2006 - Thursday

Starting on Day 6 we merged into one big traveling family, all wedged into one vehicle (poor Vince!). What follows are our adventures north to Washington state and then back east. The pictures here are from 3 different sources, so thank you to Kristina's sisters for letting me use their pictures in cases where mine did not turn out.

--- Starting in Oakland, California ---

We had stayed in the Motel 6 near the Oakland airport. Disturbingly, there was a manned gate and fence around the motel, which made us wonder about the safety of our location (Though no one with any sense would rob the Motel 6 when there was a Hilton next door).

Having lived nearby last year, Kristina and I were eager to move to new territory. Kristina's family had not been here for a long time though, so the decision was made to see San Francisco.

First we stopped at the old Spanish mission, though the picture we have is of the newer part, the Basilica Dolores:
Basillica Dolores

We then went to see the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park:
Japanese Tea Garden

Here is a really neat bridge... unfortunately the picture of me on top of it didn't turn out:
Cool Bridge

Here's a neat archway:
archway

And here's a pagoda:
Pagoda

And here's a deer sculpture that we thought looked like it deserved its own Saturday morning cartoon show:
Anime Deer

We then rushed onward, getting stuck on Market street, really wanting to turn left but finding out left turns aren't permitted. (It's a miracle we escaped in one piece!) We went past City Hall:
City Hall

We eventually stopped briefly and did a quick tour of the waterfront. We stopped at Pier 39 (where Kristina and I almost got left behind when buying fudge), saw the sea lions, and went to the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park. Nearby someone was giving out free ice-cream, which was a much welcomed treat.

We went down Lombard Street (the first time I've done that by car). Everyone admired the bougainvillea flowers that were everywhere:
bougainvillea

We climbed up Telegraph Hill from the back, and this time got to see the Wild Parrots that Kevin and I couldn't find last time we were here:
Wild Parrots

We then went to the Cable Car museum, and this time I got a much better picture of the cable car machinery than last time:
Cable Car Museum

After this it was time to leave the city. We went to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was an amazingly clear day, the clearest I've ever seen there. No one wanted to walk out over the bridge though. I did take this picture of Berkeley from across the Bay, and I apologize to my friends there that I didn't get a chance to visit:
Berkeley

We then went on to Sausalito, and we went to see the Army Corp of Engineer's Bay Model Visitor Center. (Very cool!). This is a scale-model of the San Francisco Bay, built a while back to model its behavior. Originally someone wanted to dam up either side of the bay to create two giant fresh-water reservoirs with a narrow channel to the ports. Luckily this didn't happen. In any case, the model is still there, though most real work these days is done by computer modeling. You'll notice there is no water in it; apparently the Pacific Ocean had sprung a leak and they were fixing it.
Bay Model

We then drove to Muir Woods National Monument, marking my third time seeing the redwoods there.

Here I am walking among the redwoods:
Vince among Redwoods

More redwoods:
Redwoods

Here was an amusing sign on a steep trail saying "Strollers Not Advised":
Strollers Not Advised

After Muir Woods, we drove along the coast a bit. The path out onto the rocks at the Muir Beach Overlook was closed for some reason. We stopped briefly at Stimson Beach. We then took a really scenic (ie, really scary) road to Petaluma.

We drove through the Napa wine country, but alas for our friends who like wine, we did not stop and get any. We kept driving until Cloverdale, where we stopped at an extremely good Mexican Restaurant around 9pm.

We now tried to get a room at the last minute, and had horrible troubles. We made some sort of reservation at the Motel 6 in Ukiah, but when we got there the rooms we had were unavailable. We ended up spending the night crowded into one room (setting a dangerous standard).

--- Ending in Ukiah, California ---


Continue on to Day 7