California Trip 2024

[Grant Lamontagne]

In a few short hours I will be getting on a plane to San Francisco for a week's vacation. 

We are spending a few days in San Francisco, then a couple of days in Yosemite, then finish the rest of the trip in Sonoma.

I'll keep you all posted with pics from our various adventures!

Also, if anyone is in the area and wants to meet up, let me know!

Def

[Farmer X]

I left California a while back, but definitely visit Yosemite. Should you find yourself in Fresno, I could probably recommend a good Taco place or two, if that's your thing.

[Grant Lamontagne]

It's 4:36am and we have been at the airport for almost an hour now.  We will be boarding shortly for the first leg to Toronto, then a mad dash through that airport to make our connection to San Francisco.  We have an hour layover, which is not really enough, so we will have to run.

That should put us in California by lunch time, all going well!

Def

[AndyAaron]

Safe travels! Looking forward to your travel notes.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Thanks!

We are at our departure gate in Toronto now, after a mad dash through the airport, security, etc.

We have moments to aare for a bathroom break and boarding the next flight will begin any minute now.

When they asked us our purpose for visiting the US I almost said "Cardio."

 

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

We just landed in San Francisco!

Now to figure out how to get to our hotel!

I think we are going to take the train because we are probably a bit too early to check in, and that will give us an opportunity to look around.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

We had a few adventures getting here, but we made it to the hotel, which was swarming with Secret Service agents.

Apparently some guy named President Biden is staying here too, according to a police officer on the street.

They are also filming a Netflix show across the road, and there's a concert across the other road- all of this made it a challenge to get to the hotel, but we made it!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

This is the view from our home for the next few days- not too shabby!

Def

[Farmer X]

Mrs. FX loved San Francisco, so she'd really appreciate those photos. Glad you've had a good trip thus far!

[Grant Lamontagne]

Mrs. FX loved San Francisco, so she'd really appreciate those photos. Glad you've had a good trip thus far!

I would be honored to take her spirit with us on our travels. 

We have been finding transit to be a lot pricier than we expected, and between the long travel day and the four hour time difference we struggled a bit yesterday.  Still, we managed to get out a bit.  We made time for one of Megan's Must See Items, the Tonga Room.  She absolutely loves Tiki bars, and given that the Tonga Room is pretty much the original Tiki bar, opening originally in 1945.

But don't take my word for it.... here's what Wikipedia has to say about it.

When we got back, we also realized that one of the funny shaped buildings in one of my earlier photos was the Salesforce Tower.  We also didn't know that the top of it lights up and has a giant LED powered display at night.  It is remarkably cool.  I shot some video of it, but didn't take any photos because it was so cool that I kind of forgot.   

Salesforce Tower

But that's okay, I will get some photos of it this evening, It's right outside of our hotel room window, and even cooler, we are going to a place called the Top of the Mark which is supposedly the best view in the city, and also the top floor of the hotel we are staying in so I know for a fact we will have a great view of the Salesforce Tower.   

We are headed out shortly to get breakfast, then it's off to explore a bit.  Hopefully today we will get around to visiting Pier 39, so maybe I will get to see Alcatraz, although we don't have any plans to actually go and tour it.  We just don't have the time on this trip to dedicate many hours to that tour unfortunately.

The last pic below is the view from our hotel room this morning- it's a bit foggy, but still a beautiful sunrise, and it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day again today.  Just in the time it has taken me to write this post it has brightened up a lot already!

Def

[Farmer X]

I would be honored to take her spirit with us on our travels. 

She's probably smiling on you, happy that you seem to be enjoying San Francisco as much as she did. Thank you for taking us along on the journey!

[Grant Lamontagne]

More than half the fun of a good time is attributed to those who you share it with, so, since MTO doesn't have the budget to take you all with me, this is the next best thing!   

Its around lunch time and we just got back to the hotel for a bit of a break and to plan our next activity.

We checked a bunch of things off the list this morning, starting with breakfast at Honey Honey.  If you are in the area and looking for a good breakfast, I highly recommend the Philly Cheesesteak crepe.   

On the way we saw remnants of the Governator's influence!   

After that we went to the Port of San Francisco Farmer's Market and had a look around.  There was some neat stuff, but we didn't buy anything there. Typical me, going to port cites and going straight down to the docks!

We then got on one of those cool retro trolleys down to Pier 39, another huge tourist trap area, but one with a difference.  Pier 39 is home to We Be Knives!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Oops, my pics are out of order, sorry about that!

I suppose that spills the beans that we also saw Alcatraz!

Unfortunately we won't have time to tour it on this trip, but I did want to see it at least, and the fog hanging over it really made it look ominous and spooky!   

Getting back to more important matters, I went to We Be Knives and immediately spotted the Victorinox display just inside the door. 

While I was looking at the various Victorinox models I started to overhear the conversation between the owner of the shop and an couple from Australia chatting about knives, what was legal and what wasn't.  One of them was saying there were no knife shops like this in Australia, and I jumped in and said "that's because you guys can't have one handed openers, and that's largely the way the whole industry has gone."

They didn't seem to know what one hand openers were, so the owner (unfortunately I didn't catch his name) and I spent a bit talking to them about all kinds of cool things, and they seemed grateful to learn.

After they left I ended up grabbing something I desperately needed- a Victorinox Swiss Clipper.

You see, twenty some odd years ago a bunch of smurfholes decided to hijack some planes and crash into some buildings and now I can't have a nail file on a plane, and since we didn't check a bag on the way down here, I had to leave my beloved Wenger Swiss Clipper at home.

Yes, yes, I know that TSA restrictions have been let up, and yes I know that technically the Swiss Clipper isn't prohibited anymore, but frankly it just wasn't a risk I wanted to take.  My Wenger Swiss Clipper is my most used SAK, and I hate to risk it on whether or not the TSA agent I am dealing with is an smurfhole or not, so it stayed home.

That said, I have been here a little over 2 hours now and looked for it multiple times.... 

So, I grabbed the Victorinox version with the Evowood scales, which will be safe enough because I am checking a bag on the way home.

I also asked the owner of the shop if he'd heard of Multitool.org and he said yes.  I said I owned the site and he was a bit surprised.  We chatted about knives for a bit and then we headed on our way.

That pretty much takes us up to date- we will head back out again soon, but I wanted to catch up a bit first!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

We are back at the hotel again after a quick bite to eat.  We will be going out again shortly to the bar on top of our hotel, called Top of the Mark.  Supposedly it's the best view in the city, and we are looking forward to some cocktails and dessert there.

Speaking of our hotel (unfortunately didn't get a picture) apparently Ted Danson is staying here.  Old Sammy "Mayday" Malone is possibly here for some event they are having in the hotel, and I just saw him get into an elevator.  Or maybe he is filming something, who knows?

The restaurant we ate at was downhill from the hotel, as most things seem to be as I think we are right at the top, so we walked down to it.  Getting home was another matter.   

I had signed up for Waygo, the fully automated taxi service, and I have seen the cars everywhere.  Unfortunately it is by invite only while they test market the service, so it is unlikely that I will get an opportunity to ride with Skynet, at least on this trip.

Instead, we took this slightly less technological method of transport- the cable car, which seems to be more of a San Francisco tradition anyway.  We had a lengthy wait to get on one, but it was a fun ride, and a heck of a lot better than walking up the hill!

And the last thing you want when your legs are sore is to run into whomever wrote this grafitti!

Def

[Farmer X]

can't have a nail file on a plane...

Those regulations and prohibitions really soured me on air travel. Anymore, I figure if I were meant to fly, I'd be a pilot or a bird.

And if I went to We Be Knives, I'd likely wind up broke. Some restraint would be needed there.

Great photos. I know Mrs. FX would love them. Thanks for taking us along, and safe travels!

[Grant Lamontagne]

Those regulations and prohibitions really soured me on air travel. Anymore, I figure if I were meant to fly, I'd be a pilot or a bird.

And if I went to We Be Knives, I'd likely wind up broke. Some restraint would be needed there.

Great photos. I know Mrs. FX would love them. Thanks for taking us along, and safe travels!

You'd be broker than you think.  I imagine his rent is sky high there as his prices weren't exactly rock bottom.  He did give me a bit of a deal though, and I certainly am not complaining about that.  I had considered also getting a CRKT Provoke, but they were $160 and that's a bit much for the first few days of vacation.

The airline regs are a nightmare.  Even though the regulations are slightly more lenient than they were previously.  As a former security manager, I have employed enough Rambo types that I don't trust them as far as I could throw them.  My apologies for any TSA agents or other members in similar positions that we have here, but if that is your job, I am sure you can think of a few people on your crew that are exactly as I describe.

But, back to the fun stuff- we went to Top Of The Mark last night, and it would have been absolutely brilliant, but the fog rolled in and we barely saw anything.   

We had a few drinks anyway and enjoyed it for what it was, even if there wasn't much of a view- outside at least.  Inside the view was pretty darned good!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

This morning we went to get breakfast at a place called Mama's in Little Italy.  It was a short cable car ride from our hotel and we had a great operator who saw me looking at the levers and gears, then gave me a quick tutorial on how it all worked.  It was very cool!

Then, coincidentally, we had the same car and operator on the way back!

The car was a bit more crowded this time than it was earlier and I gave the last seat to Megan, partially because it's the right thing to do, and partially because I really wanted to ride this thing while hanging off the side of it!   

We are back at the hotel now, planning our next activity for the day!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Oh, and it turns out that Ted Dansen is here to shoot his new show called A Classic Spy.

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/ted-danson-mike-schur-comedy

When it airs on Netflix, make sure to watch it and see if I'm in any of the background shots.  I don't think I am, but you never know!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yesterday finished out as a great day again, and once I get through it all you will realize why I didn't manage to update you all last night!   

We ventured out at lunch time to further explore the North Beach/Little Italy area, and enjoyed some amazing pasta at The Italian Homemade Company (highly recommend it if you are in the area) and some gelato.  We had a nice walk in the park, which we had also done after breakfast, but it was a lot more vibrant now as many people had also come out to enjoy the sun and the grass.

We had a bit of an adventure getting there as we'd gotten on the wrong cable car-- we got it in the same place, but there are two routes that go along the same tracks until one turns and the other doesn't.  We'd accidentally gotten on the one that doesn't and took a little detour.  Not a problem as our time was our own and we managed to see a different neighborhood or two.

On our way back though, we passed something that we had passed numerous times and each time I felt the urge to stop- the Cable Car Museum.  Given that this was our last chance to see it, I convinced Megan that we should check it out, which we did. 

And it was fantastic.

First off, it is free, but I would have happily paid to go in there, and I did, leaving some money in the donation box.  We also spent some money in the gift shop, which had by far the best prices on souvenirs that we have found anywhere in the city so far.  Megan's mother had mentioned before we left that she had a small cable car souvenir that she had gotten on a trip to SF years ago, but that it had gotten broken.  Naturally, we had to get her a new one.

We didn't spend a lot of time in the museum, but you really don't have to.  Other than seeing the still functioning machinery that runs the cables and learning how they work (which isn't that complex overall, although I admire the skill of the operators controlling it!), the museum is maybe a half hour's worth of entertainment, and that includes taking time to peruse the gift shop.  That's not a sleight against the museum, quite the opposite- the cable cars that you ride are still the same ones they have been using since... whenever.  Every time you get on a cable car, you are in a museum.  I had expected them to be updated and replaced over the years, but no, they are the exact same cars that my mother likely rode on in the days before Little Baby Def was a thing.

As an added bonus to MTO members, the Cable Car operator is called a Gripman, so named because the cable cars use (their words, not mine!) a giant pair of pliers to grab the cables and pull the car along!   

The rest of yesterday's story will be posted a bit later on though- we are packing up for the next leg of our trip- today we are making our way back to the airport to pick up a rental car and heading off to Yosemite! 

Why the airport you ask?  Simple, we plan to come back to SF the day we fly home, and its easier to drop the rental there and get on a plane.

The weather is also a bit crummy today, so it will be a great day to travel.   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Last night we went to another Tiki bar.  Megan loves Tiki bars and this time we went to one called Last Rites.

It's a cool place, set up like someone crashed a plane into a South Pacific island straight out of an Indiana Jones movie, and decided to fashion a bar out of the wreckage.

The seats at the bar were aircraft seats, the ceiling was draped with old parachutes and there were giant skulls against the back wall.  Oh yeah, and some of the table tops were aircraft doors.

Aromatherapy type oils were used to enhance the experience, changing from that musty Army Navy store type smell to a burning smell when certain drinks were ordered to a fresh jungle smell when the "rain" started.

The bar was dark, with occasional tropical storm, simulated by flashing lightning and rainfall sounds.  All on all, very cool atmosphere.

There were other cool things too- apparently the big skull will occasionally belch forth a cloud of smoke from time to time.  Megan saw it but I didn't.

We had a couple of drinks there before heading back to the hotel.  Thankfully we'd also drank a lot of water at the bar- if we hadn't I doubt we'd have made it back!   

Def

[Farmer X]

If you're spending another day in San Francisco, I hope you'll consider visiting Tenderloin. Mrs. FX often spoke fondly of it.

Again, thanks for taking us on the journey!

[Grant Lamontagne]

Another patron had mentioned something about a drink make with watermelon and toasted marshmallow, and honestly I couldn't turn it down.

It is the Kali Maas Doom.  Getting the Indiana Jones vibe yet?   

Megan had a Zombie Killer.  Both were excellent.

We followed up with a Grifter's Game and I had the signature drink, the Last Rites.

Wow, that was a hell of a drink and I can see why they would limit you to two.  Short of drinking something straight, it was the most potent mixed drink I've ever had.  If I hadn't also been drinking water all evening I'm not sure if have made it home. 

 

We had an amazing evening and it was a great bar for someone who wants a bit of an event when you go out.

Fast forward to today, and we have just arrived at the hotel in Oakhurst, which will serve as our base for visiting Yosemite. 

This area is absolutely gorgeous.

I'll post some pics soon, although they don't do this area justice!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

If you're spending another day in San Francisco, I hope you'll consider visiting Tenderloin. Mrs. FX often spoke fondly of it.

Again, thanks for taking us on the journey!

We walked through the Tenderloin yesterday on our way to other places.  It was very delightful!

Unfortunately our time in SF is now done, but there is still so much we would have loved to see. 

Next time for sure!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

YOSEMITE TODAY!!!!!!

 

Def

[Farmer X]

You're gonna enjoy Yosemite. I was there once, to work. But I still managed to revel in its sheer beauty and have a great time. Safe travels!

[Grant Lamontagne]

In the interest of full disclosure, today was not the first time I have been to Yosemite.

We actually went last night after checking into our hotel.  We didn't hike or explore, but we did drive through a bit of a monsoon to see what's called the Tunnel View which lets you see El Capitan, the Yosemite Valley and Bridal Veil Falls.

It was amazing.  Much like my trip last year to Greece, I can share all the pics I want, but it is nothing compares to actually standing there!   

The road to get there was a bit terrifying, with lots of turns that you have to navigate perfectly or else you will die from:

1- Head On Collision
2-  Hitting a Majestic Tree that will outlive all of your descendants
3-  Go Over the edge of a cliff.

Seriously Californians, what's wrong with guard rails at the side of the road?   

Also, while I am complaining, why do you all love tailgating so much?  I'm not talking about the parties, because I'd be in for that, I mean following a car on the highway with little more than 18 inches between your bumper and theirs?  I watched a B train tanker truck do that on the highway outside of SF yesterday.   

Anyways, back to the good stuff....

This morning we got up bright and early to go to Yellowstone and do the Grizzly Giant Loop.  It's the smallest loop there, but as a disabled person I figured I wouldn't push myself too hard.  This trip already has my arthritis flaring!

But more on that experience shortly- I need to get showered so we can go for lunch.  We are STARVING!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

All showered now and maybe I can get this post done by the time Megan is ready to go!

First up, the trail is fantastic, with many parts of it considered to be Accessible, which means you could get a wheelchair in to see some of the more prominent trees like the Bachelor and Three Graces, the Tunnel Tree or the one that really got my attention, the Grizzly Giant.

Let me tell you, you can see all the pictures in the world of these trees, but nothing will prepare you for the sheer scale of standing next to one.

When you see pictures, you think they are just really tall, wide trees, but what you don't think about is that the branches that are hundreds of feet up are decent sized trees in their own right, and they are sticking out of the main tree!   

The second photo below shows an old downed tree, and the broken off branch is over a foot in diameter- and this was not a big one.

That's part of why I thought the Grizzled Giant was so amazing.  It's not overly tall, but as you can see in the third picture, several of the branches (look at the one around the 2 o'clock position) are large enough to park our rental car on!

There was one, long since fallen, broken many times, and still took us almost a full minute to walk the length of one trunk segment.  Okay, admittedly I walk pretty slowly, but still, it was absolutely amazing.

Again, it doesn't matter how many pictures or documentaries of these things you see- you really do need to see them yourself and in person to realize the sheer magnitude of these things- and I hope you all get the chance because it is absolutely mind blowing.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Crap,

For some reason the photos didn't all attach.

Sorry, the wifi in this hotel is a bit wonky.

Def

[SteveC]

Great pictures, thanks for taking us along ! 

[pfrsantos]

More than half the fun of a good time is attributed to those who you share it with, so, since MTO doesn't have the budget to take you all with me, this is the next best thing!   

Its around lunch time and we just got back to the hotel for a bit of a break and to plan our next activity.

We checked a bunch of things off the list this morning, starting with breakfast at Honey Honey.  If you are in the area and looking for a good breakfast, I highly recommend the Philly Cheesesteak crepe.   

On the way we saw remnants of the Governator's influence!   

After that we went to the Port of San Francisco Farmer's Market and had a look around.  There was some neat stuff, but we didn't buy anything there. Typical me, going to port cites and going straight down to the docks!

We then got on one of those cool retro trolleys down to Pier 39, another huge tourist trap area, but one with a difference.  Pier 39 is home to We Be Knives!

Def

Just saw this thread. Good to see you enjoying yourselves!

 

So, how did you ask Megan if she wanted to go out for breakfast?

"Want to go out to Honey Honey, honey?"