Spring Break on the Californian Coast

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One nice thing about the van is the removable seats. Taking out the center seat and suddenly we’re rolling in stretched limo style… minus the integrated TV screens, sound divider screen and wet bar of course. But for a small tribe of Boizians and their K9 companions, it was pretty sweet.

As usual, we headed out without much of a plan, only that we wanted to land somewhere near San Francisco on the first day, then make our way up the coast before looping back to Boise.

Everyone knows the most important thing on the first day of any road trip is to get as far from the home stomping grounds as vehicularly possible, so we headed on a diagonal to towards The City by the Bay. Of course we don’t have to mention the wrong turn in Nampa that sent us the wrong direction for half a dozen miles requiring a stealthy back track. Getting lost before leaving the home stomping grounds can remain our secret.

<img class=”size-full wp-image-145 alignright” alt=”” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wpid298-DSCF2341.jpg” width=”400″ height=”300″ />We drove till dark, then swooped in on a Motel 6 in Fairfield, just shy of the Bay Bridge for the night. Somehow, we ended up with the Penthouse room over the office. It was a huge room for the price and the mutts got their pick of the acres of carpet to bed down on. Even Mitchell chose the floor over a night sleeping with his brother, but not before a scrumptious Denney’s dinner across the street.

Turns out, Sunday morning is a great time to head into a big city like S.F. We took a wrong turn on our way to the water front and cruised through downtown. The place was pretty much deserted so we got a good chance to gawk as we weaved our way through the urban canyon of the city center.

<img class=”size-full wp-image-145 alignright” alt=”” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wpid300-DSCF2345.jpg” width=”400″ height=”300″ />Once back on track, we found the parking structure across from Pier 39 and ventured out on foot. The city has been working on some rejuvenation along the shoreline here. An elevated freeway to the Golden Gate Bridge use to hug the coast through here until a 7.1 earthquake did enough damage to cause it’s removal. They’ve done a nice job making the area tourist friendly with lots of palm trees and grassy areas.

First time visitors (like us) are automatically drawn along the west side of the pier by the view of Alcatraz, and the sounds of the hundreds of sea lions parked on floating docks between the piers.

<img class=”size-full wp-image-145 alignright” alt=”” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wpid302-DSCF2355.jpg” width=”400″ height=”274″ />The lions started making this small floating island their winter home in 1990. As many as 900 animals winter over here, but most head south to the Channel Islands north of Los Angeles in the summer. We got there while they were still hanging out waiting for their biological clock to flip over to get-off-your-tail-o-clock.

We checked out the boat trip to “The Rock”, but it was sold out for the day before we even got there. That wasn’t a disappointment though because it was kinda spendy ($120 for the four of us) and since we were towing the dogs anyway, a boat trip wasn’t really in the cards. But the weather was awesome and the view was great.

If I could swim better, I’d love to enter the annual Alcatraz Sharkfest, where about 800 people make their escape from the island under their own power. It’s only a mile and a half and with a body suit it’s hard to imagine that it’s as tough as all the Escape From Alcatraz stories make it out to be.<!– This default template simple inserts each image with the correct width and height –>
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<!– This default template simple inserts each image with the correct width and height –><img class=”size-full wp-image-145 alignright” alt=”” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wpid306-DSCF2364.jpg” width=”400″ height=”384″ />We walked up and down the pier a couple of times checking out all the tourist trap souvenir stores and magic shows. It was amazing how many people wanted to stop and pet the dogs and stand there chatting about them. It was like they’d never seen a dog before. We almost escaped from the pier when Lynette saw a sign for Bubba Gump’s, so we had to go back to find tee shirts. We didn’t stay to eat, but did manage to find some cool shirts to add to our collection.

When we finally had enough, we crossed the sky bridge back to the parking garage and headed up to the limo-van. When we parked on the third floor just an hour or two earlier, only the ground floor had any cars. We parked far higher than necessary thinking that there would be less foot traffic around us in case we decided to give the pups a van-nap while we rode the trollies up to China Town. As we stepped into the garage and our eyes adjusted to the light, we were quite shocked that there was a solid line of cars snaking around every corner as people waited for spaces to open up on every floor. If we had arrived with these conditions, we probably would have skipped the whole deal.

<img class=”size-full wp-image-145 alignright” alt=”” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wpid308-DSCF2370.jpg” width=”400″ height=”332″ />We felt a bit out of place as we made a slow-motion pass through North America’s largest Chinatown. The streets were buzzing with people, cars, bikes and tons of vegetables, fish and unidentifiable food. Wikipedia says this is the most densely populated urban area west of Manhattan but it seemed the parking options are inversely proportional. Although we might have been adventurous enough to try the cuisine, it was clear that any attempt to land the limo would be futile.

We were targeting the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, but to our surprise the our road took us straight through the gates into the Presidio. I thought it was still an active military base so was quite surprised when we passed onto the grounds without running into a checkpoint of any kind. The sudden transition from dense city, to forest and parks was a friendly surprise so we parked and walked around for a bit.

<!– This default template simple inserts each image with the correct width and height –><img class=”size-full wp-image-145 alignright” alt=”” src=”http://www.goclimbarock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wpid310-DSCF2374.jpg” width=”359″ height=”400″ />Mason and I headed to the visitor’s center while Lynette and Mitch strolled the dogs around the park. The “rangers” were pretty proud of the fact that this is the only national park in the country that is fully self supporting. Turns out you can rent a living space in the park starting at 27k for a two bedroom one bath, to upwards of 27k per month for the more desirable units. Yeah right!

After some burgers in the bowling alley, we loaded up the van and made the three minute trip to lands end to check out the bridge.

<!– This default template simple inserts each image with the correct width and height –>I’m still blown away by the construction and engineering of this thing. Walking around and onto the bridge brought back fond memories of the model I built out of balsa wood as a kid. It wasn’t a great replica, but as I remember, it wasn’t all that bad either. Of course, being a kids model its demise one summer day was a story in itself. Something about Mike and Denny deciding to light it on fire. I should have taken more pictures!

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It was getting late and we wanted to make our way far enough up the coast to get away from the crowds, so we hit the road, or the bridge as it were, and headed north.

It’s amazing how close B.F.E. is to S.F. Once across the bridge we turned west and hit highway 1 and within just a few miles we were out on our own. The highway itself is the barrier to the masses. The turns are sharp, abundant and many are just hanging on the edge of the world.

After what seemed like a hundred miles, but was probably more like thirty, we were on a quarter tank and seriously began to wonder where the next gas station might be. It was getting dark and we didn’t want to chance driving past our only fuel opportunity because it was closed for the day so we knew we had to find a place to stay the night, We pulled into a camp ground for the night. We were getting s