North of the Bay

I was just about to edit some pictures from my recent hikes, at the Gaviota Wind Caves and at the Old Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park, when I rediscovered some pictures from my first trip up north from December. These shots were taken on Day 3 as I was circling around Oakland on my way to Sonoma and then back down to San Francisco through San Rafael.

This half of the trip was what really did it for me. Just to see all of the rolling hills filled with vineyards and to walk into the local Whole Foods (grocery store chain) and seeing an entire refrigerator wall full of craft brew beer. (see photo below) That was the biggest variety I have ever seen outside of Total Wine, Bevmo and La Bodega!

I started my day off in Fremont, CA. I had one mission to stop at before I started making my way to Vallejo.

View of the hills right next to Mission San Jose.

For those of you that might know the area, I hopped on the 680 and cut up, through the hills to the bridge  to Vallejo when I was stopped at a rape station...... err I mean toll booth. Apparently all of the bridges in the area have toll booths because our streets and freeways fund is always raided by the state government. But I digress.

I was bored while waiting for my turn to come. So I snapped this in the meantime.

I took a slight little detour through a bad ass nature reserve. I always love how the nature reserves are conveniently placed near a plant of some sort. This one was next to a ridiculously huge oil refinery and a Six Flags, which I became disappointed and sad when I saw that it was closed. Here are a couple of images while I was illegally and quite dangerously shot while going like 70mph

This bridge was the one that crossed over onto the nature reserve/marshlands.. Isn't that an awesome reflection of my defroster vent from my car?

From on top of the bridge seen in the previous shot. I believe the hills in the distance were from the San Rafael side of the upper bay.

Another view of the hills on the San Rafael side of the bay. I think I had to look through the viewfinder to attempt this shot. I didn't have any close calls and I am normally a safe driver. well... except for that speeding tickit and all of those accidents I was in previously. Anybody want to ride with me?

I was originally going to see the mission in the center of San Francisco first, but it didn't really make much sense and it would have cost me more gas in the long run. So, I hit the last mission on the list, San Francisco Solano, in Sonoma. Unfortunately, I'm still am working on my project so I don't have those pictures for your viewing pleasure at this time, but here are some of the cool sites around the town square where the mission also resides.

Since I had parked in a 2 hour parking spot and my lack of time, I hopped into my car and hi tailed it out of there. I had actually stopped at the nearest whole foods which was about a block away and snapped that shot at the top.  I'll have to do an in depth analyses at some point on one of the man made wonders that the area is incredibly well known for Russian River Brewery;s Pliney The Elder. Which are incredibly plentiful up there. I grabbed 3! Not as many as other people I know that got like 4 of those cheap Styrofoam coolers full of them.

I hopped on the road and made my way back to the 101 Freeway and stopped at the next destination, San Rafael. Unfortunately, I didn't really give a crap about that town. (can you blame me for being honest?) I got these next two shots that might have shown up on a previous post.

An uncanny ability to showcase a town, right?! I wasn't too enthused. My mind was stuck on what the next place looked like. 

These next two were also taken dangerously and probably illegally. The first one, I'm actually going to be hanging in my office at work sometime soon.

Well, That was most of a days events. For the pictures from later in the day, you can view them here.

I would like to leave you all with my picture of the trip. I took a similar one with Instagram, but this one was shot with film. It's perfect except for the photographer near the bridge in the middle and the person standing on the left, but hey, nobody is counting.

The Land of Gates of Gold

So, recently, I've had a lack of posts going. My one year anniversary is coming up later this month and I'm trying to save post #100 for that day. It's a big moment in my life, because it will be the 2nd time that I've started something and I've followed through. A VERY big achievement for me, and one that shall probably be duplicated again in the near future. Now lets get on back to our tour of El Camino Real.

Today's adventures take us to the land of bridges and gates of gold. I made somewhat of a detour that day To save time, and to maximize my viewing pleasures. I stayed the evening in Fremont, CA. I short stones throw across the bay from the epic and fantastic, San Francisco. My happenings from earlier in the day will be documented on my next posting from Sonoma.

So I was leaving the small and very unfulfilling mission in San Rafael. I was on the freeway heading south for one of the most magnificent sights I've ever seen in my life, The Golden Gate Bridge. This massive structure most definitely falls under the category of man made wonders of the world. I exited the tunnel that was around the last bend and uttered, highly explicitly, "Holy Shit!"

The two images above, taken incredibly dangerously and would have been worth the $300 cell phone ticket should I have recieved one, do not do this bridge justice. I think the only spot I could take in the massive size was from the drive towards it from San Rafael. Well worth the 8 hour drive, from Southern California, alone!

I was thinking back to the post that Susie wrote on her trip up north, and decided I was could to conquer this bridge but walking across it. Unfortunately all of the parking spaces were taken in the main parking lot so I instead drove up the next street to the old military batallment that was built there in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

Some of the spots were incredibly creepy, See Directly below, but the view of the area more than made up for that.

Above is the best view I took from my DSLR. I have another that I'm sitting on that I took with my Black and White camera. I've yet to develop any of those films, but I think I might be getting to that next weekend.

I would love to take the little tour that would let me drive one of these awesome little carts below. I think they are based off of those three wheeled motorcycle/scooters that have been popping up everywhere recently.

Other than the part of my assignment I was working on, I unfrotunately didn't have an opportunity to stop and take the city in. Though I have one funny story to mention.

My car has a manual transmission, and for the longest time, I was always against driving one of those in the city of San Francisco. Mostly because of the rediculous amount of hills that I had heard about. So, on my adventures, I was using my "trusty" GPS. After I left the betallment, the location I needed to get to was on the other side of town. So I punched in the address on my GPS, and away I go. Then the unexpected happens. It tells me to turn. So I turn and it happens to be on the STEEPEST hill in the damn city. 

When you have a manual transmission on the steepest hill, all you gotta do is make sure you're hitting the gas often so you are rolling up and don't stay still for one second. If you come to a complete stop at the stop signs, there is a major chance of rolling backwards. Even with an automatic transmission. Thankfully I finally made it to the top. I think I lost more hair on the top of my head from all the stress and then I get ready to do a break check for the incredibly steep way down. Phew!

I think I would do it again, now. People are really nice on that hill. They don't get close behind you, and you really aren't expected to come to a complete stop at every stop sign. I think the street was called Divisidero St. Now you all can avoid it and take the 101/ Lombard St over to where the 101 curves around to Van Ness. What a hell of a drive.