B19: California Dreamin' 1988

Lean On Me! San Francisco Hills & Houses

Almost 32 years ago I headed to California for the first time; to visit my close childhood friend, Catherine. And what a holiday it was! My second ever overseas holiday. Many years later I still class this amongst the best holidays I ever had. Catherine was living up at Squaw Valley (Olympic Valley), Lake Tahoe at that time and drove down all the way to San Francisco in her beat up VW Rabbit to meet me at SF airport.  

 ​I was so excited flying to the US all on my own.  I remember the friendly American couple sitting beside me on my way from Shannon to Boston, Massachusetts enthralling me with stories from their US Army days in Vietnam.  After a leisurely stopover in Boston airport, I nearly had a coronary to learn that through a travel agent ticket mix-up I had missed my connecting flight to San Francisco!  My luggage was on its way but I wasn’t! 

In the days before mobile phones there was no way to get a message to Catherine who was waiting for me at the airport.  Helpful airline staff got me on a flight to Mineapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota from where I could connect to San Francisco, California.  I remember running through both airports like a mad woman and I’d say I lost at least a half stone in weight by the time I met up with Catherine at SF airport!   I was so excited I hardly slept that first night at the Days Inn, San Francisco Airport!   It was the first motel I ever stayed in!
​

Mary at The Golden Gate Bridge 1988

Golden Gate Bridge
The first week in the Golden State was spent couch surfing in the downtown SF city centre apartment of a friend and in Mill Valley over the Golden Gate Bridge. Me expecting to see a young Michael Douglas any minute. 😂 Our first day we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge.  The sun was shining and there was no sign at all of the fog that San Francisco is famous for.  

Coit Tower, San Francisco, 1988

Coit Tower
Later we climbed the over 200 foot Coit Tower and marvelled at the views from the top.  The whole vista of the city and the bay spread out below us.  I fell in love with SF at that moment!

Cable Car, San Francisco 1988 (with Alcatraz in the background)

​Cable Cars
 The following day we rode the cable cars – hanging on to the outside as they sped down the hills.  I remembered all the car chases I had watched in “The Streets of San Francisco” with the police cars bouncing over the crest of the hills…..and here I now was.  I had to pinch myself several times to see if I was dreaming!

Cruising out to Alcatraz

Alcatraz
 We cruised out to and later escaped from Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay!   While there we did the tour where you hire headphones to hear the sounds of what it must have been like as a prison.  So near in many ways to the vibrant city; the sounds of which float over the water….and yet so far; cut off by the treacherous tidal waters of San Francisco Bay.

Mary locked up in Alcatraz

Fisherman's Wharf, Sealions, Lombard Street & Chinatown
Later, we ate delicious food at Fisherman’s Wharf whilst watching the sea lions.  We drove down Lombard Street...”the crookedest street in the world”.  We marvelled at Chinatown, the bustling maze of streets and alleys brimming with dim sum joints and other traditional eateries.

Lombard Street - "the crookedest street in the world"

Hugging a Redwood, Muir Woods
North of the city I got to hug Giant Sequoias in Muir Woods – Number 13 on my Bucket List.  They were even bigger in real life than I could ever have imagined in geography class.  Some of them I couldn’t even see the top of!  To think that most of the trees were between 500 and 800 years old ….with the oldest estimated at 1,200 years old was completely mind-boggling to me.

Mary hugging a Redwood 1988

Stinson Beach, St. Rafael, Sausalito, Tiburon & San Quentin Prison!
Leaving Muir Woods I dipped my toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time at Stinson Beach. The drive back took us through the pretty towns of St Rafael, Sausalito and Tiburon.  We even rocked up to the gates of San Quentin prison one day looking for the Visitor’s Centre (!!) only to have a bemused State Trooper with a rifle slung across his chest shoo us away with “Ma’am this is a top security state penitentiary!!” 

San Quentin Prison Gates

Camping & Hiking in Yosemite National Park
The second week we went on to camp in the stunningly beautiful Yosemite National Park where a claustrophobic Catherine slept each night with her head outside the tent and the latter zipped down to her neck! I unzipped the tent each morning half-afraid a bear would have taken a liking to her during the night 😁 We hiked up for a view of Half Dome that has stayed in my mind’s eye since as one of the most stunning vistas I’ve been privileged to witness.

We drove south to Fresno where I had the pleasure of my first and only meeting so far with my lovely secondary school pen pal, Shawn, in a Denny’s restaurant. Shawn gave me a gift of a Garfield that day ....and I still have him back in Carrick 32 years later.

"Garfield" in Carrick

Drinking Californian Wine
 Heading back to Tahoe, we toured through the glorious vineyards of the Napa Valley. Napa valley wine is famous the world over.  We toured through beautiful places like St. Helena, Calistoga and Yountville. We drank some tasty Californian wine in California (Nos. 34 and 37 on my Bucket List).  Well, I drank the wine, Catherine was driving! …at Domaine Chandon and the Christian Brothers vineyards.  

Admiring a Napa Valley Vineyard (1988)

Lake Tahoe
 Up at Tahoe I got to see Catherine’s then home in Olympic Valley, Lake Tahoe and meet in person the friends she had written me about. I could see why she loved the ski resort…and the year-round holiday atmosphere.  Cruising on the crystal blue lake itself was magical.  I loved the houses in Truckee and Homewood.

Tahoe & Me

Panning for gold in a gold rush town
 That third week, we panned for gold in the Yuba river in nearby Downieville but alas found no nuggets we could retire on. The town of Downieville dates back to the gold rush fever period of the 1800’s.  Though many of the original buildings here had been destroyed by fires, a few were remaining.

"There's gold in dem der hills!"

Crossing into Nevada, Heavenly, Carson City, Reno & The Ponderosa Ranch!
Driving anti-clockwise around the circumference of Lake Tahoe we hiked up to the aptly named Heavenly ski resort having and crossed the State line into Nevada where we visited the Old West town of Carson City.  We had time to play (and lose!) at some slots in the Reno casinos and visited the set of the Ponderosa Ranch at Incline Village where the 1960's TV series "Bonanza" was filmed.  A mannequin Ben Cartwright was even there to welcome us.  I was engrossed in it all.  (Sadly, since I was there in 1988, the Ponderosa closed down in Sept 2004.)

My Ticket for the Ponderosa Ranch 1988

Heading Home
Flying home to Shannon after my three week holiday, I realised how lucky I had been to experience all of the wonderful sights, tastes and smells of California....most of it down to Catherine’s superb itinerary planning. I marvel now at how much we fitted in to just 3 weeks!  How lucky I am to still count Catherine and Shawn as my friends for whom I am forever thankful ❤❤.

Bucket List Items Ticked Off in the above Blog post
Number 13 - Nature & Wildlife - Hug a Redwood Tree (USA - California)
Number 34 (4) - Food & Drink - Regional Drinks - Drink Californian Wine in California
Number 37 - Food & Drink - Go  wine tasting in The Napa Valley
​Number 57 - 3/7- Continents - North America
Number 58 (4) - Countries - USA
Number 59 (14) - Hotels - Days Inn, San Francisco Airport
​Number 60 (12) - Cities - Boston, MA, USA
                   60 (13) - Cities - Minneapolis/ St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
                    60 (14) - Cities - San Francisco, CA, USA
                     60 (15) - Cities - Reno, Nevada, USA
                     60 (16) - Cities - Carson City, Nevada, USA
                     60 (17) - Cities - Fresno, CA, USA
Number 62 - Travel - See 8 of the US States
                         - 1) Massachussets
                         - 2) Minnesota
                         - 3) California
                         - 4)  Nevada
Number 76 (13) - UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Muir Woods, California - Redwood National and State Parks
Number 76 (14) - UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Yosemite National Park, California
Number 80 (5) - Tall Buildings/ Vantage Points - Coit Tower, San Francisco

​Other Blog Posts
Blog 11 - Sydney, Australia
Blog 12 - Hong Kong, China
Blog 17 - Beijing, Xi'an & Shanghai, China


Have you been to California?  Tell me about your experience in the comments section below.
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