Urban Camping in San Francisco

After spending an afternoon at Starbucks trying to find a reasonably priced place to sleep for the night in or near San Francisco (Tip: there are none) we decided to wing it and if worse came to worst we'd just drive around all night.

So we hopped in the Dod and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge.

We drove around a little before coming across a parking lot with an all-day fee of $8. We we're extra pleased to find out that "all-day" applied till 6 a.m. the next morning. Who'd have thought there was prime camping right in downtown San Fran for so cheap?

We filled a water bottle with whiskey and headed out for the Haight-Ashbury district.

Great place. However, the bars sucked, which was weird because the rest of it was so cool. But by this time the water bottle was empty so we stopped at a sports bar that played crappy music and had a beer.

Afterwards we walked down Haight back towards the Dod and strolled throw the lower Haight district where we grabbed a slice of pizza and happened across Noc Noc, a bar that looked like the kind of place a witch doctor would hang out if he moved to the city.

After a couple more beers we made our way back to the Dod. Surprisingly the parking lot was pretty well lit and there was a lot of traffic in the area. Feeling confident about leaving the Dod alone for a little while longer we unlocked the bikes and went for an evening ride through the streets of San Fran. But not before refilling our water bottle.

We eventually made it to the center of the downtown area and stopped to take a few swigs near the skating rink.

After stopping at another bar or two we were pretty hungry. Luckily we came across Tommy's Joynt, a kick-ass sandwich place. I ordered a corned beef and Nikki got a pastrami.

We made our way back to the Dod to pass out for a few hours before we had to leave at 6.

In the morning we drove over to fisherman's wharf, where we spent most of the day today. As Nikki slept in I wandered around the area and took these choice shots just as dawn broke.

That's Alcatraz in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

After rousing Nikki we hit the wharf.

As we wandered up to one of the piers we could hear a strange noise.

Nikki thought someone left their radio on, but I knew what it was.

Sea Lions. Hundreds of them. They pile on top of each other and bark and honk and roll around all day. Sometimes one of the bigger ones lays on top of one of the smaller ones and the smaller one has to squeeze his way out from underneath and then crawl around on top of all the others. Then the other ones get mad at him and bark in his face. It's pretty funny.

We checked out a submarine and a warship and the Musee Mecanique, a museum of old-timey coin-operated machines.

This one had 20's-era nudie pics.

After some chowder we hopped on a cable car and headed downtown where we found an art fair.

A little more wandering and we were ready to hit the road again. We made it a little further south on the HWY 1 and are staying at a Pilot Travel Center tonight. Tomorrow, who knows?

Wine Tasting in Sonoma and Napa Valley

After treating ourselves to a light breakfast and eight cups of coffee at the Fort Bragg Denny's we got back on Highway 1 towards wine country! Highway 1, a.k.a. Big Sur, offers spectacular views of the Pacific coast. Thankfully, there are many turn-outs for slower traffic so we often pull aside and take our time driving along the windy road and taking in the view.

A view from the Big Sur!

One of many Sonoma Coast turn-offs.

Chris on the beach on Sonoma Coast.

Clammy rock on the shore.

Chris sea shell seeking down by the sea shore. He gave me big one and said "Here, make yourself a big ol' English teacher necklace." :)

Probably not the safest beach for swimming...

Cool kitty cat on the shore.

Don't they look like they're all going to open wide and start singing in harmony? Maybe it's just me...

Weird seaweed that's not found on the Atlantic coast. It grosses me out.

Succulent vegetation covering the sea wall.

We attempted to camp at Point Reyes, but the cheapest camping available was a whopping $42 a night! It's too bad we missed seeing the Tule Elk grazing or the old lighthouse but it's just plain unaffordable to stay there.

A fee to pee? You gotta be kidding me.

How rude!

Since camping was obviously out of out budget at Point Reyes, we found a Walmart a few towns away and slept there for the night. The next morning we drove to Sonoma Valley for a long day of wine tasting. We visited six wineries over the course of the day and we each tried about 40 wines! We had a lot of fun and ended up buying three bottles: One port, one white merlot and one raspberry sparkling.

Cline Winery was probably our favorite winery to visit. It is a French style winery and many of their grape vines are between 90-120 years old. Cline offers a complimentary tasting and the woman pouring for us was quite generous with the pours and also gave us a couple free tastings of their reserve wines. There was a big fountain and a bunch of bird cages behind the winery.

I know why the caged bird sings. Because she lives on a vineyard in Sonoma Valley!

Prettier pigeon than the Chicago breed.

This feller had an 18 inch long tail!

Coo... coo... coo...

SQUACK!

The Dod in front of a vineyard in Sonoma Valley.

After Cline, we crossed the street to visit Italian style Jacuzzi Family Vineyards. In addition to the complimentary wine tasting, they had olive oils that were infused with everything from garlic basil to blood orange.

Jacuzzi castle. An Italian family owned vineyard and winery.

Fountain behind Jacuzzi winery.

The pirate atop the fountain decorated assumably in honor of Veteran's Day.

Posing in front of the Jacuzzi vineyards.

We found a chair built for a giant near the Roshambo winery.

On Friday, we decided to hit up a few more wineries in Napa Valley. Napa is typically more expensive than Sonoma, so we did a little research and visited a few that were $0-$5. Folie a Deux and Napa Cellars was our first stop. Comme-ci comme-ca. Next, we stopped by Sutter Home.

We were pleasantly surprised to have such a fun time wine tasting at Sutter Home. 100% of their profits from their White Zinfandel Reserve go towards breast cancer funding. Their three-red varietal wine simply titled "Red" was right up my alley. Also, the woman running the show was delightful!

After Sutter Home, we went to a boutique winery across the street which had two excellent cabernets and port wines. The bottles were $25 and up so we declined purchasing any. We ended at another boutique winery and there was a dozen or so people tasting as well so we tried our five and split unnoticed.

After a couple of hours driving on windy paths we finally found a place to stay for the night. $25 to park in a parking lot for the night. I'm sorry that California is in such a state of economic crisis but please! If the nightly State Park fee remains at a whopping $35, you're going to lose your tourist industry as well.