San Francisco! - Posted from Monterey

Time is running so fast! It feels like only yesterday when I met Remco in San Francisco, but since then I've driven some 800 miles and seen three national parks! A route update (last leg still missing):

The loop is almost complete :-(. A couple days of surfing, a visit to Maker Faire in San Mateo, and then a rush back to LA to return the van and move on to the next leg of the trip! But first, back to the days in San Francisco. My apologies for this post being such a huuuuuuuuuggggeeeeee one!

The trip started with an amazing drive: crossing the Golden Gate bridge! Wow this bridge is a landmark: you can see it from a lot of places inside the city (far away) and from close-by it's size is just awe-inspiring.

Youtube: http://youtu.be/u43zXqHEyP0

Remco would have to finish his work day first, so I explored the area around the golden gate a little bit to get some good views of it. Afterwards it was into town. Quite strange to drive in such a busy (and steep!) place again, lots of stop signs, trolley buses, trams, full attention required! Parking in this town is an interesting challenge: I had prepared to park in a parking lot near to Remco's office, but when I entered it one of the service guys said it would be $45,- instead of the $12 I had found. Luckily he offered me to turn the van around, which took some 4-5 attempts in a very narrow squeeze.. using the weel hub space for extra maneuvering space... he had done this before! The parking lot next door was a lot cheaper ($10,-), but also came with its own minuses...

Remco's office was just around the corner, so he came by, we put his bike in the van and moved off to get some dinner... the people hanging around the parking lot were a lot of shady characters, but I figured it would be alright and if not, I'm insured...

We found a nice Thai place nearby with very nice food and it was nice talking Dutch with Remco again. He updated me on his life in San Francisco, how it was going with his business and we shared some US travel stories. Sadly his wife wasn't in, her parents were visiting and they were off to Yosemite and Sequoia in a proper RV. We made some plans for the coming days (surfing!) and as Remco has a very busy schedule (getting up at 05:30am) we also went to bed quite early. Remco and Anke's place is downtown San Fransisco is very, very nice, I'll put some pictures on later in this post. They have a guest bedroom, and ofcourse the luxury of a bathroom, kitchen, sitting area and stuff... very nice to enjoy this luxury for a few days!

Being Dutch, bikes are of course also part of their lives, for Remco more than for Anke (Remco bikes too work, Anke doesn't like the hills too much). For my first full day in San Fransisco I could lend one of the bikes, and Remco showed me route on the map which was very nice to cycle. 

I got up a little later than Remco (Sorry! Too little sleep from the road trip), got some pictures sorted, blog posted communication done etc, so before it was time to take off on the bike it was something like 11:00am. 

It was very nice to be on a bike again. Ofcourse the traffic takes some getting used to... stupid Americans with their stop signs... replacing those by right of way signs would save probably some 10% of the US fuel consumption.

SF being as hilly as it is this day was also some good exercise! Finding my way around the golden gate park was kinda difficult, so I ended up at the beach, instead of somewhere up hill towards the golden gate itself. This was nice for sightseeing reasons, but by the time I got to the Golden Gate I had some 20 minutes left before I needed to turn back to be back in time to pick up the van: we had planned on meeting at a local beach for a surf session. I ended up cycling mostly the same route back which I had driven yesterday with the van while entering SF. Well, no problem, it was good exercise, the weather was nice and it was a great way of exploring the city. See the video below for an impression of the sights. Ofcourse, as almost every tourist in SF I have also visited Alamo park and the houses which feature in 'Full House'. A series which I probably haven't thought about for some 20 years until Remco mentioned it. Brought back some great memories of being a kid eating chips and watching 'Full House' in your pyjama's on saturday evening just before bed time :).

With Remco I had had some discussion about which surf sites would be nicest. There's a spot at the Golden Gate which has strong currents and risky shipping, and some easier spots an hours drive away, even one where wave surfing is also possible a little further still. Depending on the timing we would chose one. Since I was completely knackered after the uphill cycling and Remco had more work to finish then originally planned we ended up picking the golden gate. I was betting on falling off the board the moment I would get on, so Remco took the honours for a crappy after work session: too little wind meant he was almost swept into the local marina by the currents... ah well, at least he got to surf with Golden Gate in the background.

An impression of the day below:

Youtube: http://youtu.be/QfCy3QDSCds

We ate a nice (Italian) pizza in town and the evening was short once again. I planned on visiting Alcatraz early next morning, and Remco pointed out some other spots worth visiting.

Today we both got up early, I had to move the van to a free parking spot before 7am and afterwards get to Alcatraz, and Remco had to start working early again of course. We rode into the city by bike, where I dropped mine off at Remco's office so that I could walk towards the Pier where the ferry to Alcatraz leaves.

Walking around the city you also see how many buskers and hobo's there are in SF, as, actually, in a lot of big US cities. Strange to see how many people apparently are not part of the American Dream... but well, I'm a tourist... so it's touristing time... :-S.

Alcatraz: everyone knows it from the movies and the legends that have been created around it. Entering the island the first impression it makes is that of negligence and dilapidation. The buildings are worn and weathered and some have collapsed. The port buildings are covered in plaques from different eras in its history: the warnings for helping convicts escape, the welcome to the penitentiary, graffiti about the Indian nations, and of course a national park emblem, the service that now manages Alcatraz. 

It's cool to walk to a piece of history while you're on the island, and the stories on the audio tour inside the facility are fascinating as well. One of the escape attempts resulted in a standoff that lasted a few days. Marines finally entered the facility while throwing grenades to kill the entrenched prisoners, who had killed 5 guards in cold blood. An impression in pictures below.

Isolation: the hole

If you have visitors they're on the other side of this

The current outside of Alcatraz is a stark contrast with these innards. The civilian inhabitants of the island (the prison staff and their families) started gardening back in the day, even though the island has stood neglected for dozens of years the plants are still there. In the meanwhile local wildlife has also invaded the island, and the current maintenance is aimed at restoring the gardens and keeping the wildlife protected. This results in a stark contrast between colorful flowers and collapsed and worn buildings.

All in all a very nice morning trip: lots of interesting stories, beautiful views and nice wildlife. I contintued my touristic day by exploring the pier area: the seal colony, some old ships and lunch at the incredibly touristy fisherman's wharf. 

Afterwards I walked back towards the city center again, through the beautiful streets with street cars and nicely painted and decorated houses. Quite an intensive hike!

For the final day in San Francisco I planned on visiting Oakland: across from the bay bridge this area has some large contrasts as well: rich suburbs around Berkeley, low down areas near the industry below the bridge. I planned on finding some smiths there, because some googling showed that there is a lot happening in and near San Francisco: amongst others some of the people building giant metal fire spewing stuff for Burning Man are working in Oakland. However, the only thing I managed to find was 'the crucible' a creative center where all kinds of crafts are taught: Blacksmithing, welding, glass blowing, foundry, etc. An interesting place and I had a nice little chat with a teacher and some students there. There would be an open night in three days, but sadly I did not have that much time to stay in San Francisco. The other smiths I had planned on visiting were nowhere to be found (or they work in locked down, fenced and rusty buildings... From a nice paper article there were supposed to be at least a dozen smiths working in the area in Adeline street, but all I could see was 'the hood': thrash everywhere and groups of people standing on street corners... not a good area.

One of the surprises was a smith right in the downtown area wedged in between skyscrapers: he was closed though, so all I could see was that he was still there. Some better planning and I might have had a proper visit with him.

Remco had customers over that day, so he was working from early morning till late in the evening. I took the opportunity to shop for some fresh veggies at the yuppie 'Berkeley Bowl' and cook myself some nice wraps for the evening.

The next morning I said goodbye to Remco. It was really nice to see someone from back home again, and also to see how well his company is doing, great to see these guys from university growing a worldwide business! The visit also taught me how much hard work is involved in being an entrepreneur: 12-14h days are the norm. It reminds me of my Solarteam days, but I think that nowadays I would not have the dedication to work so hard anymore! 

Remco in front of the building where his office is located

Great place to live!

After these few days in a nice house in San Fransisco it's time for life on the road again: the van, national parks and roadside camping! Mentioning the van: I haven't explained about the exchange yet! Actually there was no dramatic problem at all: just a ripped seam in the seat which kept growing bigger and bigger... Escape's proposal was to just swap the van, which would be easier then fixing it on the road. Actually not all that bad a swap: a 2000 van with 150.000 miles on it for a 2010 one with 80.000. On top of that I have more storage space, and probably also better mileage (and the paintjob is pretty sweet!). Well, let's see in the coming travels how this new van (called 'Queens') is gonna hold up.

ripped seam... 

Picasa pictures of the San Fransisco days are here:

Day 46: Crossing the Golden Gate

Day 47: Cycling San Francisco

Day 48: Touristing in San Francisco

Day 49: Exploring Oakland