Road trip notes, week 2
Monday, June 9th, 2014 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chanaleh
Week 2 photos are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/93788108@N00/sets/72157645135034283/
Full trip photos (all in one album) are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/93788108@N00/sets/72157644898605426/
Day 7: Thursday, May 29
• Got up, checked out.
• Breakfast at "local favorite" Smitty's Pancake House (not actually as good as the Denny's, sad to say).
• Drove down through Nevada (state #9).
• Spent a few tense hours having a stupid fight over nothing, but made it up at a rest stop by late afternoon.
• Stopped in Winnemucca for gas and then dinner (Sid's Family Restaurant).
• Ended up deciding to just stay put rather than drive on to Lovelock.
• Located a motel room.
• Grocery/beer run at the Raley's.
Overnight: Motel 6, Winnemucca, NV (featuring the tiniest shower we saw on the whole trip)
Day 8: Friday, May 30
• Got up, checked out.
• Back to Sid's for breakfast.
• Drove all the way down to Reno; drove into town as far as one casino sighting, gave it up as a bad job, and got back on the highway.
• Continued down via Carson City to South Lake Tahoe, CA (state #10).
• More crazy winding mountain roads.
• Stopped off at beach/marina just long enough to get feet wet and take pictures of beautiful surrounding woods.
• Got back on the road to Lodi.
• Got to Mom's house about an hour and a half later than originally planned. Reheated chicken dinner still AWESOME.
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 9: Saturday, May 31
• Mom and Ernie took us for breakfast to their friends' new restaurant, "California Al's".
• Did laundry.
• Ernie grilled tri-tip.
• Aunt Cindy and Uncle Jim came over for dinner (and brought their new Siamese kitten).
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 10: Sunday, June 1
• Got up, had coffee.
• Went to the "Jewish Food Festival" in Stockton (an annual thing put on by their Temple Israel). Ate bagels and corned beef sandwiches, toured the sanctuary, shopped for Judaica, got schmoozed up by the locals.
• Found out midafternoon that I had accidentally confused my brother about the date of the (previous night's) family dinner and he was on his way up from Sunnyvale right then.
• Once he arrived, we all went over to Cindy & Jim's to hang out and pet the kitten, then out to Strings for Italian food.
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 11: Monday, June 2
A quiet day.
• Slept in as much as we could.
• Aaron fixed Mom's computer while I sat outside on the patio reading the Internet (in the sun) until my iPad overheated (!).
• Mom came home early and we went over to play Scrabble with her 93-year-old neighbor across the street.
• Leftover tri-tip for dinner.
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 12: Tuesday, June 3
• Got up, had breakfast.
• Picked up Mom from her office and drove out to Murphys, CA, to tour the Ironstone Winery.
• Came home and chilled out.
• Leftover chicken for dinner.
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 13: Wednesday, June 4
• Got up, had breakfast.
• Finally got out of the house around 11am.
• Drove to Yosemite National Park.
• Drove through Yosemite Valley, then parked in the lot and took the shuttle back to the Lower Falls.
• Walked (not really "hiked") up to the Lower Falls and climbed on the rocks.
• Had dinner in the bar at the Yosemite Lodge.
• Returned to the car and drove all the way down to Mariposa Grove at the south end of the park.
• Admired the giant sequoias.
• Saw bunches of deer, eventually getting within about 10 feet of three of them.
• Got back on the road about 8:30pm and home about 11:45pm.
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 14: Thursday, June 5
• Got up, did a final load of laundry, and packed up.
• Drove to Fremont, CA, to park at the BART station.
• Took the BART all the way in to Powell St.
• Checked into the Hilton Union Square (a wedding gift from Aunt Cindy and Uncle Jim on their HH points).
• Headed off on foot to get dinner at The Stinking Rose, a.k.a. "the garlic restaurant", where I had wanted to eat since I first heard of it many years ago.
• Walked through Chinatown on the way, which was new to me and very picturesque. After NYC's sprawling and stinking Chinatown, this was like a tidy little Disney version with shiny knickknacks displayed in bright shop windows and red lanterns strung up in the streets.
• Crossed out of Chinatown and into North Beach, and immediately found TSR, which lived up to its motto ("We season our garlic with food"). Everything was pretty good, though the only really astounding thing was the raw garlic pesto on the table, which I'll be dreaming about for months. We also ordered the bagna calda (garlic cloves simmered in olive oil and served hot at the table), which meant we could have garlic sandwiches with garlic spread. By the time the main courses arrived, it was impossible to tell whether they had any garlic in them or not.
• The dessert menu duly featured garlic ice cream, but we decided to skip that and instead walked up further all the way to Ghirardelli Square (making it in about 10:40pm, before they closed at 11pm).
• Took the 19 bus back to the Tenderloin and walked the few blocks back to the hotel.
Overnight: Hilton San Francisco Union Square
Day 15: Friday, June 6
• Slept in.
• Got coffee from the cart near the BART station. Briefly pondered trying to take the cable car up to the wharf, but ended up just setting out on foot after looking at the crazy line.
• Walked all the way to Fisherman's Wharf (retracing some of our steps from the night before, this time in daylight) to go to In & Out Burger for lunch.
• Got on a Red & White bay cruise to see the Golden Gate and sail around Alcatraz (we found out a couple days earlier that the actual tour of the island was sold out for weeks in advance).
• Bummed around Pier 39 for a while, visiting the sea lion colony and getting coffee (to warm up! brr! San Francisco in June!) at the Biscoff cart.
• Walked back through North Beach in search of dinner and ended up at a random Italian place, the U.S. Restaurant.
• Took the bus back to the hotel.
Overnight: Hilton San Francisco Union Square
Day 16: Saturday, June 7
• Got up, checked out.
• Got breakfast at the Pine Crest Diner.
• Took the bus over to Haight-Ashbury, basically just so we could take![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
etrace's mandatory souvenir picture with the intersection sign.
• Walked up as far as Golden Gate Park, did a very brief loop in there, then walked back to a bus stop.
• Got coffee in order to get change for the bus (which then it turned out we didn't even need, since our transfers were still valid for the return trip), and returned to Powell St. to catch the BART.
• Redeemed our car at Fremont station.
• Drove to my brother Rick's house in Sunnyvale.
• Hung out and listened to Spotify for a while.
• Went out for dinner in Palo Alto at Rick's favorite place, Calafia (he works for Nest and Charlie Ayers is their belovedpet corporate chef).
• Came home and walked across the Caltrain station to the other end of Murphy Avenue to get a pint at the quietest available pub.
• I went to bed while the boys stayed up and bonded, but then there were late-night shenanigans involving a drunk guy turning up in the backyard... followed by six police cars all looking for said guy (apparently because he had fled from them at another Murphy Ave venue). Yikes.
Overnight: Rick's house, Sunnyvale, CA
Day 17: Sunday, June 8
• Got up and packed out without waking up Rick.
• Drove to San Jose to have lunch with my old friend Marybelle (from Valpo back in junior high; she lived down the block from us) and her husband and adorable two-year-old.
• Drove over to the Winchester Mystery House and had the tour.
• Drove to Santa Cruz (more crazy winding woodsy roads, but luckily the heinous traffic was all on the other side of the road).
• Parked the car and walked alongside the beach, then up the fabled boardwalk. My family had visited Santa Cruz back in 1987, but I definitely didn't remember that "the boardwalk" was a fully featured seaside amusement park, complete with roller coasters. We basically window-shopped it: walked through all the arcades but did not play any games, nor ride any rides nor eat any corn dogs.
• Picked out a motel somewhat at random from the assortment in view of the beach.
• Had a nice dinner overlooking the marina at the Ideal Bar & Grill.
• Moved the car, settled into the room, and then I ran out and brought back ice cream before we turned in.
Overnight: Fireside Inn Motel, Santa Cruz, CA
Full trip photos (all in one album) are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/93788108@N00/sets/72157644898605426/
Day 7: Thursday, May 29
• Got up, checked out.
• Breakfast at "local favorite" Smitty's Pancake House (not actually as good as the Denny's, sad to say).
• Drove down through Nevada (state #9).
• Spent a few tense hours having a stupid fight over nothing, but made it up at a rest stop by late afternoon.
• Stopped in Winnemucca for gas and then dinner (Sid's Family Restaurant).
• Ended up deciding to just stay put rather than drive on to Lovelock.
• Located a motel room.
• Grocery/beer run at the Raley's.
Overnight: Motel 6, Winnemucca, NV (featuring the tiniest shower we saw on the whole trip)
Day 8: Friday, May 30
• Got up, checked out.
• Back to Sid's for breakfast.
• Drove all the way down to Reno; drove into town as far as one casino sighting, gave it up as a bad job, and got back on the highway.
• Continued down via Carson City to South Lake Tahoe, CA (state #10).
• More crazy winding mountain roads.
• Stopped off at beach/marina just long enough to get feet wet and take pictures of beautiful surrounding woods.
• Got back on the road to Lodi.
• Got to Mom's house about an hour and a half later than originally planned. Reheated chicken dinner still AWESOME.
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 9: Saturday, May 31
• Mom and Ernie took us for breakfast to their friends' new restaurant, "California Al's".
• Did laundry.
• Ernie grilled tri-tip.
• Aunt Cindy and Uncle Jim came over for dinner (and brought their new Siamese kitten).
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 10: Sunday, June 1
• Got up, had coffee.
• Went to the "Jewish Food Festival" in Stockton (an annual thing put on by their Temple Israel). Ate bagels and corned beef sandwiches, toured the sanctuary, shopped for Judaica, got schmoozed up by the locals.
• Found out midafternoon that I had accidentally confused my brother about the date of the (previous night's) family dinner and he was on his way up from Sunnyvale right then.
• Once he arrived, we all went over to Cindy & Jim's to hang out and pet the kitten, then out to Strings for Italian food.
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 11: Monday, June 2
A quiet day.
• Slept in as much as we could.
• Aaron fixed Mom's computer while I sat outside on the patio reading the Internet (in the sun) until my iPad overheated (!).
• Mom came home early and we went over to play Scrabble with her 93-year-old neighbor across the street.
• Leftover tri-tip for dinner.
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 12: Tuesday, June 3
• Got up, had breakfast.
• Picked up Mom from her office and drove out to Murphys, CA, to tour the Ironstone Winery.
• Came home and chilled out.
• Leftover chicken for dinner.
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 13: Wednesday, June 4
• Got up, had breakfast.
• Finally got out of the house around 11am.
• Drove to Yosemite National Park.
• Drove through Yosemite Valley, then parked in the lot and took the shuttle back to the Lower Falls.
• Walked (not really "hiked") up to the Lower Falls and climbed on the rocks.
• Had dinner in the bar at the Yosemite Lodge.
• Returned to the car and drove all the way down to Mariposa Grove at the south end of the park.
• Admired the giant sequoias.
• Saw bunches of deer, eventually getting within about 10 feet of three of them.
• Got back on the road about 8:30pm and home about 11:45pm.
Overnight: Mom's house, Lodi, CA
Day 14: Thursday, June 5
• Got up, did a final load of laundry, and packed up.
• Drove to Fremont, CA, to park at the BART station.
• Took the BART all the way in to Powell St.
• Checked into the Hilton Union Square (a wedding gift from Aunt Cindy and Uncle Jim on their HH points).
• Headed off on foot to get dinner at The Stinking Rose, a.k.a. "the garlic restaurant", where I had wanted to eat since I first heard of it many years ago.
• Walked through Chinatown on the way, which was new to me and very picturesque. After NYC's sprawling and stinking Chinatown, this was like a tidy little Disney version with shiny knickknacks displayed in bright shop windows and red lanterns strung up in the streets.
• Crossed out of Chinatown and into North Beach, and immediately found TSR, which lived up to its motto ("We season our garlic with food"). Everything was pretty good, though the only really astounding thing was the raw garlic pesto on the table, which I'll be dreaming about for months. We also ordered the bagna calda (garlic cloves simmered in olive oil and served hot at the table), which meant we could have garlic sandwiches with garlic spread. By the time the main courses arrived, it was impossible to tell whether they had any garlic in them or not.
• The dessert menu duly featured garlic ice cream, but we decided to skip that and instead walked up further all the way to Ghirardelli Square (making it in about 10:40pm, before they closed at 11pm).
• Took the 19 bus back to the Tenderloin and walked the few blocks back to the hotel.
Overnight: Hilton San Francisco Union Square
Day 15: Friday, June 6
• Slept in.
• Got coffee from the cart near the BART station. Briefly pondered trying to take the cable car up to the wharf, but ended up just setting out on foot after looking at the crazy line.
• Walked all the way to Fisherman's Wharf (retracing some of our steps from the night before, this time in daylight) to go to In & Out Burger for lunch.
• Got on a Red & White bay cruise to see the Golden Gate and sail around Alcatraz (we found out a couple days earlier that the actual tour of the island was sold out for weeks in advance).
• Bummed around Pier 39 for a while, visiting the sea lion colony and getting coffee (to warm up! brr! San Francisco in June!) at the Biscoff cart.
• Walked back through North Beach in search of dinner and ended up at a random Italian place, the U.S. Restaurant.
• Took the bus back to the hotel.
Overnight: Hilton San Francisco Union Square
Day 16: Saturday, June 7
• Got up, checked out.
• Got breakfast at the Pine Crest Diner.
• Took the bus over to Haight-Ashbury, basically just so we could take
etrace's mandatory souvenir picture with the intersection sign.• Walked up as far as Golden Gate Park, did a very brief loop in there, then walked back to a bus stop.
• Got coffee in order to get change for the bus (which then it turned out we didn't even need, since our transfers were still valid for the return trip), and returned to Powell St. to catch the BART.
• Redeemed our car at Fremont station.
• Drove to my brother Rick's house in Sunnyvale.
• Hung out and listened to Spotify for a while.
• Went out for dinner in Palo Alto at Rick's favorite place, Calafia (he works for Nest and Charlie Ayers is their beloved
• Came home and walked across the Caltrain station to the other end of Murphy Avenue to get a pint at the quietest available pub.
• I went to bed while the boys stayed up and bonded, but then there were late-night shenanigans involving a drunk guy turning up in the backyard... followed by six police cars all looking for said guy (apparently because he had fled from them at another Murphy Ave venue). Yikes.
Overnight: Rick's house, Sunnyvale, CA
Day 17: Sunday, June 8
• Got up and packed out without waking up Rick.
• Drove to San Jose to have lunch with my old friend Marybelle (from Valpo back in junior high; she lived down the block from us) and her husband and adorable two-year-old.
• Drove over to the Winchester Mystery House and had the tour.
• Drove to Santa Cruz (more crazy winding woodsy roads, but luckily the heinous traffic was all on the other side of the road).
• Parked the car and walked alongside the beach, then up the fabled boardwalk. My family had visited Santa Cruz back in 1987, but I definitely didn't remember that "the boardwalk" was a fully featured seaside amusement park, complete with roller coasters. We basically window-shopped it: walked through all the arcades but did not play any games, nor ride any rides nor eat any corn dogs.
• Picked out a motel somewhat at random from the assortment in view of the beach.
• Had a nice dinner overlooking the marina at the Ideal Bar & Grill.
• Moved the car, settled into the room, and then I ran out and brought back ice cream before we turned in.
Overnight: Fireside Inn Motel, Santa Cruz, CA