Arrived in San Francisco this afternoon, the 9th Oct, on the final leg of an amazing trip. Reached the hotel, settled in and we were out and about by about 3-00pm.
Walked from Union square to Fisherman's wharf, then around the waterfront, past Fort Mason to the Marina district. The signs said we were heading towards the "America's Cup marina", where I thought we would find the remains of the Team NZ camp, but when we got there it was only Oracles base!! Apparently Team NZ was at the other end of the harbour!!
Headed back into town, through the very nice Marina district, down through China town, Union Square where we had some dinner, and then back to the hotel. The feet are complaining at the moment but they should be fine tomorrow morning.
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| China Town |
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| Love the Buildings - Market St |
Second and final day in San Francisco today and we got around a good portion of the city. We didn't walk it all today however, bought a one day pass on the cable cars, trams and buses, so did a combination of walking and public transport.
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| Ferry Building - Shopping Center |
Began with a walk to Market St and purchased the tickets, then caught the bus to the down town Ferry Building which has been converted into a great shopping arcade. Had a good look around there before walking through the Embarcadero Centre, a great walkway, one level above the street, linking many of the Financial District buildings together over a three block area.
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| Embarcadero Centre - walkway 1 |
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| Embarcadero Centre - walkway 2 |
Then we jumped on the cable car at Market St and went to the end of the line, before grabbing a bus and heading to the Civic Centre. Had a bit of a look at that, then back on the bus and up to Alamo Square, where the iconic photo is taken of the six SF houses with the city in the background. Back to pounding the streets, we then walked to Haight Ashbury, one of the birth places of the "hippy" movement in the 60's. Discovered that a few of them haven't left, or their kids have now joined them, it's hard to tell as they all look the same, at least from a distance.
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| Embarcadero Centre - walkway 3 |
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| Back on the Cable Car |
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| Classic San Francisco |
Back on the bus, we traveled across town to the Presidio and the Marina district and then walked around those places for a couple of hours, before finally catching a bus back to the hotel. Busy day but we saw many of the major attractions and sights of this great city.
Tomorrow we hire a car and head up to Santa Rosa for a couple of days to catch up with Jo, Adam and the family. Looking forward to that :-)
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| Haight Ashbury |
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| The Presidio |
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| I never get sick of seeing these :-) |
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| Heading North on the Golden Gate |
We picked up the car and left San Francisco yesterday. Drove to Santa Rosa via the Napa Valley, that is very yellow at the moment. Stopped at Napa and then St Helena a great little town in the Napa valley.
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| A little Pool with Zoran |
Arrived at Jo and Adam's Mid afternoon to much excitement. Great to spend the final part of the trip with family as we ease back into NZ. Had a fun afternoon catching up and playing pool.
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| Great fellowship with Rod at Peet's |
This morning began with a coffee at Peet's with Rod Wallace. I have met Rod once before, at the same cafe a number of years ago, but I seem to have "known" him for a long time, as our lives have intersected over the years, but at a distance. Rod is a New Zealander, although he told me this morning that he was actually born in England, who married an American and has lived in the US for many years now.
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| Ruth and Jo getting some shopping therapy |
There are so many people and close friends that we mutually know and we have been on a similar spiritual journey, particularly in recent years. We had a great time together and it was a real encouragement, I am looking forward to reconnected with him again, some time in the future and sharing some more :-)
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| Ruth in her element |
Jo, Adam, Ruth and I then spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon in Healdsburg, a beautiful little town just north of Santa Rosa, had a nice relaxing walk around the town, got some lunch and returned home around 4-00pm. Heading off to some friends for dinner, who have a small vineyard near Healdsburg, so looking forward to a Napa Valley fun "Wine" expedience and fellowship.
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| Love Healdsburg |
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| Love Healdsburg 2 |
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| Adam, Jo and Ruth, just finished lunch :-) |
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| Bruce and Sue's Vineyard |
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| Adam, Bruce, Sue and Ruth |
Just returned from Bruce and Sue's house and vineyard, beautiful evening, great food and wine and fun company. Church tomorrow, lunch with Dennis and Jan then back down to San Francisco to stay with friends for the final night before flying home on Monday.
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| Great meal time together |
Off to church yesterday and caught up with a number of friends, Amber, Pam, Paul, Tom, Regina, Mike, Zan. Then went and bought lunch at Hi Tech Burritos, in Montgomery Square, and headed off to Dennis and Jan's for lunch.
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| Ruth, Jo and the Kids |
Had a fun couple of hours with the extended Peacocke family, reminiscing and trying to convince Dennis to write a children's book on the Wifferofforus. He thought that was very funny, that his life might be then remembered for writing a children's book. He still has the pictures that Michael, Dianne and Jono sent to him, after he had shared with them the "truth's" of the Wifferofforus, one time that he stayed with us. He said when he received those pictures, he just laughed until he cried. Fun times :-)
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| Ruth with Dennis and his Samurai sword |
He then showed us around his office and demonstrated his Samurai sword, the real thing, that he received from his students, when he "retired" from teaching them.
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| Dennis, Jan and Ruth |
We then drove on down to Concord in San Francisco and have stayed at Bill and Annie's place last night. Went out with them to a lovely local French restaurant for dinner and had a good catch up. Will spend the next few hours with them and head off to the Airport this afternoon.
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| Bill feeding the chickens in backyard |
Now sitting in the Air NZ lounge, waiting to board NZ7 to Auckland. Spent a relaxing day with Bill and Annie catching up and sharing a little of our recent journey's.
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| Bill demonstrating the "fly" gun !! |
While we were in Boston I saw a Tee shirt that I thought would be appropriate for Bill, and an additional "spare" one. The tee shirt say's "Beer is proof that God loves us and want's us to be happy".
Bill demonstrated his latest method of killing fly's, a gun that uses salt, and effectively becomes a shotgun for eliminating fly's. You can't take the "gun" away from an Arkansas guy :-). We went out and had some lunch, then said our goodbye's and headed for the Airport.
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| Bill and I, partaking in God's Love :-) |
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| Mexican lunch with Bill |
So this amasing three month trip is just about over. How do you express the incredible adventure that we have just had, it is just about impossible. We have seen so many incredible places, met some wonderful new friends, and reconnected with some old ones. We have been on Airplanes, boats, trains, buses, visited 20 countries, everyday experienced a new city or town, stayed in 28 hotels, most of them experiences just in them selves. We have done a cruise, two coach tours and so much more. It has been a wonderful trip and we are very blessed and grateful to have had the opportunity to do it.
What a fantastic experience this has been, so here's to the next one :-)
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