The Wine Country

Sunday we headed out through Sonoma and Napa Valley for a little wine tasting and a tour of the Beringer Brothers Winery. Sonoma proved to be a very interesting stop. We had a great lunch at La Casa Mexican Restaurant.


This Cactus is in full bloom and it is so pretty. It was in front of the mission. We walked around the Sonoma Plaza and found many interesting things to look at, including a free museum at an old hotel. See the pictures below.












We did not take the tour here, only looked from the outside.













The mission bell says 1629.














This is the lobby of the hotel museum... imagine that, free admission and they encourage you to take pictures. The place was staffed by volunteers.

We did stop by Robert Mondavi Vineyards and took the tour and wine tasting at Beringer Brothers Winery.

See pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/fleming49/SonomaAndNapaValley

The Transamerica Tower in the financial district. This building is a landmark in San Francisco and has been since 1972.

















Chinatown, a place that has to be seen if you get to San Francisco. The shopping seems endless. We found the Golden Gare Fortune Cookie Company on Ross Alley. Two ladies make over 4000 cookies aday. This shot is down Grant St.










The famous San Francisco cable cars. They wind their way up and down the hills of the city just as they have for decades. We didn't get to ride one but we did see them on our tour and also we saw the electric trollys from all over the world that are now used in the city.








After a beautiful day riding around the city on the double decker bus and walking through Chinatown, we went to the Palace of Fine Arts, a must see also while in San Francisco, and then out to a park beside the bay to watch the sunset across the Golden Gate bridge. It was a beautiful day.

More pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/fleming49/SanFrancisco

The Golden Gate

We went across the Golden Gate for a little visit to Stinson Beach, Muir Woods and Sausalito before heading back into San Francisco. It is an amazing feat of engineering. The first trip across had the topof the bridge covered in sea fog. We only had to pay toll on it south bound. They charge you to get into San Francisco, not leave it. How novel!!!

The welcoming committee of Sausalito. These guys were watching for anyone running the stop sign, failing to yeild to pedestrians or speeding. They were busy while we were there. We had lunch in a little pizza shop there.














These were some pretty tall redwoods in Muir Woods. We didn't actually go into the park; we just rode through the parking lot. There was not enough time to actually take a walk through these beautiful woods. We wanted to get to Stinson Beach and have enough time to get all the way back to South San Francisco before dark.







This is a shot from above Stinson Beach. There is a posted warning about shark attacks along this beach in as little as six feet of water yet there were countless people out there in it. Go figure.

Monterey Lover's Point

If you look closely in the center of this picture you will see one of the California Sea Otters. I was very fortunate to catch this little guy in the kelp bed off of Lover's Point Park in Monterey. I understand they are quite common but difficult to photograph because of their shy nature. I only got a couple of shots and then he was not to be seen again.








The water is so clear here but it is also very cold compared to the gulf back home. Billie and I both noticed how fresh the seashore smelled here in California. It is not like the seashore in Texas. Also the water is deceptively deep in this picture. It drops off to at least 10 feet very quickly.









This girl was jumping into 15 to 20 feet of cold water on a regular basis while I was taking pictures from a short pier. She would swim back to the ladder and dive in again and again. She swam through the kelp bed like it was nothing, not to mention she was not wearing a wetsuit to shield her from the cold. Kids are sure able to take it. I shuddered watching her but she was far from alone in the water.

More pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/fleming49/LoverSPointMonterey

Carmel By The Sea

We made a stop by Carmel. This beautiful seaside community has a wonderful floral law on the books that requires all local businesses to use only real flowers both inside and outside of their establishments. This was just one of a myriad of lovely flowers we encounterd on our walking tour. The colors are striking.






This is a sample of the cottages that inspired Thomas Kincaid in his many paintings. There are many fairy tale cottages in Carmel. In fact, Thomas Kincaid's first gallery is in Carmel and we saw it on our tour. The flowers in the next picture are from a hanging basket in front of his Gallery.








The flora we saw was absolutely stunning. Few places we have seen can compare to the beauty that is abundant in this eccentric little community of one square mile. Doris Day still lives here and she has a hotel we visited on the tour call the Cypress Inn. Quite lovely.

There are also a great number of dog lovers in this community.

More Pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/fleming49/CarmelByTheSea

Nit Wit Ridge

The man who built this house out of natural materials and junk he had collected took over 50 years to complete the project. It is a site to see. We didn't have time to take the free tour which I'm sure would have been very interesting. This house was featured on the Discovery Channel program.

Hearst Castle

This is the Neptune pool outside the guest house. It was torn down three different times before being completed as you see it today. There are bits and pieces of antiquity from all over Europe at this place. It is very interesting to visit and very beautiful. It is hard to fathom such opulance being built at a time when the rest of the country was in "The Great Depression" of the late 20's and 30's. The extravagance of it all is hard to describe.



This is the main house. It is a museum all by itself. The furnishings are extremely lavaish even for this day and age so it is hard to imagine what people of his day must have thought of it in William Randolph Hearst's day. Our guide told us that there was two types of people in Hollywood during the 30's and 40's; those who were invited to the Hearst Castle and those who "said" that they were invited to the Hearst Castle. This place is well worth the time to visit. In fact, it would be very easy to spend at least two or three days there taking the four different tours offered by the state to see it.

Find more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/fleming49/HearstCastle

Solvang California

This little Dutch community was a really neat stop. There are a lot of "treat" shops that I couldn't really endulge in but did venture a little taste or two. It is worth the drive to see this little town that is a very short ride off of highway 101 on 246.

Hearst Castle is next...

Morro Bay

This photo is decieving. It doesn't look like a rock that's over 500 feet tall but it is. If you look closely at the bottom of the rock you can see cars. The sea fog was really something to witness. In this photo it was visible but at times while we were there, it totally obscured the rock.

This was really a great stop even though I didn't get the fried clams at Giovanni's. We stood in a line for over 40 minutes and still were five people from the window to place our order when we had to leave to make Hearst Castle.

Santa Barbara

We went to Santa Barbara on Tuesday and spent the day there exploring the beautiful city.

We started at the Mission. The parking lot in front of this mission is covered with paintings. Look closely in this picture and you can see some of them in front of the steps.

This fountain is in front of the Mission Santa Barbara. The grounds are really pretty. Worth the time to see.

From the Mission we took a scenic ride across the ridge above the city. The view is very beautiful. The city sure has a lot to see and the people were pretty friendly. We loved this place.

We went to Stearns Wharf after a pleasant lunch of fish n chips at the Fish House on Cabrillo Blvd. We enjoyed an ice cream cone on the pier and watched some people fishing on the pier. Some were using plastic bottles with line wrapped around them as their reels and would wind the line by hand. They actually caught fish with it.

But the "must see" in the city is the court house. The observation tower provides you with a spectacular panoramic view of the city. There are so many beautiful things inside. On the second floor, there is the Murial Room. The walls are painted with the history of Santa Barbara. The spanish influence in the design of this building is remarkable. We spent a few hours here looking at everything.

This is the largest fig tree in the world. It stands nearly 80 feet tall and spans over 169 feet wide. It was brought here from Australia by a sailor in 1877.

I have more pictures from Santa Barbara posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/fleming49/SantaBarbara

Hollywood and Beverly Hills

The Famous Hollywood sign. The letters are 50 feet high and 30 feet wide. There was a lot of haze today. Fortunately, it was from the sea breeze and not smog.



The story behind this house according to our tour guide is that Harrison Ford worked on this house before he was discovered. He was a carpenter by trade. The producer whom it was built for told Harrison that when he made it big as a star, he would sell it to him. Harrison came back and bought the house. It is now occupied by his ex-wife.
This is Richard Gere's house. It is really a very lovely home. He is not as disposed to having everything behind a curtain of foilage or high fences out of sight as a lot of the stars of Hollywood are. I guess he remembers who put him on top. Can't say the same for a lot of others here.

My lovely wife on her birthday on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She happens to be on Robin Williams star.

Not sure when I will have Internet access again but will post as soon as I can.

For more pictures look at http://picasaweb.google.com/fleming49/Hollywood

Sunday Brunch on the Queen Mary

Bell of the Queen Mary

We had a fabulous champaign brunch and spent about 3 hours just climbing around the ship.

Some interesting facts about the Queen Mary: Top speed 31 knots, faster than a lot of warships even today, and it is over 190 feet longer than the Titanic. The ship was purchased by the city of Los Angeles and converted to a floating hotel. Well worth the time to see this historic ship.

LA through a port hole.

The Grand Dining Hall

Billie, Adam and Krissi

Russian submarine exhibit next to Queen Mary

 It was so worth it! Memories are made of these....

More pictures at    https://photos.app.goo.gl/Co9yQCKBJE6AUNfM6

Catalina for a day



Avalon Harbor

 We took the ferry out for a day to visit this enchanting island 26 miles across the channel.

Interesting story about this house.

This house was built by a man who was wanting to bring his wife to be to the island. She got tired of waiting for the house to be completed and ran off with another man. The builder forbid women to enter the house after it was completed and it is said that he died a single man.
 

Gold Fish?

 These gold fish were large enough to be seen from the dock. This picture was taken from a pier in the harbor. They were abundant.

Beach is a premium

One of three beaches in Avalon. The water was too cold for me. Adam and Krissi did brave it though and got in some snorkeling.
For more pictures go to http://picasaweb.google.com/fleming49/SantaCatalina

Getty Museum and Santa Monica

Friday 13th
We had a great day with Adam and Krissi just tooling around. We went to the Law school, Krissi’s office, a little farmers market at Zuma Beach, Malibu Bluff Park, the Getty Museum and to the Santa Monica Pier.

This is part of the Getty Museum. The reflecting pool is like many we saw in Italy. This whole museum was fashioned after an Italian Villa which was destroyed in the eruptions of Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The Getty Museum was a reminder of our trip to Italy where we saw the ruins at Pompeii and the Herculaneum. There were a lot of artifacts there from that region. It was really impressive. We had a great lunch there as well and the prices were so reasonable.

This is an authentic Roman helmet along with some body armor.

We went to the Santa Monica Pier after the museum for dinner. We also had a drink and an appetizer at the Mexican Restaurant on the end of the pier. There were a lot of people playing music and singing along with the normal fare of artists and the like trying to get a tip from the throng of people out for an evening meal.

We had dinner at Bubba Gump’s. It was very nice. The food was really good too and I got to keep the Pilsner glass my beer came in to mark the occasion.

We had to answer a lot of Forest Gump Trivia. Our waiter was from New Orleans and we had a good time discussing our trip there this past spring. Griff was a very personable guy.

Pepperdine Malibu

From the Memorial Garden on campus at Pepperdine University.













A beautiful memorial to 9/11













A quote from President Reagan that should never be forgotten.















A hummingbird in the garden













We went to Westlake to Claim Jumpers for dinner. Awesome food!











Yes, it was cool enough for the outdoor heaters to be on .













From the rose garden.














More beautiful roses.













The sunset was so beautiful. Can you see Venus in the sky? It is to the left close to the building.