My First Trip Report Begins- USA & Canada

[Nug300]

Haha i did the same thing with my wife, suggested we walk up Lombard which she happily agreed to until we got to the bottom looking up.

We proceed to the top and the reward was certainly worth the effort.

Will be watching the rest of the trip wanting to go back!

 

[cjd600]

Visited Auckland 2 weeks ago and noticed every car parked on a hill had their wheels turned in, but the ones in the photos didn't. Wonder how many cars roll down the hills when hand brakes fail

Must be the tourists!
Last time I was in SFO, I remember noticing the 'wheels turned in' for hill parking...

 

[sausagefingers]

Haha i did the same thing with my wife, suggested we walk up Lombard which she happily agreed to until we got to the bottom looking up.

We proceed to the top and the reward was certainly worth the effort.

Will be watching the rest of the trip wanting to go back!

our cab took us to the top of the street and we walked down it. This year I am going to have to drive down it just to say I did.

 

[irv]

Visited Auckland 2 weeks ago and noticed every car parked on a hill had their wheels turned in, but the ones in the photos didn't. Wonder how many cars roll down the hills when hand brakes fail

Most of the cars in the pictures are in fact tourists, not parked, simply stuck in queue to drive up the hill and down the other side. Would be a nightmare if you lived there.

 

[Major]

I see the seals are still there

 

[Nug300]

our cab took us to the top of the street and we walked down it. This year I am going to have to drive down it just to say I did.

Later in the week when we picked up our rental car (Dodge Challenger) we did the Lombard drive before driving down to LA via the coast.

Would recommend that drive to everyone. Simply superb scenery.

 

[TomVexille]

I'm onboard for this

 

[irv]

Day 3 encompasses a trip across the bay to Sausalito, very lucky the weather gods were smiling on us. As expected at this time of year plenty of tourists (us included), reminds me a bit of home where we are relatively quiet during the year, then holiday time the town explodes. Interesting architecture, and they sure crowd those houses on to the hill overlooking the bay.
A few photos.

 

[irv]

Day 4 we decide to visit the Napa Valley, my preference hire a car, her preference do a guided tour so we can have a couple of glasses of wine and let someone else do the driving. So to keep the peace the bus tour wins. Unfortunately the driver we got was one of those who wanted to tell us as much about his personal life as about the places we passed, and was terribly offended if you didn’t laugh at his jokes, probably because no one else thought they were funny.

California had been experiencing extreme drought conditions for a number of years which was evident from the countryside, but the vines were healthy and the weather spectacular. From memory we visited around four wineries, (the names escape me) my only criticism was the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] one we visited had a wine tasting outdoors, serving unchilled white wine in the sun (Barbarians):evil: Apart from that, a relaxing day acting like a tourist.

A few photos

 

[irv]

Day 5 Time to hit the suburbs. First stop City Hall San Francisco, bit more impressive than the local council chambers. Then on to the University Precinct, plenty of people adopting outside learning by lying in the sun, an impressive precinct.
We just wandered as you do when touring, in hindsight did a few loops but who cares, ended up walking around the Painted Ladies, I was impressed, by the time we got back to the hotel we had walked around 19 klms. Alcatraz tonight.
A few photos from our walk.

 

[irv]

So that night we journeyed to Alcatraz, why do they insist you stand in front of a bluescreen so they can Photoshop where you haven’t been yet, then expect you to pay a ridiculous price. No joy with us on this front.

Sailed past this a few times now, we are on the so called night tour, it is 5.00 pm with day light saving, I don’t think that is going to add to the ambience, however I am looking forward to the tour after reading a lot about the history of the island.
As we cruised around the Island I was a bit surprised that such an iconic tourist attraction had been allowed to fall into such disrepair, however I guessed there is only so much money to go around. We were there about four hours, enjoyed the visit. It was our last day in SFO, car was hired for the morning for the drive to LA.

A few photos

 

[BAM1748]

Just re your comment on disrepair. There are different 'types' of heritage and preservation.

There is restore to as new condition, maintain the status quo at the time of closure both if these require the use and brining in of new materials into a 'heritage precinct'. Then there is keep as is with all original materials which by it's nature means there will be decay over time but retains true authenticity and completely original everything.

RIGA Charter has some explaination.
http://www.euheritagevalues.org/portal/images/stories/Riga_Charter__EN.doc

 

[sausagefingers]

When I visited in 2013 one of the key factors they mentioned in closing it as an actual prison was cost. much of which was contributed to the seat air/water corroding the walls of the prison. I assume this has been left to continue for the most part apart from obviously keeping the structure safe.

 

[irv]

Just re your comment on disrepair. There are different 'types' of heritage and preservation.

There is restore to as new condition, maintain the status quo at the time of closure both if these require the use and brining in of new materials into a 'heritage precinct'. Then there is keep as is with all original materials which by it's nature means there will be decay over time but retains true authenticity and completely original everything.

RIGA Charter has some explaination.
http://www.euheritagevalues.org/portal/images/stories/Riga_Charter__EN.doc

Thanks for the information, don't know if I exactly agree with some of the logic of the charter. From my perspective, and in a number of photos I did post there are grills falling off the windows, and multiple evidence of concrete cancer within the building. I am not advocating returning to pristine, but at least maintain to a level so that in the future the exterior does not deteriorate to a level that restricts visits to a part of history. I think it is important to maintain buildings with history to a level where all can visit, maybe that's just me

 

[irv]

San Francisco to LA
So we checked out in the morning, bit of a walk up to the Hertz depot to pick up the hire car. So I will start this post with an own uppercut, each evening I was processing photos through a card reader to a hard drive, then on to lightroom for a tidy up. I am usually pretty organised however this night I failed to put the card back in the camera, result about twenty must keep shots not even recorded, how rookie is that.

We allowed a day and a half to drive to LA, I know many on this site have recommended longer however didn’t fit in with our plans.

On the way we called in at Carmel by the Sea, packed with a car show, a couple of DYKWIA, complete with photos.

 

[RooFlyer]

San Francisco to LA
So we checked out in the morning, bit of a walk up to the Hertz depot to pick up the hire car. So I will start this post with an own uppercut, each evening I was processing photos through a card reader to a hard drive, then on to lightroom for a tidy up. I am usually pretty organised however this night I failed to put the card back in the camera, result about twenty must keep shots not even recorded, how rookie is that.

<snip>

Been there, done that. On my Galapagos island cruise, one morning I forgot to put the SD card back in and off we went on the zodiacs for another spectacular mornings wildlife spotting. First shot and ... arrgh!! No spare cards amongst my group, so I had 7 precious shots able to be recorded on the camera hard drive (or equivalent) for the entire morning! Sort of took me back to the old film days where you weighed up every shot!

Now I have a spare card tucked away into the camera case (as well as an extra battery).

 

[irv]

We Broke the drive at Pismo Beach, a bit over half way with a flight at around 1:00 pm to Washington DC . What a fantastic drive down the coast, wished we had allowed more time but that is life. Can always come back and do it again.
A few photos of the journey taken by the co-photographer, if they are good, I helped her.

 

[irv]

Been there, done that. On my Galapagos island cruise, one morning I forgot to put the SD card back in and off we went on the zodiacs for another spectacular mornings wildlife spotting. First shot and ... arrgh!! No spare cards amongst my group, so I had 7 precious shots able to be recorded on the camera hard drive (or equivalent) for the entire morning! Sort of took me back to the old film days where you weighed up every shot!

Now I have a spare card tucked away into the camera case (as well as an extra battery).

I have a Lowepro back pack, all were sitting in the back of the car, I still give my self uppercuts re this (maybe an excuse to try to go back to what I missed)

 

[irv]

On to the next part of the journey, LAX to DCA, flying with Alaskan Airlines. A comfortable flight that see us land a touch before 9.00pm. We were staying at the Hilton in Alexandria VA, substantially cheaper than Washington, but only a 20 minute train journey into DC. An initial stuff up as to where too catch the shuttle to the hotel, a bit of a discussion about this when we arrive along the lines of if you are giving out the information when phoned seeking assistance you need to be correct in the information you give.

No photos but flying into Washington at night the view is pretty good. The journey was about to continue.

 

[irv]

Washington DC, our first day involves a tour of the Pentagon. Requested this months before, they notify you 48 hours before if you have been successful. No cameras allowed so ours are left at the motel, you are able to take your phone but it must be turned off before the tour begins.

When we arrived security had some rather large guns, I think this was to reassure us

Photos were allowed in the press briefing room, however when I took a couple a very indignant woman insisted I was breaking the law. Huh ? for the last 10 minutes multiple parties had stood behind the lectern having there photo taken, I was just awaiting a clear space.

She seemed a bit disappointed when the person she reported me to didn’t arrest me, and in fact told her there were no restrictions on photos in this part of the complex, no apology, so I just moved on.

As you would remember the Pentagon was targeted in the 9/11 attacks and a 125 pentagon workers were killed in the attack. There are a number of remembrance memorials within the building , you are also led to the site where the plane crashed, a very narrow space between two wings of the building.

The quarry where the original stone from which the pentagon was constructed was re opened so they could repair and match the existing buildings, I am sure there were other safeguards installed during the rebuilding.

When we left we visited the Memorial Gardens with a memorial for each of the victims, a somber reminder of what happened. A few photos.