Exploring

We've been in Arizona for two weeks now just taking it easy, resting, swimming in the pool, shopping, and generally just vegging out.  Yesterday we decided to go to downtown Phoenix in search of the State Capitol and whatever else we could find.

Phoenix is the only city I've been to where the downtown area is almost totally deserted on Sundays.  The roads were devoid of traffic, which made getting around really easy.  A few extremely well tanned homeless people were seen going about their own business in the bright sunshine, and that was about all.

We found the State Capitol easily.  It wasn't nearly as impressive as the California State Capitol in Sacramento but was beautiful in its own way.

Arizona State Capitol

 There was some interesting structural and architectural styles in some of the older buildings in downtown Phoenix.  I concentrated on them and ignored the large modern glass and steel structures in favor of the more artistic ones.

Not sure what this one is, but loved the circular porch-like structure on the front.

Grace Court School

This colorful building is The New Windsor Hotel.  Lloyd commented
that if that is the New hotel, he'd like to see what the Old one looked like.

Phoenix has some beautiful churches. This Presbyterian Church was one we were able to tour through a couple of years ago.

This next one, The First Baptist Church, is on the National Register of Historical Buildings.  It was damaged by fire in 1984 and almost torn down in 1992.  The Historical Society fought to save it and were successful.  With a grant from the Historical Foundation, it's in the process of renovations now.  The stained glass windows have been removed, a lot of the roof structure is missing and there's a lot of interior damage.  I'd like to see it again when the renovations have been completed.

This interesting old building with the antenna on top is the Westward Ho Hotel.  It appeared to be fairly old but we couldn't get near enough to it to see if there was a date on it.

I liked the way this circular building was tucked into the corner.

This beautiful old building taking up almost an entire block is the Orpheum Theater."After 12 years, $14 million and an incredible amount of perseverance, the historic Orpheum Theatre has been renovated for 'adaptive reuse'. The Orpheum Theater hosts a great variety of first class productions, drawing thousands of people to a vibrant downtown venue."

Along the top of the Orpheum are beautiful carvings and statuary.

And lest you think that Phoenix is a city of the past, here's one of the newer buildings downtown, the new Phoenix City Hall.  The sunburst over the front doors represents the eternal sunshine found in Arizona's Valley of the Sun. I just made up that last sentence.  I don't know what it officially represents but that's what I like to think.

And that's my very limited exploration of downtown Phoenix.  There's much, much more to see, but that'll wait for another day.

The Pacific Ocean as seen by an Atlantic Girl

We couldn't come this far west without putting feet in the North Pacific Ocean.  Having grown up around the North Atlantic, this seems like the ultimate cross country adventure.

After leaving San Francisco we drove to a fairly isolated stretch of oceanfront called Drake's Beach.

Flowers along the beach path

 I love the sound of the waves crashing on shore and could stand there for a long time just watching and listening to them...very hypnotic.

Lloyd and Joyce thought the water was too cold for wading so they
sat on a log beside a tidepool and talked while I soaked my feet
in the ocean.  Did you know of the therapeutic benefits of standing knee
deep in a cold ocean...numbed my legs so that I barely felt the
arthritis in my knees.  Bonus!

From there, we drove further down the shore to Point Reyes Lighthouse.  It was on a promontory that was almost unaccessible.  We hiked up above the lighthouse and took pictures of it from that vantage point.

The visitor's center was closed by the time we got there so we weren't
able to go all the way down to the lighthouse.

I like how you can see the curve of the horizon here

A close up of the lighthouse complex

The trees up there were beautifully shaped by the prevailing winds

The winds bent the trees in a tunnel formation over the path.

From here we headed down to Surprise, Arizona, where we'll stay until the end of the month.  In this case, the journey was worth the time and effort.  Now we will rest.

Bridges, Beaches and Lighthouses

We have seen San Francisco so often in movies and television, but nothing compares to actually being there and seeing it in real life.  What an amazing city, at least the part we saw.  We were lucky to be there on a clear sunny day, although I've seen some wonderful pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge shrouded in fog and mist.

So here's my take on "the City by the Bay".

Lloyd by the Golden Gate

There was a look out point above the bridge that we drove to so we could get a good view of it.  The only trouble was, the sun was in  the wrong position, or we were there at the wrong time of day, which resulted in dark shadows.  In these pictures the bridge doesn't even show it's true colors.  It was a lovely view though.

Lloyd, Joyce and Jake at the lookout.

Lloyd, Me, Joyce and Jake

Long view of the Golden Gate Bridge

From the viewpoint, we drove across the bridge and into a park at the other side.  Here you can see the true color of the bridge.

Lloyd, Jake and Joyce

The Golden Gate Bridge

From there we drove to the famous Fishermans Wharf for a seafood lunch.  It was an incredibly busy day there complete with a long parade and millions of tourists (including ourselves of course).  We had clam chowder as well as fish and chips at the Chowder Hut on the wharf.  Delicious!

Clam Chowder served in a Sourdough bowl.

Out on the wharf behind the restaurants we had a view of the infamous prison Alkatraz, on an island in the bay.  It is closed now but you can take a tour of it if you're so inclined.  We weren't.

Alkatraz as seen through a zoom lens.

Jake and his Uncle Lloyd on the wharf with Alkatraz in the background.

A quick glimpse of a tall ship as it glided into dock.

 And then we went on a hair raising drive through the famous streets of San Francisco...nothing but hills...very steep hills.  I don't know how people live on these hills.  They must need to have their brakes replaced every year.  At some points it felt like the car would tip over backwards.

This is the top of Lombard Street.  it was so steep that the road was laid
out in a zigzag pattern

Everyone from our generation (flower children of the 1960s) is familiar
with Haight and Ashbury.  All we needed was a circlet of flowers in our hair
to feel like we belonged.  

It was too short a visit, but maybe we'll get back there some day.

Almost the Final Leg

Its such fun to go on a road trip and visit places we've only seen on television or movies.  They become more real somehow.  We've talked about going overseas, and maybe someday we will, but in the meantime there's so much to do and see in the Americas.  We've been across Canada many times, having lived from the east to the west coast, and now we're seeing more of the US.  And there's just so much to see...such changes in climates, topography, scenery and people from one place to the next.

We stopped in Sacramento, CA, for two days to visit with Joyce's son and his family, and explored the historical "Old Sac" part of the city as well as the State Capital area, where Arnold Schwartznegger used to live when he was the State Governor.

Watching the rail transit go by in downtown Sacramento.

In the center of the city is the State Capitol complex...a beautiful peaceful parklike area  of town. There was some kind of activity going on down there...high school students were there performing in the large open area but we never did figure out what it was all about.

                               

Embedded in one of the walkways was a replica of the Great Seal of the State of California.

  Less than a block from the Capitol was this beautiful cathedral.  As we stood there taking pictures the doors opened and a bridal party came out and posed on the steps for pictures before getting into the black limo parked in front. What a lovely place to get married.

This huge structure in downtown Sacramento is a drawbridge called Tower Bridge.  It would have been interesting to see it in action.

Then we left the modern city and went to what the locals call "Old Sac", a renovation of the oldest part of the city with as much of the original structures as possible left intact.  It is very 'touristy' with lots of quaint shops locatd in the old buildings.

Interesting No Parking sign.

I could have watched this puppeteer for a long time.  His marionettes were
works of art.  This pianist sat playing the piano pounding out tunes from the
1920s and 1930s.  A wonderful performance.

Horse drawn carriages vied with the cars for room on the streets,
a nice way to tour the old city.

To finish our tour of the city, Lloyd and I found a quiet park by the
river and sat for an hour or so watching the boats of every size and
shape cruise, or race, by.  A lovely peaceful time.

Well, I was going to combine Sacramento and San Francisco into one blog, but that would have made it too long, so SF will have to be done all on its own.  It was my favorite stop of the trip so far.