August 30, 2023 - NoCali Vacation
Willits and Drive to SF
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| We continued south on 101 until we came to the town of Willits where we stayed the night in this AirBnB. It was pretty much a trailor home converted into a house but it was fine for our purposes. |
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A redwood growing in the AirBnb yard.
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As best I can tell, Willit's only claim to fame is that it is the terminalfor the famous California Western Railroad, better known as the "Skunk Train". They weren't running today but I at least wanted to see the terminal. This place is significant to me because I rode the Skunk Train with my parents when I was a kid. I know the exact date: July 20, 1969. I know it because that's the day Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked on the moon. Yes, we stayed in a motel in Willits and along with the rest of the world watched the moon landing on a little, black and white TV.
The Skunk Train runs freight back and forth between Fort Bragg on the coast and Willits. It also offers scenic tours of various duration.
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Continuing south on 101 the next day, we stopped at Lake Sonoma to see a fish hatchery.
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| And it was closed! Yes, we had checked the hours in advance to make sure it was open. And even the sign on the door says "Open". But it was not open. |
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| We drove around and checked out the Lake Sonoma overlook. |
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| Where there's a lake, there's usually a dam. And there it is: Lake Sonoma dam. |
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Notice how hazy the sky is. It's from the wildfires up north.
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| Looking down at the Warm Springs Creek bridge. |
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Since we were in Sonoma, we decided to check out a few wineries. The first one was Ledson Winery & Vineyards, which was very upscale as you can see.
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| It has been a long time since I've been wine tasting. The days of stopping and getting free glasses of wine to taste are long gone I think. Now it cost $50 per person to taste. We ended up buying a couple of glasses of wine at $15 each. But the wine was good and the scenery very nice. |
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| Our next stop was the Buena Vista Winery which as you can see has been around for awhile. |
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An old California building which has survived two earthquakes: 1906 and 1989.
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| The wine tasting area. Again we passed on the full monty and went with a couple of $15 glasses. |
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Back on the road, we approach the northern end of Golden Gate Bridge. I asked Joe to take these shots while I was driving. As usual at the Golden Gate Bridge, it was foggy.
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| Right on the edge of a fog bank. |
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| Here we go! |
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Streets of San Francisco.
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| We're on Castro Street which is very long, and very hilly. Going up! |
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Going down.
The next morning we got up early and flew out of San Francisco. All good things must come to and end; the vacation was over.
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