sun peaks 2008
sun peaks 2008
Mar 2 – A day of planes and airports. The shuttle picked us up about 20 mins earlier than the 9:30 am time we had been notified. You have to be aware of that. We were ready for them. All packed and the condo looking spick & span. The snow that was in Kamloops when we arrived has now all gone. Just dry grass with a few horses. Flights all very uneventful. Just flights, airports, security, boots off, computer out of the bag, be pleasant. A bit of small scare when one of our bags had not come out on the carousel at San Francisco when the last bags sign came up. We had just begun the ‘lost bag’ process, when the missing bag flopped out of the shute.
Taxi to the hotel in SF. A fairly tiny place after the condo. Very acceptable though. Went out for an excellent Chinese feed over the road and a walk own to Union Square past numerous art galleries. Very clean city. Many homeless sleeping in doorways of rich looking shops. Huge gaps in this economy.
Tristania Conferta as street trees. These are a ‘rain forest’ tree from the Eastern Coast of Oz. They are used as a street tree in Sydney – and, it appears, in SF.
Mar 3 – We went on a tour. An early morning breakfast supplied by the hotel (and very similar to an Irish hostel breakfast), picked up at 8:30 and transported to the Fishermans Warf area where we met our bus. The tour was, as you would expect, to the Giant Redwoods and Muir Woods National Monument – no city stuff for these rabbits. The bus driver, who did a commentary, had the exact Forrest Gump accent (he was copying Hanks or Hanks had copied him). Those Redwood & Sequoia trees are big. They form a family circle – like Antarctic Beech – and live a very long time – also like Antarctic Beech. We walked around the paths for just over an hour taking much video of the same thing – tall trees. Helen found a few orchids.
Then to Sausalito for lunch and ferry trip back to Fishermans Warf. By then we were getting a little tried and did not take too kindly to the tram driver who very rudely demanded exact change. Back down to Ben & Jerry’s to get a separate ice cream each to accumulate a few dollar notes. (We are now collecting dollar notes.) Grump overcome, we headed by F-car (a tram) back to Union Square. On the way, Geoff bought himself a new Mac.
Then to the bar next to the hotel. We have tried 3 different beers her. The first was almost identical to Kilkenny from Ireland. The second was very close to Toohey’s Old. The third was very distinctive – a foretaste like Riesling, which is strange to find in a beer.
We went one block up the hill to an Indonesian restaurant for dinner. An excellent feed. Thai Tucka prices (ie $22 each).
Mar 4 – this was a big day. We did the day-long Wine Tour – through the southern part of the Napa valley, in a full bus of about 68 people. It was a good day – very relaxed, quite a lot of time at the 4 wineries (but then they needed quite a lot of time to fill the 68 glasses the 3-4 times at each place). Did I say ‘fill’, well not exactly fill. Usually, we were given less than 30ml – and actually that was fine, as it allowed us to pace ourselves. The bus driver was excellent – just the right level of laid back humour and quite an amateur historian of Northern California.
The wines are quite different from Australian and French wines (our main experience to date). Closer to French wine in that they are aiming for a more average palate. Some of the Chardonnays were excellent. Nothing like Oz Chardonnays. We did not get to sample any of the better quality/more expensive wines. One thing that surprised us was the $4 general charge for any tasting; with an additional $5 charge for any thing worth drinking. The $4 was obviously included in the Wine Tour fee. We thought the charges were an interesting development considering how much we have learned from free tasting in Oz – and how much we have subsequently purchased from our favourite wineries. Geoff, for one, would never have gone down that path if he had to pay for the first ‘test’ sip. Most of the bus were non-US tourists and so could not buy much wine. (Since the restrictions on what people can carry on planes, even the US tourists could not buy much wine.) The big sellers were all the wine related gadgets (openers, etc). At some wineries, almost no one got on the bus without buying some fancy gadget – especially if it just been demonstrated.
We took a picnic lunch which we had in the square at Sonora. On the way back, we got let off at Fishermans Warf and had a seafood meal for diner. OK-ish. But, we have been spoiled in Oz. We took the cable car back to Union Square. This was definitely worth the ride. The cable runs under that road and the cable car ‘clamps’ onto it, hauling the cable car up fairly steep hills at 9 mph. Going down hills, the brakeman thows his full weight on the brake lever at the rear of the car. The cable car stopped in the centre of almost every intersection – holding up any traffic. At one, the brakeman leaped off and picked up a take away coffee and bagel while the traffic waited. ‘Take photos of somethin’ else.’
While we were walking the 3 blocks from Union Square to our hotel, we saw that a play was about to start at a theatre. (We had spent some time yesterday looking for a play, but could not find one.) So we dashed in, paid of $17 each to watch Blood Knot. Set in South Africa during apartheid. It explored the lives and relationships of two bothers – one who looked white and the other zulu black. It was just ok. The concept was good an dthe acting good – but it just did not quite work.
Mar 5 – we leave today. Had breakfast at the hotel and a good coffee next door. The wireless connection that has been working from our room suddenly is not working today. I have no idea why. Do I hate this PC? The coffee shop offers free wireless (good plan) so I’ve come down to check e-mails etc.
And now it is time to finish this off. We are now back at home in Beverley Place. Summary of the holiday?
•At Sun Peaks, we more than appreciated the offer to look after the Cooper’s condo.
•It is clear that we are getting more and more attracted to x-country skating.
•Without doubt, the downhill at Sun Peaks is still great.
•Geoff should not knock himself out so much.
•We like San Fancisco.
Sun peaks trip 2008 - week 7
Wednesday, 5 March 2008