HotLinerz's Dance-Log

Since it was my first visit to SF and Judy has arranged a post WOW tour, I decided to join the tour to visit the sights.

Sept 12 (Mon)

I followed the 1 day city tour with 50+ other dancers. We stopped by:

• Fisherman’s Wharf: We saw the Alcatraz from the pier, saw some seals sleeping on the piers and lots of seagulls.
• Chinatown: We had a USD8 dim sum lunch here. Some of the dumplings are good but I especially liked the lotus glutinous rice. We went walking about Chinatown after that but didn’t see much things. Dance shoes are sold in common shoe shops! But I’ve relented to the fact that my flat wide feet need custom-made dance shoes! No more  buying ready made ones!
• City Hall: Nice golden trimmed artistic building with lots of statues around it. Americans love statues…
• St Mary’s Cathedral: A modern looking Catholic Church with a superb Organ and great architecture. I said a prayer in the church being a Catholic.
• Palace of Fine Art: It was closed on Mondays, but the palace has great artistic sculptures and domes and next to a serene pond with gulls and duck-like birds (not sure the species!). I felt like I was in Rome…
• Golden Gate Park: The highlight of the day was to see the Golden Gate Bridge. We’re lucky the day was clear as SF is normally shrouded in mist. The view of the Golden Gate overwhelmed me near to tears.
• Twin Peak: Really windy and cold as we’re up on one of the hilly area of SF where we can see (almost) the whole city of SF, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and city skyline.

Besides stopping by at the above stops, the bus did drive us around these places and casually mention them:

• Union Square: Shopping area which Jan and I visited pre-WOW.
• Little Italy

Sept 13 (Tues)

4 day tour starts in misty San Francisco.

• Tour Guide decided to bring us to the wineries in Napa Valley. We visited 2 wineries and some had wine tasting. Met some Hawaiian line dancers here as they
• Crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in the mist 🙁 So glad we got to see it clearly (mist-less) the day before!
• Stop by some factory outlet stores where they sell discounted branded stuffs… Coach, Levi’s, Dockers, Samsonite etc… can’t recall all the branded stuffs! Ask Jan…
• Had lunch at Sausalito. The cute waiter at the ice-cream store asked if I stayed around the area and that he’s seen me before… Jan said it was a pick up line! Hmm.. maybe I have a twin in the Sausalito area?
• Passed California Hotel on the way to Merced. Thinking of the Hotel California song – You can check in anytime you like, but you can never leave! I wonder if it’s describing California generally!
• Stop by at McDonalds for toilet/tea break- they have a different menu than in Malaysia! Check out the pic…
• Spent the night in Merced so we could go to Yosemite easily the next day.
• Had buffet dinner – with fresh prawns and crabs – couldn’t resist eating them although I’m still full with the McD burger.

Sept 14 (Wed)

We would spend the whole day at Yosemite National Park. It took about 2 hours to reach… up and down hill… curving left and right by the ridge…

• Saw hills and hills of windmills on the way to Yosemite.
• We were told to be beware of bears which is a common sight in Yosemite park. Our tour guide had an encounter once where bears vandalised their camp and stole their food. He advised us not to walk alone in the woods…
• In Yosemite, we hiked to see the Bridalveil Falls. Legend has it that if you breathe in the mist of the falls, you’ll get married… hehe… I took huge gulps!
• When we came out of the woods, we saw people pointing and looking at the El Capitan monolith. We joined in the curious onlookers and got to know that there are a few rock climbers scaling the vertical wall. Can’t see them with my naked eyes, but I managed to zoom in on them with my 14x zoom camera and they still looked like ants. Those who had binoculars could see them better… Really admire their guts!
• We passed but didn’t stop to admire the Yosemite Falls. It consists of several cascading falls and is the 6th highest waterfall in the world….
• The last stop at Yosemite was at the Half Dome Monolith. A good sight and got us wondering where the other half had gone missing to. Jan came out with a couple of theories… ask her… hehe… one was of extra-terrestrial origins and the other… Malaysians!
• 2.5 hours drive to Fresno… Tour guide said its not the best of cities and advised us not to go out and walk alone. He did to buy some necessities and was approached by a homeless guy asking for money and a homeless lady – soliciting for business… I just stayed in bed!

Sept 15 (Thurs)

We would spend the whole day at the Hearst Castle today.

• The journey took about 3 hours from Fresno.
• Arrived at the Information Centre where we had lunch and watched a short documentary about the Castle and its owner.
• Took a scenic drive up the Castle (on a hill)
• Beautiful castle with elaborate decorated interior and vast gardens. The local guide told us what the owner did in every room and how he entertained his guests.
• Best view: Indoor swimming pool tiled in shiny  gold and blue and a roman platform to dive from. I almost couldn’t resist jumping into the exotic pool myself…
• The bus took another 3 hours to arrive in Monterey but this time we took the coastal road that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. The journey itself was very beautiful as I love the sea so much. The sun set in the horizon in our plain view…
• Arrived in Monterey to very cold weather (seems like it’s cold when it’s near the sea!) Jan and I rushed into the room and sat in front of the heater! Not sure the temperature but it should be below 15deg C!
• Bus broke down at night – thankfully after delivering us safely at the hotel!!

Sep 16 (Fri)

Last day of tour, time really flies…

• A new bus came to pick us up as the previous one was worn-out by the crazy line dancer aboard…
• Weather was a little cloudy and gloomy
• 2 hours journey to Monterey/Carmel where we did a little (window) shopping and walk around. Notable area is the Monterey Canning Co.
• Then we proceed to Pebble Beach, the scenic 17-Mile Drive, see the Lone Cypress that overlooks the Pacific Ocean.
• Had lunch at Carmel where there are Factory Outlets again… however, didn’t get to spend a lot of time shopping (regretted for not getting something I laid my eyes on!! 🙁 ) as we had to head back to San Francisco!
• Arrived in Marriot Hotel at about 5pm…
• We bade farewell to each other as we’re not sure if we’d ever see one another again…
• Freshen up in the hotel and left to the airport to catch our flight home… 21 hrs of journey including transit…

Felt sad to leave but happy to get back to home sweet home… hope to be able to visit the US again one day! Remember the lyrics of Hotel California, “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave!”