Napa Valley

My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne.
John Maynard Keynes

Views of Napa Valley from Rutherford Hills Winery

Fisherman's Wharf

North Beach with Golden Gate Bridge way in the left distance (below).

Beth on Beach Street at Jack's Cannery Bar

Looking up Hyde Street (above).

Want to swim the 1. 5 miles to Alcatraz? Join the Dolphin Cub! They've been doing it for 30 years!

Daryl on the boardwalk.

People are not allowed to feed the birds here, so, they are not very tame! good idea!

China Town

The largest China Town outside of Asia and oldest in North America is the one in San Francisco. We found it crowded, colorful, and very hilly!

Hyde Street looking toward Fisherman's Wharf

Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz in the background.

Jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge takes about four seconds to drop the 245 feet and a human body will travel at about 75 m.p.h. The water temperature is about 50 degrees. 97% of jumpers do not survive, only about two-thirds of the bodies are recovered. Despite emergency phones on the bridge and signs with telephone numbers of hope, the average is about one jumper every other week. There are more suicides off the Golden Gate Bridge than any other in the world (second deadliest? Aurora Bridge, Seattle, which now has a suicide barrier). Debate over installing a net under the Golden Gate Bridge is ongoing. Call before you jump - 1-800-784-2433

My goal was to jog over the Golden Gate Bridge and I did it, though my photographer took the photo of me pretty far away to be able to tell it is me in the photo above. It's not the distance that is so difficult (1.7 mles across), but rather, or so I thought, the wind. It was very windy but not hard at all. (Gusts have been measured up to 70 m.p.h.!) I made good time, too! The neato part was when the locals passed ny me and waved or nodded, like maybe I had fooled people into thinking I was one of them, a local and not a goofy tourist!

The Transamerica Pyramid was one of the five tallest buildings when it was built in 1972 (850 feet high). It was banking headquarters until 1999. Now it is owned by a Dutch insurance company and used by toursists for the observation decks. In 1995 the terrrorist plan to hijack a plane and fly into it was foiled. So many beautiful plants everywhere! Plants from every country in the world except one have been grown in Golden Gate Park!

San Francisco skyline, financial district, looking southeast (above).

Looking north toward Marin County.

Cormorants? not sure, but there were lots of them.

Looking south on the ocean side (above).

Looking north from the Baker Beach Trail (above).