San Francisco - Wrapping up and Rolling on

Ken Donovan left yesterday for home, so I've been on my own today.  It was a good visit and great to have him roll with me.  In addition to a good, dry sense of humor, he proved to be far more adept at navigating than I am, be it trains, planes, automobiles, cable cars, or Uber.  I am most appreciative all the way around!!  We occupied the camper smoothly with a minimum of getting in each other's way. Ken and I have done this routine twice now. Once in Front Royal VA to check out the newly bought camper operation, and now.  I always feel like we appear to be 'the two gay guys in the little camper'. In all likelihood I expect nobody notices or cares. It was great to share the San Francisco experience with him!

I tried loading a few more shots from Alcatraz, but couldn't.  The prison wasn't as grim as I expected.  Far less so than the prison Kathleen and I saw in Venice (connected to the courthouse by the Bridge of Sighs Robin Trower sings about).  Terrible vibes there!  None the less, a dismal place to spend all of your days, with views of unattainable beauty on all sides.

Continuing my smooth segues, I saw a major league baseball game last night at AT&T Park on the San Francisco waterfront.  It was a good one.  The wild-card vying Giants won a key game with the St. Louis Cardinals. I walked to the park from downtown and took a ferry home (scheduled for exactly 1/2 hour after the last out). It was an exciting game.  And good talking to the fans in the bleachers.  Got back to the camper around 11:30 (It's a mile walk from the terminal.).

AT&T Park

My view (before the fans packed in)

This is the ferry we took back and forth each day from the trailer park in Larkspur (north of SF) into the city and back again.  Just people and bicycles, no cars.  40 minutes of hassle free commuting - served drinks too!

This is the deYoung art museum in Golden Gate Park.  Would have liked more time here and in the park, but schedules didn't permit.  Ken and I had a 3 day City open-topped bus tour (hop on and hop off) ticket that got us here and back again.

More from Golden Gate Park

Haight Ashbury

These are from the top of the bus returning from Golden Gate Park to downtown.  Being an old guy, I was particularly interested in the Haight Ashbury district.  It was rich with murals. Here are a few.

This was where Jimi Hendricks lived for a while.  It is the 'Red House' over yonder of which he sings.

This one is of Jerry Garcia (of B&R Ice Cream fame - or was that Cherry?)

Today was a non-sightseeing day.  Laundry, reserving upcoming RV Parks, camper plumbing maintenance, propane tank recharge, some shopping, etc.

Tomorrow, I travel to Yosemite National Park to visit with the sequoias.  I'll put my eastbound route in the blog when I figure out how to use Google software versus the adobe I know how to do.  It would be awesome if anyone feels like linking up with me along the way.

Kind of a strange thing:  When I tell people I just retired, they congratulate me.  Like I won a race or something.  I always felt it would be just stopping something and starting something else.  I still think that way.  Haven't thought much about work this month (by design), but I have to give that perspective some thought.  I suppose it's ok if you consider it congratulations for a job well done.  But the congratulations should really be going out to everyone who's still doing it, day in and day out.

Thanks all for tuning in.  And THANKS KEN for making the last 4 days great.  Talk to you all later.

DDP