We've also added some more pics to our photo album.
This week was another week dictated by the MLB schedule. The Oakland A's were just finishing a home stand with an afternoon game on Thursday then were heading out of town for almost two weeks so we decided to see the Thursday game. That meant getting to San Francisco sometime Wednesday.
Monday morning we headed west to the coast highway 101 through some old historic ranch and farming areas. Stopped at one roadside fruit/vegetable stand and picked up a few things including a bottle of olives which Kris describes as possibly the best ever! Also saw the craziest fruit stand sign ever ..... avocados 10 for $1. The road to heaven is paved with guacamole.
Monday we stayed at Pismo Beach at an RV park right on the ocean. They claimed that all spots "are back in only", but as we drove to our spot we noticed that the spot directly behind ours was not occupied so a quick whip through it and over a small grassy knoll and voila, a "pull through"... only a small (ok, fairly good sized) divot where our trailer jack hit the grass as we went over the grassy knoll. We steamed up some salmon and had an excellent evening sitting outside the wee trailer. We did get a serious glaring-at by the security guy and the nosy fellow across the way that Brian kept calling 'Mr Neighbourhood Watch' (Mr NW). Another fellow was trying (without much sucess) to back his trailer in and Mr NW offered to give directions. You could have sold tickets; Jerry Seinfeld should be so funny. While Mr NW yelled directions, the driver totally ignored his "back straight in!!" directive, driver cranks the wheel far to one side, ever edging himself closer and closer to the power box and water faucet. Since we had just received the 'glaring', we felt quite sympathetic - only a sadistic bugger designs an RV park with only back-in sites (or a fool who likes to replace power boxes and severed water lines on a regular basis.)
Tuesday we drove highway 1 up through Big Sur to just south of Santa Cruz where we stayed at the Santa Cruz/Monterrey KOA. We first stayed at this KOA 35+ years ago in our small tent and have since stayed there in their camping cabins. It is a very nice campground and is conveniently located to all things Monterey, Carmel, Santa Cruz etc. The drive up the coast highway 1 is very windy and narrow. They advise no long trailers etc north of San Simeon and for very good reason... the hairpin curves high up on the cliffs are very tight indeed. We were stopped at 4 places where the road was being repaired, from washouts or landslides, and was down to one lane. Considering the distance, it turned out to be a long day.
Since we were on a mission to get to San Francisco, Wednesday morning we left early but stopped in Castroville (Artichoke Center of the World) at the "Giant Artichoke" restaurant for a breakfast comprised mainly of, what else, artichokes, then onto the 101 freeway to San Francisco.
We stayed in SF for the rest of the week (4 nights). There is a RV park right across the road from Candlestick Park.
This park is sort of like a Walmart parking lot in that many RVs are crammed into narrow parking stalls. see if you can spot the wee trailer from Canada in this pic...
... but this park is very conveniently located, is clean, and they provide a shuttle bus ($12 a person return) to downtown which is very convenient. We took the shuttle in to downtown, then took BART over to Oakland to see the game on Thursday. After the game, did some downtown SF stuff including dinner at Pizza Inferno (a favorite place) at the corner of Sutter and Filmore then shuttle back to the park... nice!
Oakland beat the Angels by a score of 6-1. That settles it. The home teams now have clinched our travel series.
Must say, of all the ball parks we've been in so far, Oakland's is the grimiest and frankly the least inviting (maybe that's a statement on Oakland itself). The concourse and certainly the area where we sat could use a real good steam cleaning. There are many ways to provide a walkway from the BART station to the Coloseum but the powers that be chose to build a narrow chain link wire lined walkway with razor wire over the gates... funneling towards and away from the park is like being in a herd of cattle. Guess there's a good reason the A's have been lobbying for a new park for some time. It just looks like the Coloseum has not had the pride of ownership that, say, Dodger Stadium has had. Maybe that comes with competing interests with both the A's and the Raiders calling the place home and neither of them owning the place outright. Or maybe Oakland is just a pit.
That said, the playing field looked great and we had great seats. The crowd was very small in number (maybe that's part of the issue) and they have all the top seating levels totally closed and covered with tarps. Maybe that makes the place not look so empty on television since you can't see all those empty seats. One thing though is that the A's seem to have a very loyal, if not small, fan base. Many, mostly older, folks decked out in their serious A's jerseys and hats with many pins etc. One would have to say that if those folks were fans in the 70's when Oakland won 3 straight World Series then they have seen the best of the best of all time. They likely yearn for those days again.
Friday was a driving around San Francisco day with some serious shopping thrown in for good luck. We packed a lunch and stopped at Washington Park on the top of the hill just off Filmore. Had a great view from our "table".
Friday night we had the pleasure of watching Tim Lincecum pitch a great game in a Giants 6-2 win over the visiting Oakland A's. Another win for the home team. Friday was crazy "orange" day so they gave all fans an orange "rally wig" polyester thingie, which on a relatively warm night was way too hot and shed way too much. BUT HEY!!!
This game was also the first sellout we have seen. Apparently we were lucky to get two seats together. We did though and they were excellent. Up high between third base and home plate. Home teams now lead our travel series 7-2 with 6 straight wins. We are thinking about selling our "attendance services" to all the MLB teams since our presence appears to bode well for the home teams.
Saturday was another San Francisco shopping and driving around day. Went to the Cliff House for breakfast. Always a treat with great views, great food... can get crowded though.
Sunday we headed back to the Monterey Peninsula. We found out that the US Open Golf Championship was being played at Pebble Beach. Championship rounds were sold out but Brian got a ticket for a practice round next Tuesday. Wanted to pick up the entrance ticket on Sunday before the crowds got too overwhelming. So, for the week, we actually ended up in Santa Cruz.
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