Viewing posts tagged vacation 2009
Look, it's a shiny new map! And even with two more US states I've visited:
I came home on Sunday afternoon, unpacked my luggage and already washed most of my clothes. Going back to work on Monday was easier than expected, but I still have to catch up on a lot of things. The vacation was great, we had a lot of fun and were able to see quite a lot of things in relatively short time. Almost no unplanned expenses for me, either. I wish we had spent more time in San Francisco itself instead of going shopping so many times, though.
Free and working wireless at Charlotte airport! However, I'm sure as hell not going to let anyone steal my cookie, thus: this is also pre-written...
This is the last day of our vacation. After breakfast at Denny's, fortunately at one of their better subsidiaries, we drove to the Charles Schulz Museum. A very intriguing place with lots of Schulz' original Peanuts strips, information about his life and work, and the historical context the comic strips appeared in. We even saw the To the Moon: Snoopy Soars with NASA special exhibition which officially opens tomorrow. Unlike museums about other artists, this one is as modest and factual as Schulz himself was.
After Furvan brought a parcel with the Nerf guns to the post office this morning, we drove to downtown Sacramento. A sandwich, coffee and donut later we went to the California State Capitol building and park. The park with its memorials and trees is a very interesting and relaxing place, a calm island in the middle of a busy city.
We got up almost early, had breakfast and drove to Yosemite National Park. The weather was great again, far less snow and ice on the roads to the park than last year, and only some sorry rests of snow in the park itself. First stop was the Yosemite Valley Panorama Point. Perhaps a bit early, as the Bridal Veil Fall was in the shadow.
We checked out late in the morning and headed for Yosemite. Since driving from San Jose to Yosemite Nat'l Park takes too long to actually do something reasonable in the park, we took some time to visit the Knights Ferry Bridge. It is one of the few remaining covered wooden bridges in the US and really worth the stop.
We went to the Hiller Aviation Museum in Santa Clara today. A hangar full of planes from the beginning of aviation in California to todays planes. Apparently, the San Francisco Bay already was the center of technological inoviation in the US from the end of the 19th century. Where else would you find a wooden plane (that actually flew) constructed by two 15 year old brothers in 1906? I haven't sorted the pictures yet, but the view from the obeservation platform at the municipal airport was also quite interesting.