San Francisco and No Cable Car Ride?
It is true; we went to San Francisco and did not ride the cable cars once. We have been several times to the city and did not feel the need to ride on them this particular trip.
- It is one of the highlights for newcomers to the city and I have always enjoyed the ride.
- We did see them several times and riding would have been easier than walking, like we did, up Hyde Street on the way to walk Lombard Street (a 31% grade up 269 feet from the beginning).
This was our first experience using Air B&B and we enjoyed it. Our millennial kids all asked who was the millennial as they have not used the service. Just trying to pave the way…
The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” The coolest thing Mark Twain never said according to my research. Of course it was in the 60s (15-20 C) while we were in the city. Going north to wine country and south to Silicon Valley was much warmer. We did spend most of our time in San Francisco where I wore my Michigan State University hoodie around the city and received several positive comments, even one positive comment from an Ohio State fan, with the lone exception of one U of M fan…
The point of the travel was to see our youngest son who works in Silicon Valley and we were successful. We also learned from our prior trips out here that too much Mom and Dad was bad, so we planned this year’s travel accordingly and had some great tours on our own.
- AT&T Park to see a San Francisco Giant’s baseball game: one stadium visited since retirement
- Muir Woods tour
- Bike ride and tour of Napa Valley, completing biking in our eighth state since retirement
- Self-guided walking tour of San Francisco, including the Golden Gate Park and Bridge
The views from AT&T Park were great and the game was exciting—this last place team had almost every seat sold for a three-day series with the Cubs.
- We saw an incredible inside the park home run and enjoyed all of the new food options not yet served by the Reds.
- Our favorite was the Helmet Nachos
- Although we did not try them, Churros was an interesting new (for us) item sold in the ball park and elsewhere in San Francisco.
- It was Metallica night at the ballpark, and we got to rock the national anthem as well as Take Me Out to the Ballgame. All of the songs that night were Metallica songs.
If you have not seen how tall a redwood tree can get, you should definitely visit Muir Woods National Monument.
- We had a tour walking into the park from Mount Tamalpais State Park above the Muir Woods Park with a connecting hike into Muir Woods.
- It was enjoyable to hike from the canopy of the redwood forest on down.
- Keith, our tour guide, did well leading our group on the hike and was very knowledgeable about the area and all things San Francisco.
- One of the highlights was the ferry boat ride back from Sausalito to the Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco.
Last year when we visited San Francisco, we said we would visit Muir Woods (check) and wine country. We signed up and enjoyed a half day bike tour of Napa Valley. Two wineries were plenty for me to handle; we kept the bikes for an afternoon ride along the Napa Valley paved bike path.
- I really enjoyed the wine and the whole area.
- We noticed a distinct culture that has grown up in the Napa Valley. The atmosphere was just different in a good way.
- We met several people on the tour with us who spent the night and it sounded like a good idea, especially after one or two tastings.
In 2015, I biked over the Golden Gate Bridge from Pier 39. This year, I did not want to bike. We noticed that this year the Golden Gate Bridge opened the west side of the bridge for biking only and we walked on the east side (with best views of San Francisco) across the Golden Gate Bridge (1.7 miles one way) as a part of our walking tour.
We wanted a walking tour of San Francisco and we took a self-guided (or misguided!) walking tour of about 20 miles.
Our walking tour began with the Haight-Ashbury district as San Francisco is celebrating 50 years since the “summer of love” from June through August, so we made it in timeJ.
- We also walked to Alamo Square Park to view the Painted Ladies, a wonderful row of colorful houses.
- Walked through Golden Gate Park and saw the bison, funny for us as we have a herd of bison close to our house as well.
- Walked to the beach near Golden Gate Park.
- Walked through the Presidio on our way to and from the bridge and enjoyed the nature trails and homes in the park. We also took advantage at mile 19+ of the shuttle service throughout the Presidio to visit the Main Post and catch our train back to our Air B&B.
A few lessons learned.
- We had a fun tour guide, Mike, on our bike tour. He said he had been retired for three days and went back to work. He lives in town and he and his wife walk to work. He only works part time and loves the job and the opportunity to stay active.
- A good guided tour is worth the money. Our self-guided tour was fun, but we could have learned a lot more, and been a little less tired if we hired a local guide.
Other highlights: Played disc golf in Silicon Valley and Golden Gate Park. Only problem at the Golden Gate Park—they were “closed” to house the Outside Lands music festival at the park. The group Metallica played at the Outside Lands as one of the headline groups.
Visit to Stanford University—a wonderful campus on Palo Alto. We sat and had ice cream and watched some of the new orientation students. We also visited the University of California Berkeley. It was interesting to see the college campus at Berkeley after having visited the Haight-Ashbury streets and the “summer of love” promotions.
Trip by the numbers:
States visited (number in total…) 1 California, flew direct
Activity statistics:
- Biking miles: 22miles.
- Hiking/Walking 40 miles.
Biking in wine country–fun!
Bike MS Oxford–Don’t Just Ride
Just back from Oxford, Miami University…The one in Ohio…we drove and rode our bikes. We even spent the night in a dorm room!
Our local bike MS ride was a fun event for us this weekend. We had the opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues, share a few meals and laughs and, oh yeah, ride on a bunch of hills!
It was great weather and we appreciate your support. No injuries this year—the ride was a big success.
If you missed the opportunity to donate and would like to donate please click here for Glen’s page.
See you on the road.
Typical views along the ride.
Rest and Relaxation
We spent a few days away from all of the travel excitement and spent a day around our cabin in Bryant, Alabama. We had great views from Grant Summit Cabins overlooking the Tennessee River valley. It was very relaxing and we needed to slow down!
We played games, read books and mostly enjoyed the view from the cabin. The hot tub was a nice relaxing option in the evening. We also cooked and just stayed put.
We did have to drive down to Nickajack as we could see this dam from our cabin. The dam is 81 feet high and stretches 3,767 feet across the Tennessee River. It was a defining feature of the landscape. We drove in on the southern side and enjoyed our close-up views of the dam.
Our other fun drive was to stand in three states at the same time! We heard that a marker was nearby and it was possible. We had fun finding the spot and standing in three states.
I met up with a college friend from the University of Houston. We took several accounting classes together and went to several football and basketball games. Mike retired at the end of 2015.
He talked about
I learned a lot from Mike!
- slowing down and the difference it has made
- being an extra on a few TV shows and loving it; no, he is not taking up acting
- keeping busy and going out to lunch with his wife and enjoying visiting downtown Franklin
- learning to relax when his wife takes a while in the store–I could learn a lot from Mike!
Other highlights:
We visited the home of the Dave Ramsey radio show and had our picture taken with the host. It was a fun experience, especially as I have taught the Financial Peace University class several times. If you have not taken the class, you should take the opportunity to check it out.
We played disc golf in Brentwood, Tennessee, at Crockett Park and had a good time. The course was open and fun to play. It was fortunate for us to meet up with a local who showed us most of the course. We also discovered a bike path that ran through the area and we are looking forward to riding that in the future. Our bike journey was cut off as it was raining when we could go for a ride.
Bike parking –no bike ride on this part of the journey.
Water and Water Falls
North Carolina
After our travels to the Biltmore, we needed to get some fresh air. We hiked, or walked, up the stairs to the top, and them some more at Chimney Rock. We walked the 500 steps up to the top. We also took the additional 330 steps from Chimney Rock to Exclamation Point, the highest point in the park. Of course we had to hike to see the Hickory Nut Falls as well, since it is in the same park.
Since we biked through the Biltmore Estate, Kim thought it would be fun to kayak the French Broad River. It was a great time kayaking for over 2 hours on a bright sunny day. We saw the Biltmore (hard to miss that house!) and the path we had biked on the day before. It was a great day for a float, and I believe the tops of our feet are still sunburnt.
Finishing our travels in North Carolina and on advice from a former coworker, we made plans the next day to hike in DuPont National Forest to see three separate waterfalls better than the one we saw at Chimney Rock, which was pretty cool at over 400 feet up! The Forest trails were well-marked. Several mountain bikers rode nearby. This is a little known gem with over 80 miles of hiking available. We could have hiked another mile to see another falls as well. This is a park to check out. Of course we laughed at the way they prevent climbing on the rocks—check out the sign on the yellow post.
Next stop South Carolina.
Our first stop in South Carolina was the fun city of Greenville. We enjoyed riding Greenville’s Swamp Rabbit River trail. We would have ridden longer if it had been cooler. The temperature for the ride was over 95 degrees. We did meet a local store owner in downtown Greenville at the Pedal Chic bike store. The staff was helpful and we found a great parking spot and starting location for our ride.
We also rode on the Ft. Jackson Army base. It was interesting riding on a road that encircles live firing. The range was in full use as we went around it. The roads and hills were good and the path well marked.
It was also hot when we rode, so we did only one loop. 
The sign says share the road and the brown side says restricted access—this is how you get to the firing ranges. Follow the rules!
We visited the University of South Carolina as well as Clemson University. Yes, I got to play a few rounds of disc golf in South Carolina as well. I am glad my son knew the course layout in Columbia near his house.
The course near Clemson in Central called Grand Central Station; it was well marked and fun to play.
Georgia
As a child my family often drove from Michigan to Florida on I-75 to visit grandparents. We always saw signs on the road for “See Rock City” and Ruby Falls. We made a stop at Lookout Mountain and visited Rock City in Georgia. The tour was good and cool walking through the rocks. Quite an enjoyable place to visit and worth the stop. We are not sure we saw all seven states from lover’s leap although we sure tried. We did visit all of them except for Virginia.
Tennessee.
Ruby Falls in Tennessee is on Lookout Mountain near Rock City. Two fun attractions near each other. We did not make the time to see the military park on Lookout Mountain and it would make a good stop for our next time through. The cave tour was fun and the falls were grand. We also enjoyed the cool cave and were surprised to see that we were about the only ones that dressed for the travels.
A few lessons learned.
While visiting Rock City we met a lady who lived her whole life near Rock City. She was working in the fudge shop (yes, it was good!). She enjoyed Rock City as a child, with her children and her grandchildren. She loves Rock City and encourages all to come. She has been a retired nurse for several years and enjoys hearing other people’s stories, especially first time visitors. She was sharp and loved to share her story with others. I learned that if you have a special place, it is fun in retirement to work (part time) at that special place.
The military retirement must be good, and it should be for those who serve. We ran into several military retirees who live in and around Ft. Jackson. We thank all who serve or who have served for their service.
Too many touristy adventures can be too much. We needed a few days’ rest. Next stop, Alabama.
Other highlights: Walking around downtown Columbia and a big rainstorm! We enjoyed dinner and were happy to be inside. Downtown Columbia, SC, was a happening place.
Trip by the numbers:
States visited: North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia.
Activity statistics:
- Biking miles: 33 miles, 2 rides, longest 21 miles.
- Hiking/Walking 14.7 miles, 7 separate walks, longest 4.1 miles in DuPont.
- Kayak, 7 miles on the French Broad River.
At least this one was not firing as we rode by!
Retirement Travel with Glen 