A few weeks ago, I had a business trip in Los Angeles.  I got there on Saturday afternoon, so had some time to enjoy the area. Last year, as some readers may recall I went out to the Mojave desert (http://micho.org/cayblog/?p=1525)

This year, since I had+-1.5 days, I expanded my horizons and drove all the way to San Francisco, a city I had long wanted to visit.  In total, I had +- 32h for this trip including driving time (+-12h) and sleep (+-7) . As you will see below, I packed in probably 3-days of sightseeing in under 1-day of actual visit time.  Got my rental car at 1pm Saturday and needed to be back in LA Sunday PM.   I hit the road immediately ; my only goal was to get to SF at a reasonable time to get a good nights sleep and ready for my first visit Sunday AM.

First stop : Alcatraz.   The most important visit for me.  I was attracted by the mystique and history of this place. Here we are approaching the island by ferry.  Ferry ride from SF is +- 15 minutes.   I had signed up (via Internet a few weeks prior) for the first ferry of the morning out to The Rock.

The main cell block which is the main attraction.  This visit was great and met all my expectations.   You can “feel” the history (and horror) of this place.  So glad I made the long drive.

Next stop ; drive down Lombard street.  This is the “curvy road” you see in many movies and pictures of San Francisco.

Quick stop to see the “Painted ladies”.  Fans of the TV 1990’s sitcom “Full House” will instantly recognize the view.

Next stop : Golden Gate Bridge.  Wow, what a beautiful bridge. I walked across about 2/3 of the way.  The day was perfect for a walk here as you can see the blue skies.  The view from the bridge of the city and Alcatraz was fabulous.  There were even some dolphins swimming near the base of the bridge.  I had initially planned to simply drive across the Golden Gate, but walking it was 1000x better.

Starting the drive back south towards LA.  Nerd stuff :  stop to see the GooglePlex located in Mountain View.

… and Apple a few minutes further south in Cupertino.

My ride for this trip (Photo added per request of one my most faithful readers) 🙂  It was a lovely 2011 S60 Volvo Turbo.  Here it is parked on Steiner Street, right in front of the Painted Ladies (got really lucky for parking … very popular area!)  Having a comfortable car for so many miles in so little time definitely made this trip that much more enjoyable.

Here is the summary of this trip … most of it along I-5.  Nothing much to see, but the road is in superb condition so its quite an enjoyable drive.  The ideal route would have been along the coast, but would have taken a few hours more, a luxury I unfortunately did not have on this trip if all my stops and plans were to work out.  Got back to my hotel in Los Angeles at +-10pm, needless to say totally exhausted … having flown in from New York on Saturday morning and essentially got to LAX and drove to SF almost immediately.  This road trip was so much worth it though!