California and the Golden West - September 11th - 26th

Sorry I have not been very good with this tour in keeping you all updated so here is a complete travel log for the tour .....  you can copy and paste any or all of it .... 

San Diego – 1.2 million

Shaped like a hook and protected by the peninsula of Coronado, the 22 square miles of San Diego Bay form a natural deepwater harbour around which the second largest city in California has grown. The bay was discovered in 1542 by the Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. Colonization did not follow until 1769. In that year, the founding father of the mission chain, Junipero Serra, arrived into the region as part of a military expedition to secure Alta California, for Spain. Its commanders built a presido and mission near San Diego River, an area known as Old Town.

The growth of modern San Diego began in the 1870s, when Alonzo Horton, San Franciscan businessman, began to develop the town’s waterfront areas. He laid down the grid of streets of the Gaslamp Quarter, which along with Horton Plaza shopping centre has become the centrepiece of San Diego’s rejuvenated Downtown district.

Historically, the city’s main street is Broadway, punctuated at its western end by the Santa Fe Depot. The towers brightly tiled interior of this Spanish Colonial –style railway station from 1915. It was built to impress visitors to the Panama-Pacific exposition in Balboa Park.

Since the 1980’s, Downtown San Diego has become the site of an ongoing architectural competition. Close to the Santa Fe Depot, one of the city’s tallest buildings, the America Plaza is home to the Contemporary Art. On the waterfront, the galleon like San Diego Convention Centre, which opened in 1989, overlooks San Diego Bay.

The promenades and piers of the Embarcadero water front pathway provide an introduction to San Diego’s role as a major commercial and military port. At the northern end are the Maritime Museums historic ships. A short stroll south is Broadway Pier, where visitors can join a harbour cruise. Seaport Village, a shopping and dining complex, has views across the aircraft carriers of the North Island United States Naval Air Station.

Phoenix – 1,321,045 – Metro Area – 3,251,876 -elevation 1,200 feet

Phoenix, easily the largest city in the South-west and sixth largest in the country, was surrounded by other towns before WWII, but rapid growth in the latter half of the 20^th century has linked these into one huge, still growing metropolitan area. Major towns adjoining Phoenix include Tempe with 158,625, Scottsdale with 202,705, Mesa with 396,375 and over a dozen other communities. Together they cover almost 2000 sq. miles, an area that is locally called the “Valley of the Sun” or just “the valley.” Sunny it certainly is; with more than 300 days of sunshine a year, it’s searingly hot in summer but delightful in winter.

History - Hohokam people lived here some 2300 years ago and small groups of Pima and Maricopa Indians eked out an existence along the Gila and Salt Rivers. In the mid –1860s, the US Army built Fort McDowell northeast of Phoenix. This prompted Jack Swilling to reopen Hohokam canals to produce crops for the garrison and led to the establishment of a town in 1870. Darrel Duppa, a British settler, suggested that the town had risen from the ashes of the Hohokam culture like the fabled phoenix, and the name stuck.

Phoenix established itself as an agricultural and transportation centre. The railway arrived from the Pacific in 1887, and when Phoenix became the territorial capital in 1889, it had 3000 inhabitants. Settlers built Victorian houses that today stand as Phoenix’s oldest historical buildings. In 1886, the Arizona Normal School, later to become Arizona State University was established in Tempe. Other villages appeared; Mormon settlers founded Mesa in 1887, and Scottsdale followed a decade later, named after army chaplain Winfield Scott.

The lack of water was a major stumbling block to further growth until 1911, when the Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River was finished, the first of many large dams to be built in the state. The stage was set for growth, and grow Phoenix did.

In 1926, Phoenix’s railway link became transcontinental, enabling people from the East to pour into the state in increasing numbers, many came for recreation – to play cowboy in dude ranches or to relax at the luxurious Arizona Biltmore resort, opened in 1929 and still one of the finest in the west. Others came for their health; the dry desert air was said to cure various respiratory ailments. Many visitors stayed, including Dwight and Maie Heard, who arrived in 1895 to cure Dwight’s lung complaints. They founded Phoenix’s most interesting museum, The Heard.

Fort Verde State Historic Park

Four original fort buildings have been restored, which together with the original parade grounds and some foundations, give the visitor an idea of what life was like here in the 1800s.

Montezuma Castle National Monument

Montezuma Castle is an Ancestral Puebloan site built and occupied between the 12^th and 14^th centuries. The name refers to the splendid castle like location high on a cliff; early explorers thought the five story high pueblo was Aztec and hence dubbed it Montezuma.

Chapel of the Holy Cross is a non-denominational chapel.

Sedona – 10,195 – elevation 4,500 feet

Sedona, seated among the splendid crimson sandstone formations at the south end of lovely Oak Creek Canyon, is one of the prettiest locations in Arizona. For decades, Sedona was a quiet farming community but in the 1940s and ‘50s, Hollywood began using Sedona as a movie location. In the 1960s and ‘70s the beauty of the surroundings started attracting retirees, artists and tourists in large numbers and the town experienced much growth. Around 1980, New Agers began finding vortexes.

Rapid, poorly controlled growth took the area somewhat by surprise, and the strip malls look out of place among the red-rock scenery, although the town is making efforts to blend in with the surroundings.

In Search of the New Age - Sedona is the foremost New Age centre in the Southwest and one of the most important anywhere. The term “New Age” loosely refers to a trend toward seeking alternative explanations or interpretations of what constitutes health, religion, the psyche and enlightenment. Drawing upon new and old factual and mystical traditions from around the world, “New Agers” often seek to transform themselves psychologically and spiritually in the hope that such personal efforts will eventually transform the world at large.

Flagstaff – 52,894 – elevation 6900 feet

Shepherd Thomas Forsyth McMillan first settled Flagstaff in early 1876. On the Fourth of July of that year, a pine tree was stripped of its branches and a US flag hung from it to celebrate the country’s centennial, hence the town’s name. The arrival of the railroad in 1882 really put Flagstaff on the map. Cattle and sheep ranching became economic mainstays, and the surrounding forests formed the basis of a small logging industry. The Lowell Observatory was founded in 1894, the still functioning Hotel Weatherford was built in 1887, and the school that later became Northern Arizona University was established in 1899. In the early 1900s, the Riordan Mansion and several other historic buildings were erected.

Today, tourism is Flagstaff’s major industry.

Lowell Observatory - Named after its founder, Percival Lowell, this observatory continues to be a working astronomical research centre. Of many important observations made here, the discovery of the planet Pluto in 1930 is the most famous. Eight telescopes are in use, including the historic 24-inch Clark refractor.

Riordan State Historic Park - Brothers Michael and Timothy Riordan made a fortune from their Arizona Lumber Company and, in 1904, built a 13,000 sq foot mansion to house their two families. The park preserves this building with its original furnishings, which were of the then fashionable

And luxurious Craftsmen style. The building, made of stone fronted by log slabs, gives the false appearance of a palatial log cabin.

Pioneer State Historic Park - Housed in the old 1908 county hospital, the Pioneer Museum preserves Flagstaff’s early history in photographs and memorabilia that ranges from vintage farm equipment to early medical instruments.

The Arboretum - Has 200 acres of grounds and greenhouses dedicated to horticultural research and displays. At 7150 feet this is the highest research arboretum.

Williams – 2842-elevation 6762

Mountain man Bill Williams passed through here several times before he died in 1849, and settlers in 1874 named the town after him. In 1901, the railway to the Grand Canyon opened making Williams a tourist centres. Easy road and car access closed the railway in 1969, only to return in 1989 as a historic steam train. Route 66 displays that relate that Williams had the last traffic light on that famous highway.

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River is Arizona’s most famous sight – indeed, it is arguably the best known natural attraction in the entire country, This grandest of all canyons has been declared a United Nations world heritage site to be protected for all people.

At 277 miles long, roughly 10 miles wide and a mile deep, the canyon sounds big. The incredible spectacle of differently coloured rock strata, the many buttes and peaks within the canyon itself, and the meandering rims give access to fantastic views that amaze the visitor.

Scattered throughout the Grand Canyon are signs of ancient Native American inhabitants. The oldest artifacts are little twig figures of animals made by hunters and gatherers about 4000 years ago. Within the canyon are stone buildings left by Native Americans before their unexplained departure during the 12^th century.

Cerbat people began living at the western end of the canyon around AD1300 and were the ancestors of contemporary Hualapai and Havasupai tribes. Despite attempts by Europeans to dislodge them, these two tribes continue living in reservations on the southwestern rim of the canyon.

The canyon’s earliest European visitors were Spaniards who gazed into the depths in 1540. The canyon was difficult to reach and involved crossing large areas with little water. Because there didn’t appear to be any mineral wealth and the area was generally considered valueless, European visits were infrequent for over three centuries.

The first serious European exploration was in 1869, when John Wesley Powell, a one armed Civil War veteran, led an expedition along the Colorado River. Using wooden boats, they ran the entire length of the Grand and other canyons – a remarkable achievement. Powell led a similar expedition in 1871-72, which resulted in detailed scientific observations and writings.

During the late 19^th century, Mormons began settling the remote Arizona Strip, and prospectors and miners ventured into the canyon in search of mineral wealth but found little. One miner, John Hance, arrived in 1883 and decided that catering to tourists would be more profitable than mining. He became one of the most colourful and well-known guides into the canyon, famous for his tall tales. Some simple lodges were built for the few tourists who made it to the South Rim by stagecoach or horseback.

In 1901, the railroad arrived and tourism became big business. President Theodore Roosevelt visited the canyon in 1903, said, “ you cannot improve on it” and protected the canyon, first as a national monument in 1908 and later as a park in 1919. The park has expanded since and its current size is 1892 sq miles.

Seligman – Route 66

Historic Route 66, once the main highway from Chicago to Los Angeles, has been largely forgotten in favour of the interstate freeway system. Several cities have vestiges of the old route, but the longest remaining stretch of what was once called the “Main Street of America,” stretches 160 miles from Seligman to Topock on the Arizona – California border. Other than Kingman, Route 66 winds through mostly empty and lesser-travelled northwestern Arizonian countryside. Every year, this desolate stretch is transformed into its bustling former self with the annual Route 66 Fun Run.

Chloride – pop 250 – elevation 4200 feet

Founded in 1862 by sliver miners, Chloride is the oldest mining town in Arizona and home to the oldest continuously operating post office in the state (since 1871). The semi-ghost town, there are antique and art stores; old buildings, the original jail, with two tiny grimly barred cells flanking the woodstove-heated guard’s room.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Hoover Dam (at the time the world’s largest) was built between 1931 and 1936 in this hot arid and desolate area. It backed up the Colorado River, flooding canyons, archaeological sites wilderness areas and communities and producing Lake Mead, on of the world’s largest artificial lakes. In 1953, the smaller

Davis Dam was completed, forming Lake Mohave. The dams were built for flood control, irrigation, and hydroelectricity and as a water supply to the burgeoning population of the Southwest and Southern California.

When the dams were built, people decried the flooding as a destructive waste of archaeological, historical, natural and scenic recourses. Today the two lakes, surrounded by wild desert scenery, attract millions of visitors.

Las Vegas –

The name Las Vegas – Spanish for “the meadows” – was originally applied to a group of natural springs that served as a way station for travellers on the Old Spanish Trail from 1829 onwards. For the rest of the 19thC, the Paiute Indians shared the region with a handful of Mormon ranchers, and the valley had a population of just thirty in 1900. Things changed in 1905, with the completion of the now-defunct rail link between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. Las Vegas itself was founded on May 15^th that year, when the railroad auctioned off lots around what is now Freemont Street.

Ironically, Nevada was the first state to outlaw gambling, in 1909, but it was made legal once more in 1931, and the workers who built the nearby Hoover Dam flocked to Vegas to bet away their pay-cheques. Providing abundant cheap electricity and water, the dam amounted to a massive federal subsidy for the infant city. Hotel-casinos such as the daring 65 room El Rancho began to appear in the early 1940s, but the Midwest Mafia were the first to appreciate the potential for profit. Mobster Bugsy Siegel raised $7 million to open the Flamingo on the Strip in December 1946; early losses forced him to close again in January 1947, and although he swiftly managed to re-open in March his erstwhile partners were dissatisfied enough with their returns to have him murdered in LA in June.

By the 1950’s, Las Vegas was booming. The military had arrived- mushroom clouds from A bomb tests in the deserts were visible from the city and visitors would drive out with picnics to get a better view – and so, too, had big guns like Frank Sinatra, who debuted at the Dessert Inn in 1951, and Liberarce, who received $50,000 to open the Riviera in 1955. As the stars gravitated towards the Vegas honey pot, nightclubs across America went out of business, and the city became the nation’s undisputed live-entertainment capital.

The beginning of the end for Mob rule in Vegas came in 1966, after reclusive airline tycoon Howard Hughes sold TWA for $500 million and moved into the Desert Inn. When the owners tired of his stingy – specifically non-gambling – ways, he simply bought the hotel, and his clean-cut image encouraged other entrepreneurs to follow his example. Elvis arrived a little later; the young rock’n’roller had bombed at the New Frontier in 1956, but started a triumphant five-year stint as a karate-kicking lounge lizard at the International (now the Las Vegas Hilton) in 1969. He married Priscilla at the Aladdin on May 1, 1967, nine months to the day before the birth of Lisa Marie, and just eight years before Michael Jackson met Lisa Marie at a Jackson Five gig in Vegas.

Endless federal swoops and stings drove the Mob out of sight by the 1980s, in time for Vegas to re invent itself on a surge of junk-bond mega dollars. The success of Steve Wynn’s Mirage in enticing a new generation of visitors, from 1989 onwards spawned a host of imitators. The 1990s kicked off a spate of casino building, including Excalibur and the MGM Grand, that has barely let up since, with Luxor and New York-New York followed as the millennium approached by the opulent quartet of Bellagio, Manadaly Bay, the Venetian and Paris. Beneath the glitz, however, gambling remains the bedrock, and Las Vegas’ pre-eminence seems little dented by the spread of casinos elsewhere in the US. City boosters point out that only fifteen percent of Americans have so far seen Vegas, and they’re confidently expecting the rest to turn up any day now.

Mojave Desert

Most of the Mojave Desert is at an altitude of 2,000 ft. It has cold winters and baking hot summers. Many of the region’s rivers and lakes are seasonal and are dry during the summer. The desert is to an array of plant species and animals, from tortoises to foxes that have evolved to survive in this climate. Barstow, the largest town in the Mojave region, caters for travellers to and from Las Vegas. The northern Mojave are dominated by the Death Valley National Park. To the east lie the resorts of Lake Havasu.

The Military in the Mojave

The United States government has set aside vast areas of the Mojave Desert for military use. All such areas are strictly off limits to civilians. During WWII, the Desert Training Centre covered 17,500 sq miles and was used by General Patton to train his forces. Today, smaller military preserves include the China lake Weapons Centre, northeast of the Mojave, which is used for live bombing and artillery testing. North of Barstow, the Fort Irwin national Training Centre, which covers more than 1,000 sq miles, is an important US Army instillation. The NTC has a population of 12,000 including civilian workers. Its desert terrain was used to prepare troops for the Gulf War in 1990-91, and is one of the main US training areas for tanks and weapons.

Calico Ghost Town

Calico Ghost Town is a late 19^thC. Mining town, which is part authentic and part-reconstruction. Silver was found in the Calico Mountains on 26^th March 1881 and soon hundreds of miners arrived. Some of the veins they struck were so rich that they produced 25lb of silver per tonne. Two years later, borax was discovered 3 miles east of Calico and the tow’s prosperity seemed assured. During the 1880s, Calico boasted a population of 1,200 – and 22 saloons – but after the price of silver fell and the equally valuable borax gave out, the miners left. By 1907, Calico was a ghost town. Walter Knott, began the restoration process in the 1950s. Calico’s isolation and desert setting reinforce the sense of rough old mining town. Many of the original buildings remain and visitors can take a ride in a mine train or explore tunnels in Maggie Mine, one of the most famous silver on the West Coast. Shows and tours are also held, including mock “ shoot-outs” staged on the main street.

Calico Early Man Site - At this archaeological site, thousands of 100,000-year-old stone tools have been discovered. They were made by North America’s earliest-known inhabitants, who once lived in this area on the shores of a great lake. The renowned archaeologist and palaeontologist Dr Louis Leakey was director of the site, consisting of several pits, from 1964 until his death in 1972.

Barstow – population 22,000

During the 19thC, this was a small settlement that served farmers as well as emigrants and miners on the Old Spanish Trail. In 1886 the new Barstow – San Bernardino rail line opened, linking Kansas City with the Pacific Coast. Barstow’s original railway station, the Casa del Deserto, has recently been restored. From 1937 to the late 1950s, Barstow was an important town along Route 66. The town is best known today as being the midway point on the I-15 between LA and LV. To the 41 million people who make this journey each year, it is a convenient stopping-off point. But many also come here in search of the precious minerals and gemstones to be found in the surrounding desert.

Edwards Air Force Base

While it is famous around the world as the West Coast space shuttle landings, Edwards Air Force Base has been steeped in the history of America in flight since 1933. The 65 sq mile flat expanse of Rodgers Dry Lake provides an enormous natural runway that is perfect for emergency landings. The area’s year-round fine and clear weather adds to its suitability for aircraft testing and the training of test pilots. It was here that the very first jet-propelled aircraft was tested in 1942. Here, too, Captain Chuck Yeager became the first to break the sound barrier on the 14 October 1947 in a Bell XS-1 rocket plane. Fifty pilots still graduate each year from the Test Pilot School. Edwards is also home to the NASA Dryden Flight Research Centre.

Mojave

Is a major junction on the interstate rail network, used solely by goods trains.

Tehachapi

An apple growing centre which, at an elevation of around 4,000 feet. The town has a couple of minor claims to fame. Some 5,100-wind generators – both familiar three-bladed windmills and more unusual egg-beater-style Darreius turbines – make the Tehachapi Wind Resource Area. Train enthusiasts, meanwhile, cross-states to see the Santa Fe diesels hauling their three miles long string of boxcars around the Tehachapi Loop. Built in the 1870s as the only means of scaling the steep slopes of the region, the tracks cleave to the rock face, doubling back on them to make a complete 360-degree loop.

Bakersfield – population 378,000

Named after Colonel Thomas Baker, a settler who planted a field of alfalfa here. The shrub fed the animals of the early travellers who rested here before crossing the Tehachapi Mountains, the “border” that divides northern and southern California.

Many consider the town to be the final stop in the I-15 from San Francisco before the ascent up Grapevine canyon to LA.

Bakersfield’s modern history began with the discovery of gold in the 1850’s and several oil strikes in the following decades. Many people from Mediterranean countries settled on the fertile land, bringing agriculture to the area.

Today it is among the fastest growing cities in California, but still manages to retain a rural feel and is a recognized centre for country music.

Bisecting Bakersfield, Kern River is renowned for its white water rafting and kayaking.

Visalia

Due to the large oak forest that offered both shade and timber for homebuilding, Visalia was the first place in the Central Valley to be settled. Although the forest is gone, large number of oaks and eucalyptus are still planted around the city and the local people put an extraordinary amount of care into the upkeep of parks and gardens.

Kingburg

Over half of the inhabitants are of Swedish descent, but its only in the last 30 years that they’ve sought to exploit their roots, converting the town’s buildings to Swedish style architecture and plastering their windows and walls with tributes to the Swedish Royal Family and the Dala Horse.

Fresno – population 402,500

Fresno is located at approximately the geographical centre of the State and is its eighth largest city. A busy commercial centre. Fresno is often referred to as the “Raisin Capital of the World” because of its abundant production of the dried fruit.

Yosemite National Park

Some of the world’s most beautiful mountain terrain is protected within the 1,170 sq miles of Yosemite National Park, formed by millions of years of glacial activity. A wilderness of evergreen forests, high meadows and sheer walls of granite. Soaring cliffs, plunging waterfalls, gigantic trees, rugged canyons, mountains and valleys all combine to lend Yosemite its comparable beauty.

Yosemite sights: -

Half Dome - Standing nearly 1 mile above the valley floor the silhouette of Half Dome has become a symbol of Yosemite. Its curved back rises to a wavelike lip, before dropping vertically to the valley below.

Geologists believe that Half Dome is now three quarters of its original size, rather than a true half. It is though as recently as 15,000 years ago, glacial ice flows moved through the valley from the Sierra crust, scything off rock and depositing it downstream. The 8,840-foot summit of Half Dome offers an unsurpassed view of the valley.

Yosemite Falls - Yosemite Falls are the highest waterfalls in North America and tumble from a height of 2,425 feet in two great leaps. Upper Yosemite and Lower Yosemite Falls. One of the most recognizable features of the park, the cascades is visible all over the valley.

Glacier Point - The great Yosemite panorama can be experienced from Glacier Point, which rests on a rocky ledge 3,215 feet above the valley floor. Most of the waterfalls and other features of Yosemite Valley are visible from here.

Mariposa Grove - At the southern end of Yosemite this beautiful grove was one of the main reasons the park was established. More than 500 giant sequoia trees can be seen here, some which are more than 3,000 years old, 250 feet tall and more than 30ft in diameter at the base.

Sonoara -

,In the beautiful Sierra Nevada Foothills, in the heart of California’s  “Gold Country” lies Sonora , named after the miners from Sonora Mexico who settled the City in 1848. Known as the “Queen of the Southern Mines”, this pristine City still holds on to its historic charm with many of its existing buildings dating back to the 1800’s. In fact, a walk along most streets in the City allows one to reminisce with days gone by; a brick or stone building, a slate wall, an iron shutter or fence, or a historic home nestled in an old fashioned garden. 

Incorporated in 1851, this hastily established mining camp took on the identity of a town and while gold mining was the driving force of the City it quickly evolved into the commercial, government and cultural centre for the region. The prosperity of California ’s “Mother Lode” that drew the gold seekers of yesteryear to this beautiful area is still being discovered today as Sonora remains the centre of commerce for the region. Sonora, one of the oldest cities in California, was incorporated on May 1, 1851.  Only ten cities have been incorporated longer.  Sonora was historically referred to as the ‘Queen of the Southern Mines.’ Like so many Gold Rush towns, Sonora had a wild reputation in its early days.  According to Frank Marryat, who wrote about his 1851 experiences in Sonora, “No church bells here usher in the Sabbath . . . every man carries arms, generally a Colt revolver, buckled behind, with no attempt at concealment.”  While not totally accurate as to the lack of church bells, since the Catholic Padre Arnault was here in the fall of 1849 to establish St. Patrick’s, it does give one a feeling that Sonora was a pretty wild place.

Modesto –

Childhood home of movie director George Lucas, became the inspiration (though not the location) for his movie American Graffiti, the classic portrayal of growing up in small-town America during the late 1950s. The movie contains a number of references to local people, particularly the teachers who rubbed Lucas the wrong way in his formative years.

San Francisco – 7 million in the Bay Area

San Francisco with its 43 hills, sits at the tip of a peninsula, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the San Francisco Bay to the east. To the north, linked by the Golden Gate Bridge, are the rugged Marin Headlands and the protected wildlife area of the Point Reyes Peninsula. The Diablo Coast Range, with the 3,850 feet Mount Diablo at its heart, forms a mountainous backdrop to the heavily populated cities of Richmond, Oakland and Berkley in the East Bay, and divides the region from the flat plains of the Central Valley. To the south, the San Bruno Mountains enclose the industrial Silicon Valley and run along the coastline towards Big Sur.

Victorian Houses in San Francisco - Despite earthquakes, fires and inroads of modern life, thousands of ornate, late 19thC houses still line the streets of San Francisco. In fact, in many neighbourhoods they are by far the most common type of housing. Victorian houses are broadly similar, in that they all have wooden frames, elaborately decorated with mass produced ornament. Most were constructed on narrow plots to a similar floor plan, but they differ in the features of the façade. Four main styles prevail in the city; although in practice many houses, especially those built in the 1880s and 1890s, combine aspects of two or more styles.

San Francisco’s Cable Cars - The cable car system was launched in 1873, with its inventor Andrew Hallidie riding in the first car. He was inspired to tackle the problem of transporting people up the city’s steep slopes after witnessing a bad accident, when a horse drawn tram slipped down a hill, dragging the horses with it. His system was a success, and by 1889 cars were running on eight lines. Before the 1906 earthquake, more than 600 cars were in use. With the advent of the combustion engine, cable cars became obsolete, and in 1947 attempts were made to replace them with buses. After a public outcry the present three lines, using 17 miles of track, were retained.

San Francisco’s Best: Museums and Galleries - Museums and Galleries in the city range from the encyclopaedic MH de Young and the California Palace of the Legion of Honour, to the contemporary art of the Museum of Modern Art and its neighbour, the Centre for the Arts at Yerba Buena. In addition there are several excellent science museums, including the Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences. Other museums celebrate the city’s heritage, including its ancestral Native American and Mexican cultures, and the people and events that made the city what it is today.

San Francisco’s Murals - San Francisco is proud of its reputation as a culturally rich and cosmopolitan city, and these qualities are evident in the bright murals that decorate walls and other public places in several areas of the city. Many were painted in the 1930s, and many more in the 1970s, with some appearing spontaneously, while others were specially commissioned. One of the best is the Carnaval Mural on 24^th Street in the Mission District.

Chinatown - Grant Avenue is the Chinatown for tourists, with dragon lampposts, up-turned roofs and neighbourhood hardware stores selling everything from kites to cooking utensils. Locals shop on the Stockton Street, where boxes of the freshest vegetables, fish and other produce spill over onto crowded pavements. In the alleys in between, look for temples, laundries and family run restaurants.

Fisherman’s Wharf - Fisherman from Genoa and Sicily first arrived in the Fisherman’s Wharf area in the late 19thC and founded the San Francisco fishing industry. The district has slowly given way to tourism since the 1950s, but brightly painted boats still set out from the harbour on fishing trips early each morning. To the south Fisherman’s Warf lies North Beach, sometimes known as “Little Italy”. This lively part of the city has an abundance of delis, bakeries and cafes, from which you can watch the crowds. It is home to many Italian and Chinese families, with a sprinkling of writers and bohemians; Jack Kerouac among others, found inspiration here.

Alcatraz Island - Alcatraz means “pelican” in Spanish and refers to the first inhabitants of this rocky steep-sided island. Lying 3 miles east of the Golden Gate, its location is both strategic and exposed to ocean winds. In 1859, the US army established a fort here that guarded San Francisco Bay until 1907, when it became a military prison. From 1934 to 1963 it served as a maximum security Federal Penitentiary. In 1969 members of the Native American Movement claiming it as their land seized the island. They were expelled in 1971, and Alcatraz is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Famous Inmates

Al Capone - The Prohibition gangster, “Scarface” Capone was actually convicted in 1934 for income tax evasion! He spent much of his five-year sentence on Alcatraz in an isolation cell, and left the prison mentally unstable.

Robert Stroud - The original “Birdman of Alcatraz” spent the majority of his seventeen years on The Rock in solitary confinement.

Carnes, Thompson and Shockley - In May 1946, prisoners led by Clarence Carnes, Marion Thompson and Sam Shockley overpowered guards and captured their guns. The prisoners failed to break out of the cell house, but three inmates and two officers were killed in what became known as the “Battle of Alcatraz”. Carnes received an additional life sentence. Shockley and Thompson were executed at San Quentin prison for their part in the insurrection.

Anglin Brothers - John and Clarence Anglin, together wit Frank Morris, chipped through the walls of their cells, and hid the holes with cardboard grates. Leaving dummy heads in their beds they made a raft to enable their escape and were never caught. Their story was dramatized in the film Escape from Alcatraz (1979).

Golden Gate Park and Presidio - The spectacular Golden Gate Park is one of the world’s largest urban parks, created in the 1890s out of sandy wasteland. It houses three museums and a range of sports facilities. Land’s End, the city’s wildest region and scene of many shipwrecks, is accessible from the park. To the north of Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, overlooking San Francisco Bay, was established as an outpost of Spain’s New World Empire in 1776, and for many years was a military base. In 1993 it became a National Park.

Golden Gate Bridge - Named after that part of San Francisco Bay called “Golden Gate” by John Fremont in 1844, the bridge opened in 1937, connecting the city with Marin County. It took just over four years to build at a cost of $35 million. Breathtaking views are offered from this spectacular, world famous landmark, which has six lanes for vehicles, plus a free pedestrian walkway. It is the world’s third largest single span bridge and, when it was built, it was the world’s longest and tallest suspension structure.

The Bridge in Figures -

Every year more than 40 million vehicles cross the bridge; every day about 120,000 vehicles use it.

The original coat of paint lasted for 27 years, needing only touch ups. But since 1965, a crew has been stripping off the old paint and applying a more durable coating.

The two great 7,650ft cables are more than 3ft thick, and contain 80,000 miles of steel wire, enough to circle the earth at the equator 3 times.

The volume of concrete poured into the piers and anchorages during the bridge’s construction would be enough to lay a five-foot pavement from New York to San Francisco, a distance of 2,500 miles.

The bridge can withstand 100 mph winds.

Each pier has to withstand a tidal flow of more than 60 mph while supporting a 21,500 tonne steel tower.

Monterey – 32,000

The Portuguese Explorer, Sebastian Vizcaino, landed here in 1602, and named the bay after patron, the Count of Monterey. But it was not until the Spanish Captain Gaspar de Portola (1717-1784) and Father Serra landed here in 1770 and established a church and Presidio that the garrison grew into a pueblo. Monterey served as the capital of California until 1848. After the Gold Rush the city lost its status to San Francisco settled into the role of a hard working fishing port, market town and military base.

Cannery Row - This six-block harbour front street, celebrated by John Steinbeck in his ribald novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, was once the site of more than 20 fish-packing plants which processed sardines from Monterey Bay. The canneries thrived from the early 20thC reaching their greatest volume of production in the early 1940s. In 1945 the sardines suddenly disappeared, perhaps as a result of over fishing, and most of the canneries were abandoned, later to be demolished or burned down. The buildings that remain today house an eclectic collection of shops and restaurants. One notable historic building that remains, at No 800, is the old laboratory of “Doc” Ricketts, noted marine biologist, beer drinker and best friend of Steinbeck. The building is now a private club.

Pacific Grove - This sedate town was founded in 1889 as a religious retreat, where alcohol, dancing and even the Sunday Newspaper were banned. Today it is best known for its wooden houses, many now converted into inns, the beautiful coastal parks and the monarch butterflies that arrive between October and April. The annual return of the insects, which are protected by the city ordinance, occasions a lively parade. The Point Pinos lighthouse was built in 1852 and is now the oldest operating lighthouse in California

The 17-Mile Drive

The Monterey Peninsula, the 17-mile drive offers spectacular views of the best the area has to offer, including crashing surf, coastal flora and enchanting forests. The extraordinary beauty of the region has also attracted many wealthy people to build magnificent estates and mansions in the area. Most celebrated of all its attractions are the country clubs and championship golf courses.

Carmel–By the Sea

The varied array of homes in this picturesque village border the steep hillsides down to the ocean. City ordinances restricting streetlamps, post deliveries and pavements give the town its quaint atmosphere. Art galleries and shops abound along the Ocean Avenue and the town also sponsors an annual play-writing contest, a Bach festival and many art exhibitions.

Carmel Mission

Founded in 1770 by Father Junipero Serra (1713-84) and built of abode brick by Native American labourers, Carmel Mission, served as the administrative centre for all the Northern Californian Missions. Father Serra resided here until his death, and is now buried at the foot of the altar. The mission was secularised and abandoned in 1834, quickly falling into disrepair. Restoration work began in 1924, carefully following the plans of the original mission, and replanting the gardens. The reconstructed living quarters detail 18thC mission life. The mission still functions as a Catholic church.

Big Sur

In the late 18thC, Spanish colonists at Carmel named this stretch of land El Pais Grande del Sur, the “big country to the south”, and the coastline of Big Sur has been attracting people ever since. The novelist Robert Louis Stevenson called it “the greatest meeting of land and sea in the world”, and the 100 miles of breathtaking mountains, cliffs and rocky coves still leave visitors grasping for adjectives.

The scenic Hwy 1 was constructed across this rugged landscape during the 1930s, but otherwise Big Sur has been preserved in its natural state. There are no large towns and very few signs of civilisation in the area. Most of the shoreline is protected is a series of state parks, which offer dense forests, broad rivers and crashing surf, all easily accessible within a short walk from the road.

Point Lobos State Reserve – This is the habitat of the Monterey cypress, the only tree to survive the region’s mixture of fog and salt spray. Its branches are shaped by the sea winds.

Bixby Creek Bridge – This photogenic arched bridge was built in 1932. For many years it was the world’s largest single arch span, at 260 ft tall and over 700 ft long. Hwy 1 was named the state’s first scenic highway here in 1966.

Point Sur Lighthouse – Sits atop a volcanic cone. It was manned until 1974 but is now automated.

Andrew Molera State Park – Opened in 1972, this park includes 10 miles of hiking trails and 2.5 miles of quiet sandy beach.

Nepenthe – Is a pretty resort hidden from the road by oak trees. Hollywood movie stars have frequented it.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park – A tunnel under Hwy 1, accessible only on foot, leads to the 100ft high bluff from which McWay Creek waterfall spills into the Pacific Ocean.

The Esalen Institute – In the 1960s was set up to hold New Age seminars its hot springs were first frequented by Native Americans.

Ventana Wilderness – Part of the Los Padres National Forest, many of the steep ridges of this beautiful wilderness is accessible only to experienced hikers.

Jade Cove – This beautiful cove can only be reached by way of a steep path down the cliff face. The removal of jade is prohibited above the high tide level.

San Simeon Point – Is a natural harbour, which was used by William Randolph Hearst to ship materials for his estate, Hearst Castle, on the inland hilltop.

Hearst Castle

Hearst Castle perches on a hill above the village of San Simeon. The private playground and museum of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst is today one of California’s top tourist attractions. Its three guesthouses are superb buildings in their own right, but the highlight of the tour is the twin towered Casa Grande. Designed by Paris-trained architect Julia Morgan and built in stages from 1922 to 1947, its 115 rooms hold many artworks and epitomize the glamour of the 1930s and 1940s.

Cambria – population 5,000

Situated between rugged sea shore and pine clad hills, Cambria began as a mercury mining settlement in 1866. Later it became a centre for dairy farming and timber production and today it is a popular location for artists and craftspeople. The town is divided into two distinct districts: East Village, a charming colony of Arts and Crafts Houses and West Village, which is more modern. Main Street, which joins the two, is lined with specialist shops, art galleries and restaurants, as well as Lull House, Cambria’s oldest residence.

Among the houses on Hillcrest Drive, just north of Main Street, is Nit Wit Ridge. Local contractor Art Beal, who was known as “Captain Nit Wit”, built it. This whimsical abode was fashioned over six decades, starting in the 1930s, out of salvaged material, from the seashells to old tyres.

Morro Bay – population 10,000

The seaside port was founded in 1870 to ship produce from the area’s cattle ranching and dairy farming business. Today, tourism has become the town’s main industry and the waterfront is lined with galleries, shops, an aquarium and seafood restaurants. The bay’s principal feature is Morro Rock, a dome shaped 576 ft high volcanic peak-one of nine in the area. Named “El Morro” by Juan Cabrillo in 1542, who thought it resembled a Moor’s turban; it was connected to the mainland by causeway in 1933. Between 1880 and 1969 it was used as a quarry, and a million tonnes of rock were blasted away to construct breakwaters up and down the coast.

Today, Morro Rock is a wildlife reserve housing nests of peregrine falcons.

San Luis Obispo – population 43,000

This small city, situated in a valley in the Santa Lucia Mountains, developed around the San Luis Obispo Mission de Tolosa. Father Junipero Serra founded the mission on 1st September 1772. Fifth n a chain of 21 missions built by the Franciscan Order, and one of the wealthiest, it is still in use as a parish church. In front of the church is Mission Plaza, a landscaped public square bisected by a tree-lined creek. During the 1860s, bullfights took place in the park; today it is the site of many of the city’s less bloody events.

Pismo Beach – population 8,000

Pismo Beach is famous for the Pismo Clam. At the turn of the century up to 40,000 clams were harvested per day. In 1911 harvesters were limited to 200 clams per person; now, with a license, they may pick only ten.

Solvang – population 5,000

This Scandinavian style town was established in 1911 by a group of Danish educators. They paid $360,000 for 9,000 acres of mustard and bean fields on which to build a Danish colony and school. The original schoolhouse, a two storey frame structure, is no longer standing, having been replaced by the Bit ‘O Denmark Restaurant. Solvang’s Bethnania Lutheran church built in 1928 to a traditional Danish design, has a model sailing ship hanging from its ceiling.

Santa Barbara – population 86,000

Santa Barbara is a Southern Californian rarity: a city with a single architectural style. Following a devastating earthquake in 1925, the centre was rebuilt according to strict rules that dictated Mediterranean style architecture. The city was founded in 1782 – four years before Santa Barbara Mission – as a Spanish garrison. During the 19thC Santa Barbara was a quiet pueblo, home to only a few hundred families and a centre for the nearby cattle ranches. Remarkably, about a dozen abodes from that era have survived. Today, Santa Barbara is a quiet administrative centre with a large student population, who lend an informal feel to the city. A seaside town known as the “home of the newly wed and the nearly dead”. Once home to Ronald Reagan, and a weekend escape for much of the old money of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara is a conservative town, with locals doing everything money can buy to look tanned, healthy and well dressed.

Santa Barbara Mission

Labelled the “Queen of the Missions”, Santa Barbara is the most visited mission in the state. Founded in 1786 on the feast of St Barbara, it was the tenth mission built by the Spanish. After the third abode church on the site was destroyed by an earthquake in 1812, the present structure tool shape and was completed in 1833. Its twin towers and mix of Roman, Moorish and Spanish styles served as the main inspiration for what came to be known as Mission Style. An earthquake again hit the mission in 1925, damaging the towers and façade of the church. These sections were repaired bur, because of a chemical reaction between the alkalies and aggregates in the cement, the entire front had to be rebuilt in 1953, following the original design. Santa Barbara is the only Californian mission to been in continuous use since it was founded.

County Courthouse - The 1929 Spanish Colonial style courthouse in still in use. It is decorated with Tunisian tiles and wrought iron metalwork. Murals in the Assembly Room depict Californian history. There are panoramic views from the clock tower.

Stearns Wharf - Take a stroll among the pelicans on the Wharf, the oldest wooden pier in the state, built in 1872. It was nearly destroyed in November 1998, when a third of the structure was engulfed in flames; restoration has brought it back to its former glory.

Ventura – population 98,000 - All that remains of the San Buenaventura Mission founded in 1782 and completed in 1809 is a church with a courtyard garden and tiled fountain. A museum at the mission details the buildings of the original complex.

Today Ventura is largely an agricultural centre. Ventura Harbour Village has 30 shops, restaurants etc. On a hillside at the northern end of the town, the City Hall (1913) has a coppered covered dome and marble exterior.

Anaheim was founded in 1857 by grape farmers from Franconia in Bavaria. The first such settler was Daniel Kraemer. The colony was situated on 1,165 acres. Settlers voted to call the community Anaheim, meaning "home by the Santa Anna River" in German. The name later was changed slightly, to Anaheim. To the Spanish-speaking neighbours, the settlement was known as Campo Alemán (Spanish for German Camp). The grape industry was destroyed in the 1880s by an insect pest. Other crops - walnuts, lemons and, of course oranges - soon filled the void, fruits and vegetables having become viable cash crops when the Los Angeles

Los Angeles – population – City 3.7 million – Metro area – 15.2 million

On September 4, 1781, the Pobladores, a group of 12 families - 46 men, women and children led by Captain Rivera y Moncada - established a community in the area discovered by Portola, and named it El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reyna de Los Angeles de Porciuncula, after the nearby river. Over time, the area became known as the Ciudad de Los Angeles, "City of Angels," and on April 4, 1850 became the City of Los Angeles.
California was ruled by Spain until 1822 when Mexico assumed jurisdiction. After a two-year period of hostilities with Mexico beginning in 1846, the area came under U.S. control. In 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo made California a United States territory.

Hollywood
When Spanish explorers first entered the area now known as Hollywood, Native Americans were living in the canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains. Before long, the Indians had been moved to missions and the land which Hollywood now occupies was divided in two by the Spanish Government. Acreage to the west became part of Rancho La Brea and settlements to the East became Rancho Los Feliz.

By the 1870s an agricultural community flourished in the area and crops ranging from hay and grain to subtropical bananas and pineapples were thriving. During the 1880s, the Ranchos were sub-divided. In 1886, H. H. Wilcox bought an area of Rancho La Brea that his wife then christened "Hollywood." Within a few years, Wilcox had devised a grid plan for his new community, paved Prospect Avenue (now Hollywood Boulevard) for his main street and was selling large residential lots to wealthy Midwesterners looking to build homes so they could "winter in California." In 1911, the Nestor Company opened Hollywood's first film studio in an old tavern on the corner of Sunset and Gower. Not long thereafter Cecil B. DeMille and D. W. Griffith began making movies in the area drawn to the community for its open space and moderate climate.

Total Mileage – 2,545

VS 8 from Los Angeles to London

Hello, sorry I have not been keeping up with this but here is a quick run down ... ... from San Diego....