California Traveler

Down and Dirty San Francisco with Anthony Bourdain

2012-01-09T23:08:00.000-05:00

Tonight, Anthony Bourdain's new Travel Channel show, The Layover took us to San Francisco. The episode explores various dining and drinking establishments (and some not so established) off the beaten tourist path. Bourdain stays at the elegant and historic (opened in 1907) Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill, but throughout the show he eats and drinks his way through various places in the city from the Lower Haight to Chinatown. He shows us that drinking is a sport in San Francisco, with a great playing field of small and large establishments crowded with locals. He avoids the touristy paces of Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf and takes us deep into the heart of this bustling city.

Tomorrow night on Travel Channel the show Hidden City visits San Francisco to explore the infamous side of the city.

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

2011-12-28T11:33:00.000-05:00

Well, if you're in San Francisco for New Year's Eve, then there are at least 925 things for you to do according to San Francisco Travel. And, if you're concerned about transportation, all MUNI lines and routes are free on New Year's Eve from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. (for more information check out MUNI's website.)

Mummies Know the Way to San Jose

2011-12-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum is located in San Jose and contains the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts on exhibit in the Western US. The museum is located in Rosicrucian Park, which includes a planetarium (closed), temple, research library and peace garden. The Rosicrucian Order is not a religious order, but a "non-sectarian body of men and women who study the elusive mysteries of life and the universe."

The buildings are very exotic looking being designed in either an Egyptian or Moorish style. The design pf Rosicrucian Museum was inspired by the Temple of Amon at Karnak. The Rosicrucian Park features lots of roses among other trees, plants and flowers. The parking lot for the museum is across the street; parking is free.

The museum features a well-rounded collection from tiny artifacts to actual mummies. There are also artifacts from other neighboring cultures of the ancient Egyptians. There are a number of large artifacts in the museum which are replicas of actual artifacts, including a replica Rosetta Stone. The museum even features a replica Egyptian tomb, which takes you from one side of the museum to the other.

The museum also features a small gift shop and is currently showing the art exhibit Vibrations by Maria Butina. You can also take pictures in the museum as long as you don't use a tripod or flash.

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Better Late Than Never

2011-12-09T17:56:00.001-05:00

So, it's been a while since I came back from my last trip to California and I'm just getting around to writing my posts. I did try to post while I was on vacation, but for some reason the BlogPress app on my iPhone/iPad wouldn't post what I wrote. Now that the weather at home has gotten cold and is only going to get colder, I'm definitely California dreaming. So, I will be reliving my last vacation through my upcoming posts over the next few weeks. Enjoy, especially if this winter's day is making you dream of California, too.

Another Day, Another Groupon: Red and White Fleet, San Francisco

2011-09-20T10:49:00.000-04:00

View of San Francisco from the Bay.

So, I opened up the Groupon page today and what did I see? Another discount deal on a San Francisco attraction. Today, the Groupon is for 50% off a 60-minute bay cruise for two on the Red and White Fleet, departing from Fisherman's Wharf. Whenever I go someplace near the water, I love to go for a boat tour and have done this several times in San Francisco. You typically get close up views of the Golden Gate Bridge and fantastic views of San Francisco. Getting out on the water gives you a unique perspective of the city and it's geography. I highly recommend taking advantage of this Groupon if you plan to be in San Francisco anytime in the next year. The deal doesn't expire until September 24, 2012!

Get Your Groupon...I Did: Ripley's Believe It of Not!

2011-09-19T09:59:00.000-04:00

One of the new things I'll be seeing on this trip to California will be the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum and Mirror Maze at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, courtesy of my Groupon purchase. I've walked by this museum numerous times while in San Francisco, but have never gone in. Now, with this great deal available from Groupon,, how could I resist? I couldn't. I love bargains, and half price tickets for something to do on vacation is even better. For $11 you can get one combo ticket to the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum and Mirror Maze, combo purchase for two is $20, and a combo pack for four is only $38. These are all over 50% off savings...and even if you don't want to go to the Mirror Maze, the $11 purchase price for a ticket to the museum is still a deal as regular adult admission is $19.99. The Groupon is only good through December 22, so you'll need to go in the next several months...not a problem for me. I was never really sure if I wanted to go to this cheesy tourist attraction, but at the reduced rates, I couldn't resist checking it out. I'll report on my visit, so check back in two weeks for details.

Less Than Two Weeks to Go

2011-09-15T20:00:00.000-04:00

Vacation is on in less than two weeks and I couldn't be more excited. It's been a little under two years since I've been to California, so it's definitely time. I'm looking forward to visiting some familiar places (Monterey, for one) and hoping to explore some unfamiliar locations, as well. I'm in the process of finalizing some plans and researching a few locations, so we'll see where we end up. Some of the time will be spent with the BF's family and some time will be spent on our own. Nine more days to go...guess I better get packing!

Spa Week

2011-09-15T14:58:00.001-04:00

Spa Week's Fall 2011 Event, presented by CAREFREE® is a nationwide event taking place from October 10 - 16, but there are a lot of participating spas in California. I always think it's nice if you can combine a spa treatment with vacation, but even if you aren't on vacation, it's a great deal to take advantage of the $50 spa treatments during Spa Week. You can purchase Spa Week gift cards in advance online. Spa Week launched this past Monday, so book your appointments now...especially if you're going to be on vacation the week of Spa Week. You wouldn't want to miss out on a little pampering and relaxation!

Hotel Deals for San Francisco

2011-08-22T17:00:00.003-04:00

Act now for some great deals on hotels in San Francisco. The first deal is a Living Social Escape and only has one day left to purchase. For $139 for a weeknight stay or $169 for a weekend, you can stay at the new boutique hotel da Vinci Villa located in the Marina District near Russian Hill. The deal includes a stay for two in a deluxe room, a 25% discount to the hotel's Caffé Como and a bottle of wine.

The second deal is from Historic Hotels of America® which is featuring special fall packages on historic hotels in San Francisco. Book your stay at their website through September 30 and receive a one-year family membership to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Historic Hotels of America® is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Hotels that participate in this program must "have faithfully maintained their historic integrity, architecture and ambiance." Participating hotels are the Fairmont Hotel San Francisco, InterContinental Mark Hopkins, Omni San Francisco, and the Palace Hotel.

It's A Belated Blogiversary

2011-08-06T09:00:00.010-04:00

Photo courtesy of El.lE Photography. Petite L'Amour by El.lE Photography.

Well, I've been writing this blog for over three years now. At times I've been way better at posting than others. I say I'll change my ways and post more, but then I drop off. I'm hoping that this post will continue my recent streak of posting. I now work out of my home, so having the freedom and flexibility that comes with that should allow me to post more. There's a lot of work that goes into some of the posts, as I have to research information and check websites to make sure links work and so on. Then, there's finding the right pictures to accompany my posts, not to mention the inspiration to write. Hopefully, you will be seeing more from me as I enter my fourth year writing this blog. If you are a regular reader, or even if this is your first time, let me know what posts you like or what things you might like to see more of. So, to everyone reading this and my blog, thank you. Have a cupcake, on me. Happy Blogiversary!

Tickets Purchased and Planning in Progress

2011-08-05T15:30:00.001-04:00

Finally, an opportunity has come up to return to California. I haven't been since January 2010 and this trip can't come soon enough. Hopefully, by going in late September the weather will be great. My last trip to California was marred by rain, rain, and more rain. The only benefit to all of the rain was all of the rainbows it produced.

Rainbow over San Francisco Bay

New Pacific Coast Highway iPhone App and Contest

2011-08-04T23:50:00.001-04:00

Pacific-Coast-Highway-Travel.com and GuideGecko put out a new iPhone app this week. To celebrate, they have a contest running until August 31. Simply download the app and answer three questions via this link.

One lucky person will win a free night along the Pacific Coast Highway in Carmel at Vagabond's House Inn, a favorite of the writer's of Pacific-Coast-Highway.com. Additionally, if you travel between January and March 2012, the Inn will throw in a second night as part of the prize.

The app features over 200 hand-picked accommodation suggestions and reviews along the Pacific Coast Highway from Seattle to San Diego. All reviews are written by award-winning travel writers Mike Gerrard and Donna Dailey.

The app is available immediately in the iTunes App Store for the introductory price of $0.99, and can be downloaded from www.guidegecko.com/pchh-app.html.

Famous Homes or Homes of the Famous in San Francisco

2011-07-21T11:30:00.002-04:00

The NBC affiliate in the Bay Area has put together a gallery of famous homes in San Francisco. The gallery covers homes made famous by TV or movies or by the people who live or lived in them. Check out the gallery and see if you recognize any of them.

Act Fast for a Chance to Win San Francisco Freebies

2011-07-20T23:52:00.000-04:00

Follow Only in SF, the official San Francisco Travel account, on Twitter (@onlyinsf) for a chance to win
tickets to various San Francisco attractions promoting "49 Hours in San Francisco." The official contest hash-tag is #49Hoursof SF and you will need to answer one of their trivia question tweets for a chance to win. You can visit their website for more information. The contest runs through July 22, 2011.

The Streets (or Sidewalks) of San Francisco

2011-07-20T23:31:00.000-04:00

Help the City of San Francisco win the title of "Most Walkable" city by visiting the Walk Score website and clicking "like" on the rankings page. San Francisco is currently running a close second to New York. However, there should be no comparison as San Francisco boasts gorgeous scenery, temperate weather, and distinctly diverse neighborhoods in a small area of only 46.9 square miles. The website touts Chinatown, the Financial District, and Tenderloin as the most walkable neighborhoods.

WooHoo! I'm Rich!

2011-05-27T09:39:00.002-04:00

Well, not really; however, I did receive a payment today from Amazon for digital downloads/subscriptions of this blog. So, to those of you who have downloaded my blog posts via Amazon, THANK YOU! For others, please know this service is available for my blog and many others, so that you can read them on your Kindle. No one is ever going to rich from offering their blog on Amazon (if you do, let me know how you did it), but it is nice to offer it as an option--the point is to get more readers. And, like I said, I'm not going to get rich off of it, but I can at least buy a couple glasses of my favorite iced tea at Starbuck's. So, enjoy! ;-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

"The Whole Enchihuahua"

2011-04-28T18:15:00.006-04:00

Trust me, this isn't really off-topic. I recently adopted a Chihuahua/terrier mix from a local dog rescue group. Ever since then, I've been interested in finding out more about Chihuahuas and Chihuahua mixes. I'm also interested in animal rescue organizations, especially those who try to get animals into homes instead of euthanizing them. Euthanization shouldn't be the first choice and my preference is for it to not ever be a choice. So, when I saw a blog post about the work of former San Francisco SPCA president Richard Avanzino to institute no-kill policies during his tenure with the SF SPCA, I went to check out their website. And the first thing I saw on their website was an event this weekend: "The Whole Enchihuahua."

The Whole Enchihuahua dog contest will be this Sunday, May 1, in Dolores Park. Dolores Park is located in the Mission District of San Francisco. The contest is open to all dogs, not just Chihuahuas and costumes are highly encouraged. The Whole Enchihuahua kicks off the SF SPCA's month-long celebration of Chihuahuas. During the month of May, the SF SPCA will be offering free spay/neuter procedures to chihuahuas and chihuahua mixes. They will also be offering reduced adoption fees for all dogs under 20 pounds, part of their "Small Dog. Big Heart." campaign. The event itself features the dog contest, ask a vet, a prize wheel,face painting, food, mariachi music, and more. The Whole Enchihuahua will be from 1:00 - 4:00

Mr. Bojangles, my Chihuahua/terrier rescue dog.

Visit California Contest

2011-04-25T23:31:00.002-04:00

The California Travel and Tourism Commission is currently running a sweepstakes on their website to "Live Like a Californian." Each week there is a new quiz that you can take only once. You earn chances to win by correctly answering questions. The contest runs through June 19, 2011. To enter the contest, go to the Visit California website.

So, I've Been Busy...

2011-04-25T23:29:00.003-04:00

which is no excuse for neglecting the blog. I promise to do better, starting now. I will be posting again and just as often a I can. So, for those of you who've missed me, I apologize for the hiatus and am letting you know that I'm back!

New Year, New Post

2011-01-01T20:27:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year! I'm hoping that 2011 brings many opportunities for travel for myself and my readers. I'm especially hopeful that I'll be able to take a trip or two to California. I was only able to visit California once in 2010. Unfortunately, that trip was marred by much rain, therefore cutting down on opportunities for exploring new areas (there was a lot of rain.)

Hopefully 2011 treats you well. Happy Travels!

The Giants Won the World Series and More Things I Missed

2010-11-08T15:30:00.000-05:00

So, I've been slacking on the blog lately. Things have been happening and I haven't been posting about them. Maybe it's just because I know that I won't be going anywhere for a while, so I don't want to "rub it in." If you are traveling soon or have been traveling...I'm so jealous!

Anyway, if you hadn't heard (and if you haven't, I don't know how you missed it) baseball's San Francisco Giants won their first World Series since moving to the West Coast back in the 1950s. I watched the month-long playoffs (since the last MLB expansion the division and championship series of games now last about a month, pushing the World Series into November) and they were very exciting, especially the World Series itself. In the end, the Giants won and I was happy (as was the BF.) There was a parade in San Francisco last week for the Giants, and I hope you got to see it or be in it...or just be there. Winning is exciting unless, of course, you're the loser.

The de Young Museum in Golden Gae Park is currently hosting the exhibit "Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay," which runs through January 18. The de Young is the only North American museum to host this exhibit.

The Conservatory of Flowers, also located in Golden Gate Park, will be presenting an all new Garden Railway display starting on November 19 and running through March 23, 2011. The exhibit is in celebration of the Conservatory's 140th anniversary.

In April and May 2011 the program Saving the Bay will be broadcast in four parts nationally on PBS stations. The highly rated and critically acclaimed Saving the Bay originally premiered on KQED in two parts last year. The program is narrated by Robert Redford and traces the Bay from its origins to conservation efforts today.

The Yosemite Fund and the Yosemite Association have merged into a new organization, the Yosemite Conservancy. The new Yosemite Conservancy was launched in June 2010 with a special even in Yosemite Valley. This new organization combines the efforts of the previous individual organization and increases their capacity to preserve and protect Yosemite National Park. The have also launched a new website for this new organization.

Those are just some of the things that have been happening that I haven't been posting on. So, now you know.

On another note, my parents just completed a three week trek to the Western US. They did not, I repeat, did not go to Yosemite...unless you count turning around at the Tioga entrance "going to Yosemite." It was cold and rainy and, as they got to higher elevations, the rain turned to ice. The ranger at the entrance said the road "might" be closed by CalTrans, so my parents turned around. I'm probably more sorry than they are that they didn't go to Yosemite. Now, don't get me wrong, they got to go to all sorts of other places, including Yellowstone National Park, so it's not like they didn't see anything spectacular or interesting on their vacation. However, having been to Yosemite, I can't imagine anything more impressive. So, don't get turned away as my parents did, go to Yosemite...you won't regret it.

Butterflies in Pacific Grove

2010-09-28T13:16:00.005-04:00

The month of October marks the annual return of the Monarch Butterflies to Pacific Grove. The monarchs winter in this beautiful Monterey County town, enjoying the mild temperatures and lush greenery of the area. To pay homage to this annual occurrence, Pacific Grove is kicking off the month of October with their annual Butterfly Parade and Butterfly Bazaar this Saturday, October 2. On Sunday, October 3, many of the beautiful Victorian homes of Pacific Grove will be open for a Historic Homes Tour. Pacific Grove established the Monarch Grove Butterfly Sanctuary in 1990 and the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History staffs the sanctuary with volunteer docents who provide information about the monarchs.

While in the area be sure to visit Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, another hangout for the butterflies a little further down the coast from Pacific Grove. Point Lobos offers many outdoor activities as well as stunning scenery.

You Otter Enter The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Contest

2010-09-14T15:29:00.005-04:00

Sorry, I couldn't resist the title.

Enter to win the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Otter U Sweepstakes to win a prize package that's all about otters. As you may know, I love otters, so this contest is right up my alley. The contest only runs through the end of September, so hurry up and get your entries in (entries are online only). The prize package includes the following:

A night for two at Casa Munras Hotel & Spa located right in the heart of Old Town Monterey
Two tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium
A behind-the-scenes viewing of sea otter feeding
A two-hour sea otter tracking adventure on land
A kayaking trip on Monterey Bay
Gift certificate for the Aquarium Gift & Bookstore

Good luck, but I hope I win. ;-)

Side note: Otter Days at the Aquarium is coming up September 25-26.

Outside Lands 2010 - San Francisco

2010-07-25T11:13:00.004-04:00

San Francisco's Golden Gate Park is host to the third annual Outside Lands Festival. The festival is mainly a music festival, but includes art, wine and food. This year's festival, August 14-15, is reduced from three days the previous two years...single day passes are $75 and 2-day passes $140. However, iTunes is sponsoring a contest via Facebook, where you can enter to win airfare, accommodations and tickets to the festival (both days) for two. Enter to win the contest on the iTunes Facebook page. You also get the opportunity for a free download of an Outside Lands music sampler. Some of the musical acts performing at this year's festival include Kings of Leon, Al Green, My Morning Jacket, and The Strokes, among many others. If you get the chance to attend this festival, let me know.

New Blog Design

2010-07-07T20:50:00.003-04:00

Let me know what you think about the new blog design. I like it, but there are a few things I'd like to change. I did like the previous look, but wanted to try and freshen up the look. Below is a picture of the old blog look.