More San Francisco

This will be our last blog, the conclusion of an interesting, sunny, fun filled trip.

Our hotel was close to Union Square.

Love the hearts on each corner of the square.

Of course we had a cable car ride.

Chinatown musicians.

The ferry building on the Embarcadero..

San Franciscan houses.

We walked up to the Art Deco Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill.  The statue is Christopher Columbus.
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One of the large murals which line the inside walls of the Coit Tower. They are very impressive, done by local artists in 1934, to provide jobs during the Depression. 

View from the top.

The Neo-Gothic Saints Peter and Paul Church at Washington Square in the Italian district.
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Annunciation stained glass window.

Lombard Street, called "The Crookedest street in the world". Note the cable car at the top.

More houses and steep streets.

Inside the cable car works at the Cable Car Museum.  
Bill loved this place!

San Francisco 9, 10, 11 June

The last few days of our trip we spent in San Francisco.  We had forgotten how much we love it.

The first day was one of the most memorable of the trip.  We hired a bike, rode across the Golden Gate Bridge  and continued around the bay, via  Sausalito, to Tiburon.  Around 27 kilometres.

Looking across to the Coit Tower.

Not on the bridge yet.

Lovely clear view of the Golden gate Bridge.

Riding across.

View from the other side.

Looking towards Sausalito.

House boats.

Tiburon.

From Tiburon we took the ferry back to San Francisco.

There were many others taking the same ride.

The ferry pulls out.

Passing Alcatraz.

Passing the sea lions at Pier 39.

Ashland, Southern Oregon 5,6,7, 8 June

We headed down to Ashland with Debbie and Dan for a few days to go to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which started way back in 1935 and goes for eight and a half months every year.  One play we saw was Romeo and Juliet and the other play was Animal Crackers.  They were both wonderful and the atmosphere in Ashland was amazing.  This was another highlight of our trip and we would love to go again.

Main Street Ashland





                                               An Ashland church.

We took a really interesting backstage tour.  It took us through the three theatres, as well as behind the scenes. This is the outdoor theatre based on The Globe in London.

Some props.

Costumes for Animal Crackers.  It was a Marx Brothers play, really funny and beautifully performed.   

One of the wig cupboards backstage.

Ashland has a wonderful park with a river running through.  Bill and Debbie on one of the bridges.

We went to a nearby town called Jacksonville, which has been designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Here we took an interesting trolley bus tour run by a local.  It was an old gold rush town.

One of the original buildings on the main street.

One of the old houses.

The gardens in Jacksonville are invaded by deer every day.

Portland, Oregon 2, 3, 4 June

We flew back to the West Coast to visit Dan in Portland.  The weather was quite cool after Washington's heat.  It is an attractive city and so green!  Dan and Debbie took us some great tours (and shopping) and it was lots of fun. 

The first night we went to see the Starlight Parade, which is part of the Portland Rose Festival.  Here comes Dan,  the handsome drum major for his pipe band.  When he's not drum major he is playing the bag pipes.

The Oregonian float, represents the local paper.

The Art Deco viewing building at Crown point.

View of the Columbia River from Crown Point.

At the top of the viewing point.

Moss and lichen cover the trees.  You can see it rains a lot.

Looking down.

Debbie and Bill on the bridge.

Further along the gorge - Horsetail Falls.

Debbie and Joy under Horsetail Falls.

View from behind the "tail".

Debbie in a typical pose - taking close ups of plants.

A ferry pushing two barges up the Columbia River.

Bonneville Dam.

Wild lupin.

The fish ladder at the dam.

Fish hatchery.

Dan puts up his Aussie flag when Debbie is in town.

A derelict paper mill in front of the huge water fall at Portland that stopped the pioneers on the Oregon Trail in their tracks.