My trip to San Francisco and SFGTP2!

[Touring Mars]

Photo: Plantlife on Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay

Introduction

September and October were always going to be an eventful couple of months with new responsibilities at work, and having to find a new place to live... so I figured that I'd be due for a holiday come the end of it. With fellow GTPer Nick (Smallhorses) organising a get-together at his place in California at the end of October, I reckoned that this was a perfect excuse for a holiday, and so I decided to bite the bullet and make my way over to San Francisco for a 10-day break - and a bit of Gran Turismo thrown in for good measure!


Days 1-2: Exploring


Left: COIT tower; Right: Fisherman's Wharf and Alcatraz

After a pleasant flight over, Nick picked me up from the airport and dropped me at my hotel in downtown SF. Jet-lagged and very tired, I only managed a brief walk around my hotel before I went straight to bed. My first sight-seeing trip was the day before SFGTP, where I walked for several miles around the city, starting at the Port of San Francisco on the Embarcadero, under the COIT tower, and finishing up in the swanky Marina district, via Fisherman's Wharf. After walking through some very nice parts of town, I walked back into town through the Tenderloin district - a marked contrast to the wealthier parts of town with liquor stores on every corner and more homeless people than I'm used to seeing.. I had been well warned about this area, though, and it was fine so long as you knew what to expect. I could already see that SF was a beautiful city, but you didn't need to look too far to see the other side of America... There were some odd and sad sights on Market Street in particular, but I continued to the area known as SOMA (South of Market) to find the BART station and head on out to East Bay...

I made my way to Emeryville to meet Nick and Rachel (itgirlxx) and Kyle (kylehnat) made it too (after having driven from Olympia, WA the previous day), and the four of us went for dinner to a Mexican place in Berkeley. The portions were truly Olympian (so Kyle must have felt right at home) and hence it was recommended to have the 'Half Order', since a 'Full Order' would have required a forklift truck to tackle it...


Days 3-4: SFGTP2


L-R: Group shot; jump_ace, ceiling_fan and alrivers; Pre-race shot; One man and his dog

Saturday morning, and fellow GTPer alrivers (a resident of California himself) kindly picked me up from my hotel and drove us out to Nick and Rachel's place across the bay for SFGTP2! Being the second such get-together, Nick was well practiced in organizing and setting up the 6-way LAN, and it wasn't long before the racing started! With an impressive array of equipment including Strop's customized G25 rig, there were lots of great, close races with plenty of exciting (and scary) moments!...

However the highlight for me was meeting some 8 fellow GTP members for the first time, including our "hostest with the mostest" Rachel aka itgirlxx, as well as alrivers, jump_ace (and Mrs. jump_ace), Strop, ceiling_fan, kylehnat, V1P3R and jauna b. The pic on the left shows all the racers except Craig (Strop) and the pic on the right shows ceiling_fan (Dave) with his dog (which didn't race)...


Days 5-6: Sightseeing


L-R: Marin Headlands; SF from the ferry; Me on Alcatraz; Golden Gate from Fort Point

Monday, and a brief epilogue to SFGTP - Nick and I start the day by doing some laps of the Nurb for Rypien's database.. Nick then drove me back into town via the Marin headlands where we stopped for a photo opportunity (left) and over the Golden Gate bridge and down Lombard Street.. Next day was a grand tour of the city, starting with an early morning trip to Alcatraz. Great views of the city from the ferry, and a very worthwhile trip all things considered. I continued the touristy day with a trip out to Haight-Ashbury, and had lunch on Haight Street before heading out west to Ocean Beach and Land's End, where I walked along the coastal trail back to the foot of the Golden Gate bridge... (strangely familiar to anyone who has ever played Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas!!!)


Day 7: Yosemite


L-R: El Capitan; Yosemite Valley; Me at Yosemite; Half Dome


One of the main highlights of the trip was a day tour of the Yosemite National Park. El Capitan (familiar to anyone who has ever played Gran Turismo 4!) stands an amazing 1km in height from it's base, and is so large that climbers appear as tiny specks on it's almost vertical face. The Cathedral Rocks and Half Dome make up an awesome vista... the trip was completed with a visit to one of the several Giant Sequoia groves which are only to be found in the Sierra Nevada and boast the largest trees (infact the largest living things by volume) in the world...


Days 8-10: Nick & Rachel


L-R: Sushi in Berkeley; Nick & Rachel and SF; SF from Twin Peaks; Moss Beach


There's no question that my trip wouldn't have been nearly as much fun or as complete without the hospitality of Nick and Rachel. After my trip to Yosemite, we met up for dinner at their favourite sushi place in Berkeley and sampled some fantastic food and several types of sake too. I spent my last full day in SF wandering around town with a slight hangover and visited Baker Beach (blissfully unaware that it is supposedly a nudist beach!) before meeting up with Nick and Rachel on my last day (Saturday). They took me up to Twin Peaks for a fabulous view of the city and the bay area, before embarking on a trip down the Pacific coast to Moss Beach and lunch at the Moss Beach Distillery... alas, all good things come to an end, and it was time to head out to the airport...


Going home...


L-R: Pacific coast; San Francisco; Ocean Beach and Land's End; Presidio and Golden Gate

I got a window seat on the flight home and just managed to snap some quick shots of the fantastic views as we rose up over San Francisco. Over the course of the last few days I'd spent in the Bay Area, I notched up more miles on foot than I've done in recent times, having walked from my hotels downtown, to the Bay Bridge in the east, to Ocean Beach in the west...

Epilogue

I had a wonderful time, and can recommend a trip to California to anyone, especially if it happens to coincide with an SFGTP meeting!! I can't thank Nick & Rachel enough for their hospitality and for taking the time and trouble to meet up with me. I always enjoy roaming around on my own, but it was great to have such good company too. It was also great getting to meet some US GTP members at SFGTP2 as well, and hopefully there will be more meetings like this in the future. Despite the rise of internet gaming, there is simply nothing like a LAN 👍 So now it is Monday and I'm back to work, after having spent my first night in my new home last night. 10 days really isn't long enough to explore the Bay Area, and I missed out on a few things (the Domino's Oreo Dessert Pizza for one ), but at the same time I got to do loads of things that I didn't expect as well, like driving over the Golden Gate in a Porsche

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[livemusic]

It seems like you had a great time there, TM. I know I would love it! Thanks for sharing the pics too. 👍

 

[TheCracker]

Looks like you had fab time Chris. Your photos bring back some happy memories from when i visited some time ago 👍

 

[UnoMOTO]

Great stuff Chris, Thank you for posting up your travels.

I have only driven through SF but that city is tops on my list to take my wife to on a weekend get away if we ever get the chance.

 

[Philly]

I didn't expect to see a UK member at a California GTP Party. Well done:tup:.

You make me want to take the trip to drive down to one from Seattle if one happens when I'm back at home.

I think you have done much more than I have on my few trips down there. It is a city I really want to explore, and the only one on the west coast I haven't spent much time in. Although the highlight of my last trip was either Ghiradelli or Ferrari of Silicon Valley.

 

[Stevisiov]

I spent a few days in San Fran in the summer Holidays, I stayed in a hotel on sutter street. Its a great city, I went on a tour, although I didn't go to Alcatraz. I also travelled south through Yosemite, stayed just outside the national park for a few days, venturing in to see El Capitain and Half dome etc. good holiday.

Also on the note of GTP's I hope it was as good as the LAN I went to, I made a debut appearence at the UKGTP8. Good fun. 👍

 

[Touring Mars]

Speaking of 'Philly Cheese', I had a Philly cheese steak sandwich at lunchtime on Saturday (Day 1 of SFGTP2) - we went to a food hall near Smallhorses' place and they literally had anything you could possibly want for lunch - I saw what David (ceiling_fan) got and I copied him I have to say, it was something else... very tasty indeed, although pretty unhealthy - even by Scottish standards! I actually had another one for lunch at Yosemite, and it was even bigger and even more unhealthy, but it wasn't quite as good as the one I had at SFGTP2!

Speaking of food, I didn't make it to the House of Nanking, as per the recommendation by TheCracker... I did pass by it though, but there was a queue out into the street, and it was jammed to the rafters, so I gave it a miss - certainly looks like an incredibly popular place. Another place I missed was 'The Stinking Rose' which Smallhorses suggested. It's a garlic restaurant apparently, and everything comes loaded with enough garlic to cripple an army of vampires, so we reckoned that it might not be a great idea to go the night before I was going home, since I'd probably have reeked of garlic for days!

 

[TheCracker]

Another place I missed was 'The Stinking Rose' which Smallhorses suggested. It's a garlic restaurant apparently, and everything comes loaded with enough garlic to cripple an army of vampires, so we reckoned that it might not be a great idea to go the night before I was going home, since I'd probably have reeked of garlic for days!

I think you made the right choice with missing out on The Stinking Rose just before you were due to fly. We went there and had their '40 Clove Chicken', which although was delicious, we woke the next day to a room that stank of second-hand garlic and we both were extreamly dehydrated - neither of which you (or the other passengers) want on a long transatlantic flight.

 

[ceiling_fan]

Holy Guacamolé how did I miss this thread?!

I'm glad you had a great time, and I'm glad you enjoyed a Philly Cheesesteak from Philly's Cheesesteaks![sic] Oh, and a zoom-up-and-crop of one of your pictures catches me in my "killzone" mode:



Regards

David (winner of inaugural MCFPCotW award)

 

[Blake]

Sounds like you have a good time. Thanks for sharing, Chris. 👍

 

[Smallhorses]

Shall we pencil you in for another visit next October?!!!

Must say it was a pleasure to host you, Chris, as it gives us an opportunity to do things we often take for granted living here, you never tend to do all the touristy things right on your doorstep, do you?!

Very very impressive pictures in this report too, especially the reflected view of Half-Dome. You should charge for prints of that! Ansel Adams eat your heart out!!

So you rate the Philly Cheesesteak right up there with the famous Scottish deep-fried battered Black Pudding? Equally delicious and calorific in my view, although sadly the Public Market lacks a Black Pudding stand! 💡
As Dan suggests though, it was probably just as well to avoid the garic restaurant on the night before your flight home!

Glad to see you got the window view for the flight home, and had a brilliantly clear day to absorb the sights!

You're welcome back anytime, SFGTP or not! Hope you're having fun settling into the new bachelor-pad, and will take full opportunity of the setting to warm up your DFP skills!
Will catch up with you again for another UKGTP soon, all being well, and will certainly see you around the GT Planet regularly!



Smallhorses

 

[Touring Mars]

Cheers Nick! I'd love to come back to California, esp. if it meant another SFGTP!

And yes, I noticed that pic of you, David!

 

[kikie]

Thanks for sharing, TM

Looking at your picture, you're the spitting image of a friend of mine.

 

[AMG.]

Thx Nick for pointing out Chris's thread.

Seems like you had a blast Chris, I like the pics too. We did miss you at the Ocho though.

Once Ive sorted out my Kenya pics I'll post a thread here too and show a sample. However as Ive got 1600 pics to wade thru it will probably be somewhere in Dec.

AMG.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Looks like you had a fantastic time Chris 👍

But...I never kn ew El Capitan actually did exist

 

[Touring Mars]

Indeed it does exist! I did try to figure out/recognise parts of the GT4 track with the roads in Yosemite National Park, but it looks somewhat different in real life, as you'd imagine!!

Look forward to seeing some of the pics from Kenya, Rob..! Sounds like you have a bit of sorting to do though!