Woke up again pretty early, since I had to pack and we had to leave the Ranch to get Paul to the airport in time for his noon flight. We had a 9am tour scheduled as well, so I made sure to get a few snaps before leaving. Once more, here’s the Norman Rockwell room that I stayed in.
Probably the most surprising thing was what I discovered in the downstairs bathroom in the Inn. On the wall are two original posters. One from the 1925 silent film version of The Ten Commandments by Cecil B. DeMille:
And the other was an original poster for the 1935 Errol Flynn classic, Captain Blood:
That these two posters were sitting in a bathroom makes me wonder what other hidden gems are on this Ranch! (And that’s not even counting the Archives building!)
Our tour followed the same path as the one I had taken back in April, starting with the Skywalker Sound tech building, and then out onto the vineyard.
From there we walked over to the main house, saw the different rooms and display cases, and then headed back to the tech building. It was a seriously gorgeous day out.
We could even see some long-horned cows grazing on a nearby hill. Apparently sometimes they have Kobe cows here. Yum!
We also paid a nice visit to the main reception area for Skywalker Sound, which is oddly located on the second floor (and therefore, most people don’t see it)! I love the Art Deco look and style of it.
We then headed down Lucas Valley Road to the 101 Freeway, and were treated to a lovely panoramic view of the valley.
Twenty minutes later, and we hit the Golden Gate Bridge.
Once we crossed the bridge, it was really easy to see Alcatraz Island. The Rock!
After taking Paul to the airport, we headed back into town, and checked Jason and Dan into their new hotel, and then we headed up towards the Fisherman Wharf’s area to get lunch. Our destination: Boudin’s Bistro.
It didn’t matter what the specials were, or what was on the menu – we had one goal in mind: chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. I opted for crab and corn chowder, since I prefer to save my clam chowder experience for the experts in New England.
Yes, it was as good as it looks. We then headed out to walk around Fisherman’s Wharf, and headed south towards Pier 39.
Aside from all of the shops, the main attraction at Pier 39 is, of course, the colony of sea lions. It was stinky, but fascinating and loud. Watching them lounging in the sun, and roaring when they stepped on each other, was quite an entertaining experience.
From the end of the pier, we could get a nice view of Alcatraz Island, and the Golden Gate bridge.
We started walking down the length of the pier; Jason remembered a crepe place which he was raving about, so we decided to get a little dessert when we found it. The “smores” crepe only had one substitution – we swapped out the Ghirardelli chocholate with Nutella. Yum!!
