Trip to California begins

I vacationed in California for a little over two weeks!  I left from Washington National Airport (Reagan) and went by Delta.  My transfer was in Detroit.  I had never been in the Detroit airport before and it was quite a treat. The terminal is the second largest in the world (largest is in Osaka Japan) and it has an indoor tram to get to the numerous gates.  It is really nice, but I have to admit that I used the people mover walkway.  Having never been there before, I wasn't sure how to get to the gate for my flight to San Francisco.  If I go through there again, I would definitely use the tram.  I saw it several times in motion and it is very fast

One of the first sights I saw when I got to San Francisco was the sign for the yoga room at the airport there.  I posted on Facebook about it.....thinking to myself:  "Only in California!"

I took a cab to the hotel, but wished I had explored a little more and found Uber.  The cab driver complained constantly about Uber and Air BnB and anything that was internet-based.  I understand that cabs feel threatened by Uber, but a better system IS a better system.  It seems that cabs are still often dispatched by a person with a phone.  Of course, it is easy to get a cab at a taxi-stand or the airport, but not always from other places.

Fortunately, it was still early in the day and I could appreciate by balcony view in my room at the Royal Pacific Motor Inn in Chinatown and on the edge of North Beach.  I used to stay there in my Forest Service days, and it is still the same.  I couldn't believe the beautiful views, though.

And the weather was crystal clear, too!

It was early enough in the day that I could visit some of my old "haunts:"  City Light Books, Specs and the Italian restaurant Soldini's.  I had a yummy seafood pasta.