Thursday, November 29, 2007

November 26 & 27 – Sarah & San Francisco

After coffee south of the city, I jumped on the freeway and headed into San Francisco, where my godmother’s goddaughter (I call her my” godsister”) Sarah lives and invited me to stay.



We went out to dinner at Café Gratitude. It was delicious! The restaurant is entirely vegetarian, vegan, and serves only raw things – although rice bowls (we got one) come with warm rice. I wish I could remember what all the dishes were called – they all had names like “great optimism,” “true generosity,” etc. Here's what Cafe Gratitude says about itself on the web (a link to the site is at right):

Café Gratitude is our expression of a world of plenty. Or food and people are a celebration of our aliveness. We select the finest organic ingredients to honor the earth and ourselves, as we are one and the same. We support local farmers, sustainable agriculture and environmentally friendly products. Our food is prepared with love. We invite you to step inside and enjoy being someone that chooses: loving your life, adoring yourself, accepting the world, being generous and grateful every day, and experiencing being provided for.

This was just the cuisine I needed after three weeks on the road with more than my fair share of McDonalds and doughnuts.

When we got back to Sarah’s place, I showed her pictures from this trip, and she showed me photographs of some of the amazing projects she has done in her work as an interior design architect.

The next morning we got up to call our godmother, Scottie, on the East Coast, and our godbrother (Scottie’s other godson), Sam. Sarah’s dog Maya wanted to know who had styled my hair.

November 26 -- Coffee with Laura in Palo Alto

After the railroad museum, I drove to Palo Alto to have coffee with my cousin Laura, who’s at Stanford Business School. She seems to be thriving there. I have always known her as a Manhattanite, so it was to see Laura emerge from her car, indistinguishable from a lifetime Californian!

We got together at Starbucks near the B School, but I had the chance to drive through downtown Palo Alto on the way there. It has a wonderful feel, and I’m anxious to make it back there sometime. Maybe even before Laura graduates!!

November 26 -- Cal State Train Museum in Old Sacramento

Early start and off to Old Sacramento.

I got some daytime pix, including one of Fat City, the tasty bar & café where I ate the night before.

Old Sacramento is a state park, and appears to patrolled both by rangers and police. It’s attractive, as you can see, with some wonderful details like wood-planked sidewalks. One really gets the feeling of being in the Old West.

Still, the shops in the small (10 blocks square?) area are, for the most part, more Coney Island than Quincy Market: candy stores, tattoo parlors, and nick-nack touristy places prevail.


The big treat was the California State Railroad Museum. I’ve never been to a train museum before, but I believe it when I’m told that this one’s the best in the States. The museum charts the development of the railroads in the West and has a fantastic assortment of old engines and rail cars, as well as exhibits and information about the lives of railroad builders and workers, and the significance of this new technology to the United States. In addition, the museum’s docents were the friendliest and most helpful of any I’ve ever encountered.



There were too many details about the importance of the railroad to this country’s development for me to recount, or even to remember. Suffice it to say that the railroad was a technology that was probably more significant to this country than the airplane. In significance, it must rank with the computer, if such comparisons can even be made.

In addition to the steam engines above, below are some pics of things that struck me:


Another old steam engine, this one owned by Stanford University.

The photographer got caught in this one. Where’s Waldo?


Fabulous, one-of-a-kind-remaining cab forward steam engine.


Rosie the Riveter.



Diesel Electric.









Views of an old Pullman coach. A real treat to be able to walk through it.



An old dining car – including the kitchen!




One of the fascinating exhibits: different sets of china patterns used by various railroads.

There was a great space dedicated to model trains. It contained outstanding old Lionel trains, some wonderful pre-war Marklins, and even some miniature steam engines that work exactly as their full-size brethren do!


Example of all the popular scales, from Z to N, to HO to . . . .


Early Lionel roundhouse and trains in a working layout.



Early Lionel.


Early Marklin.


A real scale model steam train on saw horses. It took seven years to make, and when equipped with a motorcycle-like seat and passenger cars, can pull 20 adults.

And finally, one of two gold spikes struck to pound into the final tie, north of Salt Lake, on first the transcontinental railroad completed in 1869.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

November 25 -- Towe

Blackhawk was a tough act to follow, and my appreciation of the Towe Museum was unfairly diminished as a consequence. In Sacramento right near the Old Town, Towe is a good museum with a nice range of cars, particularly 1900 – 1955 Fords and other American cars of approximately the same vintage.

Very few of the vehicles are restored to concours winning condition and, as with the LeMay museum, the cars were frequently parked too close to see properly or to photograph.

Still, the museum felt like a place that people really use. Sure enough, there was a holiday gathering while I was there for the are Sacramento Thunderbird, Mustang and Porsche clubs. As a result, the parking lot was pretty exciting, with different generations of the same model car sharing space:






Thunderbirds in the parking lot.









Mustangs in the parking lot.





Porsches in the parking lot.


Once I was in the museum, I had some favorites, too:


19th Century New York omnibus!


1930 Marquette Coupe. General Motors poured millions into this nameplate to give Buick dealers “the most complete car in America priced under $1000.” It was a flop. Kinda like when GM gave Chevrolet dealers the Geo brand to compete with imports in the 1980’s.


1934 Pierce Arrow.

1942 Lincoln Zephyr, with pushbutton door handles.


A woodie from the last year Dodge manufactured them, 1950.


The wonderful Cadillac Coupe DeVille, 1954.

On the way out of the museum, there was the most wonderful sunset, here reflected in the roof of my Mini:


I wandered over to old town Sacramento, where I had a very good dinner salad at the Fat City Bar & Café. Old Town is very pretty at night:



Afterwards, I got in a little trouble. The photos below tell the story . . .