The last two weeks of June, my family had planned to go to San Francisco for a week, starting Monday, June 22. We were there technically longer than the average work week by a day, so I'm going to round-up and say two-weeks. Earlier Monday morning, June 22, 4 a.m., I am awoken and told to get around. I had everything ready, I even took a shower the night before - all I needed by this point was my phone charger, iPod, iPod car-charger, and to grab my carry-on and luggage packed a night before.
Our flight out of Wichita to Denver was sometime around 6:45 (I'm not getting into specifics; this early in the morning, I'm not running on much, so I'm dragging ass, and am being told where to walk) We're flying Frontier Airlines on a small, twin-propeller-engined plane no bigger than a city bus. With a snow leopard on the tail; I perceived the feline as a bobcat because of its pointed-ears and pleased-with-itself-demeanor. The saving grace of that experience was the view from the window, and the out-of-this-world attractive hostesses we had pacing the aisles. I wanted to get friendly with them.
We land in Denver an hour and a half later, receiving our luggage from the belly of the plane, and soaking in the 65 degree temperature of the Rockies. Owen lingered on the plane, for he had folded an Origami elephant and dragon for the flight attendants. And he probably wanted them to touch his mustache.
Our next flight was American Airlines, a larger plane, and a longer flight to San Francisco. Before boarding, I was hunting a sports apparel shop. I was going to California; what a place! But I knew I wouldn't find too many Denver Nuggets fans in the area, but I would find a shit-load of Lakers fans in the vicinity. And since the two teams are rivals, I wanted a Denver Nuggets hat. Unforeseen was the SF Giants vs. Colorado Rockies game the night before; I rarely watch baseball, and I don't ever keep up with the scheduling of games. I was informed on the flight to San Francisco that the Giants had been crushed by the Rockies. It would've pissed more people off had I worn my Rockies hat. There was DirectTV service on the plane, and I watched Sports Center for the most of it, flipping to Mickelson's runner-up in the U.S. Open, losing to Lucas Glover. I sat by a cute baby who dropped his toys all the time. I retrieved his toys to be courteous. The young parents reminded me of a few people in my life. That flight was delayed for a short while because of maintenance work on one of the air-conditioning units, but still great.
We got in to San Fran around 11:40 a.m., got our rental car and was on our way to San Jose by close to around 12:15-12:30.
San Jose has its history. One of its most interesting residents was Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune, the producers of the rifle that won the West. The south during the Civil War used many models of the Winchester rifle, so needless-to-say, they were well off, and Sarah was left with more money than she knew what to do with. On the advisement of a fortune teller, she was told she would be haunted by the ghosts of the men who died by the Winchester rifle, and further, she should move out west. She travelled from Connecticut to San Jose, California, and began construction on a extraordinary mansion, now known as the Winchester Mystery House. Thinking she could allude the ghosts from harming her, she drafted a unique style for her house. One with blue prints insisting some rooms have secret hiding places, as well as trap doors and the most interesting, a room with five entrances, but one exit. Once the doors shut behind you, you were locked in to the room, and a secret door hidden in the wall-panelling was your only exit. There were stairs that led to ceilings, doors in the ceiling, windows - large-ass bay windows...in the ceiling, that could open if you chose to open a ceiling glass-door; no reasoning behind it. PICTURES!
This is a staircase that leads to nowhere, well, except for a ceiling. Weird shit like this was frequent.This is a video of us walking the easy-risers. Did anybody spot Owen in the video? If you did, you receive nothing. Those steps were maybe an inch-to-2 inches apart, and as many as we trekked in that video, we were only deposited on to the second floor of the home. Other points of interest were:
An example of these easy-riser stairs; my pops was in front of me, and there's my leg.
One of many organs she had in the house. A grand organ is located towards the center of the house, and is one of the last stops of the tour. The room the grand organ is located in also houses a magnificent silver chandelier, originally holding 12 candlesticks. Being so unique as she was, 12 wasn't enough, and she had the manufacturers add a 13th candle-holder. 13, a number she used adamantly in her designs for the house.
Here's the bed she died in. Gross.
This is one of many botany areas, and not a greenhouse. She loved plants. And windows. Within this room was a sprinkler system, plus a hose which she'd use or whoever was doing the actual work, and all the water that didn't make it to the plants drained out through the floor, and was reused on the plants outside. What a conservationist ahead of her time!
Sarah Winchester was very superstitious. Point in question. The infamous "Door-To-Nowhere" in the next shot.
Her acreage, which once consisted of pear, prune, and grapefruit orchards, was named Llanada Villa, with 13 palm trees lining the driveway up to the mansion. Those orchards don't exist anymore, neither the palm trees. The mansion was named Llanada Villa because Sarah Winchester knew 3-4 languages other than English, including Spanish. Everyone I've ever met who is fluent in Spanish have to somehow gloat the fact that they know Spanish, and Sarah Winchester was no different naming her estate the way she did. San Jose is heavily Mexican.
"Ah, you got any gum!?"This should have been a living-statue.
Spiderweb pattern in the glass of some of the windows. She would've been pretty emo-goth in our time.
Here is a scaled-down replica of the house made of candy! No, it wasn't made of candy. I don't know what it was made out of; cereal? Here's the next shot of the replica.
I used my museum shot-setting to get this picture without all the glare. This was a part of the tour called the product museum. The Winchester Company, along with their line of fine fire arms, also developed and furbished flashlights, lamps, utensils, batteries, knives, and other household wares that I won't get specific with. I have more pictures of the inside of the Winchester Mystery House, but I'm not uploading them.We spent the remainder of the afternoon around the premises before leaving for our condo at Angel's Camp, in Angel's Fire, CA. The drive from San Jose to Angel's Fire was roughly 120 miles, or 2 hours. It took us at least 3 or even 4, and that's because we ate as well as had a lovely and scary mountain excursion right after sunset. Angel's Fire to Angel's Camp to our condo is just about 20 minutes. It was 10 p.m. when we were settled in our condo.
The drive to Angel's Camp took us through pear and possibly pecan orchards, not to mention the many vineyards we passed, some erected on the hillside to allow the cold air from the coast to sweep through and chill the berries. The breathtaking scenery was further heightened due to it being sunset. Pictures of these beautiful landscapes don't exist on my camera.
Boy was I ready to sleep when we arrived at the condo! The next day would see us driving an hour to Yosemite to view the wonderful misty waterfalls of that National Park, as well as a bear sighting. This day also held my encounter with El Capitan. Please join me again for part 2!
Hasta Luego!
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Editor's Note: Download the video to see it much more clearer. Those dark areas are non-existent when I view it on my PC, and on the camera as well.
1 comment:
I hope you bought some wine!
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