Saturday, December 12, 2009

THE CANADA/USA TRIP - Chapter Three: L.A. - 3

Day 17 (April 14) - Bye L.A. - Hello San Francisco!

Today was the day that we would be traveling to San Francisco.
We started the day off by doing some heavy-duty shopping at the Anaheim Target.
I like pronouncing it TAR- Ge't/(Jay). :)


Boy -- did I hit the mother load!
I bought like 6 shirts, a couple of shorts, shades and a hat.
Even outshopped -- the Rosinator!

Ah lub ya Targe't!



I even bumped into my olde Ateneo Teammate Ryan Pamintuan.
Of all places!


It turns out that he was moving back his entire family to Manila that very same day.
I think he bought a LCD TV coz' you can get em' really cheap over at Targe't.
Nice to see ya Ry!


And then we were off to SFO!

The last time I took the I-5 LA to SFO route was when I was still based in Canada.
It's a pretty cool drive.

You go over the mountains surrounding LA. which then opens up to the Central California Valley.



The interstate gets kinda monotonous after that.
Just endless miles of road.
It still get dramatic though.

There's dust storms.


And halfway through, you pass one of my fave places.
HARRIS RANCH!!

Oooohh.. the stench!
Hehehehehe!

I've never seen so many cattle in one place!!
Cattle as far as the eye can see!

FROM WIKI:
At over 800 acres (320 ha) and with a population of over 100,000 cattle and hundreds harvested daily, the ranch is the largest on the West Coast.
It is also among the largest (when including density), in the United States.
Known to travelers for a "ripe, tangy odor",the ranch is nicknamed "Cowschwitz". It supplies the hamburger meat for the In-N-Out chain, and also distributes through grocery stores nationwide.






We took I-580 into San Francisco.

So we got to see the Altamont Pass Wind Farm.

From WIKI:
The Altamont Pass Wind Farm located in the Altamont Pass of the Diablo Range in Central California. It is a one of the earliest wind farms in the United States. The wind farm is composed of over 4900 relatively small wind turbines of various types, making it at one time the largest farm in the world in terms of capacity. Altamont Pass is still the largest concentration of wind turbines in the world, with a capacity of 576 megawatts (MW), producing about 125 MW on average and 1.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) yearly. They were installed after the 1970s energy crisis in response to favorable tax policies for investors.


So many windmills!





And then after a long 6 hour drive, we reached our rendezvous point with the Castillos.
The TANFORAN Mall at South San Francisco.

Guess what was in the food court?


Of course we ordered Palabok Fiesta and Chicken Joy!


HELLO SAN FRANCISCO!