NEW ROOM WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE

NEW ROOM Winchester Mystery House – A “new” room has been discovered at the Winchester Mystery House, the former Victorian mansion of Sarah Winchester. Heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune, a spiritualist told her to keep adding rooms. So the restless spirits of murdered gunshot victims wouldn’t haunt her. After the 1906 earthquake, she boarded up sections of her house, thinking evil spirits were responsible for her being trapped there. The new room, which is an attic space, had been boarded up since she died in 1922. The preservation team found a pump organ, Victorian couch, dress form, sewing machine and paintings.

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SAUSALITO TO SAN FRANCISCO IN ONE MINUTE

1-minute Trip from Sausalito to San Francisco @ 300mph from Gary Yost on Vimeo.

WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE

WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE - Sarah Winchester left behind a seven story mansion known as the Winchester Mystery House.  It’s now in the middle of San Jose, what was once Santa Clara valley orchard farmland.  In 1884 she began with a nearly unlimited renovation budget paid for by the several millions left behind by her late husband.  William Winchester was the heir to the estate of the famous Winchester repeating rifle.  Based on the consultation of a spiritualist, Sarah lived in the midst of nearly forty years of construction.  In her community she endured public scrutiny, engaged in bizarre behavior and believed in occult reasons for her bad luck.  She was convinced her torment was caused by the influence of spirits of the dead; due to their deaths caused by Winchester’s rifles.  The pictures and description don’t do the house justice, the scale is overwhelming and the house is something to see firsthand.  It’s the ultimate Halloween haunted house!  

WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE vid clip

PACIFICA BEACH AND PIER

PACIFICA BEACH AND PIER  – This area is located off Highway 1 in downtown Pacifica.  You can fish with poles or lower cab traps off the pier.  It’s free and no license is required.  The best restaurant is Viva Italiano (next to Safeway) for the best pizza south of San Francisco.  

MISSION SOLEDAD

MISSION SOLEDAD – The mission church, named for Our Lady of Solitude, might be characteristic of what settlers came across in California’s early days. The church is isolated, surrounded by huge fields of produce crops. It’s nowhere near a freeway exit situated in-between Gonzales and Soledad. One of the great things is the way this mission depicts history. Inside, there are several rooms of historical artifacts. Outside, the crumbled ruins of adobe walls of the original church.

MONTEREY BOARDWALK

MONTEREY BOARDWALK – Did you know that Monterey has a rich cultural and historic significance in California? Monterey’s port and wharf were the major entry points to the north, prior to the California gold rush in 1849 (when San Francisco became the dominant port and financial center). Also, Monterey was the original state capital. Where sardines and fish used to come into port, now the boardwalk has a lot to offer visitors. You can find restaurants, fishing cruises, whale watching, gift shops and art galleries. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is world famous for its exhibits. The line goes around the block so make sure to check the website before heading out to the aquarium.

STEINBECK CENTER

The Steinbeck Center is located in Salinas, CA. The exhibits are thematic, arranged about his major works. For example: The Grapes of Wrath, The Red Pony, Cannery Row and East of Eden. What did I like? I really enjoyed some of the objects like notebook pages (in his tiny cramped handwriting) as well as Pulitzer/ Nobel awards. Also, the exhibit reinforced the ways that Steinbeck adhered to the adage ‘write what you know’. Salinas and Monterrey are the foundations for his greatest works. What didn’t I like? The exhibit designer had good intentions. But, the visuals are all over the place, sort of like attention deficit disorder. Each sentence or fragment goes along with an artifact, icon or picture. Instead of covering a work at a level of complexity, the choppy execution doesn’t allow the eye to focus on any area in particular. It would have been good to see more depth and less breadth across the space that’s available to the center.