Day 1 – Flying from Whitehorse to San Francisco
The first day of our new adventure was wonderful – lots of new sights and stunning weather virtually all the way. There are always “bumps” when you travel but ours were minor. Here’s a look at the day…
Leaving Whitehorse, with the Yukon River visible below. We took the Air Canada flight (on points) at 06:55 and it was only half full, so after taking this shot I moved to the non-sun side of the plane for beter photography. Cathy moved to the very back of the plane to get away from a very loud and obnoxious non-stop talker behind me – unfortunately the woman across the aisle was encouraging the inconsiderate jerk.
Luckily when the weather is like this I “zone out” on what’s inside the plane (although the dirty diaper smell was tough to ignore). Anyway, this is Carcross and Lake Bennett below us.
It’s been many, many years since I’d seen Mount Logan (Canada’s highest peak) and Mount St. Elias (Canada’s 2nd highest) from one of these flights – what a thrill! In about a week, our cruise ship will be almost at the foot of Mount St. Elias when we visit Hubbard Glacier
The Juneau Icefield, with the Llewellyn Glacier and partially-frozen Atlin Lake at the bottom.
Crossing over the Bulkley Valley.
A classic glacier in the northern part of Tweedsmuir Park.
On the shore in the distance is the town of Powell River.
YVR has grown into a particularly fine airport – a beautiful location with architecture that takes advantage of the views.
The lumber industry looked and smelled like it was in good shape despite what I hear on the news – there are a lot of small mills operating along the lower Fraser River.
We had time to kill so rented a car and went for breakfast at Denny’s and then out to Steveston. We had actually rented a Mustang from Budget (for $29!) but the lineup was so long I went over the the empty National counter and rented a basic car there for a few bucks more and were on our way. This is the historic Gulf of Georgia cannery.
Back at YVR, it was very odd to find it so empty!
After clear skies much of the way on our United flight, this is the descent into San Francisco. We flew directly over the Golden Gate Bridge so didn’t get to see it. We got a great rate on a first-class seat, our first non-cattle-class seat ever – now I see why people do this! The always-full glass of Round Top Chardonnay, with excellent ’60s music on the Sirius XM made it a particularly nice experience 🙂
“Shared-ride” shuttles are the cheap way to get downtown from SFO – this van cost us $17 each.
We got upgraded at the JW Marriott – this is our room, #1713. I almost wish that we’d chosen to come a day earlier!
The Westin St. Francis Hotel, from Union Square. Union Square is the centre of a high-end shopping mecca, surrounded by Saks Fifth Avenue, Niemann Marcus, Victoria’s Secret, Macy’s and many other shops.
Looking down the JW Marriott atrium from the 17 floor.
This was the view from our room when I began this post, but now it’s light and time to get moving on our city exploration!
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