The Chronicles of SneakySnake Vol III

[slowhatch]

We were able to make the loop around the entire lake in about 3 hours, with stops. After a quick lunch, I decided I wanted to get the car into more presentable shape. It had not been washed in over 2 weeks at this point, with nearly 750 miles of mountain/valley abuse splattered about.



We got back into south tahoe where I found a DIY bay style car wash. Never leaving home unprepared, all I really needed was a pressure washer, as I had brought my own mitts, towels, detailing sprays and soaps, and yes, even a leaf blower . I had also paid the guys next door to the car wash (on the same lot), $20, to let me run my extension cord from their outlet all the way out to the bay. It was an exceptionally comical conversation;

"Can I pay for some electricity?"
"Huh"
"I got this extension cord I need to run to a leaf blower..."
"What you tryin' blow out there"
"...."
"Jim, theres a god damn Ferrari out there!!"
"..thanks guys"



Lia and I made quick work of the wash, thanked our hosts, and the now sparkling snake slithered proudly back to the resort.



The remainder of the evening we spent relaxing in our rooms jaccuzi, and enjoying a beautiful sunset over dinner. Vacationing for sure on that day.

[slowhatch]

Last morning in Lake Tahoe. We packed up, and headed west to San Francisco--via Eldorado National Forest and Sacramento.

My favorite hot rod



Here we are making our way through the forest;

https://www.instagram.com/p/BihngJAA...y=sneakysnakes







Pit stop in Sacramento;




It wasn't long before we reached the outskirts of SF;





Downtown SF wasn't ready for all this around their lunchtime. Its funny how when you're on vacation you forget that you're the only one on vacation, and everyone else is wondering why the hell you're not at work like them

[slowhatch]

We quickly checked into our hotel in Fishermans Warf (we stayed at Pier 2620), and then went for lunch at the The Trident in Sausalito. This begs to be said right off bat, SF is the most beautiful city I've been to in the United States, hands down. I swear Sausalito could be confused for coastal Italy in some parts, and the bay area in general is just so desperately charming I can understand why it costs a Houston city block to live in a shack here. I spent my early childhood in NYC (Manhattan), and while that will forever be my favorite city, SF is now a very close 2nd.










The Golden Gate was being real coy that afternoon and wasn't giving up the goods, but thats ok we have some time here...




Ran into this 812 Superfast (look left) who threw me a few revs. I threw him a 2nd gear flyby in the tunnel and I don't think he was ready for all that...



Video of my noise making. I'm sure the guy in the Ferrari sipped his chai latte while calmly noticing he was late to his tee time by his Patek's account.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiiL0SDg...y=sneakysnakes

Of course we had go down the winding famous Lombard St. That was quite the sight;

Here's a video of me trying not to hit a curb ;

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiihRn_A...y=sneakysnakes

[slowhatch]

We proceeded to park the snake afterwards, and went on to explore the city on foot. Started off with a ride on the cable car from Fishermans Wharf to Downtown. But not before an hour and half wait in line...












We disembarked in downtown, I got robbed by Lia for another pair of shoes she doesn't need and we dont have room for, and proceeded to make our walk back up to the Wharf via Chinatown. We both really fell in love with the city that day, it has that hustle/bustle feel that i love in downtown (homeless and feces included), charming architecture and street layout, great food, beautiful views, its hard to find fault with the place. Its also the only city I've ever been that you get to see cloud cover that comes down to street level--its very fairy-tale esque. You'll be walking along and then get randomly wafted by a cloud that continues its way down a hill like a tumbleweed. Place is just special. We wrapped up the evening with a dinner at a seafood place on Pier 39.

[slowhatch]

The following morning we started off by touring a place I've been itching to visit since I watched Connery in THE ROCK. Alcatraz!

The weather in coastal CA is the same everyday, crisp, cool, foggy mornings, that lift into a perfectly clear upper 60s low 70s. Must be nice.








I found it almost ironic that a sealed in, brash, dead-end place to find yourself such as Alcatraz, would be nestled in such a beautiful location surrounded by 360 vistas of the entire bay area. The views from Alcatraz are some of the best you'll get of the surrounding landscape--I would of toured for that reason alone.










It's interesting to see the reality of places that you've built up in your mind from either movies, pictures, or spoken word. For me they never seem to align. I would akin it to talking to a friend over the phone and always imagining where they are, visualizing their surroundings, and then arriving at their place to see that it's nothing like you've depicted internally. Alcatraz was like that for me. For some reason I built it up to be some huge menacing place (physically), yet in real form, the place is relatively tiny, and "housed" around 100 people on average. The place is rich in history and escape tales, and I found the audio tour to be informative and entertaining.



Dont drop the soap

[slowhatch]

Typical Russian male housing...







Fog was lifting and exposing all the beautiful views;






Working on my stoic selfie game;



One thing I didn't know about the island, was that it is a huge bird sanctuary. The north end of the island is covered in nesting sea and waterbirds, and its easy to spend time bird watching and dodging air strikes.











The Yard

[txA&M08]

We both really fell in love with the city that day

Or did you...fall in love with each other

[slowhatch]

Or did you...fall in love with each other

3/10, would not read again.

[Shooter]

Wow. Good write up slowhatch.

[slowhatch]

...continuing where we left off.

After the Alcatraz voyage was over, we decided to capitalize on the clear sight-lines and get some pictures with the Golden Gate. She was baring it all that day!









After the keepsakes were snapped, we went to grab a quick lunch. The plan for that day was to meet the wolfpack at a designated gas station in south SF, and to be lead by a resident SF club member through some scenic roads all the way to Monterrey, CA. We had about an hour to burn so we decided to go back to Sausalito to eat at Poggio's--a highly recommended Italian restaurant.

On the way there I had my spotter out to make sure I don't break my front splitters off, which had become routine practice whilst navigating the city.







The recommendation for Poggio's were not in vain, the food was spectacular;



We wrapped up lunch and quickly made our way to the meeting point. Fueled up, we were led by Maurice Liang down past the crystal springs reservoir, via 35, on our way to Alice's--a turn point to get on 84 and its spectacular forest twisties.





Without reservation, the roads through that forest (I35/84/Skyline blvd/etc) leading out to PCH, were the best driving roads that I've been on. The scenery was spectacular, the roads well kept, no traffic, it was all around bliss. We absolutely devoured the road and are seen here taking a stop to catch our breath;

[slowhatch]

Leaving the meeting point I told Maurice we need to pick up the pace, so him and I broke ahead of the pack and started to really pour on some speed.

Here is a quick clip of us through the forest;

https://www.instagram.com/p/BilKpSMA...y=sneakysnakes

After that jaunt we pulled over and let everyone else catch up



Re-grouped, we pushed further south, and into the Redwood forests. We ended up surprising a group of kids camping, who literally had their eyes pop out of their head when 15 Vipers emerged, out of the blue, in the middle of the woods.

Some more forest carving and arriving at the campsite;

https://www.instagram.com/p/BilgtSYg...y=sneakysnakes





Made it out to PCH, and started to make our way directly at Monterrey.

[slowhatch]

Pulled over for a photo-op, one of the most ridiculous scenes of the entire trip unfolded in front of our eyes. Some rubbernecker (in a Pruis) almost came to a complete stop in the middle of the road gawking at the cars, and another directly behind him (in a civic), was also looking at the cars instead of at the road ahead. As you can imagine, the 2nd party almost barreled into the 1st at full speed. Only realizing a split moment before, the civic layed into the brakes, attempted to swerve around the Pruis, lost control, spun, smashed into the barrier, ricocheted, and came to rest about 10ft from one of the cars. Our hearts SANK. Watching it all, I was almost dead sure he was going to barrel into the cars themselves. We got super lucky.

So in the moment the photographer was snapping this...



In the left of the frame, was this...




The guy was unhurt, and as hard as the impact sounded, the car still ran, and he quickly made his exit from the scene without so much as getting out to see the damage.

We took that as our qeue to get the hell on... and made our exit as well (pics below were before the great civic escapades);

https://www.instagram.com/p/BilbDffA...y=sneakysnakes










Catching the last bit of daylight, we rode into the pebble beach, monterrey area, and settled into our hotel;




Dinner was served at the Whaling Station that night

[slowhatch]

Waking up in Monterrey, we started to make our way down 17 mile drive. Let me tell you that some of the pebble beach homes (and I use the terms "homes" very loosely here), would make Silicon Valley execs feel out of place.



The coastal views on that area of PCH are sublime :thumbup:













At a certain point down PCH we punched in east through Big Sur.






Quick vid of the roads;

https://www.instagram.com/p/BinQHYSA...y=sneakysnakes

[slowhatch]

Through Big Sur we emerged around the Fort Hunter military base area, and drove past many a training site and weapons range facilities. Not a bad place to be stationed. We were on our way to Hearst Castle, and were forced to loop around the back with sections of PCH being closed due to mud slides.







We were soon back to the coast, and arrived at Hearst;






Hearst was a man of simple tastes, known for his bare-bones lifestyle and accommodations, with a propensity for living within his means.

[slowhatch]

On our way out I was thinking that the private roads leading up to the estate definitely need more Viper visitation...



A quick lunch at the coast, and we pushed further south into Santa Barbara.




We arrived at Santa Barbara with the last of the daylight, had some dinner, and made the final push into LA.





I remember very clearly coming over a hill, closing in on the outskirts of the metro LA area, and seeing what looked like lava flow for miles ahead. Except it wasn't lava, just a trillion and a half cars that were good as parked on the freeway. At 1130pm on a Thursday? LA, surely you jest.

It took an hour and a half to go the last 30 minutes of the drive, with a disaster grade accident/traffic forcing a detour around the city--entering the Hollywood area from the north. We arrived at our hotel (The Roosevelt) on Hollywood Blvd, just to catch the tail end of the Han Solo red carpet premier, going on across the street. A quick frolic down the strip, and we turned in for the night.

[1.8t]

Nice!! The bar for taking a vehicular focused trip and documenting it has been set. I am not an active poster, but I lurk to hell and back. These kinds of threads are gold and thoroughly tickle my lurking interests.

[swexlin]

Alex, this is terrific stuff! I've only had my car out of the garage once (yes, you read that right) for about 50 miles, in the last 7 weeks, and that was almost 5 weeks ago. Poor weather, and personal obligations, have prevented more driving. This definitely inspires me to MAKE the time to enjoy my car.

What a nice travelogue you have going here.

[Dusty1]

Great travelogue Alex, certainly a trip for the bucket list. Was a great group of folks to travel with and hope we can do it again if a few years.

Richard

[slowhatch]

Nice!! The bar for taking a vehicular focused trip and documenting it has been set. I am not an active poster, but I lurk to hell and back. These kinds of threads are gold and thoroughly tickle my lurking interests.

Alex, this is terrific stuff! I've only had my car out of the garage once (yes, you read that right) for about 50 miles, in the last 7 weeks, and that was almost 5 weeks ago. Poor weather, and personal obligations, have prevented more driving. This definitely inspires me to MAKE the time to enjoy my car.

What a nice travelogue you have going here.

Thanks guys, sometimes the interaction here is low, and so I wonder if anyone ever even reads all this stuff

Great travelogue Alex, certainly a trip for the bucket list. Was a great group of folks to travel with and hope we can do it again if a few years.

Richard

Was certainly an unbelievable trip, thanks for having us!

[slowhatch]

Whilst in LA for a few days we mostly did touristy stuff that I wont bore you with too many pics of. Hollywood strip is cool for the first 5 minutes and then you get over it and want to retreat elsewhere away from the tourists/homeless/weirdos. We did a tour of the WB studios which I initially objected to--as I don't really care for celebrity stuff in general--but actually found very informative and interesting.




We watch embarrassing amounts of Friends and Seinfeld re-runs, so we had to take this pic...



We did some poking around the city, hit a few museums, and ate at some not too shabby spots.




The place I was most excited to visit was The Peterson automotive museum, and it didn't disappoint. The family has quite the collection of automobiles.

[slowhatch]

This is how I'd take my 991;















The real magic is underground in their "vault", and you're not allowed to take pics down there. I of course sneaked a few. The amount of historic vehicles down there was just unbelievable. From the italian rebodied corvette Shelby tried to build with Scagleitti in the late 50s (which GM pulled the plug on, and the real reason Shelby ended up in Ford's corner), to Saddam's Hussein's bullet ridden limo, to Rolls Royce's and Buggatis I've never seen before in my life, to heritage classic racecars and F1 cars, etc. It just didn't end. There must have been 150 million+ in cars down there.



Full GT family;



Didn't care much for the Sergio aesthetically;



Did you know this pink S2k Suki drives in F&F 2 is the same car Johnny Tran drove in the original, just repainted with a new kit?



After wrapping up the museums for the day, we met up with some good friends in their West Hollywood apartment--which cost the equivalent of a 5000 sqft home on 2 acres in Houston.

[slowhatch]

The following day, we woke up and drove down to Temecula for a friends wedding. They are local to us, and by some strange fate had their wedding in the area we happened to be in on our little voyage. LA traffic managed to turn a 90 min drive into a 3 hour one. I thought our traffic was bad, good lord.




Wedding/venue was lovely;







This note from the bride made me :laugh::laugh: and brought up an interesting incident that I never let her live down.

[slowhatch]

So after nearly 2 weeks, 2,000 miles of driving, and 8hrs of tracking under our belt, it was time to head home. From below sea level deserts to 10,000ft+ summits, from the chilly 30s nights in Lake Tahoe to the sweltering 90s in Vegas, the snake never skipped a beat. Reluctantly running on 91, I beat the piss out of the thing everywhere we went and she took it in stride. Big thanks to Viper Exchange for building me a proper turn-key monster, this was a great way to break in the new heads/cam package.

With that said, big bertha arrived (with proper livery I may add), and we loaded her up.






With our farewells said, we went on to enjoy the last day in LA with some more sightseeing.

We went up to the Griffith observatory in LA and took the in the sights and museum. Really pretty place with great vistas of the city.










Last but not least on the way to the airport we stopped by Rodeo/Sunset drive to get brought down a peg or two (thousand). Definitely not the place for poor people like us





....and thats all, I'll stop bombarding you lot with photos

[repiV]

Great pics and great write-up!! Thanks for taking the time to share it this way. I really enjoyed it! You got some great shots and it's obvious that you had a fun trip that you'll remember for a long time.

[98intrigue]

I felt like I was there with y'all. Glad you two had a fantastic time!