We left about 9am this morning & headed for Santa Rosa, home of the Charles Shultz Museum. It was about an hour's drive north. Driving through the streets of San Francisco is quite challenging. The lanes are not always clearly marked and there are trams & tram tracks to negotiate as well as intersections where all the lights just flash. But, we made it safely there and back.
I have been to San Francisco twice before but have never been over the Golden Gate Bridge. We crossed it twice today & on the way out this morning stopped at the 'vista point' for photos. We had a nice view of the city skyline although it was clearer on the way back.
The museum didn't open until 11am so we had plenty of time to find a post office to get a quote to post the chicken back home. After waiting in a massive queue, we were told the box was too big to post. Looks like the chicken stays with me. Robyn saw on the news tonight that today is the busiest for post offices. Of course it was.
We also stopped at the California Visitors Centre as there were some Peanuts statues in the surrounding park.
The museum was a very interesting place. There were so many Peanuts comic strips on display, including plenty of originals. The displays are regularly changed but the ones on today were Starry Starry Night - predominantly comics where the characters are contemplating the stars - and the other one was Toys - lots of references to the kids playing games or with various toys.
Every morning Charles Shultz would go into his studio & doodle - usually funny pictures of the characters or an imagined argument. That formed the basis of the day's comic strip even if the finished comic strip didn't even resemble the doodles. His secretary was smart enough to retrieve the doodles from the bin each night & take them home & iron them. There were some on display.
We watched a short video of Charles drawing a comic strip. It was quite amazing to see how a few pen strokes became the characters we are so familiar with.
Charles Shultz hand drew every single comic strip using a nib & a bottle of ink. It was very interesting to see how the figures had changed since the 1950s when they were first drawn.
Charles Shultz was also very interested in ice hockey. He played in the seniors tournament. In fact, he built an ice rink in Santa Rosa so kids could learn to skate.
Although he was born in St Paul, Minnesota, he lived in Santa Rosa for many years & contributed to the community which is why it was chosen as the site for the museum.
Charles Shultz's daily routine involved having breakfast & lunch at the Warm Puppy Cafe where he always sat at the same table overlooking the ice. We had lunch in the cafe today & his table is still there with a reserved sign on it.
It was very interesting to spend time looking through the museum & learning about Charles Shultz. We arrived back in SF just after 5pm.
On the back of a recommendation from Alex (my work colleague) & JDP, we had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. We got there just after 7pm and where told the wait would be about 1hr 40mins. However we were seated an hour later. There is absolutely no way you could eat a meal & a piece of cheesecake. I'm very happy we shared a piece!