Cyclists can use the Pikes Peak Highway during normal operating hours and tollgate fees apply. It is a grueling climb up a winding paved road to the summit at 14,110 feet, and the weather can be cold and inclement even in Summer. Pikes Peak Highway is open year-round, weather permitting, except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Read more...
You can bike around Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid) on a route that uses a cycle path and public highway. Follow the A494 from the lake car park to Llanuwchllyn, returning to Bala on the B4403 road that tracks the steam railway line. The 10 mile circuit has some inclines and takes an hour at a moderate pace. Read more...
Commercial production of dynamite in the US started in 1868 at the Giant Powder Works near the site of what is now Glen Park Recreation Center in San Francisco. Producing dynamite under licence from Alfred Nobel, the short-lived factory was destroyed in an explosion in November 1869. Read more...
The bronze statue of Yoda sits on a fountain at the Lucasfilm campus in San Francisco’s Presidio. The fountain is outside Building B at One Letterman Drive, where other Star Wars memorabilia can also be viewed in the lobby during weekdays. Read more...
Muir Woods has chargeable parking which must be booked in advance online or by phone for a specific 30 minute arrival window. You can park until closing and it is advisable to print or download your reservation beforehand as there is no wi-fi or cell phone coverage nearby. Read more...
Drawn Stone by Andy Goldsworthy is at the de Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The permanent outdoor sculpture is a man-made meandering crack that runs through pavers and large sandstone boulders leading to the museum’s entrance. Read more...
The famous Painted Ladies in San Francisco are located at 710 to 720 Steiner Street, opposite Alamo Square Park in the Western Addition. The name was given to the iconic row of Queen Anne style houses in the 1970s due to their colorfully painted facades. Read more...
The house from the movie Mrs Doubtfire is located at 2640 Steiner Street in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. It was used for exterior shots as the home of the Hillard family in the 1993 film starring Robin Williams. Read more...
You can swim and surf at Stinson Beach and lifeguards are normally on duty from late May to early September. The water is cold, even in summer, and you should be aware of the dangers of rip currents and the rare chance of sharks swimming near the shore. Read more...
The North Face was founded in San Francisco as a ski, camping and mountaineering mail order business in 1964. The Grateful Dead played at the official opening of its first store at 308 Columbus Avenue in San Francisco’s North Beach on October 26, 1966. Read more...
Levi Strauss was laid to rest in a dome-roofed mausoleum in the Home of Peace Cemetery in Colma, California. The founder of denim jeans manufacturer Levi Strauss & Co died in San Francisco on September 26, 1902. Read more...
Warren G Harding died at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on August 2nd, 1923, aged 57. The 29th American President was reportedly suffering from pneumonia and died suddenly in room 8064 (now room 888), the eighth-floor presidential suite. Read more...
Senator Cory Booker’s childhood home was on Norma Road in Harrington Park, New Jersey, until 1977 when he moved with his family to a new home on Parkhill Road in Harrington Park. Read more...
The Gap’s first store was in San Francisco’s Ingleside district at Ocean Avenue and Fairfield Way, next to the El Rey Theater. The store opened in 1969, initially selling only Levi’s jeans, records and tapes, but closed in 1974 as The Gap grew into a chain of clothing stores. Read more...
Castro Camera, Harvey Milk’s camera store in San Francisco’s Castro District, was located at 575 Castro Street between 18th and 19th Street. Milk operated the store from 1972 until his assassination in 1978 and lived in the apartment above the premises. Read more...
George Moscone’s grave is in the St Michael section of Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, California. The serving Mayor of San Francisco was shot and killed at San Francisco City Hall on November 27th, 1978, aged 49, by former city supervisor Dan White. Read more...
The first Japanese car to be manufactured in the US was the Honda Accord which first rolled off production at Honda’s factory in Marysville, Ohio, on November 1, 1982. The first American-built Accord was a silver gray four-dour sedan bearing an Ohio license plate reading USA 001 and is presently on display at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Read more...
The first Starbucks in Chicago opened at 111 West Jackson Boulevard in the Loop on October 19, 1987. There is no longer a Starbucks at this location. Read more...