San Francisco Day 2 part2

Muir Woods was never a place i had ever heard of before. It is part of the National Park system. It has Redwood trees and apparently not a good as the Redwood National Forest but they are the closet to San Francisco and good enough for me.
 We found excellent parking...we got the last place in the closest parking lot. If you go here get there early. It is no joke we saw parking down the road for miles(not exaggerating) when we left the park.

Here is the Tunnel we got to drive through on the way the the park. I love tunnels. Growing up in upstate NY we had a tunnel that you drove under the locks. So instead of dirt above the tunnel we had water and ships.  

 

From the front parking lot youcantake some paths that go left or the path that goes right...right to the visitor center. Our adventurous daughters wanted to take the left side trail, and silly me thought it would end at the visitors center also. The trail is just like you would think, dirt and rocks. NO fancy concrete or man made steps. We walked up hill for about a half a mile. Im not in shape so I was a bit winded. I also am still recovering from a rather severe fracture of my ankle that left me without the flexiblity and strength I have in my good ankle. I had to use my tip toes to go up the steep trail as my ankle does not flex enough. IT was definitely a good workout.

 One we were not prepared for. We didn't have water with us or the proper shoes.

So about 20 minutes into our hike going straight uphill we asked a couple that was heading down how much farther the top was and if the view was good. They said your about halfway there and the view was great!!

 I had to think about this for a minute and we all agreed we just could not go any further. My ankle was already swelling and painful and my calves were getting a great workout using my tip toes to climb!

So we turn around and not a minute later an older man about 80 something years old seriously was running down the hill...for fun!!!! or exercise!! Wow did I feel like my self esteem dropped about 20 notches down! A few minutes later..my guess is it she was the old guy's wife as they were the same age about runs past me!! What the heck?? Now my self esteem is shot!! 

 I am struggling not to fall and bust my leg again (that's how I broke it in the first place..falling walking down a hill..on ice, but the dirt rail is slippery :O/)
 We made it back to the beginning of the trail with a collective thansk God thats over!!


 WE headed to the visitors center to get our passes to enter the park. They did have a snack shop and we got a much needed bottle of water at airport prices.







 Below you'll see a cross sectional slice of a Redwood that fell in park years ago. and below that a close up of the dates of some rings to show how old the tree was. Amazing.

 This is a picture I took looking straight up at the sky.

 MY husbands family is Irish, so I had to take a picture of the beautiful clovers. The patches of them were so big and lush.

The park...or really it's a monument is really worth an afternoon of your time if your in the San Francisco or Oakland Area. The incredible fresh air. Was so clean and wonderful!! The park is mostly shaded , I didnt even wear my sunglasses.

My younger daughters. 

After getting back to the rental car we ate some of the peaches we bought from the farmers market that morning. They were the juiciest sweetest peaches I have had in a long time!! Mike had a pluot (plum/apricot mix) it was a pretty pink flesh that was really good and sweet.

Driving back along the road past where we parked (we parked for free) we saw cars parked along the road for a few miles. There is nothing else around except the park, which is why we were so glad we were there early in the day.

Back in San Francisco we parked in a parking Garage right by the Fisherman's Wharf area. The girls wanted Crab really bad so we ate at Joe's Crab shack. We always get great crab there. The crab you will get in the local eateries is dungeness crab. I prefer Snow crab as its easier to eat. Joe's is the only place to get Alaskan Crab.

There is a Walgreen's on the next block from Joe's and we stopped there on our way back to the car to pick up soda and snacks for the hotel. 

I did not know this but in San Fran you have to pay for shopping bags? Even the cheap plastic ones. Glad I had a bag with me, and you should bring one too!!

LAter on at the Hotel we had a nice relaxing time in the hot tub and watched some TV. We were tired from all the walking and hiking.

Next up: Alcatraz, ghost Hunters..did we see a ghost? Great white sharks in the bay, and the hunt for a good lunch in Fishermans Wharf....

after that a place where cannibals lived, Lake Tahoe, a real ghost town, Yosemite, Sequoia and back to San Fran.

**Thanks for reading my review of my family vacation to California and Nevada.There is a lot more to come, subscribe like my Facebook page www.facebook.com/fantaseatvl

Vacation Day 2..San Francisco

ON to Day 2!!
 Waking up early on vacation seems rather bad right? I hate getting up early, especially on vacation. Why do I get up early anyway? I also hate sleeping the day away when I paid good money for a trip I want to experience it all!!
 So, coincidence has it that we get to sleep in on our first day of vacation!!! Seriously, sleeping in until 7am Pacific time is awesome! I live in the central time zone, so it was like 9am at home and that counts as a sleep in day!!!
 Our hotel has absolutely the very best free breakfast I have ever had at a hotel. When we checked in they gave us coupons for free breakfast in the lobby. NO one ever checked to see if we had them. They had on one side a made to order omelet station and they also served pancakes, or french toast, hash browns and bacon and sausage. In the center they had pre made scrambled eggs, and potatoes, meats and pancakes. Then on the other side they had fresh fruit, toast and bagels, cereals, and juices plus a whole lot more. We even grabbed some bananas and apples for the room as a snack for later.
 Our hotel was in the blocked zone for a Diva's race today so we couldnt leave until about 8:45.

Diva's Race

 




  Here is a photo from my room with a great view of the starting line. Most of the racers are in pink T's and pink tutu's.

  Notice on the right hand side of the photo you can see some of the bay. Every morning the tide is out and the water is stagnant. It was really weird not to see even small waves hit the shore. In the afternoon there were small waves hitting the shore like normal.







Okay so off we go go to downtown San Francisco!! I plugged Fisherman's Wharf into my google maps on my phone and it took us right there. The traffic was pretty heavy but using the phone made the navigation easy and we had no issues. We drove west of the Wharf to the old military base and found free open parking. The Marina is there and the Crissy Park.
 We are kind of winging it to see where the best place is to get a good picture of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Lucky us there was an open farmers market right there at the old base!! Inside they had a bunch of stand selling fresh fish, fruits, veggies, honey, flowers, and food stands. Many had free samples. The fruit was amazing. They were perfectly ripe and delish!! We bought peaches, Pluots, cherries and Strawberries. They were all organic too!

 Above are giant lemons and some apricots




The flowers to the left were huge and gorgeous!

Above is rotisserie chicken. They also had rabbit and some other different meats

peaches and nectarines

The onions above were so pretty...if onions can be pretty!


The strawberries were delicious and juicy! The flavor is a million times better than buying in the store.








After putting our finds into the rental car we went for a walk to Crissy Field to get good pictures of the Bridge. San Fran is known for fog and today is no exception. Its cool out, breezy and foggy.  We walked along the marinas and took some picture of the boats and birds. NO sea lions out though.
You can see Alcatraz so close, you wonder why no one could survive the swim in the past. I try and get some good pictures from my DSLR camera and want a few to post on facebook for friends at home. So I grabbed my phone out of my jeans pocket and there in the wind I see cash fly out of my pocket into the water. Now, the sidewalk where I am standing is about 5-6 feet higher than the water. I see two $1 bills and then a $5 bill... For $2 I am willing to let it go...for $7 I am kinda mad! The $5 bill is on the rock ledge that is like mini steps. too difficult to try and get, but I stand there for several minutes staring at my cash wondering how I can get down there to get it. I could dangle my feet down and have someone hold my hand. There are sharks in this water and if I fell in I would freak out. Mostly from getting wet. My husband was like just let it go, at least its not a $20 or $50!!
Ok Darn! I walk on and get a few more pics of the bridge and Alcatraz. I cant let go of the money loss!! It bugs me!! still even now I wonder is it still there? After walking down closer to the bridge we see a map of the area. The husband noticed how close Muir Wood is and always wanted to see Redwood trees. So we all quickly decide that we wanted to see them and then tour San Fran again tomorrow.
  Walking back to the car my two $1 bills are floated away but my $5 is still there!!!

Now we get to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. As we do many movies come to mind where this is the spot they choose to kill off a character. 6 lanes wide and still very foggy. Pedestrian traffic is heavy too. You do not have to pay toll going this way.

The road to Muir wood is very twisty. Hair pin turns and steep hills. There are a ton of bicyclists, so be carefull. sometimes you dont see them right away because of the turns in the road, and the roads are very narrow. You cant always pass them for a while.

I am going to leave you now hanging for part 2 of my day.
 I will post more pics of Muir woods and let you know about why I am in horrible horrible shape!!! A wrong turn on a hiking path, and seeing something incredible.




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