San Francisco - day 2

Another beautiful day here in San Fran. Today we took a tour out to the Muir Woods National Monument to see the Giant Sequoias and Redwoods (photo 2). Those trees are amazing. Many are hundreds of years old and rise more than 100 metres above the forest floor and some are several metres round. Photos are great but just can’t do them justice. We were lucky enough to see young deer close up and took some great shots (photo 3).

Our next stop was Sausalito across the bay from San Francisco. A lot of the hippies from the 1960s apparently settled there so it is an arts and cultural centre (read more artsy fartsy than cultural!!). Once again we took the opportunity to ignore our diets (we did have lots of fresh seafood last night – maybe deep fried prawns still count as fresh seafood???) and indulged in some of the best ice cream we have ever had. Heavenly! While sitting on a park bench enjoying our treats we chatted to a guy who looked like an ageing hippy and probably was. He was a very friendly and obviously cultured man despite his shabby appearance and was most interesting to talk to. What a pity we were interrupted by an ‘ugly Australian’ tourist who sat down next to us and started to whinge about anything and everything. (The bus was too small, there was no leg room – maybe if you had been 100kgs less you may have fitted into the bus seat etc – saucer of milk for Sue for writing this bit J) Next time stay home lady!

On the trip we were treated to some of the best views of the bay and the city imaginable (photo 1). San Francisco is blessed with a truly beautiful natural environment. We got to appreciate this even more on our bay cruise this afternoon. We were treated to a large herd of sea lions basking in the sun adjacent to Pier 39.  They were making an unholy racket as they frolicked in the sun and waved us off on our cruise. Last time we were here we did a trip out to Alcatraz so this time we toured the whole bay but still managed to get some really good shots of Alcatraz from new angles. As the weather was near perfect we were able to see everything pretty clearly without the fog that is so typical of the bay area. Lucky!  Tonight we will wander back to Pier 39 for more fresh seafood.  There are just soooo many restaurants to choose from.  Our criteria are based on how busy they are, and we look at the food coming out on the plates.  We tasted Crab Chowder last night for the first time.  It was just yum.  They serve it here in hollowed out bread cobs – not the big cobs we are used to –maybe about half that size.  You could easily make a meal just out of that.  It was a new taste sensation for us!!

Tomorrow we are off to New Orleans where we will meet up with Jamie and Gary. We can’t wait to see our fabulous crazy friends again! The next couple of weeks are gonna be a barrel of laughs!!