Days Four & Five: San Francisco, CA

Our drive from Ukiah to San Francisco was a short one, but with lots to see.  Vineyard after vineyard after vineyard...we've never seen so many grapes!  Unfortunately, we're not much into wine so we were not tempted to stop.  We also saw lots of California dairy cows, but they didn't have much to say like the ones in the commercials:)  I did notice one billboard and told Kevin, 'I bet that's how Jake feels...'  It said,
                           I'm udderly devoted to moo!
Our first San Fran stop was Muir Woods National Park.  Boy, were we lucky...Kevin was able to get an end spot in the main parking lot!!  We weren't overflowing with excitement since we had just driven through a ton of redwoods along the Redwood Highway, but WOW!  This park is amazing.  You could easily spend a whole day wandering around taking in all of nature's little nooks and crannies.  There was so much to see:  trees, plants, flowers, rocks, streams, butterflies, and the Banana Slug (ugh).  Then, there was this group of European gentlemen we kept running into...are leather pants appropriate attire for a national park?  Unfortunately, we had to watch our time so that we could see the other sights on our list.  Maybe we can visit again someday:)

Look closely...I'm inside the tree trunk!

All of a sudden as we were driving along Kevin said, 'Grab the camera!  Hurry, hurry!'  So these are the pics I got...



This is the Golden Gate Bridge--we're driving across it!

This must be one of our luckiest days because guess what...we got another end spot in a really close parking lot to the bridge:)  I had forgotten that it was orange.  I remembered watching part of a documentary and the color of the bridge was a big to-do.  So, International Orange is the official color and is supposed to help the bridge blend with its surroundings...we're still a little puzzled since the water appeared to be blue???  The Golden Gate Bridge is a cool bridge.  When I asked if we were going to walk across it, Kevin's response was 'Do you know how long that would take?  It's a lot longer than it looks!'  So, we did not walk across it or even step foot on it:(  It really is a long bridge and it was a really windy day.

Next stop was Pier 39 for lunch.  Nothing grand...fish and chips at Chowder's.  Kevin and I agree that it is hard to beat the Barramundi we lived on in Australia:)

After lunch we headed to Pier 33 to board the ferry to Alcatraz Island.  We were both eager to see it firsthand.  We had a nice view of the San Francisco Bay as we made our way across the 'treacherous' waters.

Alcatraz Island

Alcatraz Wardrobe

Alcatraz Showers



Alcatraz's 'Broadway Street'



Furnished Cell



Alcatraz Kitchen

Last Breakfast Served

Alcatraz Serving Line

Alcatraz Library

Alcatraz Visitors' Room

Prisoners' Visitation Station

Newest Prisoner?

Alcatraz Cellhouse