San Francisco Tour - Saturday 9/6/08

We had pre-booked an all day tour of San Francisco before we got here, so we were up and out the door by a little after 8:00am PST. The valet hailed a taxi and we were on our way to the bay area to meet up with our tour group.


We decided on an tour that would include a sightseeing tour of the Golden Gate Bridge, a visit to Muir Woods and Sausalito, and return to San Fran to visit Alcatraz. Our charter bus left right on time at 9:02am. Destination: the Golden Gate Bridge and Muir Woods (to see the tall Redwoods)!


Our tour guide was named Clay. He had a whispy, deep voice. And, Clay, loved to recite poems...too many for my liking, but interesting any way. We headed over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a clear day and the view was amazing. Apparently, the people of San Fran hadn't seen a view like this in eons...and we were lucky to be in San Fran at the right time. I sat by the window on the way to Muir Woods, so I could take plenty of photos. Hey! No one told me that I would be looking over so many cliffs. Yikes!

We arrived in Muir Woods after a 45-minute harrowing ride up a mountain in Marin County. Ok. Maybe it wasn't a mountain, but if you've never lived higher than 8-10 feet above sea level...it looked like a mountain. We proceeded to disembark the bus. We walked around the path and were in awe. The trees were the biggest I've ever seen. Don was quick to point out that these weren't the largest Redwoods. Those lived about 4 hours north. I guess I will have to return to see those!

Soon we were back on the bus. Next stop was Sausalito Beach. We only had about 40 minutes to walk around this quaint town. There were a lot of shops, a lot of boats, and definitely a lot of cyclists! I couldn't even imagine myself trying to ride a bike up the hills that surrounded this cute little town. The weather was nice...a little on the warm side, but definitely sightseeing weather. After a quick walk down the main artery, a quick walk down the dock to look at the amazing sailboats, and a short photo stop...we were back on the bus to head back to downtown San Francisco. In 40 minutes, we arrived right back where we started.

We stayed on the bus and were transported to Fisherman's Wharf, where we would catch the ferry to Alcatraz. I have to say that the trip was very interesting. Although we were beat tired by this point, we jumped on the ferry and took a 2 hour tour of the small island. Once again, the weather was beautiful and the view from the little rock island was beautiful. Before we knew it, we were back on the ferry headed for the mainland.

Our legs were killing us! The hills in this town can be torcherous when you are used to living on flat ground. We starving and decided to grab a bite for dinner before heading back to the hotel. We decided to stop at the Rainforest Cafe. I had never been. The atmosphere was very cool with the jungle, mist, lightning, and jungle animals. We both ordered the pot roast dinner and we were not disappointed. It was delicious. We didn't even have enough room for the molten lava cake. :-(

We were back on the road, literally. We walked a few blocks to catch a cable car back to Chinatown. We waited and waited and waited. But, I wasn't about to walk all the way back, Uphill! Alas, we got back to our hotel and I sacked out for the rest of the night.