This year we spent our summer vacation in California, and utilized just about every mode of transportation our explorations would allow!
First we flew into Los Angeles. We didn't really spend any time there but landed in LA so that we could take a train, the Coastal Starlight, along the beautiful coastline up to San Francisco. The trip took most of the day and was sooooo relaxing - a great way to unwind and start a vacation. We had seats in one car where we could relax, read, or sleep. Then there were dining cars for meals and an observation car with windows that allowed us to take in more of the view.
We spent the next day in San Francisco. Apparently it was unseasonably cool and rainy the day we were there so we spent a lot of time walking around in the rain. Although, I'll take that any day compared to the 90 - 100 degree days we were missing in Austin!
While in San Francisco, we pretty much did all the touristy things. We didn't rent a car for that day and enjoyed touring the city via ferry, streetcar and just walking around.
First on the list was a visit to Alkatraz: the cellhouse audio tour was really well done. It included a lot of stories told by former prisoners and guards. The island and prison were really neat to see (lots of opportunities for photography). I think Ben spent most of the tour taking pictures!
Then we walked through the shops and saw the sea lions on Pier 39 (http://www.pier39.com/), and ate delicious sourdough bread at Boudin Bakery (http://www.boudinbakery.com/). We also spent time at Fisherman's Wharf. And most importantly, we visited Ghirardelli Square. Once the site of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Manufactory, it now has several Ghirardelli shops and soda fountains - they give samples when you walk in. I couldn't resist, so we bought a large bag of chocolates...one of each flavor available. :-)
We also saw the famous, Lombard Street and watched numerous cars wind down it carefully. It must be irritating to actually live on that street because of all the tourists.
We only had one day in San Francisco, but before we left Monday morning, we stopped by Alamo Square Park. It is the site of the beautiful Victorian houses, the "Painted Ladies," featured in the Full House intro (for all of you who grew up watching that show like I did, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EL65KLdEHE&feature=youtu.be&t)!
Our route out of the city took us across the Golden Gate Bridge.
From there we took the "scenic route" along the coast to our next destination, which I sure would have been beautiful if we could have seen it. It was so foggy that we could only see about 20 feet in front of the car and couldn't even tell that we were right next to the ocean!
We stopped midway to the Redwoods in a little town called Westport. We stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast with a balcony that overlooked the ocean. We actually hit a week that wasn't busy and had the entire house to ourselves - with its personal chef, massage chair, and sauna.
After our relaxing stay, it was time to head to the Redwoods, but I'll post about later (this post is getting too long, and I have to wait for Ben to edit all the pictures I want to include!).
Stay tuned...more exciting stuff to come!
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