Day 7 - Last day in San Fran

On our last full day in San Francisco, we did even more walking!  Surprise, surprise!

View from our room at the Argonaut Hotel, looking out onto a park with Ghiradelli Square to the left, a trolley line, and the Bay to the right!

Another amazing breakfast at Boudin Bakery

Visiting the sea lions at Pier 39

Cool view of Alcatraz Island from Pier 39

See Coit Tower, wayyyy up there?  We decided to hike up there for views of the city!  But first a few stops along the various piers along the Bay

We walked to the Ferry Building Marketplace

We did lots of sampling!

We loved the name of this shop in the market!

After snacks at the market, we started our ascent.  See all of the stairs?  This was just the start!

Taking a break at one of the landings.  The steps were in a beautiful, park-like setting, snaking past lots of cool houses.

We stopped often to catch our breath (remember, I was still sick!) and to enjoy the amazing views.

We made it to the top of Coit Tower!  View of the Golden Gate bridge

View of Alcatraz Island and Fisherman's Wharf

View of skyscrapers and more piers

We made it to the top!

It was such a cool, art-deco building, with awesome art inside.

We walked to lunch at House of Nanking

We couldn't get enough of the food in Chinatown

Sea cucumbers!

Stop at the Cable Car Museum

It was super loud in there, but it was fascinating to learn/watch the mechanics of how the cable cars operate.

Steep downhill walk back to our hotel, with a few little detours in shops

We told Katie we're getting this car for her!

We stopped back at our hotel to get our car, and we drove to the Golden Gate Bridge for one last sightseeing op

Fort Point is right under the bridge!

Inside the fort, looking up at the bridge

Cool corridors inside, for storing cannons etc

Looking out a window

On the top floor of the fort, right under the bridge

Despite the haze, it was gorgeous

Another panoramic shot from the top of the fort

Back to our hotel room at the Argonaut

We splurged on an amazing Italian dinner out on our last night

Chris had osso buco, and I had the most delicate ravioli ever

The next morning, we rounded out our trip with breakfast at Sweet Maple before heading to the airport.  This was our first breakfast spot, and it was definitely worth a repeat!  The tea was the best I've ever had (Tea Forte), and Millionaire's Bacon was the best Chris has ever had!

Day 6 - Avenue of the Giants

After a year+ off (!!!) I'm going to try my best to get caught up!  I'm on vacation "up north" with Katie and her friends for her 16th birthday, and I have a few hours.  Let's see if I can get a few posts done!

Back to our 19th anniversary vacation to San Francisco, and back to our second day at the Avenue of the Giants.  I woke up on day 6 with a terrible sinus infection, and it was still cool and drizzly outside, but it still made for a perfect day of short hikes through the most beautiful scenery in the world.

Can you see Chris?

I'm the tiny dot to the far left.  This downed tree was soooo long!

An albino redwood!

Pictures do not do it justice, it was so beautiful!

We rarely saw anyone else hiking, but I tried to get pictures of them to give an idea of scale in these parks.  There's a couple hiking near the center of the picture here.

And there's a couple hiking to the left in this picture.

They took our picture!

Another one of the 4-5 little roadside hikes we did.  They were all a mile or less long, and were so incredible to just slowly walk through.

We loved the trees with burls on them

Driving back down the Avenue of the Giants after several hours of hikes.  It was seriously this beautiful for almost the entire drive through the park!  Huge trees on both sides of the road, right up to the edges.

We had lunch at Avenue Café in Miranda again, and it was delicious again.  We stopped at some touristy redwood spots on the way home, and we stopped at two wineries in Napa Valley.

Wine tasting at Parducci Vineyards

Wine tasting at Rivino Vineyards.  We came home with two bottles from each place.

After a very long day of hiking, driving, and wine-tasting, we walked to Chinatown for a delicious dinner!