Road Trip Seattle to San Francisco - Day 14 – Sutro Baths, Hidden Steps, Twin Peaks & Half Moon Bay

[anji]

Road Trip Seattle to San Francisco - Day 14 – Sutro Baths, Hidden Steps, Twin Peaks & Half Moon Bay

Today we planned a trip down the coast to Half Moon Bay but first had a bit of San Francisco exploring to do! We'd decided not to do most of stuff we'd done before with the kids - partly not to spoil good memories - so I had researched other things to do.

We went downstairs and got our breakfasts from the lobby – coffee, juice, pastries and fruit – and took it up to the roof terrace to eat it. A beautiful view and could fully see the Golden Gate Bridge. Such a plus to be able to do this.

We set off on the giant hills - lots of fun! Going upwards and stopping at a junction you couldn't see across and up the next hill.

Satnav and I navigated us to the Sutro Baths at the north end of Ocean Beach. This was built in 1895 as a public bath house with salt-water swimming pools. It is now in ruins but an interesting thing to see with walks around it. It’s actually quite eerie to imagine what it was like in the past and all the people there and also ruggedly romantic!

Next to it is Cliff House with the Camera Obscura giant camera. This wasn’t working when we were there but it produces 360 degree photos of the sea and beach and based on a Da Vinci design.

Down below was Ocean Beach – a beautiful long and clean beach. We watched the people and many dogs on the beach running in and out of the sea.

From here we drove to Golden Gate Park, which was very close by. This is bigger than Central Park in New York. I would love to spend a couple of days just exploring the park! We found the Bison paddock but the Bison were penned up at the time.

Next stop was the Hidden Garden Steps on Kirkham Street which go up to 16th Avenue. There are 150 steps and they have beautiful tiles on the front of them with amazing designs. Gorgeous colours with lots of flowers and animals. There is another set off 16th Avenue up to 15th too.

Final destination in the city was to be Twin Peaks. We took the winding road to the top and parked easily enough although it was quite busy with a couple of tourist coaches, which thankfully departed quickly enough. The views were just amazing but it was so windy up there too!

Then it was time to hit the road south on Route 1. We’d travelled south to LA on our previous trip but had not done this top bit of the road. We took our time and stopped of at various viewpoints along the way.

We stopped for lunch at Rockaway Beach. We walked around the town for a while and settled on Nicks Seaside Diner. This was a large retro place playing 50s/60s music and very atmospheric.

We sat in the window and ordered filled potato skins and some drinks. England were silently playing football in the Euros on TV. Will was looking out of the window rather than at the TV luckily as he said he swore he just saw a whale. I looked too and sure enough there was another one blowing! All thoughts of football – useless anyway – disappeared and we raced outside. There seemed to be a couple of whales but they were too far away to take any decent photos. By the time we got back inside the match was over and a boring 0-0 draw. I’d done the Monterey Whale Watching trip with the kids on our previous trip and adored it, so to see a whale this time was a big plus for me!

On down the road to Half Moon Bay. We found the carpark and paid our fee – no turning and parking on the street! Great area for families with barbecue and picnic areas. Lovely beach with Pacific waves and lots of gulls. We walked the beach and got blown about again!

We returned to the hotel on more or less the same route but went up Skyline Boulevard past the Zoo and back to the Park. Had more of a look around before going back to the hotel.

We walked to Fisherman’s Wharf again. Last night we’d seen a boat doing a Sunset Cruise for only $15 – sadly he wasn’t there that night! We decided to have dinner in Applebees. We’d never done one in Florida and I’d read so much about them on The Dibb. Ordering was via Ipad – a first for us. We ordered and then the server came over and told is it hadn’t submitted to the kitchen – although it said it had – so she took out order on paper! Another good meal with cocktails. Sorry for my drinks photos rather than food!

The sunset tonight was beautiful and I took these from Applebee's terrace.

We walked back to the hotel, again! We took a different route this time but it didn't seem any shorter - good for fitness though.

Index -
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...d.php?t=966569

[Cannavar]

Awesome photos. Really enjoying your trip reports!

[parisdisneyfan]

Really enjoying this, thank you for sharing. My notepad is getting quite full

[Melbatb]

I love your alternative attractions. The beaches look fabulous! And what a glorious sunset!

[anji]

Thanks - this was a lovely day and glad we kept the car for the extra day in San Francisco

[Disney Wishing]

What a fantastic day. You managed to do so much stuff. Beautiful sunset pictures.