The 260 Mile West Coast Wander - August 2019 - Day 13 - Redwoods and a Beach Picnic - San Francisco

[juliab]

INDEX

Friday 16th August


We didn’t hang about this morning, good job in a way that I was awake early. The traffic was so loud form the early hours so I got myself up and got ready for the day. Scott wasn’t long after either. He walked down to the Walgreens which was only a couple of minutes walk away from us, to buy some milk.

Our parking for Muir’s Wood was between 9-930 am this morning as I wanted us to get there before the crowds and buses arrived.

The kids then got up we had our coffee’s, so appreciated having a coffee machine in the room. We then had some breakfast which was various cereals and fruit – we were then good to go.

It was another beautiful day I thought we’d been really lucky to have seen so much sunshine. We went in the same direction as yesterday heading along the road past the Palace of Fine Arts then turned up the hill.

Before no time we were crossing over the iconic bridge. It all felt so unreal after seeing this structure countless times on the telly then to be driving across it!

The drive wasn’t long to Muir’s Wood but the road down to it was quite winding and it had quite a few hairpin turns! Or at least it felt that way. As we approached the car park it was then that I realised I’d forgotten to bring our National Parks Pass! I had the parking voucher thankfully so that was there I would just have to pay the entrance fee.

We were directed to the parking lot which was a little way down a narrow road. Once we’d parked up we followed other people to the entrance but it wasn’t really difficult to find. There was a block of restrooms there so we made use of them before entering the park. The time was 9.30 and it was really quiet with only people a few people waiting around.

For some reason when asked how many people were in our group I replied as always 2 adults and 3 children. The cost was $30, only later did I think to myself that Hayden might have been classed as an adult at 17? Well whatever we were in the park and ready to walk around these Redwoods.

Walking around the main trail was so peaceful and beautiful it was a nice gentle walk too as it was flat and on boardwalks. We did want to go on the longer walk which would have took us higher up but unfortunately the trail was closed. I was a bit disappointed about this but there wasn’t much I could do about it.

We continued walking around on the lower trail which was so scenic and tranquil.

After a little time we decided to walk on the long loop but for only a short distance just to get a sense of the height of the trees. We walked a little higher and we were able to look down into the forest which was really beautiful.

We turned back after a while then continued on the lower trail on the boardwalks.

We made our way to the shop to have a little look around. There was also a little area where you could purchase a coffee.

Our visit here had been a lovely one but I was glad that we were leaving soon as the crowd levels had really upped in the couple of hour’s we’d been there. We’d walked around everywhere that we could so there was nothing more for us to do than leave. I don’t want to sound negative about Muir’s Wood as it is lovely but I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed by the park. I think we’d been spoilt with the other national park’s we’d visited.

It didn’t take long for us to arrive in Sausalito. Just before we parked up Scott noticed a petrol station with quite cheap gas prices so decided to fill up whilst we were passing.

There was plenty of parking available at the pier near the ferries, I’m sure that we paid a small charge for the parking can’t remember exactly but it must not have been a lot?

After a rest room break we had a little wander around this gorgeous little town. It is such a pretty little place with lots of quaint shops and eateries dotted around. The thing we noticed the most though was the amount of cyclists that we here all those that had cycled across the Golden Gate Bridge then down to here, what a beautiful ride that must’ve been.

The kids opted for an ice cream whilst we were here, we were going to stop by somewhere for lunch but the kids didn’t want much.
Instead we picked up some sandwiches from the CVS for later and the kids chose an ice cream each.

Whilst we didn’t stay long it had been a lovely visit here and I’m glad that we stopped by. From there we drove to some viewpoints to see the bridge. Again we’d been blessed with a lovely clear day so the view was amazing.

We stopped a little further down the road too for an even closer look and we were quite surprised at how relatively quiet it was around here. The views again were incredible we would have imagined on a different day it could be quiet windy at this spot!

Then we were driving back over the Golden Gate Bridge which just took our breath away again.

We turned a different way though on our way back as we were heading to Baker Beach. It was really easy to find and we managed to find a space in the free parking lot easily.

Of course we just did our usual of following people onto the beach but it was pretty straight forward. I was sure I’d read that a part of the beach is for nudists and I didn’t want us to end up in that section!

The beach was quite busy with people enjoying the wonderful weather but there were still plenty of quiet spots to be found. We put our beach towels down on the sand and had a well earned sit down.

We had our sandwiches, I’d brought along some other snacks too and we had a lovely little makeshift picnic on Baker Beach.

I loved that we had the backdrop of the bridge in our view, what a lovely beach this was and the weather was perfect too, sunny and warm but not too hot.

I knew that Poppy wouldn’t be able to resist not going in the sea. Now we know how cold it was going to be but that wasn’t going to stop Poppy from wanting a little paddle in there.

I joined her and oh my word that sea was really cold. I couldn’t believe that a few people were swimming in it! The waves caught us by surprise at one point and it came up a lot further than we were expecting, needless to say both Poppy and I had wet knickers for the rest of our duration on the beach!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time here and I can see why it’s a popular place to visit.

Drove back to our hotel afterwards but it was a flying visit as we only stopped to drop the car off. We wanted to see the Sea Lions in the daylight so we walked down to Fishermans Wharf which is really near to us. We kept popping into the shops for a look around and they were all selling mostly the same things.

We then remembered to have a better look around the bread factory at Boudin’s, you get to watch them make the bread and there’s a sample of the delicious sourdough bread for you to enjoy too.

After our little looking around we continued walking to Pier 39, we passed a few street entertainers before we arrived. There were only a handful of Sea Lions at the docks but they made enough noise the make you think there were plenty of them! They certainly have a lot of character and it was fun watching them tousling around with each other.

From there we walked back up to our hotel but we stopped off in Trader Sam’s as we needed some fresh fruit and a few snacks for tomorrow. I also bought one of their reusable shopping bags which as a souvenir as it had a picture of The Golden Gate Bridge on it!

I picked up my hoody from the room, Poppy and Jamie did the same too. I thought it was feeling a little cooler and the wind had picked up a bit too.

Tonight we were heading over to Fort Mason to Off the Grid which Michael had recommended to us on our tour the other day. Apparently lots of food trucks descend there on a Friday night so we thought it was worth the short walk over there to check it out.

As we approached we saw lots of people walking over that way and we could hear music as we got even closer. It was still fairly early in the evening but it was really busy, the queue’s for the food trucks weren’t too long and after we’d decided what we going to have we were served soon enough. Lots of cuisine choices here and our food was really fresh and very tasty!

It was a really good atmosphere here and a great place to meet up with friends. It was mainly full of young adults but there were still plenty of young families enjoying the food and music too.

After our tea we walked on to Ghirardelli Square as we wanted to buy some chocolate and some sauces from the shop there. No ice cream for us this time though!

Once we’d finished looking around the shop the kids said that they wanted to go back to the arcade museum. We thought well why not we’d all enjoyed it there the previous night and we’d only left because it was closing.

Of course it meant that I could go on my favourite Star Wars game along with some Pac Man fun too. There are so many arcades to choose from and you don’t need a great deal of money to have a good hour or so here. Amazed at how busy it was tonight too with all ages again enjoying the historic games.

Living my best life

Once we’d finished and stepped back outside wow that cool breeze really hit us! Bless Hayden he still just had a t-shirt on along with shorts we thought it best to go back to our room, we were all starting to feel a little tired anyway.

We got on with our showers and we changed for bed. I did a little bit of packing whilst everyone else watched a bit of TV.

I had a thought about booking the Mystery Spot so Scott looked to see if there were any spaces available, which there was, so I booked some tickets. Thought it would be a fun little thing to do tomorrow and by booking ahead we were guaranteed to go on a tour.

It was 11pm when we all went to bed after another full day. We had so enjoyed our time here in San Francisco.

Steps – 28,132

Thanks for reading

[KayLouise]

What a perfect day, beautiful pics 😊

[Libby29]

Looks lovely, I did that trip years ago & thoroughly enjoyed it. 😀

[Pumba75]

Another lovely day. Gorgeous photos, as always.

M x

[Jessika]

Fantastic day, thank you for sharing.

[LLKJDisney]

Another Fun packed day and great photo's again - thanks for sharing

[sheluk]

Sam Fran sounds so much fun & WHAT a beautiful day you had. I don’t think I’ve ever seen photos like that of the GG bridge in other trippies - so clear.

That little beach picnic sounds wonderful. A shame about the morning being a bit of a disappointment, it looks beautiful & I bet you are glad you’ve been.

Looking forward to the next day x

[juliab]

Originally Posted by KayLouise

What a perfect day, beautiful pics 😊

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Aww thank you

[juliab]

Originally Posted by Libby29

Looks lovely, I did that trip years ago & thoroughly enjoyed it. 😀

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It was lovely thank you. Great that you enjoyed your trip too

[juliab]

Originally Posted by Pumba75

Another lovely day. Gorgeous photos, as always.

M x

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Thank you for reading along