Leaving San Francisco and headed for Yosemite 3-6-11

We got up this morning and headed out of San Francisco. It started raining last night and was still raining this morning. It was quite foggy, but it was cool to see the Golden Gate Bridge in the fog. We drove by Lombard Street on the way out of town so I could take pictures. They weren't great but at least I got to take them. Then we went across the bridge and out of the city.

We drove about 30 minutes to Muir Woods. It was still raining but we made the best of it and tromped through the park. The boys worked on the Junior Ranger books and learned about the trees. The most interesting thing to me was the 'family circles." This happens when a single tree is badly damages but the roots are still alive and start growing new trees all around it. The original tree most of the time can still be seen in the middle of the circle. The badges the boys got from Muir Woods were made from the stumps of the 'fallen' redwood trees.

I drove from Muir Woods to our hotel right outside of Yosemite. The road was small and twisty. Driving through Oakland wasn't fun either! I was just glad it was a Sunday afternoon and not a weekday at rush our. We are at the hotel but we can't get cell signal and the hotel doesn't have internet. So, I am going to get my blogs ready and saved each day to post when we get somewhere with internet. We will be here 4 nights then headed for Sequoia. Not sure when this will get posted.

Lombard Street. I need to be at a higher angle to get a better picture but I took this while we drove by at the bottom.

The streets in Frisco are INSANE!!!!

Fog on the GGB.

Standing with John Muir.

Escaping from Alcatraz :)

We woke up this morning and got ready to head to Alcatraz. Michael has been sick the last few days and this morning Jacob woke up not feeling so great. He says he didn't sleep very well and has been dragging all day.

We drove down to the wharf this morning and found a parking garage. We ended up being about 40 minutes early so we sat and waited for our boat. The ride didn't take that long, good thing because it was a little cold. The island was pretty cool. Lots of the buildings are in disrepair but the main cell building is interesting. The thing that was really interesting is all the plants growing there. After it was was turned into a penitentiary the inmates where allowed to plant things and take care of them. Volunteers now take care of the plants and they are beautiful.


Golden Gate Bridge from the ferry.

Alcatraz Island

The dock side of the island.

Intersting trees.

Watch tower

Jacob on "The Rock" at The Rock!

Another cool tree :)

Showers in the prison.

Inmates cell

Three levels of cells.

Jacob and Michael in a cell.

Control center for the prison.

Alcatraz lighthouse. I can see it flashing from my window right now :)

There were very good views of GGB from Alcatraz.

This is the side of the island that the prisoners were allowed to garden.

These cliffs are the reason it got the name "The Rock."

Now Alcatraz is a bird sanctuary.

This was how Anthony looked most of the day today. How dare we drag him across the country!!!!! Really though I don't think he is feeling very well either :(

San Francisco!!!!!

The view from out hotel room. You can also see a little bit of Alcatraz Island between buildings.

We found Christy!!!!!

Working on ranger books.

My beautiful friend Christy.

Yummy ice cream!!!!

This is what I got. Chocolate peanut butter sundae.....so good!

San Francisco Bay

Anthony is actually smiling!!!!!

We made it to San Francisco. Get here yesterday around 10:30 am. We checked into our hotel. We have a great view of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. We started walking to the wharf to meet my friend Christy. Everything looks close on a map but let me tell you, it isn't!! We met up with Christy and had lunch at a place on the wharf called Tarintinos. After lunch we walked around and found a National Park information center. The little boys worked on the workbooks for the Junior Ranger program. We looked at Hyde Pier and a couple of boats there. After the boys got their badges we headed towards Ghirardelle Square and ice cream......very yummy. We sat and watched the boats on the bay for a while and did a little souvenir shopping. Then Christy left :( I always enjoy seeing my friends but it is always so sad when they leave. Even the boys felt it because Jacob said....."I miss Christy." We hung around the wharf a little longer then headed back up the hill to our hotel. San Francisco is VERY hilly. But the walk back wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. We found a little Italian place with a Chinese cook :) The food was very good. We came back to the hotel and I sat down on the bed to look at a tourist guide and fell asleep. It was probably around 8:30 and I slept all night! Which is why I didn't blog last night :)