July 8: Muir Woods and how it becomes easier to return to Ohio

While the San Francisco Chronicle said it was Fog Week in the City, you would never know it. Kathleen prepared a wonderful breakfast for us, complete with home-made bisquits. With the sun burning off the fog, we decided to eat al fresco on her gorgeous patio. The jasmine, bouganvilla and agapanthus were all in bloom for us!

As I was leaving, I noticed a piece of "paper" under my driver's side wiper. My stomach tightened. What could it be but a parking ticket?! And, of course, it WAS. Grrrr....parking would prove to be my nemesis over the course of the next day or two. How tempting it would be to just ignore that ticket...but, alas, that is just one more expense on this trip.

(Which, I should mention, has been well worth it.)

(Of course, you can talk to me next month when the bills for both the trip and the office come in and we will see what I'm saying at that point....)

Now, normally I would stop on the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge for this photo op, but that side had NO parking available and it was crawling with tourists. We did want to join them, but there was "no room at the inn". Sad to come from so far and have no place to park to take that (much better) photo with the landmark bridge.

Back in May of 1987, I was one of about 300,000 who walked on the closed bridge for it's 50th Anniversary Celebration. That was a rather creepy day. The crowds were SO thick that I was no able to raise my arms to scratch my nose! THAT is crowded!

Well, well, well. There are more Bridge Rules than I knew.

On to Muir Woods:

Matt was impressed with the Coastal Redwoods. Check off another box on his MUST SEE list for this trip! We took the longer loop trail and included the part that went along a ridge. That was not part of the paved short loop that I recall from when my mom visited here with me in the 80s.

Shot looking straight up. Wow.

Nice shot of Matt at the end of the hike. We've walked a LOT every day but one or two on this trip. YAY! Now we head over to Berkeley via Larkspur and the Richmond Bridge, just north of Berkeley. We did need to stop for some fresh cherries at one of the roadside stands before hitting the freeway again. Goodbye Hwy 1!