San Francisco and Muir Woods

onepracticalcat (44)in #san • 6 years ago (edited)

Greetings Steemians,

Me and my Viking Hans are currently in San Francisco. This is our second time visiting here.

Probably one of my favourite things about this City is the clam chowder at Fisherman's Wharf - which is fine hearty winter food. We were in San Francisco a couple of years ago following our honeymoon after driving up from LA and the weather was a bit warmer then.

This trip we stayed at The Serrano Hotel in the Theatre District. It is a great moderately priced hotel - 3-4 stars. It is currently being renovated and we are staying on the fifteenth floor - so a good view. Neat tidy rooms and comfortable beds. Conveniently located near Union Square and trolley to Fisherman's Wharf and the ferry.

We decided to take the trip up to Muir Woods this time and we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge which was an easy drive on a Sunday afternoon. Not much traffic. Our last time in San Francisco we found the traffic was really hectic and the drivers rude and incompetent. We also had a bad hotel experience - in that I booked a hotel online and when we got to the city I read the review and found the place was in a dangerous area and even booking into their was very odd - the front desk staff were rude. We bailed on that dodgy establishment and instead went to the Intercontinental.

This time, instead of going five star, we opted for The Serrano, which is a good mid-priced hotel in this expensive city. Accommodation, food and drink is all quite pricey here. The hefty California state taxes don't help of course. San Francisco is similar in price and climate to Sydney, sans earthquakes. So jet-lagged as we were, we hot-footed it to Union Square and then to find the trolley to get to Fisherman's Wharf for some of that tasty clam chowder.

So our day today started with a drive over the Golden Gate Bridge in light traffic:

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We made a quick stop in Sausalito for coffee. Sausalito is a quaint seaside town in Marin County just north of San Francisco - a slightly bigger version of Carmel. A bit posh. A few Range Rovers. But cute. Two coffees and a sandwich set us back $20.

Visited the very small Visitor Center with some odd sculptures and interesting history including about prohibition, gangsters, Sausalito's origins and its founders:

It was pretty cold so we headed up to Muir Woods. I really wanted to see those big old trees - after seeing them in the James Franco "Planet of the Apes" remake. And they didn't disappoint - they look like they have been there since the Jurassic Age - and many were:

If you go to Muir Woods you need to reserve parking in advance and the rental car folks said that we would have bugger all chance of making a parking reservation. However, we did, en route but you must remember to download your parking ticket before you get to the Woods as the cell service is non-existent - so download it just after Sausalito - as we did.

I found the Muir Woods spectacular and I would have loved to have done the really long hikes but as we arrived at 2.30pm and it gets dark this time of year at around 5.30pm we meandered around and then had a coffee and headed on to Stinson Beach for an early supper - and some more clam chowder. By then we were freezing - bearing in mind that we had left Sydney summer only two days previously.

San Francisco is a lively city with lots to do any time of year. We missed out on Alcatraz - you really have to book almost a month in advance to get ferry tickets. We popped into the Museum of Ancient Electronic Games (actually called Musee Mecanique -http://www.museemecaniquesf.com/) at Fisherman's Wharf - which was awesome and free entry. Some of the exhibits are over 100 years old - many are creepy and interesting and could easily fit into any episode of American Horror Story.

Visited the USS Pampanito submarine - a retired 1945 sub - pretty interesting history - $20 entry price for the walkthrough.

We missed my favourite bookstore City Lights - owned by Ferlinghetti - we visited that last time and Francis Ford Coppola's restaurant in that same area - where you can sample a selection of fine Napa wines and tasty pastas and a lot of film memorabilia.