San Francisco - North Bay

We had a noisy night at the motel. Not from the motel but all the traffic noises. I'm not used to that anymore but I think the police sirens and trucks and motorcycles all went by our room...all night. Jill seemed to sleep through it. Maybe it is just me. Anyway, we got up and went to our local donut shop and sat at our window table to have breakfast and wait for the morning traffic to die down. This place is a great spot for people watching. The morning sidewalk drama was interesting to watch.

We checked out of our motel and drove over to Alamo Square to look at some of the "Painted Ladies" -- Victorian style houses. Some of these were featured in the "Full House" TV show. That is a really nice neighborhood and city park there, Alamo Square, is scenic but well used...lots of families and dogs.

We inserted ourselves into the traffic heading toward the bridge. Jill has been looking forward to the Golden Gate Bridge but I think she was a little nervous about the traffic to really enjoy it as we went over. On the other side we followed our directions to Sausalito and met Jim in the parking lot of his marina.

The houseboat marina is really pretty and each of the boats is very different in size and design. Some are clearly boats -- or at least they have once been a boat -- while others are strictly floating houses. Some have 4,000 square feet of living area but most are smaller and compact. Jim's is nice and serves as his home and studio. It looks bright and roomy. He is doing sculpture as well as paintings so the studio looks like a busy workshop.

Jim served as our guide for most of the day. We went up on the Marin headlands and got some interesting views and cool pictures of the Golden Gate and San Francisco from the heights above the bridge. We also got sort of a nickel tour of Sausalito and Mill Valley. Both are cool little communities.

We went to Muir Woods and hiked the trail through the Redwood groves. The trees are truly impressive in the context of the preserved forest. The trees also shelter an interesting environment on the forest floor. The ferns were very impressive. We left Muir Woods and went to have a beer at The Pelican, an exact replica of an English pub dating from the 1500s.

After leaving the Pelican we went to Muir Beach and walked along the water. There is a nude beach there but it was just too cold. There also was a cool dog that was having the time of his life playing in the surf. He was chasing the waves and running out to meet the water when it came ashore.

Jim took us to Joe's Taco Lounge for some Cali-Mex-Fusion food. I enjoyed my Snapper tostada. I don't think I've seen more hot sauce varieties in one place before. We dropped Jim off at the marina and headed to Petaluma -- it was dark and we had some adventures finding the motel but it was fine. Another good day.