California Vacation, Day 2: San Francisco

Day 2 of our California trip was busy with a trip to Muir Woods, a side trip to the small wine town of Sonoma and dinner in Chinatown at supposedly the best Chinese restaurant called Empress of China. We didn't get pictures in either Sonoma or Chinatown. We left the city around 10:00 in the morning. It was extremely foggy that morning and we couldn't really see the Golden Gate bridge until we were starting to ride across. Once on the bridge you couldn't see the water or the mountains. It was cold, about 65 degrees in the city, so we had the top down and the heat on in the car.





Once we were over the bridge, the road changes to a very curvy, hilly ride through the hills. Muir woods is about one hour north of the city so it gave us a great opportunity to see the outskirts of the city. The temperature started to warm almost immediately after going across the bridge. The parking lots at Muir Woods were completely full, so we ended up parking on the side of the road about a 10 minute walk away. When we go to the ticket window, it turned out it was free day, no charge. The entrance begins with a cutaway of one of the fallen trees, and details how old they are. If you look in the lower left, that is someone's head, so the size of this tree is massive. The center label on the rings indicate the tree was about 1100 years old. Each label detailed a different year.

Reaching to the heavens.

Which way up?

Fallen trees are left where they drop to regenerate into the environment. All I could think about was what a nice fire this would make on the deck fire pit.

I used to be the one always taking pictures, but now there's a new shutterbug in town.

Periodic fires hit the forrest. The bark on the trees is so tough that everything else on the forrest floor can burn but the tress themselves only blacken on the outside but still survive. Many of the trees were blackened on the bottom. We spent about two hours walking through the woods. It was a beautiful hike. Nancy lost her sunglasses on the walk but someone left them at the front gate and she asked on the way out and there they were. We bought a souvenir at the gift shop, a large candle base made from a redwood burl with lots of cavities in it.

By the time we left Muir Woods, the temperature had risen to the mid-seventies. We drove to Sonoma, where we had lunch at a small winery outside of town. It was some sort of old home days event in the town square. We walked around for about an hour, looking at all of the artwork displayed on the common. By this time it was downright hot outside. We returned to the city only to find that the temperature in the city was still cool, about 65. Dinner was in Chinatown at the Empress of China, the most famous Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. It was at the top of a six story building at the top of a hill and overlooked the city. A nice view. The food was good, but I think the Silver Maple in Merrimack is better. The one interesting dish was a flaming quail appetizer, flamed at table side.