Day 9/10

Rice-a-roni, the San Francisco treat! We had a very nice time in San Francisco. It was a long drive from Vegas, but we finally made it. We drove by NTC(National Training Center) near Barstow, CA and I was reminded why I am glad that we are not stationed there. It is in the middle of the desert with no trees or greenery in sight. Ick! It is definitely not my kind of place at all. It was kind of crazy, though. It was like I blinked and suddenly we were out of the desert and surrounded by these beautiful lush green mountains. Shortly after we got into the mountains, this heavy fog set in that was both beautiful and eerie at the same time. It was foggy off and on from there to San Fran which was blanketed in heavy, thick fog. We passed this cattle farm on I-5 and it was the single most horrendous smell I have ever smelled in my life. There were thousand of cattle crammed into this small muddy area and it stunk for miles and miles. From what I gathered on the Internet it is always a horrid stench. It was definitely enough to make me not crave a steak for a while. Cory still insists that his steaks comes from happy cows on the hill, not that nastiness.

We spent the day yesterday exploring San Francisco. We walked around the city the entire day. We took the train into town from our hotel and walked from the station all around. We went to the Ferry Building which had homemade bread and a cheese store, then down to pier 39 where we did some shopping and got to see Sea Lions in the bay. Fan-freaking-tastic! They were sunning themselves and wrestling. It was a very cool thing to see. After that, we went down to Fisherman's Wharf and had the best fish sandwich I have ever has at Sally's Famous Fishwich. I definitely what that place is famous. We walked around the Cannery and Ghirardelli Square. It smelled so yummy, but I managed to abstain, although I probably could have indulged with all the walking we did. We also, walked up to the top of Lombard Street, which is reputed to be the crookedest street in the world. Only we walked up the straight part and it seemed straight up. My legs and lungs were burning when we reached the top and my heart felt like it would beat out of my chest. It was very worth the view from the top, although it would have been easier to just take the cable car up. Walking down was even more fun, while trying not to let Collis and his stroller run away.

After more walking back to Pier 39 and a dinner at Hard Rock, we caught a street car that we thought would take us back to the BART(train station). Only, it went out of service 3 blocks from our stop, so we walked the last 3 blocks before hopping our train and then shuttle to our hotel. I have to say that San Fran has the best transportation system I have ever seen. I wondered if staying as far out at the airport as we did would be a mistake, but the transportation system was easy to navigate and fast, once we learned to ask for assistance. Ha ha.

Now, we are headed north on 101 to the Redwood Forest. We will probably stop in Eureka tonight depending on how the day goes. We miss and love everyone.