Saturday we had the whole day to explore! We had reservations to visit Muir Woods National Monument to see the old growth coastal redwoods. This was one of my favorite experiences in northern California!
We arrived around 10:30 a.m. and were surprised by how popular the place was, especially compared to other tourist destinations we had been visiting.
We took one of the longer trails that looped through these beautiful, ancient trees. The average age of the trees in Muir Woods is between 600 to 800 years, with the oldest being at least 1,200 years old. They can live up to at least 2,200 years!
The tallest coastal redwood at Muir Woods is 258 feet tall, but they can reach heights up to 379 feet!
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Pictures just don't do it justice--we enjoyed a beautiful, peaceful walk in the woods to start our day!
Of course, we had to visit the gift shop and find some souvenirs. One great find was a young sequoia tree we brought home for Oliver to replant. One day he'll have the tallest tree in the metroplex!
We stopped in Sausalito to walk around a little bit. They had some fun shops and restaurants, so we spent an hour or so before we headed further south, back into San Francisco, this time driving across the Golden Gate Bridge!
I wanted Chris to see the Presidio area so we went over there and saw Yoda Fountain on google maps, so decided to check it out.
Turned out that this is the headquarters of Lucasfilm! Chris was geeking out. We peeked in the windows and saw some really cool Star Wars stuff.
We drove by the Palace of Fine Arts, which I had not been able to visit. It's the biggest regret I have--I really wanted to get out and check it out, but we couldn't find parking anywhere!
Finally, we went down toward the piers and parked in anticipation of our San Francisco harbor cruise. We stopped for some chowder in a sourdough bowl before getting onboard for our cruise.
Because of COVID-19 guidelines, the boat was only 25% full, which was fantastic for us! There was no elbowing or jostling for space at the railings and no trouble finding a booth to sit. Definitely an upside to traveling during a pandemic...
We headed to the Golden Gate Bridge for up-close shots.
There were guys out windsurfing, which was amazing to watch!
Next, the boat headed for Alcatraz Island.
We enjoyed the 90-minute cruise with the best views of Alcatraz short of taking the ferry and touring it. I opted not to do that on this trip since none of the buildings were open for tours during the pandemic.
We had to go to the Buena Vista for the famous Irish coffee (and some fish and chips),
We strolled back through some parts of the city we had seen during the day, like Ghirardelli Square, which was hopping on a Saturday evening!
That wraps up our time exploring the San Francisco area! The next day, we went to breakfast on our way to the airport, then headed home to hug our kids and get back to normal life.
Definitely recommend a visit to San Francisco to anyone! I love this city!
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