From the Redwood Forest

We got up late about 8:30am and enjoyed a warm and sunny (for a change) morning. Sam even went swimming in the nice pool here.

Then we headed out towards the John Muir redwood forest via a roundabout route. First was west Oakland, with mostly residential areas and then the shipping areas we had seen from the water on the ferry. Then we made our way to Berkeley, in search of a Post Office (more post card stamps) and lunch. We found both in downtown near the college campus.

We didn't eat at the Long Life Vegi House,

 but rather at a Brazilian street restaurant 

Turns out, the President ate there at one time, so of course I had to get "Obama's Favorite". It was delicious!

We walked up a little hill and ate al fresco, surrounded by some pretty cool architecture, art and nice grounds.

Then it was on to the other side of the Bay (lots of traffic) 

and up the mountain to Muir Woods National Monument.

The trees are amazing! Amy even hugged one.

I took a lot of pictures.

This tree fell in 1930 when it was 1200 years old!

When we had our fill of the trees, we drove to Muir Beach, a secluded but popular spot with roaring surf, rocky beaches, and very high hills the kids just had to climb.

That's S and S at the very top. (click on the picture).

On the way back we saw a few sights, including San Quentin Prison, great city vistas, and wealthy shoreline neighborhoods

We planned to go over the Golden Gate bridge to get home today, but the traffic was backed up over 7 miles, so we backtracked around the Bay through Oakland again.

Tomorrow we'll drive in to SF early and go across the bridge both ways, and see the Presidio.

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