California Avenue in the afternoon sun
Google's self driving car out & about
That night we had a great seafood dinner at Fisherman's Wharf. Good Food, Good Company, Good Service.
Great enough to be in the picture!
The next morning we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and took Linda and Hans to the Marin Headlands.
We also visited some of the old gun emplacements that protected San Francisco Bay from ships and submarines during the second world war.
We were very lucky to come upon a big Bird Count event on the top of the gun embankments. The Golden Gate Raptor Society was doing a big count. Recorders scribbled as spotters called out, somteimes in great flurries, what birds and where they were in the sky. Quite the trick to avoid double counting or missing a call-out.
Then we headed up to Muir Woods for a gentle afternoon amongst huge redwoods. A very special place.
Another excellent destination is Golden Gate Park. Museum nearby, and local musicians.
Ths dude was playing the Hang Drum, and it's quite captivating. His website is mmmmm
The Japanese Tea Garden at the western end of the park is gorgeous, and a little world unto itself.
Outside the gate we met Silas, who just been turned away without a ticket. He's on a tight budget, having traveled down all the way through the mountains of Colorado on his skateboard.
Anybody who can do that deserves to see all the San Francisco sites before continuing on his open-ended journey so we bought him a ticket and had a nice chat. Godspeed Silas. Happy Trails and safe roads!
If you're in the mood for an excellent Asian fusion meal, go to Palo Alto with a reservation for the Three Seasons Restaurant.
I had a chat with chef/owner John Le and told him we'd be coming back for sure whenever we're in the vicinity.
Back home in Ottawa, Hans is an avid road biker, so when he saw these, after a coupla weeks not on the saddle, he just hopped right on. Getting up to speed proved difficult however, after no pedalling since starting the trip...
The next morning, we were on our way home, via Chicago O'Hare. The geology through the plane window is always rivetting, and usually the skies are clear enough over the dry deserts to get good views from either side of the plane.
Architecture and colorful art abound in O'Hare. It's easy to spend a couple of hours of in-transit connection time to explore. Even the under-runway subways and escalators are well decorated.
So I think Linda and Hans had a good time in new places, and Jackie and I very much enjoyed being the tour guides. Probably we will all be back. (Actually, I'm writing this report in Feb 2017 (now Feb 2018)- Jackie and I were back in California last summer (2016) by driving our VW camper across the continent. There's a few stories to tell for that one, coming up in a few weeks!
Happy Trails!
Jackie and Gord
