Last Day of Vacation-San Francisco

 We ventured out for our last day of vacation in San Francisco.  We started the day by rolling down the 'worlds windiest road-Lombard Street.'  The street is known for its eight sharp turns down the one way road, with a speed limit of 5 mph.  I did not get a photo of the street due to pedestrians and tourists, but it was a twisty ride.

I tried to capture a few photos of San Fran's homes.  Every corner, every street, every SINGLE neighborhood looks like the photo below.  Miles and miles and homes positioned side by side.  Beautiful, but I would miss my yard; no need for a lawn mower.

 And with each home comes the famous escape ladder...

 We walked down a portion of Chinatown, made a few purchases, and dined with local cuisine.

Caroline's purchase from Chinatown

You can hang anything 'out to dry' in San Francisco

We made our way back to the piers to see the famous right field view of the Giants Stadium.

We had an memorable vacation to California.  Caroline took her first plane flight, we marked another state off our bucket list, saw a world wonder, and had lots of laughs.  Caroline's favorite part of the trip was seeing Shamu; Matt's favorite part of the trip was the Pacific Coast Highway; and my favorite was either the Golden Gate Bridge or Hollywood.

I was reminded of something very important during this trip.  Everyone is different; every community unique; there are so many different walks in life.  Many different beliefs, traditions, and priorities.   But...everyone loves.  The greatest command God gives us is to love.

San Francisco- Last Destination

We have arrived at our last destination for this vacation.  As soon as arriving into San Francisco we stopped at one of the internationally recognized symbols of the historic town, the Golden Gate Bridge.   Frommers travel guide calls it possibly the most beautiful and most photographed bridge in the world.

The bridge reminded me of the Grand Canyon; one of the sights you have to see in person to realize truly how magnificent it is.  Pictures cannot give detail to what my eyes have seen.

My favorite family photo on this trip. 

Late afternoon we winded down the streets to Muir Park.  Muir Wood's spreads 554 acres of God's creation of the Coastal Redwoods.  

 The middle tree in the photo taken above was struck by lightening.  The root structure of the original tree formed a circular area of surrounding trees.

Photographed by Caroline...

 I took the picture below to showcase the size of the Coastal Redwoods. Pictured in front of Matt is the base of a single redwood.

Marking the thousand years of a Redwood

 Yesterday we cruised the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay, under the Golden Gate Bridge, and around Alcatraz.

Alcatraz- "The Rock"

 The island was formed for a military and federal prison, which in 1986 became a national landmark.

 A little playing on San Francisco's piers

View from the Bay Cruise

 Below are photos taken from the Bay Cruise:

 Little known fact: There are nets of workers under the bridge at all times.  The workers are supported by twines of nets and paint the bridge from one side to the other.  Once they have finished the entire length they start all over again at the previous end of the bridge.

 Photos from the back side of Alcatraz:

 We walked past the piers to take a ride on the cable cars.  San Francisco's cable car system is the last manually operated cable car system; only three routes remain.

Our view from the cable car

We are about to adventure out for our last day of vacation....

Monterey, CA

 We are now in Monterey enjoying the simple life. The breeze is blowing, waves are crushing, and people are strolling.  We started off the morning early at Fisherman's Wharf visiting the wholesale market that is open to the public with fresh fish right off the boats.  

True fishing boat...no glamour

Metal storage bins for the fish/seafood

Fisherman's Wharf Harbor

 We had lunch on the Wharf and take a look at our view..the elephant seal orchestra.  Beautiful music to our ears and check out the fishing boat beside the whales; a perfect lunch view.

 And we go to see the mini sailboats float by our window

 Last night we had dinner with Dakota, a friend from our church.  Dakota is stationed in California for military reasons.  It is nice to get to see old friends that have moved away. We had dinner on Cannery Row at Bubba Gumps and went to have cinnamon rolls after our meal.  Check out these cinnamon rolls...

Matt had a birthday yesterday and it was a joy to just be able to spend the day with him.  When you do not see your husband for a year, the simple things in life are joyful.  I have a caring, loving, and joyful husband.  Happy Birthday Matt!