December 30, 2008

We got up early again this morning. I am getting at least 8 or 9 hours of sleep every night which is way more than I get at home. We were in the Muir Woods parking lot at 8:30. We were so early they weren’t collecting any fees and the visitors center wasn’t even open yet. We grabbed a map and stared along the path to the Cathedral Grove. These coastal redwoods are amazing things. They can grow much taller than the Sequoias we saw in the mountains but now nearly as big around. The air is cold inside the forest and we had trouble taking pictures because the flash made it look like you were standing in the dark and no flash made the pictures unclear. We did get a few good shots though. We were pretty much all alone in the forest and in some places it was eerily quiet. The cathedral grove did seem to be a place where silence is louder than a yell and a weird thin happened with the picture we took there. Scott says it is the spirit of the forest. Hopefully I will be able to post that one here. As we were leaving we noticed how many people were coming in to visit and we were very thankful that we had once again had a park to ourselves. It would definitely not have been the same experience. We drove back towards San Francisco, stopping at the Marin Headlands to get some good shots of the bridge.
Our original plan was to drive down the curvy part of Lombard street on the way back to return our rental car but we felt like we had been there and done that through out the whole trip and we were over it. Luckily we were able to check into the hotel early. We unloaded and the kids and I got everything to the room while Scott took the car back. We ate lunch and were once again on foot/public transportation.
Since the day was once again sunny and warm enough for just long sleeves, we walked from the hotel down to the Hyde Street Pier and the Maritime Museum for another park stamp. We were told that there was a visiting sailing ship here because the Baclutha which is normally here was out for a paint job. They were having an open house and this really did turn out to be a treat. One of the crew members who had sailed the ship up from the L.A. area was on board and gave us a full tour. She answered all of Luke’s questions and even gave the kids handmade ropes for swabbing the deck. We had stayed well past our welcome, they had roped off the entrance while we were still on board, but it was a neat experience. We toured a few of the other boats and the kids had noticed that there were people swimming beside the pier. They really wanted to play in the sand so we went down to Aquatic park and they played on the beach with bare feet. The water was cold!After playing for a while, we made our way back to the hotel to shower and change clothes. We had dinner reservations at Il Fornaio. This was one of the restaurants that the guidebooks for San Francisco had recommended. I love Italian food! The olive and rosemary bread was heavenly and the olive oil to dip it in tasted so great. Scott had the lobster and crab ravioli with a shrimp and lobster bisque. The shrimp was so fresh and tender it was incredible. I had the chicken with a white wine sauce and sautéed vegetables. The chicken was so tender and juicy and the sauce was great on everything on the plate. We also had dessert, I had a dense sponge cake topped with bananas and strawberries, Lorelei picked a peach sorbet covered in a cream sauce with strawberries (it was way better than what I had picked) and Scott had some kind of apple and ice cream concoction. We left feeling satisfied but not stuffed. I would definitely eat there again but only for a special occasion because it was probably the most expensive family meal we have ever had. We rode the muni back to the hotel and spent an hour watching tv before bed. Alcatraz tomorrow, can’t wait.