San Francisco

First things first, I have say that this week in the USA is going to be extremely hectic, and so we are only going to write a skeletal account of our time here. It is our aim to make this blog into a book for our own keep sake later on, so we will expand on our accounts and add more pictures when we have more time at home. To our children and mates who have been following our trip of a lifetime, thanks for following us. It really has been great keeping in touch with everyone. This fact also prevents there being any feelings of homesickness. In fact I thing the sickness will begin once we do get home.

San Francisco… My mother used to watch “The Streets of San Francisco” when I was a child.

All I remember is deciding at the age of 8 to join the Royal Navy when I grew up, transfer to the US Navy and then go live in SF. Well I joined the RN, I spent a couple of days on a US ship and I went to the East coast several times, but that’s as far as the dream got. I sent my parents a postcard the other day saying “It's taken me 40 years, but I am here at last”

I was so looking forward to getting here and I have to say the city did not disappoint me. Sadly jet lag ruined the second day, but the first day we went on a city tour.
                                      
The weather was kind to us again so we got to see some fantastic sites. We went out of the city to Muir wood. OMG another wood/forest you say. Yep, but this wood is full of giant Redwoods.

                                                      Lucy showing us her D.O.B.


Stand next to one of these babies and you definitely feel insignificant. Well I did anyway.

There were seven of us on the tour, four Aussie kids, Lucy and I and Tine’s Austrian sister.

The tour guide certainly knew his stuff so all in all it was an excellent day.

When we got back to the hotel in Union Square we decided to have a drink at the bar. Oh dear! It turned out to be more than one drink..... 

Next morning jet lag caught us up big time. Added to this we were both hung over. We had to leave the hotel at 10am to visit Alcatraz.

How they lived in those cells I will never know. Solitary in "the hole" must have been terrible. It was pitch black in there when they shut the door.

Luckily I have not done much wrong so I was able to leave there after a couple of hours.

Unlike the bloke that Clint played in "Escape from Alcatraz" who was never heard of again and presumed drowned. The paper machee head in the following picture is the original. Everything in the cell is as it was the day they realised he had escaped.

That was also very interesting but when we got back in the early afternoon we both collapsed in bed. Unfortunately that buggered the day up and all we managed to do for the rest of the day was go out for a meal and then pack ready for the early morning flight to Las Vegas, the last stop on our holiday, sob sob.