20 May - San Francisco

Yesterday was a slow morning - we shopped mainly at Josh's favourite store - Ross', and just like Joshua did four years ago, every time we see one of their signs - we hear, "Ross'" screamed from the back stalls of the car.

Dinner at the Elephant Bar again, yum. An early-ish night after some delish Rocky Road ice cream. More yummmm! So a fairly uneventful day.

Today we shopped at Nordstrom's - a more upmarket and expensive store and with service, something we've found to be in short supply on this trip.  Over the past thirty years or so, we've always marvelled and been in total awe of the service provided here in the States, however that's changed. Is it the economy?  Are people too stressed? Too few people employed to do the same work of colleagues who have been let go? Who knows, but it's certainly not the same. 

We stopped by the See's Candy Store - and Claire got to cross off another square on her Bingo board.  And we got a "sample" - delicious.  Claire and I opted for the chocolate covered molasses chips - you get three chips in one sample serving.  John got his usual, a raspberry cream chocolate.

Yummy - a See's chocolate sample!

It was a delightful day again today in San Francisco although the air was quite cool so we were rugged up against the cool of the late afternoon.  Anyway, back to shopping ... Claire and Nana managed to buy their outfits for Ryan and Mandy's wedding on Sunday. And some gorgeous shoes and sandals so were both feeling pretty chuffed.

Standing opposite San Francisco next to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Nana and Claire on the "other" side of the Bay in San Francisco.

The courtesy shown on the roads here has also changed. In the past you'd rarely hear anyone toot their horn impatiently, and changing lanes was never a problem, the other road users would always slow down and let you in ... not any more - you put your blinker on to change lanes, and the other driver will accelerate so you can't get in.  Not much different to home.  (Just a few observations.)

A notice in the Visitor's Centre at Muir Woods - disgraceful statistics and we all need to learn from them.

We went off in search of a deli but that was a difficult challenge. After passing over the Golden Gate Bridge, we pointed the car down the windy road into the magnificent town of Sausalioto where we found a great little deli, and after grabbing some freshly made sangers, we turned up I-101 north towards the magnificent Muir Woods National Park.

On the bridge at Muir Woods

In 1945, delegates from all over the world gathered in San Francisco to establish the United Nations and in May of that year, they travelled to Muir Woods to honour the memory of President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt who had died one month earlier.

It was President Roosevelt who believed in the value of national parks as sources of inspiration and human renewal.  He also believed that good forestry practices and sustainable developments of natural resources were keystones to lasting peace around the world.  The organisers of the event hoped that the profound beauty and serenity and peacefulness of Muir Woods would inspire the delegates to pursue the President's desire for world peace as they met to establish the United Nations.  Maybe all world leaders should come here to San Francisco now, and head north to this beautiful National Park and put into practice these hopes and desires of Roosevelt.

Claire signed up for the Junior Ranger Program and spent the next two hours enjoying the park, studying the park and completing the tasks in the book. Part of our journey took us through the track above the valley floor up into the canopy.  Claire saw something on the ground and knelt down to get a closer look.  Yeeeeeeek! It was some sort of slug - "was" being the operative word!  We found a body ... then the head ... then part of it on the knee of Claire's brand new jeans!!!

Slug head



Remains of slug!



Slug body





Claire continued with her program and when completed, she was then sworn in as a Jnr Ranger, once again promising to protect the parks and the animals and plants in this beautiful part of the world.

On the wall of the Visitor Centre, this is a poem hung - and the sentiments are beautiful:



We headed back south and took the turn into Sausalito to return once again to the Italian restaurant we enjoyed so much four years ago with Joshua.  (Do you remember it Josh?)  Like last time, there was a gentleman playing several instruments including the cello and a keyboard - it was all beautiful.  He even played, Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons', some works we've played to Claire over the years when she's come down to Melbourne.  Their 'spaghetti vongole' dish reminded us of our time in Italy (although not such a good memory as I broke a tooth on a clam shell there and it cost a fortune to get fixed!)

Homeward bound - 'rocky road icecream' awaits for dessert!