Northern California and San Francisco

Ok, well I just noticed I've been spelling San FranCisco wrong in the last post, my apologies, I don't have enough time right now to go back and fix them. :)

The last few days have been fun. Yesterday, Mike and began our day with a drive out to Bodega Bay. It was a very foggy and cool day on the coast, so we walked around a little bit, but then continued to drive up Route 1. Route 1 is a winding, curvy road that follows the California coast. We got out at a few overlooks, watching some surfers catch waves in the freezing waters, and walked down to a beach. Even though fog is not ideal weather, it was kind of a novelty for us.

The amazing thing is, we we turned east of Route 1 and started heading inland, within mintutes the thick fog had dissapeared we had and blinding, hot sunlight instead. Driving through wine country is very beautiful. We had some Mexican food for lunch (yum!!!) and then went to Armstrong Woods. It is a preserve of Redwoods, and they were pretty impressive. We hiked around most of the afternoon and then drove up to an overlook. Then we met up with my dad, had a great sushi dinner, and did some preparatory shopping for out trip to Yosemite in a few days.

Today we headed into San Francisco itself. It was foggy and gray again, but we went to the Marin headlands for a nice view of the Golden Gate bridge. Then we walked around Fisherman's Wharf, walked around Ghiradelli Square (and my favorite part- got a free chocolate!), took the cable car to China town for lunch, visited the cable car museum, took the cable car back to the wharf, walked around some more, and then headed back to Sebastapol. Walking around in China town itself got me excited to visit China for real- but I was too chicken to try out any of the Mandarin I've learned! I guess I will have plenty of time for that in China!

I am shocked by how expensive everything is out here:
Golden Gate Bridge Toll: $5
Fisherman's Wharf Parking (5 hours): $27
Fresh Wild Salmon: $16.99/lb
Gas: $3.33/gallon
Lunch Dim Sum Plate: $10.95

Despite all that, we're having a great time and really enjoying the California lifestyle.

We are leaving for Yosemite tomorrow, so I probably won't post for a few days, I'll give you the full report when we get back!!!