San Francisco: Muir Woods

Our trip to San Francisco started with a fun little trip into the woods. Our flight landed and we hopped in our rental car and headed for the big red bridge that led to the big forest. I've wanted to see these big trees for years, and they lived up to my expectations. 

Here is my take on a cloudy August day in Muir Woods! We drove over the big red bridge and up a winding road, with some lovely views along the way.

On the first wooded trail, there was a little creek!

Then we found our way to the more "comfortable" trail... it is basically a big sidewalk that leads you through some giant trees. Beautiful, beautiful, giant trees.

A Fuji X-T1 panoramic from the ground in front of me, looking up to the trees behind me:

These are some BIG trees. :)

And sometimes they just have big holes where you can stand. :)

Taaaaaaall trees!

The view changed on our way back down. The fog started to lift and the clouds thinned out. We could see the Bay bridge and the pretty blue water.

And then it "rained"... or misted... still, wet stuff falling from the sky!

San Francisco: Twin Peaks

One of the stops along the way to the Muir Woods was the hill known as Twin Peaks. This place has a view like nothing I've ever seen. This is San Francisco, from a hill on the edge of the city. :)

I recommend you click the photo below to make it big... panoramic is best viewed large. 

The Fog... and the big red bridge!

There's a tower on that hill... tucked away in a big cloud.

Hello, big rainbow flag of the Castro!

The photos above were from the morning trip up the hill. The photos below are from the afternoon. Goodbye fog, and hello big blue sky!

You can see the tower now. :)

San Francisco: Lombard Street

The most daunting climb of the trip was up the steep, steep, steep Lombard street. This street seems at times to climb straight up, even having staircases instead of sidewalks at points. Once you reach the peak, you find a squiggle of a road. It turns into a set of switchbacks for safety to allow cars a safer up and down trip. 

A Lombard at Hyde selfie. :)

This is a view of Alcatraz, seen from the top of the Lombard squiggle. :)

Even the trees don't know which was is up... or maybe they do...?

A selfie from a big hill. That's still Alcatraz back in the distance.

San Francisco: Cable Cars

The cable cars are easily my very favorite part of this city. If I could have gotten on and stayed on, riding back and forth across the city, all day, I would have. They don't go very fast (usually 9.5mph) - though the do seem to free fall down some of those hills. They stop with a squeal and a smell that is very brake-y. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I absolutely loved this part of San Francisco. 

I got yelled out for standing over the "yellow line". I had to though. They manually turn the cars around on the "turnarounds" at the end of the tracks. It pulls into the circle, and they literally get out and push it around in a circle. Old, mechanical, wonderful.

Instructions for the drivers are printed on the roads... "take rope" is my favorite!

Driving on these roads would be interesting... tiny lanes, lots of parked cars, and lots of "keep outs".

On the move!

Going up...

And going right back down...

"Let Go"