Day 13 – Morro Bay, CA to San Francisco, CA – July 7th, 2007

With a stiff ocean breeze we took off up Rt. 1 following the Pacific Ocean north. Not too far up the road we ran into an elephant seal preserve, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. After seeing a few sunning themselves and some just off the shore making this weird loud call that sounded like a deep gargle I was about to leave when we noticed a huge clump of the seals on the shore huddling together… I can’t blame them it was cold. While there I noticed more chimp monks… wanting food… pretty typical… but I’ve noted this is probably the 6^th different type we have seen between the coasts each with a different coat pattern. Anyway I thought that was interesting.

Not too far after that the road started to curve and weave high up into the hills along cliffs a few hundred feet above the ocean providing for some great views.

Eventually we jumped on a real high way and drove into down town San Francisco with all of the city traffic fun one can expect. Once we got settled in it was straight off to China Town for some much needed dinner. After walking through China town we passed through North Beach, which seems like a type of little Italy. Then we stumbled across Lombard St. and made the long hilly hike to the top to watch a non stop stream of tourists going down the road. Walking around the city just reminded me of just how incredibly hilly this city is. From Lombard we went down to the Fisherman’s Warf where we could get a look at the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Unfortunately it was a big foggy, so the photos aren’t as clear as I would like. Out on one of the peers we found a group of seal lions sunning themselves on the docks. To top off the city excursion we waited in line to grab a trolley ride back over the hills to the Union Square side of town. On a side note it’s really cold here which is nice for a change… just not when you’re wearing shorts and a t-shirt on a trolley that’s flying down hills.