San Francisco

March 1, 2014

Partly cloudy

Lat/Lon 37.79N 122.45W

We went to see Charley's daughter, Shannon, who lives south of San Francisco.

She was kind enough to act as tour guide to show us (me) around the San Francisco area. 

Shannon was a fantastic guide!  

She started along the Pacific beaches headed toward the Presidio.

There had been a pretty good storm the night before, with more storms coming.  

The waves were HUGE!

This is Charley and Shannon checking out the waves.

Across the street from that beach was this wonderful Dutch windmill.  

The Sutro Baths near the USS San Francisco Memorial

More HUGE waves

Charley and Shannon walking up from the beach.

A curious scrub jay.

Some of those pretty California Poppys!

 My first view of the Golden Gate Bridge, from the USS San Francisco Memorial area.

Ice plant, (a ground cover), grows everywhere along the coastal areas of California.

At Baker Beach,  (along the Presidio),  Charley was checking out the big guns that protected the bay 

and the Golden Gate Bridge during WWII.  

Shannon takes a break to post a few pics to her Facebook page.

The waves at Baker Beach were big and loud!

Then we're off to see the Bridge.  Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.

Charley and me at Vista Point at the other end of the bridge.  

Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay from Vista Point.  

San Francisco from across the bay. 

(I swear it was coincidence that there were sailboats in both of these pics.)

We went back across the bridge to see the city of San Francisco.

The famous Lombard Street  - "The Crookedest Street in the World"

Coit Tower, built as a memorial to fire fighters.

Alcatraz from the San Francisco side of the bay, near Coit Tower.

Telegraph Hill, the location of some very unique homes, 

and a looong stairway to the street below.

(this is only part of the stairway)

Typical homes in San Francisco. (Mashed together.) 

I'm not sure if there is a name for that style of architecture. 

The Ferry Building (station)  with vintage trolly going by.

California Academy of Science

in San Francisco.  

There was so much to see and do here.  

We went to the planetarium, and into a tropical rainforest full off plants, butterflies and birds. 

There was a wonderful area of anthropology, with great displays of the evolution of man. 

And lots more.

But again, I don't usually take pictures at these types of places.

 But, they had this area of albinos, so I had to take a few pics of them.

This cool albino alligator is 16 years old.  He was very unique looking, but was pretty boring to watch.

Since everything he needs is provided for him, he sleeps about 20 hours a day,... like a cat.

I'm not sure what this bubble headed fish was, but he was albino too.

And a beautiful albino koi.

We had a wonderful time with Shannon.  

I soooo appreciated her wonderful knowledge of San Francisco. 

Next - off to see Charley's brother, Winfred.