San Francisco Anniversary Trip - Part 1

For our 10 year anniversary trip, we decided to go to San Francisco.  Neither one of us had ever been.  So we were excited and a little overwhelmed to visit!  After dropping our bags off at the hotel, our 1st stop was the Golden Gate bridge! 

We walked across the bridge.  The picture below is from the bridge, a look at San Fran!  Everyone kept telling us what amazing great weather they were having, with NO FOG!

 There were seals swimming under as we crossed.

After that, we went into Sausalito, a fun little town.  We struggled to stay awake til 9 PM because of our early flight and the time change.

The next morning we rode the ferry to tour Alcatraz.  This was definitely a highlight of the trip.
This building is actually where the guards and their FAMILIES lived!  Who knew???

 And apparently the Indians occupied the island sometime in the late 70s.

 The audio tour was fascinating!  So glad we did it!

 CANT. EVEN. IMAGINE!

 The Recreation Yard.  And they only got to go out if they had good behavior.

Solitary confinement.  The tour said if the wind was right, the inmates could hear laughter and conversations from the city and the yachts, especially on New Years Eve. 

This was the view from the Warden's office and home.  They would ride the ferries over to San Fran for dinner and a movie and then come back to the island. 

 The last day of Alcatraz.  These prisoners were taken to another prison when it closed. 

 Leaving Alcatraz.

We walked the Fisherman's Wharf and saw this seal.  He was hanging by this fishing boat that was cleaning fish! 

We found Ghirardelli and got Chocolate shakes!!!

 Leaving Ghirardelli we caught this trolley back to our hotel!

 The streets are SO crazy steep.  And that is Alcatraz in the background.

I've never seen roads like this.  There are trolleys, taxis, bikers and pedestrians everywhere.  And the lanes go back and forth.  CRAZY!

Our hotel, The Fairmont!

 The view from our hotel room.  BEAUTIFUL!

 That's Coit Tower on the right.

 And Alcatraz at night...

For our Anniversary dinner, we ate at Scoma's!

Can't believe it's been 10 years!!!

The next morning we rented a car for the rest of our trip.  On the way out of San Fran, we drove to the Marin Headlands.  It was beautiful.  Once again, no fog!

 Then we headed up to Muir Woods to see the Redwoods.  And they were AMAZING! 

 It's amazing how small you feel surrounded by these huge 1000 year old trees!

Banana Slug.

After that we headed to Napa!  It was so nice to get out of the city and off the windy roads.  Napa is gorgeous.  And there are literally vineyards everywhere! 

We toured one of the wineries.  It was interesting.  These caves were dug out with a shovel and it took about 9 years!  Crazy.

After Napa, we headed to San Jose to see the Gilliams!  We spent Saturday night with them and attended their church on Sunday and got to hear Gabe preach.

Best picture we got of the Gilliam kids...Hailey, Bennett, and Maris (in the carseat)...

Church with Gabe and Casey