The day that wasn't

When planning this trip, one of the things I really wanted to do while on the west coast was go to Yosemite National Park.  I heard and read much about Yosemite and it has been high on my "must do" list.  Unfortunately, because of the really lousy weather here in central California, I didnt feel like it would be worth driving the four hours to Yosemite and the four hours back, so it is something that is going to have to remain on my "must do" list a while longer.

We did have a nice day in San Francisco, though.  We started out early and headed over to Alcatraz for the cellhouse tour.  In addition to the old prison, the island is covered with beautiful flowers and is home to many birds.

After Alcatraz, we grabbed some lunch at Boudin's sourdough bakery, a San Francisco original.  We then headed to Golden Gate Park and went to tour the Japanese Tea Garden.  They had beautiful flowers and lovely Koi ponds.

Then we headed over to the icon for San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and we walked the span.  It was very windy and cold, but we enjoyed walking across.  I only wish we could have really seen the views, but it was too cloudy and foggy to enjoy much view.

Finally, we headed to China Town for some authentic chinese for dinner and enjoyed looking in many of the shops.

We are packing up our things and getting ready for early morning departure.  We will take a bus across the Bay Bridge to Emeryville where we will board the California Zephyr headed to Chicago. I enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the Zephyr last summer and am looking forward to seeing it again.  Happy rails!