Well, I've been home a week but I feel like I have been running around like a maniac! What else is new, I guess! But I have been meaning to post about my trip to San Francisco.

I've never been to California so I was excited when an annual meeting I go to was moved there from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. I flew out Tuesday evening and had Wednesday morning off so I decided to try to squeeze in some touristy things! My first mission was to take a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. I'll admit I was a little scared of all the steep hills so I chose to ride inside the closed part of the car...

Anyway, once I got down to the wharf, my first order of business was to get a cup of California clam chowder in a bread bowl. Yum! It's not too much different than new england clam (my fav!) - more veggies and a little cheesy.

After that, I made my way down the wharf and saw the Golden Gate Bridge from afar. How cool!

And then onto the next spot on my mission...Ghiaradelli Square. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I had been advised to get the hot chocolate but I took a more decadent approach...a hot fudge sundae!!

I headed back for my afternoon sessions and didn't see much outside the hotel except for dinner one night with friends until Friday afternoon. We had the afternoon off and some friends invited me to join them on a tour to Muir Woods and Sausalito.

Ever the tourist, I was thrilled when the bus driver stopped after crossing the Golden Gate and let us take some pictures.

I was totally shocked driving up to Muir Woods to see the giant redwoods - the roads are SO winding, it's crazy! And there are no guardrails. I couldn't get over it. I was thankful when we got to the woods.
Unfortunately, none of my pictures truly do it justice...it was totally amazing. I've never experienced anything like it. It was completely quiet in the woods. Not a bird or a bug or any animals. The tour guide had said that the tannin in the redwood trees is unattractive to bugs and birds and that most of the animals were noctural or hibernating, as it was "winter" there.

We headed to Sausalito after that. We didn't have a lot of time there but it was just a cute town with shops and such down the main drag. Kind of like New Hope, for any southeastern Pennsylvanians out there!

I was totally exhausted after that and was glad to get back to the hotel. The next day was our last day of sessions and I dashed back to the cable car to go down to the wharf again for something I had wanted to pick up for Michelle but thought I'd see elsewhere. The cable car was MUCH more crowded since it was a Saturday and I decided to be brave this time and sit on the outside seats right in the front. You really get a feel for how very steep the hills are in San Francisco from that vantage point! Especially when you are headed down one and a car is double parked on the cable car tracks...and the driver is ringing the bell and trying to slow the car and the driver of the parked car is not coming. Luckily, the guy came out and drove off when we were probably about two yards from ramming right into him! Yikes!

So, that's about it, in a nutshell. I survived my first trip to the west coast and really enjoyed it. I'd love to go back there on a vacation and see Napa and maybe find my way to San Diego. LA doesn't hold a lot of interest for me but I know there are a lot of beautiful areas in California I'd enjoy.