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webpage last updated by James Keith Montz on 1-Jun-2013

San Francisco, Crescent City and other towns in California Trip
May 15 through 18, 2013

This was supposed to be a "girls" trip, but Megan and Johnna asked me to come along to help navigate and drive.  This allowed them to relax, enjoy and further share the beautiful city of San Francisco along with other surrounding cities and the Red Wood Forest.

The first two days were nice but cool temperatures which required jackets.  Along with the normal windy climate in San Francisco, sometimes it was fairly cold because of the wind gusts as the cool air hit you.  We especially felt the cool temperatures at Coit tower and along the bay water fronts.  The last day in San Francisco, was in the 70 degree Fahrenheit range where we walked around completely comfortable without any jackets.

The drive up to Crescent City, on the second day, was a very beautifully scenic drive on the 101, where we stopped at many vantage points to take in the beautiful scenery and take some photos.  We especially enjoyed the ocean views where at Klamoth River Overlook we could hear seals barking way down at the ocean's beach, which was so far down that we could not see them.

Wednesday, May 15.  Toured around San Francisco

1 Megan and Johnna at Coit Tower
2 Johnna and Megan inside and at the top of Coit Tower looking at the city.
3 Megan and Johnna sitting outside of Pier 39
4 Megan and Keith walking down Pier 39 to find a place for dinner and souvenirs.
5 Eating dinner at Neptune's Waterfront Grill, located at the end of the pier with a beautiful view of the bay and island of Alcatraz.

Thursday, May 16, Drive up to Crescent City to see the Giant Red Woods

1 Stopped at Thomas H Kuchel Visitor Center to see the ocean.
2 Megan next to the water.  The photo does not show the 30 degree slope leading down to the surf.
3 Johnna and Megan at one of the many scenic stops near Humboldt Lagoons State Park as we made along the drive up to Crescent City.
4 Keith standing at the same location as #3 but the view is to the north side of the beach showing the clouds coming in.
5 Johnna standing in front of Crescent City's Information Center where we got maps to Red Wood National Parks.
6 Keith standing at the beginning of Stout Grove Trail.
7 Johnna and Megan standing in front of one of giant Red Woods.
8 Johnna and Megan holding hands in front of the largest Red Wood that we encountered during our walk.
9 Johnna and Keith sitting on a fallen log in front of a giant tree.  In the background is a crawling banana slug which are famous inhabitants of the park.
10 Keith and Megan on the trail
11 Megan standing in front of a beautiful stream which we walked down from the trail to see.
12 Johnna and Keith walking on the trail.

Friday, May 17, Drive back to San Francisco, Golden Gate Park, The Presidio, Fort Point Historical Site

1 Johnna and Megan at Klamoth River Overlook
2 As we passed by Humboldt Lagoons State Park we saw a black bear coming out of the woods coming to feed in the marsh area.
3 Same black bear walking but without the photo zoom.
4 Megan on top of the famous walk bridge inside the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park.
5 Megan sitting by the fountain next to the California Academy of Sciences
6 Megan and Johnna outside of the Botanical Garden
7 Johnna and Keith in the Botanical Gardens
8 Megan standing at one of the main vistas looking at Golden Gate Bridge
9 Keith at the parking lot next to Fort Point.

Saturday, May 18th, Half day in San Francisco.  Walked Ghirardelli square again, walked to Lombard St and then visited Palace Of Fine Arts

1 Megan and Keith sitting in one of the restaurants in Ghirardelli square.
2 Megan and Johnna at Lombard Street.  There was too many visitors and cars to get a good photo.
3 Johnna and Megan underneath tree with Palace of Fine Arts in background.
4 Photo of the first of palace
5 Keith and Johnna inside palace