San Francisco...

...open those Golden Gates. Or at the very least lift the fog so we can see them! Seriously, we drove on the Golden Gate bridge, paid the toll and everything, and did not see it!!! The big pic on the collage is what we saw as we drove into San Francisco area - fog rolling in off the ocean & it literally pulled itself over the city like a big quilt. And stayed there. We were there for 1 1/2 days & it was cold, windy & foggy the whole time. But fun.
The drive along the coast was beautiful - the redwoods magnificent - the coastline ever-changing, always breath-taking! It's hard to take pictures while driving, but you get the (blurry) idea.
So, back to SF... we met Ron & Viv there, stayed at a very cool hotel across from pier 39 & spent our time walking, exploring, and eating yummy food. We actually walked from our hotel to the Coit Tower - the picture on the right side (with me in the corner) shows the tower as it looks from Pier 39. Ya, it was pretty far - uphill both ways!!! Then we walked through a large portion of the Asian part of the city - crowded with alot of markets selling unusual (to me) products. Oh, the smells. We had thought of eating there, but changed our minds.
We kept looking for the elusive G G bridge, never did see the whole thing. The fog lifted enough so we could see the span, but not the arches.
After SF, we drove to hot Bakersfield for a couple of days at my bro & sis/law's place; then we all converged in Pismo for a week.

And so concludes my epic about our summer vacation. Now it's been two weeks back at work - I'm ready for another holiday! Good thing it's a long weekend.