Thursday, July 02, 2015

San Francisco Day 4: Land's End

One of the joys of Facebook is that you can sometimes find yourself in the same city at the same time of someone completely unexpected.  Such is the case when my cousin Erin called me Monday night.
"You're in San Francisco, so am I!!!"
"No way!"
"Yes, I'm only here for a few more days, but let's get together."
"I leave Thurs."
"No  way, so don't I!"
This was pretty much our conversation, but I had some things I wanted to see, and Erin came over Wed, and we took a Lyft to Land's End.  No the retail store, but the hiking trail.


Caffeine and Lyft, a must in San Francisco.






We started at Eagles Point, we saw a little sign pointing the way and we just started following the trail.  It was amazing to say the least.  The views were breathtaking.  Following the Coastal Trail lead us through gorgeous views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific ocean.

Erin and I just kept exclaiming, "This is amazing, this is so beautiful!"

And she was really happy to be out and about hiking with me.  I had so much more fun sharing this trail with her.  I should also note here that Erin is a marathoner, I am...most decidedly not.  So without her encouraging me, I might not have made it as far as we did.  But I have no fear of getting close to the edge of cliffs, which I think made her very, very nervous.

I'm a treehugger at heart!

The ocean, sandy, rocky, salty, not too cold, and glorious.  Loved this!  I could have stayed here all day.  There was one sad moment when we saw a sea lion that had beached itself.  Apparently this is a growing problem, and it is a heartbreaking one as so few can be saved.  With warmer waters mothers have to swim longer and farther away to find food.  So the younger pups are left alone and often get lost and confused, and get sick on the bacteria in the algae.  Two other hikers had already called it in, so I really hope the young pup gets help, and it was clearly weak, but still alive.


This is the stone labyrinth, so very very cool as it is right on the edge of a cliff. 
And yes, that is my shoe flying off.  Don't worry, I saved it.
We mountain-goated it up a cliff so I could get this shot. 
We really are at the edge of the world here.
Also note, this was a close to the edge photo moment that freaked Erin out.

We hiked and climbed a lot.  I needed a few more breaks than Erin.
But without taking those breaks we would have missed views like this.  So slow and steady was best.

These are the Sutro Baths, and yes, we climbed all the way down to see them, since we were already so close and all.

 
More amazing rocks and ocean.  So beautiful.
We went right in the tunnel, the ocean was crashing up against on one side, it was amazing!

 

Erin loved it.  There are two holes where you can see the waves crash up.


After hiking 4.4 miles, 10,900 steps, 44 flights of stairs, we were ready to relax with some lunch, so we went to Cliff House, had some delicious wine and fish, and celebrated our great surprise day.




We took a Lyft back, and I was ready to call it a day because I was going out to a play later on and frankly was sweaty and tired.  Our Lyft driver was new, chatty, played great tunes, and took us on a tour of San Francisco, and even drove down Lombard street for us, it really is that crooked folks.

The play I went to see was playing at the Strand, a little over a half a mile walk away, so I took my time to get there.  It is a quirky play, told in a series of vignettes with couples, friends, family, all with how information is shared or interpreted.  Very quirky, but I liked it.


The opening screen is a shot of the audience.  Strange, but I liked it.  And the small theater was packed so I think everyone else liked it too.

My last day in San Francisco might have been my best day.  So glad Erin was here, and so glad she had fun too!

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