Huge Trees, American League Baseball and Food.

Friday 29 May

Another blank day, well sort of blank. Today we had another slow start and I caught up on some more of my jet lag. Will it ever go away?

We went into Petaluma where Deb had to do some work while I strolled around agian. I love this little town, every time I go there I see something else. Later in the day we went to watch Chance, Deb’s grandson play his last game of Baseball for the year. The kids had a ball again and were presented with their pennants, badges and trophies. Kid sport being what is is now, they all got the same stuff. Mediocrity rules! The photo is the Pub that will be my watering hole while I am here.

Saturday 30 May

With and early start to the day Deb and I (sans coffee and breakfast) drove south along the Redwood Highway (Route 101) to Mill Valley (http://www.cityofmillvalley.org) where we righted the breakfast wrong and had a great cup of coffee and some rather excellent pastries. Mill Valley is a collection of wonderful houses that cling to the edge of the precipitous slopes of the surrounding mountains and hills. Mt Tamalpais is to the West and the Muir Woods National Monument is in between. Muir Woods is our destination for today where we will do Deb’s favorite walk (and now mine) through the last remaining stand of old redwood forest in the San Francisco area.

Have a look at the Web Site at (http://www.nps.gov/muwo/). I have never seen trees that equal the ones that we were walking under and between. The walk took us about four hours and at every turn there was just something else to take the breath away. Nearing the top of our walk the trees reached up into the fog and the moisture collected on the leave fell down on us as if it was raining.

I took a million photographs of the trees and the general area including some of the very tame wild life. I saw my first chipmunk and the little fella was so tame that when I stood still he came up and had a good look at my boots. Shortly after we came across two very small deer grazing happily about two metres from the trail. Their mum was nowhere around so she must be happy for her babes to go off on their own.

I could wax lyrical about the walk today and still not 

do it justice. This is undoubtably one of the best experiences in the US to date.

We had to rush off home early because I was due to meet Deb’s daughter Heather along with TJ and their son Chance for a trip to the Baseball.  For some reason I had wanted to go to the baseball when I came here and this was the only opportunity to do so for some time.

We took a special ‘baseball ferry’ from San Rafael Ferry terminal, a trip that took us right to the AT&T Ball Park which is the home of the San Francisco Giants. The Giants have won the last three of their games so we were all pretty happy about seeing them tonight but alas they went down to the Saint Louis Orioles.

What a spectacle! The best way I can explain it is that the Baseball Game is probably the main event. The stadium itself it three or four levels of food hall and sundry other shops that sell everything SF Giants related. You can buy just about any kind of food that takes your fancy and ... wait for this. Each seat has a menu on it from which you can order food from a number of the food stalls. A person will come to your seat, fill out your order, swipe and deduct the cost from your credit card and then deliver the fare right  back to your seat in the twinkling of an eye. You can also order from people walking around (or in the case of the fairy floss sales man - running) and you can get (apart from fairy floss in bags of five flavours) corn dogs (don’t ask) chips and nuts, ice cream, hot pretzels, hot chocolate and coffee, soft drinks and of course pop corn.

Did I also mention that there was a baseball game to watch?

What an incredible experience which I wouldn’t have missed for quids.

Sunday 31 May

Today Deb has invited some friends over for brunch. Lili is a very old friend of Deb’s and her partner Greg is a building contractor and long time resident of the area. They have both done a fair bit of touring around the area and Greg was able to give me some tips on what to do and what to see on my bicycle shakedown tour that begins next Friday. He also knows all the good local restaurants which will come in handy.

We had rather a lazy afternoon and I spent it updating my blogs and photos while Deb had a much needed sleep. As I write this it is 4pm and the sun has not long burned through the heavy layer of fog that hovers overhead from very early morning. The sea fog is a feature of the area and sometimes will last well into Summer.  I am told that I will encounter in on my ride so some warm cycling pants may be on the shopping list.

I am still trying to get myself a tent for the trip. I have found a good one but it seems that the company doesn’t like international credit cards so I may have to find another one or find another way of paying for the one I want. I am sure it will sort itself out.