California 04/2008 - Day 3

After leaving Santa Barbara, where I had a wonderful steak, slathered with Bleu Cheese, at one of our favorite restaurants, Holdrens, I headed north toward San Francisco. Knowing that I would probably be in need of a soak, my research led me to a place called Mercey Hot Springs.



I spent the night at this remote and rustic oasis in the desert, which is really not close to anything. It is about 2/3rds of the way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. No food service at the springs, so one must come prepared or travel over 10 miles to the nearest food purveyor. The hot water was excellent, and the facility was pretty good.







While the tubs were large, they were a little short for anyone over 5'10". Also, bring your own drinking water, as the tap water at the springs seemed to be cooled mineral water from the springs and had a decidedly European mineral water taste.

My soaking done, I heading north to San Francisco to pick up Wade. He was staying at the Marriott, and my Garmin GPS lead me there with no problem. While the Garmin lead me to the front of the hotel with no trouble, it failed to take into consideration that there was only an exit (no entrance) on Post Street and that the street with the entrance was on a one-way street. Unfortunately, it was the wrong way for me, so I had to waive at Wade from the H3 as he saw me pass by, try to circle back around through the traffic, one-way streets, and congestion to get back to the Hotel and pick up Wade.

We then headed out of the City over the Golden Gate Bridge. I think I set a record, as I was only in the City for about 40 minutes. We stopped at Sausolito for bowls of clam chowder, fried calamari, and Anchor Steam (a local brew). Properly re-fueled, we headed to the Muir Woods National Monument to check out the Redwood trees.



We hiked up to a ridge, which was supposed to have some nice views of the ocean, but we must have missed the view spots. Anyway, we completed the loop hike and made our way back to the Park entrance, hiking along the creek that runs through the forest.



Here's Wade checking out one of the big trees. Below is what it looks like to look up toward the sky.



After leaving Muir Woods, we headed toward Napa, doing a little exploring in the wine country and dining at Tuscany in Napa. We overnighted in Napa, having probably indulged too much in the local product at dinner to be able to continue on our trek.