Tuesday February 04, 2025 – San Francisco, CA USA
We got together for a final early breakfast with the Cliffords as they were leaving the ship and renting a car, driving to Los Angeles and day after tomorrow, they join another ship – Norwegian Joy, to return to Florida stoping at the same ports, plus a couple more, before getting off in Florida, where they will rent a car, stop for a couple of days in Orlando and then drive up the East Coast to Vermont where they parked their car in our home, and from there return to their home in Toronto, Canada.
Anne & Roger had arranged with a local yellow taxi service (+1-415-333-3333) to have a driver pick us up as we had reservations to visit Muir Woods, which is about 1 hour outside San Francisco. In Mill Valley, – Muir Woods National Monument, 1 Muir Woods Road, Mill Valley, CA 94941; Phone +1-415-561-2850. It is critical to reserve parking and entry times, as they control the number of people that go along the footpaths and through this amazing primeval forest that has been federally protected since 1908. The giant redwoods have roots that spread and intermingle with each other, but not too deep and get constant irrigation as a fast flowing Redwood Creek, flows through the forest. Trees seem to rise up higher than skyscrapers and are so wide that one can easily stand inside one of them with arms outstretched. Others that have fallen show that they have been around for hundreds of years. We were told of one such tree that had fallen was hollowed out and a home built inside the tree, with the outer cortex and bark forming the exterior of the house. I remember coming to this area some 60+ years ago where one could drive one’s car through the middle of one such tree!
Rain was really coming down, even under the canopy of the woods, the river was overflowing, but a few (perhaps 15 of us), still walked the paths for an hour, but as we were returning to the parking lot, we heard a major crack, like one of the trees was about to fall. By the time we got back to the visitors center, feet soaked and jackets, hats etc dripping, we had hoped to seek some refuge in the visitor’s center, but while we were out walking among the trees, the rangers opted to close the park and facilities for the rest of the day due to the danger of trees falling. So we got back into the taxi and made our way back to the ship. Initially we thought we might go out for lunch, but decided to return to the cabin, shower, put on dry clothes and enjoy a warm meal and drink.
This evening we moved to our new table 603, which is in deck 3 by the glass, overlooking the diners in the center of Deck 2 dining room. The evening entertainments was the very funny American comedian – Tony Daro – who wrote for Jay Leno, Saturday Night Live, David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey and many others. A fun way to end the day and also happy to get the news that the Clifford’s had safely reached the hotel in Los Angeles and only a short shuttle ride to the ship that they will be boarding returning back East.
Roger & Anne Travels 