Destination: United States of America & Hong Kong
Duration: 8 Days 7 Nights (Nov 30~Dec 08, 2013)
Day 7: A Dilemma ended with Surprise - Muir Woods
& More…
I was supposed to fly back to Malaysia on Friday night
from San Francisco International Airport but I’d need to checkout from the
hotel by 11am. This left me a dilemma – Friday is a working day so I’d either
work in hotel lobby even after checkout or I’d have to go to Sunnyvale office
which is 45mins away from San Francisco. I asked boss which option sounded
better and he said: Take the day off and go explore San Francisco!!! OH YES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since my Muir Woods adventure failed on Sunday and I did
not have a rental car anyway, I’d decided to join a halfday tour instead. The
tour cost around USD50 (http://www.viator.com/tours/San-Francisco/Muir-Woods-Giant-Redwoods-and-Sausalito-Half-Day-Trip/d651-2660SFOMUI1)
and provided free pickup & drop off to hotel in the city. Thus there I was
checking out the hotel by 8.20am and left my luggage in their care before
getting up to the pickup bus.
We were dropped off to the Tour Office before getting up
to the correct bus for our tour. Our driver cum tour guide Troy was humorous
and extremely informative which totally made our day. The route was basically
the same as how I’d drove on Sunday to Muir Woods but this time I got to enjoy
the view with informative monologue from Troy. I guess it was money well spent!
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| Gray Line Tour |
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| Sammy Sneaks in on the Tour |
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| On the Way to Muir Woods |
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| More Views |
The temperature in Muir Woods was lower than San Francisco
so thankfully I have my USD29.90 CK jacket with me. Hhehee…. Troy explained
that there were few routes for the park and suggested that we turned back from
3rd bridge in order to make it to the time table. Lots of us ended
up going all the way to 4th stop and took the jungle track to turn
back to main entrance. Naughty naughty! The park was indeed very refreshing and
kind of reminded me of my national park visit in Gold Coast (link).
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| Here We are! |
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| A Morning Walk |
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| Look at How Old the Giant Redwood is... |
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| Sunlight Shinning through the Giant Red Woods |
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| Another View |
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| Some of the Tree Roots |
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| They are really Giant |
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| Hollow "Twins" |
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| Standing between them... |
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| Sammy has to make an Appearance |
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| Walking all the Way |
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| I have to make an Appearance as well! =P Look at How Big It is! |
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| Nearing an End... |
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| An Illustration |
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| Big Bear Welcomes you! |
After the park, our bus stopped at Muir Beach for us to
walk towards the sea – remember I only managed to capture Muir Beach from afar
on Sunday? Now I’m basically walking out to the point nearest to the sea!
Yippie!!!! Guess it was a bit like Byron Bay Lighthouse lookout (link) but with
weaker wind?
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| Walking towards the Edge of the World |
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| The View on the Left |
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| The View on the Right |
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| Enjoying the View |
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| San Francisco is just Across this... |
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| A Panoramic View |
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| Leaving Muir Beach Lookout |
The bus then stopped at Sausalito for a while so this
time I took the chance to walk nearer to that Sausalito photo spot which made
it looked like a Mediterranean Village. Of course I still prefer the authentic Mediterranean Village in Greece (link). =P I then walked about the town which mostly
consisted of artist gallery and souvenir shops.
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| Sammy at Sausalito |
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| The Inn Above Tide - How Apt! |
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| Lots of Great Arts |
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| UPS is everywhere! |
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| More Arts |
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| Along the Bay |
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| A Panoramic View of Sausalito |
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| Walking towards the Scenic Mediterranean Village View |
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| Getting Closer |
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| Here It is! |
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| A Restaurant above the Tide. =P |
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| Nice Flowers |
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| Santa Claus is driving UPS Van??? |
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| Pink Leaves? |
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| In Sausalito Visitor Center |
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| Still in the Visitor Center |
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| Free Parking!!! |
Before the bus turned back to San Francisco to end the
tour, Troy took us to a lookout to the Golden Gate Bridge which was a surprise.
It was always nice to take some photos of the bridge. =) More stories about previous visit to the Bridge are here (link).
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| Golden Gate Bridge!!! |
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| A Panoramic View of the Bridge Area |
We then reached the Tour office again and I was told to
wait 10-15mins for the bus to send me back to Kimpton Hotel. So I took the
chance and ran to Ross (which is just across the road) to grab a USD49.90 Swiss
Gear luggage! Hehheee.. did I mention that I was so happy to see Ross was just
nearby – bought a cheap Samsonite Luggage from the same stall last year when
staying in Hyatt Fishermen Wharf Hotel as well (link). The Samsonite was even
cheaper than the outlet’s price.
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| Cheapest Luggage in Fisherman's Wharf! |
Once I’d reached the hotel at around 2pm, I left the
empty luggage for their storage as well before going out to explore more of
Union Square. Apparently the concierge recognized me and asked me whether I
need the bag to get stored before I say anything! Haha…
One thing I realized that day – DO NOT buy Ghirardelli
Chocolate from Macy’s even when they were on sale!!!! The same chocolate pack
that I bought for USD11 (the sale price in Macy’s) was only selling at USD5 at
Walgreen!!! DARN!!! I was starving thus went in the Super Duper Burgers at
Market Street to grab a Burger with Cheese & Bacon! DA YUM!!! Didn’t care
how FAT it was since we are in Americas! We should at least eat an American Sinful Greasy Fatty Burger! YUMMY!!!
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| Walking towards Market Street |
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| Armani |
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| Walgreen - Cheap Chocolates! |
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| Nice Building! |
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| Super Duper Burgers in Market Street |
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| Queuing for Burger! |
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| God Helps Me!!! |
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| SINFULLY GOOD!!! *facepalm* |
Then I stumbled on another Ross at Market Street which
has even more choices in shoes & clothing! It’s like an asylum in there since
everyone was just shopping shopping shopping! Grab a pair of Report Boots for
only USD18 and a formal CK dress for USD39.90. There were so many choices until
my eyes hurt from looking at all of them.
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| Lots of Dresses & Shoes in Ross in Market Street |
After Ross I was just kind of walking around the area to
Westfield Centre and Bloomingdale. By the time sky was turning dark and started
to rain! Oh No!!! So I simply walked into random shops such as GAP, Disney
Stores, Marshall etc before returning to Kimpton Hotel to do a final packing in
the lobby before taking a cab to the airport.
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| St. Patrick's Church near the Area |
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| Yerba Buena Garden with Martin Luther King Memorial |
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| Metreon Mall and It's Rounding Escalator |
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| It was Raining... =( |
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| San Francisco Cable Car at Night |
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| Inside Disney Store |
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| Lots of Sammies!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| A Magic Tree? |
Oh, did I mention how I utilize the free USD10 minibar credit from Kimpton? I bought the Triton Rubber Duck! LOL!!!
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| An Additional Swiss Gear Luggage to Malaysia |
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| Sammy is Tired |
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| Goodbye Triton Hotel |
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| Duckie as Souvenie |
So long San Francisco!!! It had been a great pleasure! =P
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| Late Night Flight |
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| Hahha.. It's True! |
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| Beautiful Deco in San Francisco Airport |
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| Apparently Paris is a Sister City of San Francisco! |
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| As Is Cork! |
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| Bangalore as well! |
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