Yet another glance back in time... Half Moon Bay, and into the city for an amazing dinner!

I am aware that the further we get from having been on vacation, the less likely it is these photos will ever see the light of day. Some of them really are lovely, so I'm going to do ANOTHER post about our Friday, or at least most of Friday, but I'll keep it brief and photo-heavy.

Kristine took off work on Friday to gallivant with Andrew and I. The day started with croissants, coffee, and tea:

Well, that is a lie. The day ACTUALLY started discovering that Andrew's glasses had broken, and after a flurry of calls to Susan and Will, who saved us from across the pond, we got a rush job on a new pair. We also went back to Kristine's parents' house to say goodbye and thank you, and enjoyed their dog Toby singing to Andrew's piano playing a last time.

Then Kristine took us out to Half Moon Bay, where we explored some scrubby sort of habitat on the top of some cliffs overlooking the ocean, did some bird watching, and walked the beach for the greater part of the day.

After Half Moon Bay we packed up our stuff at Kristine and Hunter's, said our sad goodbyes, and then drove back into San Fran for a night in the city! Here's our view from the hotel room:

We had dinner at Le Colonial, an INCREDIBLE French Vietnamese restaurant with food that blew. Our. Mind. Thank you very much again to Sue and Will for absolutely the best food we had on the trip, including the pork buns that we worked so very hard to get ;) Here are some gratuitous meal photos.

Duck confit spring rolls:

An appetizer platter with tofu cakes, more spring rolls, braised ribs, and chicken skewers:

Andrew's Ca Kho To, clay pot salmon in a black pepper caramel sauce:

My Ca Hap La Chuoi, sea bass and sweet potato noodles wrapped in banana leaves with a black bean coconut sauce.

This is a coffee creme brulee with almond cookies:

 

The lovely Sauvignon Blanc we had, complete with naked bodies:

An icecream parfait with vanilla icecream, chocolate, and avocados:

Afterward we went out to explore the city and see some old haunts! On the street car:

At Specs, the first bar we ever went to, from our first visit to San Fran:

Interior of Specs:

Exterior of Specs, where you unfortunately cannot see the sign:

We found the hostel we stayed at the first time we came, in Chinatown:

The once-Thai-food-now-Chinese-food restaurant we went to the first time we came to San Fran:

Look at how weird Chinatown looks at night!

 Not documented is our visit to Lori's Diner, a faux 50's diner we went to the first time we came. It was Pie Day, so naturally we had to go out and get some pie! Then we went to sleep, absolutely exhausted from a fantastic night!

Saw Neil Degrasse-Tyson last night!

...and it was fantastic!

A look back in time... Redwood Forest!

Continuing my slow update of our vacation, I'm going to give a quick version of Thursday, March 13th, which was Redwoods Day. Hang in there, this is going to be photo heavy.

As we last left the saga, we had delicious crepes for breakfast. Then we drove about an hour to the Portola Redwoods Forest, which was about 20 minutes as the crow flies from where we were and most quickly accessible by a very complicated, very curvy road through wealthy (?), rural/woodsy NoCal. Somehow neither of us puked (!) and we arrived at a very secluded, quiet, and closed visitor center at the Portola Redwoods Forest. A polite sign asked that we purchase parking, which we did. A pair of girls were there, with a car almost out of gas (sadly we had no materials to try to siphon our gas to give to them), and an older couple. Both groups left by the time Andrew and I parked in a camp spot.

We embarked on about three hours of hiking, but discovered really quickly why the other two groups had left. The trail map Kristine gave us lead us down to a creek, about 10 feet across, and instructed us to cross it on the metal bridge... which had been removed.

But Andrew and I are not ones to be thwarted. After some thought, we took off our shoes and socks and forded the stream (Andrew's edit: braved a whitewater RIVER). After which, the following transpired:

 

Tiptoe Falls:

Showing off my banana slug:

Another banana slug:

Why do you get a million more photos on this day than any other? 1. Because nature is amazing. 2. Because I brought my good camera with me.

This is Captain Obvious-ly called "The Old Tree":

Three hours later we were satisfied, tired, and hungry, so we drove to Alice's Restaurant. It isn't the original, but you can bet we listened to the entire song (half there, half home, nearly didn't finish by the time we got back to Palo Alto). Yes, we ordered whatever we wanted.

The day finished up with a visit to the Stanford Cantor Art Museum. The SF MOMA is closed until 2016 due to expansion, and they have a bunch of satellite exhibits all around the city, including one at the Cantor. Better than their satellite exhibit, however, was their IMMENSE and amazing Rodin exhibit. Apparent it's the largest collection of Rodins outside of Paris, and Andrew and I were able to enjoy them for a couple of hours before the museum closed...we just happened to get to it on their one late night during the week!

 We finished off the evening with chowder and a crowdfunded card game with Kristine and Hunter, and we had so good a time that I totally forgot to take pictures! I need to ask Kristine what the card game was, because it was hilarious and I want a copy.

And that's what Thursday brought.