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With San Francisco comes - fog! 
It was difficult to get tickets to Alcatraz, but we managed to find some. This unique island prison has a character all its own. 
At the other end of the spectrum of places to stay in San Fransicso is the posh Fairmount Hotel. Every president of the USA since Taft has visited this landmark hotel. 
It turns out that Don's distant cousins Herbert and Harland Law once owned the Fairmont Hotel. They worked on the restoration of it after the great San Francisco earthquake, and then sold it back to the family that started it. Their picture is on the wall showing the history of the hotel.
Other fun sightseeing in San Francisco included Chinatown and sidewalks so steep that they have to have steps.
Don loves to visit the technology center Silicon Valley. The garage on the house shown below doesn't look too special, but that garage is where Apple began.
You can't easily visit the insides of Google, but we had a nice time at their merchandise center. 
Speaking of merchandise, we loaded up with chocolate and a few other goodies at Ghirardelli Square. 
Near Ghirardelli Square we stumbled onto an unplanned excursion, the National Maritime Museum. We toured a clipper-frieghter, a paddlewheel ferry, and a few other historic vessels. 
We made a trip up to Napa Valley and enjoyed a small amount of very expensive food. Don ventured off to tour a restored water-powered grist mill. 
Just over the Golden Gate bridge is Muir woods, a very peaceful place to visit, after you reserve your parking space in advance. Here we saw ancient and majestic redwoods towering high above. 
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