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Published: January 29th 2015
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Sausalito, California
Part of the waterfront at Sausalito. Before I moved permanently to the United States in 2011, I used to come to this country at least once a year, mainly to visit my family in California. On one of those trips we traveled by car from Los Angeles all the way to San Francisco.
After spending a night at a friend's house in Half Moon Bay a coastal town approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Francisco, we went to Sausalito which is situated on a hillside, just across the northern end of the Golden Gate bridge. It was a beautiful and sunny spring day in April, and when we arrived there we saw a lot of people along the waterfront enjoying the view across the bay. There are quaint little stores and houses in this area called Bridgeway Boulevard which also happens to be the town's main street.
I believe the song, "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" which was very popular in the late 60's, was written by the late singer/songwriter Otis Redding when he lived in Sausalito.
We spent a nice couple of hours walking around in this charming town. Sausalito takes its name for the "little willow" trees (Saucelito)
Sausalito, California
Restaurant on the waterfront. which 18th century Spanish explorers found growing along its streams. We went into a few of the art galleries and souvenir shops, and I think my daughter bought some items at one of the gift shops. I think all of us had a good time during our short visit here. It is definitely a fun place for families, not to mention tourists from far and near. Sausalito is easily accessible by car from US Highway 101, by bicycle across the bridge, or if you're already in San Francisco, you can catch the Golden Gate Ferry from the Ferry Building.
From Sausalito it was just a short drive to San Francisco. I had been to San Francisco before, but only visited a few tourist places like Chinatown, Lombard Street (with its zig-zag turns), etc., so this time we headed straight for the Golden Gate Bridge which is of course the landmark and premier attraction of this world famous city. We parked at a vantage point where we could have the best views of the bridge. We could even see the infamous Alcatrez Island where notorious criminals were imprisoned in the past. Not surprisingly, the place was crowded with sightseers, I
imagine, from all over the country and overseas visitors. In my humble opinion, I think the Golden Gate bridge should be included among the greatest architectural wonders of the modern world.
Next, we went to Fisherman's Wharf another must see attraction, with its PIER 39, where a great number of sea lions are camped out on the dock. Fisherman's Wharf is actually a busy neighorhood of the city, and is always packed with people because of its fame as a tourist site and the colony of sea lions on view. Needless to say, there are numerous restaurants, shopping centers, museums and what have you, on its piers, all of which can be classified as tourist traps. Anyway, we were just one of the many willing victims of this expensive, but enjoyable traps in the city of San Francisco!
We had a late lunch at an Indian restaurant in town, and decided to drive back home rather than staying overnight. It was along drive (about 7 hours). I didn't have a US driver's license at that time, so my son in law and daughter took turns driving, and we got back home safely around 11:30 in the evening.
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