San Francisco! Day Two.

The following day, we woke up and got ready to head to The Trees Of Mystery Redwood Forest. BIG trees. We were drove to a scenic point and took last pictures of the beach then drove to the forest. As we drove, we saw the HUGE trees line up the road on either side.  These honkers were tall and huge! There was a little spot that wasn't foggy but sunny and the sun shown through the trees, and the rays were beautiful! I so wanted to get a picture of it but we were driving and there was no turn out to stop. We finally got to the Trees Of Mystery place and as you drove up, a GIANT Paul Bunion and a GIANT Babe the Blue Ox was standing there. Paul Bunion was waving and moving his head. They were statues but inside Paul Bunion, there was someone that was doing his voice. He could see you and hear you and talk to you. We went up to him and my Grandpa yelled loud and clear, "Where is the biggest tree in the world!?" or something like that, can't remember the exact question. Well, Paul Bunion actually answered and it was a big long droned out story and we just laughed and laughed because this statue was talking to us. The guy that was doing his voice was a scream! He was so funny. I got tons of pictures of him and my sitting or standing next to his boot. Paul Bunion said that his right boot was a bit easier to sit on but his left boot wasn't easy. They built him so that his left boot is resting on a rock, so it was higher up. Brittney climbed up and I took her picture. As she was up there, Grandpa said, "Now why don't you kick her off with your right boot." And everybody laughed. (He is a sarcastic man). We then walked around to the ticket booth to get into the Trees Of Mystery park and Grandma said to me, "We should have said, 'Nice rear.' to him." and I'm so glad I wasn't drinking milk at that moment because it would have totally come out of my nose. I laughed so hard, "Grandma!" I finally managed to say. She was laughing just as hard. It was a total funny moment. We got inside the place and the first tree we saw was GINORMOUS! It had twelve trees growing out of it. It was huge. I got plenty of pictures of that. We moved onto the Wild Flower garden and saw little statues of gnomes and little fountains and ponds. It was tiny and just a loop around but pretty flowers. We walked on and saw tons of huge trees! I got lots of pictures! We then came across a tree that was labeled 'Lightning Tree'. We figured it was split in half by lightning, but NO. The tree trunk was squiggled like a lightning bolt! That's why it was called 'Lightning Tree.' we walked on and there were signs saying how close this other tree was, it was called the Cathedral Tree. Well, when we got there, it was HUGE. Like 8 trees grew together, blended together and created one big tree. I got tons of pictures and a video of it. They hold weddings there and Easter services. It's crazy huge. I spent a lot of time snapping pictures and taking video of this tree. We walked on and saw a lot more crazy huge trees and we came across the 'Brotherhood Tree.' which was a huge tree of all the colors and such. It wasn't the largest tree in the world though, that is coming up in a bit. It was such a tall tree! Down the trail, we could see the Sky Tram. We got in line for the Sky Tram, the little green box's doors slid open and as it came to us, we hopped on as it was moving and sat down. It never stops moving. We had to stop moving, however, that time because there was a couple behind us and the man was in a wheel chair, so they had to stop it to be able to board him onto the next box. There were windows all around. I had a mini panic attack, scared that I was going to fall out, but there was no way you could fall out. Securely shut into the Sky Tram and windows all around you. Great view! So beautiful. I took so many pictures. It was so wonderful. We were literally on top of the forest! It was a foggy day, so I set my camera to 'Foggy'. It helped a lot. I used this setting for most of the trip. We got up to the top and there was a landing station where they were also boarding people on the Tram and people got off. The trail headed down was steep, you could walk it or go back on the Sky Tram. We wanted to go back on the Sky Tram to get more pictures, but before getting back on, we went up to a little deck and looked out over the area. My goodness! It was so beautiful. I felt God there. The couple who had the wheel chair came up there and we encountered them early on in the trip, the wife was traveling with their cat. The cat was strapped into a pouch that was hooked onto her body. The kitty's name was shadow. We got back on the Sky Tram and took more pictures. We got off the tram and walked to the tree who caught on fire. It's still standing. The outside 'frame' of the tree is still there and kinda scorched and the inside of the tree has greenery inside it and some scorching. I took many pictures of that tree. We walked on and went through the trail, a bunch of carvings of faces and the story of Paul Bunion told on trees through pictures carved. It was really neat. We finally got to the gift shop and looked around some more in there, I ended up buying a pink coffee cup that said Trees of Mystery on it. It's really cute! I can't wait to use it. We looked in a little museum that connected to the gift shop, it was kinda cool, told about all the Indians who made that area their habitat and such. After the museum, we got into the car and drove on. We wanted to go see the biggest tree in the world, actually it was the second biggest tree in the world. The first largest tree is somewhere in the forest, but they keep it a secret because they want to preserve it or something. We hiked across a little rickety bridge and walked on a trail and found the second largest tree in the world! It was a big honker! We took pictures of it and next to it. It was  pretty inspiring and a 'WOW' factor. We walked on and the ground, the forest floor was covered in clover basically. We then found the 'Flat Iron tree' which was just a tree that was shaped weird and had fallen down. I took pictures of that as well. At this point, I was starving, but we were basically out in the middle of nowhere! We drove through the Avenue of The Giants, Ancient Redwoods, and that was  pretty darn cool! We drove on and got to another area. this was our last Redwood stop. It was a good one too and a major tourist attraction. This was the Chandelier Tree. It's a tree you can drive through! YES fit a whole car , drive through! It's wicked crazy. We drove through it and it was pretty impressive. We left the Redwood forest, the beautiful Redwood forest and headed for Eureka. That town was so trashy. It was gross. We drove it and then got to another small town, so small I don't remember seeing a name for it anywhere. We stopped at a Taco Bell and ate, finally relieving the growling in my stomach. After that, we drove on again, and headed for San Francisco. We didn't stop after the Taco Bell, we wanted to get to where we were staying. We kept seeing signs for San Francisco, like 'San Francisco 50 Miles' then 'San Francisco 30 miles'. We then saw signs for the Golden Gate Bridge. 'Golden Gate Bridge THIS EXIT'. We finally saw it! We weren't on it yet, but we saw it. It was pretty darn cool! Very cool! Finally, after a bump, we were on the bridge! It was so neat seeing it up close. And to think that the Full House cast drove on this bridge in the theme song, it was nifty being on it. We drove through downtown San Francisco and finally got out of San Francisco and drove to Foster City. We checked into the hotel and it was NICE! We stayed at the Crowne Plaza and it was very nice. It was no Super 8. haha. Not at all. We were kinda hungry or just needing sugar, so after we checked in, unloaded our stuff into the hotel and looked around a bit, we get into the car and drove around Foster City, looking for somewhere to get ice cream or coffee or FOOD. Nothing was open. Not even a McDonalds! We were kinda mad and irritated. We found an Ihop and there was other couple there, they run up to it and we followed them, and it was also closed. They told us there was a Safeway up the road, but of course we got lost yet again. We finally found the Safeway, bought ice cream and headed back to the hotel. After that long day and showers, we crashed and fell asleep, ready to conquer the next day in San Francisco.