San Francisco Day 5/6 - Thanksgiving
Spent the morning in the city then went to see some friends I met cycling in NZ. Ginny & Paul live about an hour by train south of SF. I arrived to find Ginny preparing mountains of food. I had a lovely thanksgiving dinner with them, family and a friend. It was great as something we don't have in NZ so was my first. It was a traditional meal with a few modern twists to enhance it. As usual Ginny was impeccably organized and had a plan for the next day!
Next morning I awoke to find her back from completing a 50x100yd swim. She is a mad triathlete and was training for a marathon. Felt very lazy in comparison!
We all went for a drive down the coast to Monterey via the Pebble Beach 17 mile drive. Its a coastal drive past palatial mansions and around the world famous golf course. It was interesting to see but I wouldn't want to live there (as if)!
After that went through the Monterey Aquarium which is in a converted cannery. Seems a little ironic that fish live where so many met their end. Its large and has tanks/displays displaying all the local marine live. The highlights for me were the Sea Otters and a really cool display of jellyfish (Photo).
They had huge Tuna in the "Bay & Beyond" tank and sharks (although not large as the ones in Auckland's
Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter & Underwater World)
They then dropped me back at the train as its off to Las Vegas tomorrow so had some preparation to do. Once off the train the way walked up to Market Street/Union Square heading for my Hotel. Almost by accident I ended up at a cable car turnaround and for once there was no waiting line. I nearly left SF without riding one but have that ticked off the to do list.
