USA: San Francisco, California

 Wednesday, June 12, 2023, San Francisco, California

We arrived back at our starting point at 9 am 6 months after we started our voyage. We’ve been to San Francisco a lot, so didn’t schedule a tour. Instead, we arranged to meet our travel buddy, Albert and Karen, another of the nice people Charlie had worked with for during his Fed/State job survey days.


The weather started out warm, and we walked comfortably to a new attraction, Salesforce Park. Not an inspiring name, but a terrific garden walk amazingly placed above street level. A subway runs under it. Trees, plants and flowers were labeled. There were some sculptures to enhance the area, and places to sit and have coffee and snacks.






Karen had to leave after that, and the three of us caught a city bus that went all the way to the beach. That’s where it got cold. The bus seemed to go on forever, San Francisco is a big city! It was a bargain for sure, and we saw the City from a new perspective.


From the bus

Wires necessary in a city this size!

At the beach. Note surfers in the water.

Colorful SF



On our return we had to visit Pier 39 and say hello to the lazy sea lions resting on the docks there. The bargain was over, hold on to your wallet if you eat at the Hard Rock or any other of the hip places on the next pier.


Walruses on Peri 39


That night it was a frantic last-minute pack to be ready for the next day - an early disembarkation with eight suitcases. 


Our luggage in the hall waiting to be picked up


Thursday, July 13, 2023, San Francisco, California (day 2)

Four suitcases came with us, and four were picked up by Luggage Forward, as they had been at the start (a perk for round-the-worlders).


Waiting to fly home

Our beautiful Mt. Rainier as we came in for a landing at Sea-Tac Airport


Everything went smoothly. I can’t describe it, but the whole day felt really strange. We had left our happy home for six long months, and we hoped it would welcome us back. Thanks to our friend Peggy who picked us up at the airport and gave us a ride home to Olympia, we arrived in the late afternoon on a beautiful mid-summer day, and marveled at the natural beauty of our region. It took two months for us to resume most of our normal routines. 


At home with Peggy and her sister Kathleen


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