We headed from Yosemite towards San Francisco. We stayed in Oakland just over the bay at a place we found on AirB&B. Andy was our host, along with his 13 year old dog Stevie. Andy was a great host and we had the run of his home. We stayed in his spare room and it was great to chat with him and find out about the local area and where was good to go.

We were in town for Brett's solar conference and Stirling had flown over from Florida to see us for a few days and to accompany Brett to the conference. We met him in San Fran and the boys headed to the conference while Stace had the exciting task of finding out where her social security card was. Off to the DSS she trundled. Only 2 hours later she found that she had ordered a new Social Security card and was officially on the USA Gov Radar. The next few days passed without much exploring as Stace visited the tax office and passed the days getting stuff sorted as a legal alien. Brett and Stirling attended the conference and found out all there is to know about solar in The States. Finally we went off to have some fun on day 3 and visited Valencia for the evening. It was a hip and happenin place and we strolled around and found a nice little bar to have some food.

The fun continued the next day and we rented a truck and headed across the Golden Gate Bridge towards the giant Redwood trees across the bay. The trees were beautiful and we attended a Ranger talk about the National Monument that they have created to preserve the trees and surrounding area. We then went on a walking trail to see the trees up close. They are crazy tall and beautiful. After a couple of hours of nature filled fun we headed to the viewing platform of the Golden Gate Bridge to get the classic photos. Then off to Sausalito for a bite to eat and Stace's first taste of Salt Water Taffy. Hello new favourite sweeties!! After stuffing our faces (ok Stace did) we headed to pier 39 to see the Sea Lions and look at Alcatraz. After a swift pint for fuel we walked for miles through San Francisco (yep up and down the bhills) and finally made it back to Stirling's hotel. We had a great time and a packed filled day. Stirling then left for home and we headed to a different area in Oakland for a whole different kind of adventure.