April showers bring May flowers, but what do May flowers bring? For me ... LOTS of travel plans! First traveling buddy Brent and I headed off to a "Mexican" cruise, but because of some over-blown Swine Flu, we were rerouted to the California coast. So instead of Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, we hit Santa Barbara, San Diego and San Francisco.
It was a great escape, even if we didn't get that Mexican sun and we had to deal with fog, cold winds, excursion-delaying fog and rough waters.
Brent and I on the Sapphire Princess just as we were leaving port.
Our first port was Santa Barbara. Some amazingly beautiful architecture! Love the bar-tile Spanish-influence rooftops.
Sunburn!
On to San Diego the next day where we explored Balboa Park with lots of museums.
We also saw the Body Worlds exhibit.
Our last port was San Francisco!! My favorite day on the cruise, by far. It was FILLED with fun. First stop = Alcatraz!
Beautiful view from the boat on our way back from Alcatraz.
The we ate lunch {Clam Chowder in Sourdough Bread Bowl ... what could be more SF than that?} at Fisherman's Warf, did some shopping and watch the Sea Lions.
With lots of time in San Fran, we took a Trolley Tour of the city and then took a taxi down Lombard Street and then over to Golden Gate Park where we explored the Japanese Garden and a Botanical Garden.
