San Francisco, 31-Oct

Halloween was excursion day for us, as we went across the bay to U.C. Berkeley. We had been there before several years ago, but it was only a brief visit. This year we had time to do a walking tour. After emerging from underground, we got our bearings, found a visitor center to grab a campus map, and headed to the west gate to begin our tour. The first stop was a eucalyptus grove, and the guide book told us we were looking at the tallest hardwood trees in the state. They certainly were tall.

Eucalyptus grove

We then took a look at the Museum of Paleontology, which had, among other artifacts, T. Rex and Pterodactyl skeletons, triceratops skulls, and a cast of the "Lucy" skeleton. We also took a quick look in Doe Library, glancing at the wood-paneled Morrison Library reading room.

T. Rex

Next was Sather Tower where we rode the elevator up to the Campanile at the top, taking in the view which extended to the Golden Gate Bridge. We then walked through Faculty Glade, crossing Strawberry Creek a few times. After going past Memorial Stadium (closed for renovation) we went into the International House and had very tasty crepes for lunch.

View from Sather Tower

We continued our tour, ending at Sather Gate and Sproul Plaza. I slipped in to take a look at the T-shirts, but couldn't bring myself to buy one with "Cal" on it; the way I phrased it to Melody was that I was looking for something a little less overt.

Going south a couple blocks, we decided it was ice cream time, and stopped into Cream. After that, we decided we must be getting old because we were ready to head back to our room, which we did. It was a good day to do laundry, so after that was done, we grabbed some quick dinner and retired for the day.