James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead
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StayHydrated
Swedish Chef
Building on this: the actual cable car museum. If you're staying in the Tenderloin/South of Market/Civic Center area, start at the Powell St turntable right next to the BART stop. Get on there, and ride it to the museum. The museum is actually the powerhouse, and you look down at all of the actual, currently functioning cable pulling machinery. The pulleys are HUGE.
StayHydrated
Swedish Chef
Also, if you're into street art, keep an eye out for work from fnnch (my favorite), who is based in SF. His iconic/popular thing is a honey bottle bear stencil that he does many riffs on (BART conductor bear, Son of Man -> Cub of Bear, Bowie Bear). He also does loads of murals on peoples garage doors, sides of houses, restaurants, industrial buildings, and the public staircases. It's fun to try to spot his work, the kids might be into it too.
https://fnnch.com/
He did some stuff in Hoboken at one of the piers a few years ago:
https://fnnch.com/
He did some stuff in Hoboken at one of the piers a few years ago:
San Francisco - Day 3 (Wednesday)
Funny enough @taylor185 - we started Wednesday with the Cable Car Museum, which is free but is also actually the main terminus for the 4 different cable car wires in the city. There are 4 lines here and they all terminate in this same building. They come in at the end all parallel, with 4 monster machines running, pulling the cables. This system is pretty fascinating and even the kids got into it once I started reading it and explaining how it all worked. I found it really interesting and it was a great start to the day. The cables literally wind all over the place with a series of massive wires. I think @UtahJoe would also find it really cool. As soon as you walk into the building it smells of gear oil or something. It's a pretty neat relic from the past.
Turns out they replace a cable every 75-250 days. They have sensors all over and when one trips, they need to cut the cable, splice the new one, feed the new one through the system, then literally braid the new cable together, metal fiber-by-metal fiber, for 90 feet of the cable. So they literally hand-braid the 2 ends together to create a single cable.
I am literally writing this as @StayHydrated added that reply. We skipped the car ride through, for 2 reasons. First, the cost was $35 for the family and this city is sending us to the poor house. Second, the cars we jam-packed, which sort of limits how much fun you can have on them.
From here we walked to a coffee roaster, which only sells beans so I blind-bought some. Then we walked up to the Coit Tower and hung out up there for a little bit.
It's cool, worth the walk up. We got a nice view and just sat & relaxed for a few. Walked down and took everyone to a chocolatier, one of the top 5 chocolate places in the city, according to some travel guide I found. When we got there, there was a food tour going on which sounds like such an amazing idea, but this is an adult activity, much like Haight-Ashbury. One day when we come back.
We then walked to Chinatown and passed Saint Peter and Pauls Church, which is reputed to be where Joe Dimaggio & Marilyn Monroe took pictures after they got married in 1961. Our tour guide from the first day said that story is fake, the pictures do not exist. I present to you hard evidence that these pictures are, in fact, legit. See below:
Oh wait...
Walked past the Beat Museum, which I dipped into real quick but is of no interest to the family, as they have no idea who/what the Beats are. It was really just a point of interest and even for myself, I think the whole movement is a bit over-wrought and over-hyped, even more than our society tends to do with pretty much everything. Ok enough with that. In this family, Beats are dark reddish things that grow in the ground. Across the street is the City Lights bookstore, which is owned by former/current dark-reddish tuber Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who is now 99. Ok enough of that.
Walked through Chinatown and stopped in at a shitty bakery, which was pretty disappointing overall.
Made our way to Union Square to sit in the park for 45 minutes waiting for the Chinatown walking tour, which was included with yesterday's bus tour. I had grabbed an espresso at the park coffee shop and it was remarkably good. The first of the day was across the street from the Cable Car Museum, and it was terrible. This was much better. We chilled in the park until the tour started, then we followed this guy around for about 1:15 as he told us about Chinatown.
Tour was very good, would recommend this. I think this was something that was appealing for all of us, so it kept us all interested for the duration. When we were done, the kids were out of energy and when we asked what they wanted to do, Zac said sit down and eat a meal and the other 2 said nothing. Walking is fun but it slowly erodes the energy level of the children.
We took a quick trip to the Fortune Cookie Factory, which is one of those "must do" places. We walked by it on the tour but the line was really long. When we went back, we were able to duck in and be in & out real quick. We now have 6 fortune cookies with our own fortunes in them.
Decided to hit dinner early but I saw a tea shop and wanted to go in and try some. It was cool and all, but the tea was kinda shitty. As much as I am a coffee snob, I am more so with tea. I really dislike crappy green tea, and that is exactly what she served. I didn't end up buying anything. Shop was setup legit though.
Grabbed dinner at some Chinatown something or other that I had found in a top 10 list. In hindsight, I am thinking this list was a paid thing. The food was fine but I would not send anyone across the country to go here. Kids liked it more or less, as there was something for everyone. The hot & sour soup was good, which I liked as it is hard to get a good bowl in NJ.
After dinner we generally walked towards route 80 to try and cut down on the Uber cost. Stopped at Marshalls to buy me new sneakers, then Peet's Coffee to use the bathroom and get a tea for D and expresso for me. It was ok, better than expectations. This trip was entirely meant to allow the kids to use the bathroom, as they were ready to explode apparently.
Close to route 80 we got the Uber which was $15 less than yesterday, so the walk was worth it. We overshot the primary location though, as it was $3 less like 10 minutes earlier. There must be some sort of prime-Uber location finding process. IDK what it is. The driver was a dude originally from England. Nice guy, great conversation and gave us some good ideas for Thursday.
Back at the hotel, I ran out to Trader Joes while everyone else held down the couches and beds. Then I did laundry while they went to the pool or continued to hold the couch down. Julia & Simon were content to iPad (verd) the evening away, while Zac wanted to hit the hot tub.
Solid sunset coming out of Trader Joes
I/we have come to the conclusion that San Fran is probably as close to NYC as any other city we have been to. For the most part, San Fran doesn't give a crap what you think. It just is, much in the same way NYC just "is" - IDK how to express this exactly but I think SF is a city more geared towards living/experiencing it on a long-haul basis. I can imagine coming back and having this on our places to live temporarily when we gravitate towards our gypsy lifestyle. In a place like Seattle or Chicago, there is a lot of tourism-focus built into the city. NYC and SF, well they just don't care. I can appreciate that, though it doesn't necessarily lend itself to family trips. We are doing just fine so far and making the best of it, don't get me wrong. And the kids are old enough now to roll with things, so they are liking it. Really it's just an observation of the city thus far.
Ok, about to spin up our Thursday.
Funny enough @taylor185 - we started Wednesday with the Cable Car Museum, which is free but is also actually the main terminus for the 4 different cable car wires in the city. There are 4 lines here and they all terminate in this same building. They come in at the end all parallel, with 4 monster machines running, pulling the cables. This system is pretty fascinating and even the kids got into it once I started reading it and explaining how it all worked. I found it really interesting and it was a great start to the day. The cables literally wind all over the place with a series of massive wires. I think @UtahJoe would also find it really cool. As soon as you walk into the building it smells of gear oil or something. It's a pretty neat relic from the past.
Turns out they replace a cable every 75-250 days. They have sensors all over and when one trips, they need to cut the cable, splice the new one, feed the new one through the system, then literally braid the new cable together, metal fiber-by-metal fiber, for 90 feet of the cable. So they literally hand-braid the 2 ends together to create a single cable.
I am literally writing this as @StayHydrated added that reply. We skipped the car ride through, for 2 reasons. First, the cost was $35 for the family and this city is sending us to the poor house. Second, the cars we jam-packed, which sort of limits how much fun you can have on them.
From here we walked to a coffee roaster, which only sells beans so I blind-bought some. Then we walked up to the Coit Tower and hung out up there for a little bit.
It's cool, worth the walk up. We got a nice view and just sat & relaxed for a few. Walked down and took everyone to a chocolatier, one of the top 5 chocolate places in the city, according to some travel guide I found. When we got there, there was a food tour going on which sounds like such an amazing idea, but this is an adult activity, much like Haight-Ashbury. One day when we come back.
We then walked to Chinatown and passed Saint Peter and Pauls Church, which is reputed to be where Joe Dimaggio & Marilyn Monroe took pictures after they got married in 1961. Our tour guide from the first day said that story is fake, the pictures do not exist. I present to you hard evidence that these pictures are, in fact, legit. See below:
Oh wait...
Walked past the Beat Museum, which I dipped into real quick but is of no interest to the family, as they have no idea who/what the Beats are. It was really just a point of interest and even for myself, I think the whole movement is a bit over-wrought and over-hyped, even more than our society tends to do with pretty much everything. Ok enough with that. In this family, Beats are dark reddish things that grow in the ground. Across the street is the City Lights bookstore, which is owned by former/current dark-reddish tuber Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who is now 99. Ok enough of that.
Walked through Chinatown and stopped in at a shitty bakery, which was pretty disappointing overall.
Made our way to Union Square to sit in the park for 45 minutes waiting for the Chinatown walking tour, which was included with yesterday's bus tour. I had grabbed an espresso at the park coffee shop and it was remarkably good. The first of the day was across the street from the Cable Car Museum, and it was terrible. This was much better. We chilled in the park until the tour started, then we followed this guy around for about 1:15 as he told us about Chinatown.
Tour was very good, would recommend this. I think this was something that was appealing for all of us, so it kept us all interested for the duration. When we were done, the kids were out of energy and when we asked what they wanted to do, Zac said sit down and eat a meal and the other 2 said nothing. Walking is fun but it slowly erodes the energy level of the children.
We took a quick trip to the Fortune Cookie Factory, which is one of those "must do" places. We walked by it on the tour but the line was really long. When we went back, we were able to duck in and be in & out real quick. We now have 6 fortune cookies with our own fortunes in them.
Decided to hit dinner early but I saw a tea shop and wanted to go in and try some. It was cool and all, but the tea was kinda shitty. As much as I am a coffee snob, I am more so with tea. I really dislike crappy green tea, and that is exactly what she served. I didn't end up buying anything. Shop was setup legit though.
Grabbed dinner at some Chinatown something or other that I had found in a top 10 list. In hindsight, I am thinking this list was a paid thing. The food was fine but I would not send anyone across the country to go here. Kids liked it more or less, as there was something for everyone. The hot & sour soup was good, which I liked as it is hard to get a good bowl in NJ.
After dinner we generally walked towards route 80 to try and cut down on the Uber cost. Stopped at Marshalls to buy me new sneakers, then Peet's Coffee to use the bathroom and get a tea for D and expresso for me. It was ok, better than expectations. This trip was entirely meant to allow the kids to use the bathroom, as they were ready to explode apparently.
Close to route 80 we got the Uber which was $15 less than yesterday, so the walk was worth it. We overshot the primary location though, as it was $3 less like 10 minutes earlier. There must be some sort of prime-Uber location finding process. IDK what it is. The driver was a dude originally from England. Nice guy, great conversation and gave us some good ideas for Thursday.
Back at the hotel, I ran out to Trader Joes while everyone else held down the couches and beds. Then I did laundry while they went to the pool or continued to hold the couch down. Julia & Simon were content to iPad (verd) the evening away, while Zac wanted to hit the hot tub.
Solid sunset coming out of Trader Joes
I/we have come to the conclusion that San Fran is probably as close to NYC as any other city we have been to. For the most part, San Fran doesn't give a crap what you think. It just is, much in the same way NYC just "is" - IDK how to express this exactly but I think SF is a city more geared towards living/experiencing it on a long-haul basis. I can imagine coming back and having this on our places to live temporarily when we gravitate towards our gypsy lifestyle. In a place like Seattle or Chicago, there is a lot of tourism-focus built into the city. NYC and SF, well they just don't care. I can appreciate that, though it doesn't necessarily lend itself to family trips. We are doing just fine so far and making the best of it, don't get me wrong. And the kids are old enough now to roll with things, so they are liking it. Really it's just an observation of the city thus far.
Ok, about to spin up our Thursday.
I would love to go to San Fran again one day. (I'm taking notes on your trip BTW.) I went a number of years ago with one of my sisters... Who isn't exactly the best traveling companion for me. She'll do all the touristy stuff like Alcatraz and that crooked street (which we somehow timed perfectly and were the only ones there and we got to drive down it) but she only eats food she knows... Which isn't great. :/
What's your favorite thing so far? (Food, museum, coffee, whatever)
What's your favorite thing so far? (Food, museum, coffee, whatever)
Kaleidopete
Well-Known Member
I've gone to this bar and it's a fun place. Zeitgeist, biker bar
https://www.facebook.com/ZeitgeistSF/?rf=171685386343624
one more......my son's bar in SF
https://www.facebook.com/EmperorNortonsBoozeland/
https://www.facebook.com/ZeitgeistSF/?rf=171685386343624
one more......my son's bar in SF
https://www.facebook.com/EmperorNortonsBoozeland/
I think you trigger a repressed memory because I now recall being shocked by the cost of a car ride. I think I rationalized it by assuming the cost to operate and maintain that system must be crazy high.
Kaleidopete
Well-Known Member
My bike rental there, $35 for the afternoon. I had a slow leak tire and complained about it and they didn't charge me the $35.
They were very nice about it.
They were very nice about it.
San Francisco - Day 4 (Thursday)
Today was a little less hectic than the previous 3 days because we had some concrete plans. We started with the Exploratorium as our 3rd GoCity item, which leaves 2 more to do. The place is a kids-based experience, but this is really enjoyable for all ages. While it may not necessarily be something specific to San Francisco's fabric/culture, we need to align the trip with the kids and their expectations/experience. There was a ton of cool stuff here and the kids were pretty much occupied us from 10-4. Better yet was the cafe in the lobby had a pretty good double, which was a nice surprise. I grabbed one before & after.
Just in case you weren't sure:
When we wrapped up, we took an Uber to the top of Twin Peaks, which is kind of nowhere near where we were. But we were going out there anyway to meet up with some friends, specifically Mike, my old college roommate who is the only person I know with a name lower in alphabetical order than mine (Zyracki), his wife Mary, and their son. We got to the top and it was foggy, windy, and cold. The fog breaks briefly here:
View was awesome, obviously. We walked down the hill and found a little park to hang in while they were out getting stuff for dinner. Got to their condo and got to enjoy the view from their balcony for a bit. Hard to beat this:
It was good to see them, and other than not getting sloppy drunk, not much has really changed over the years. We had dinner, then put on a movie for the kids, while we talked among the adults. Had some ice cream then had to catch an Uber as it was getting late. Mary made the kids take a pic of the 4 of us. So we got a group shot of the adults.
Good day all in all. I think this may end up being the best for the kids so far, as they seemed pretty content by the end. It was good for us too. Good afternoon, amazing view, and got to have dinner with some old friends. Mike is 1 of the 4 of us who had an apartment together our 3rd year at Rutgers. @woody was another plus Jon who moved to NH and I have not seen in a long time.
Gearing up for the Friday adventure, which is something completely different.
@MissJR - I'll answer that question after the trip is over but I have an idea what I would do given a single day here.
Today was a little less hectic than the previous 3 days because we had some concrete plans. We started with the Exploratorium as our 3rd GoCity item, which leaves 2 more to do. The place is a kids-based experience, but this is really enjoyable for all ages. While it may not necessarily be something specific to San Francisco's fabric/culture, we need to align the trip with the kids and their expectations/experience. There was a ton of cool stuff here and the kids were pretty much occupied us from 10-4. Better yet was the cafe in the lobby had a pretty good double, which was a nice surprise. I grabbed one before & after.
Just in case you weren't sure:
When we wrapped up, we took an Uber to the top of Twin Peaks, which is kind of nowhere near where we were. But we were going out there anyway to meet up with some friends, specifically Mike, my old college roommate who is the only person I know with a name lower in alphabetical order than mine (Zyracki), his wife Mary, and their son. We got to the top and it was foggy, windy, and cold. The fog breaks briefly here:
View was awesome, obviously. We walked down the hill and found a little park to hang in while they were out getting stuff for dinner. Got to their condo and got to enjoy the view from their balcony for a bit. Hard to beat this:
It was good to see them, and other than not getting sloppy drunk, not much has really changed over the years. We had dinner, then put on a movie for the kids, while we talked among the adults. Had some ice cream then had to catch an Uber as it was getting late. Mary made the kids take a pic of the 4 of us. So we got a group shot of the adults.
Good day all in all. I think this may end up being the best for the kids so far, as they seemed pretty content by the end. It was good for us too. Good afternoon, amazing view, and got to have dinner with some old friends. Mike is 1 of the 4 of us who had an apartment together our 3rd year at Rutgers. @woody was another plus Jon who moved to NH and I have not seen in a long time.
Gearing up for the Friday adventure, which is something completely different.
@MissJR - I'll answer that question after the trip is over but I have an idea what I would do given a single day here.
San Francisco - Day 5 (Friday)
@MissJR if you are coming out here, you need to go to Muir Woods. This place is awesome enough that we took the kids on a 4 hour hike and they didn't complain about it. It's really something you should try to do when you come. It's not exactly easy to get to. But it's worth it. This will be part of the "if I had 1 day in SF" post I do at the end.
So start of day is the same as any other day. We looked into a car and in the end, frankly, Uber was cheaper & more convenient. Maybe a little much but whatever. Muir isn't that far from anything so we were there in 45 minutes. It only costs $10 per adult to get in. So you pay to get there, but getting in is cheap.
Also a thing to remember. You can't just drive there and park. You need to make reservations to park.
It's immediately amazing.
I can't really put into words how awesome it is. It's really something you need to experience. I would say no words nor pictures will do it any good.
The park office gives 3 different suggestions on hikes. I would say that is based on the average American that doesn't do much physical activity. We started on the flat walking path but decided to do one of the off-main-trail hikes. We took the Canopy View Trail then took the extension on the Lost Trail, which we did after talking to 3 other people coming down. This was the real key decision. It was pretty vertical in a short span but it was also short. It also afforded us this view while we ate lunch.
That small trail to get here was an out & back, then we kept going to Lost, then Plevin Cut, then back to the main trail. The key is really the Canopy View then when you get to the intersection at the top, go right and keep going up. It's worth it. Pack a lunch.
After 4 hours we called it a day here and let the girl at the Visitor Center know we had no cell service and took an Uber there. Let me rephrase this in a way she understood it: "Excuse me, ma'am. We are yet another set of morons who brought our kids here to a remote forest, one-way, with no means to get out and there is no cell service at all. What should we do? Can you drive us home?"
She gave us a knowing smile, since it is not the first time this question has been asked of her, and directed us to the shuttle that runs every 30 minutes to Sausalito, for a mere $3/adult. Kids are free, sweet! So we got to Sausalito. It will come as no surprise to find out that it is brutally expensive to leave here too. The Uber from here was $70+ so we decided to take a ferry. It was still early and we needed to draw the day out a bit more. What better way than to hop on a ferry and cruise past Alcatraz?
Too lazy to crop right now:
From there, as if the 4 hours of walking were not enough, we walked from Pier 39 to the Ferry Building, which was another 1.5 miles. Ok here is something you need to take this note on, @MissJR. Go to Humphrey Slocombe for ice cream in the Ferry Building. Get in line, wait in line, enjoy. It made the Food Network's "top 5 ice creams in America" list. Is it that good? Well we all know that any top 5 is going to be impossible to define. But yes, it was good. On the ferry the kids asked me if we could go back tomorrow (hint: we will).
On the ferry part 2 - we took another ferry to get to Oakland, which is why we walked to the Ferry Building in the first place. The first ferry and this one were different lines & different locations. Even after 5 people took 2 ferry rides, the cost was still less than the Uber from Sausalito. Plus is was a great experience to take the boats as well as being able to spend some time outside the hotel room.
This also dropped us in Jack London Square in Oakland, which is a pretty hip area of Oakland (I know, I know). For sports fans let's say this is more of an A's clientele than the Raiders. Somehow I managed to convince everyone to try an Arabic restaurant, which was called Dyafa. I put the name here so you can add this to the list if you end up staying on this side. It was really good. Again, not cheap. But really good and for those of you who didn't catch that, we fed the kids Arabic food and they liked it. This is one of those watershed moments in family history.
The night before Mary told us to never walk in Oakland. She had suggested a place to get breakfast which is maybe a mile from the hotel, which I said maybe we could walk to. She gave me an emphatic NO. Not "that's not a good idea" but more of an "I forbid you to do such a stupid thing" kind of reply. Driving through Oakland after dinner made this clear as to why. It is a shithole, and probably rivals the separation of wealth you get at a Mexican resort with metal fences and security. There were homeless tent camps under the freeways that resembled a war fallout zone.
Got back to the hotel, went to the hot tub for a half hour or so, then back to the room to shower, chill for a little, then hit the sack earlier than normal.
In all, a great day.
@MissJR if you are coming out here, you need to go to Muir Woods. This place is awesome enough that we took the kids on a 4 hour hike and they didn't complain about it. It's really something you should try to do when you come. It's not exactly easy to get to. But it's worth it. This will be part of the "if I had 1 day in SF" post I do at the end.
So start of day is the same as any other day. We looked into a car and in the end, frankly, Uber was cheaper & more convenient. Maybe a little much but whatever. Muir isn't that far from anything so we were there in 45 minutes. It only costs $10 per adult to get in. So you pay to get there, but getting in is cheap.
Also a thing to remember. You can't just drive there and park. You need to make reservations to park.
It's immediately amazing.
I can't really put into words how awesome it is. It's really something you need to experience. I would say no words nor pictures will do it any good.
The park office gives 3 different suggestions on hikes. I would say that is based on the average American that doesn't do much physical activity. We started on the flat walking path but decided to do one of the off-main-trail hikes. We took the Canopy View Trail then took the extension on the Lost Trail, which we did after talking to 3 other people coming down. This was the real key decision. It was pretty vertical in a short span but it was also short. It also afforded us this view while we ate lunch.
That small trail to get here was an out & back, then we kept going to Lost, then Plevin Cut, then back to the main trail. The key is really the Canopy View then when you get to the intersection at the top, go right and keep going up. It's worth it. Pack a lunch.
After 4 hours we called it a day here and let the girl at the Visitor Center know we had no cell service and took an Uber there. Let me rephrase this in a way she understood it: "Excuse me, ma'am. We are yet another set of morons who brought our kids here to a remote forest, one-way, with no means to get out and there is no cell service at all. What should we do? Can you drive us home?"
She gave us a knowing smile, since it is not the first time this question has been asked of her, and directed us to the shuttle that runs every 30 minutes to Sausalito, for a mere $3/adult. Kids are free, sweet! So we got to Sausalito. It will come as no surprise to find out that it is brutally expensive to leave here too. The Uber from here was $70+ so we decided to take a ferry. It was still early and we needed to draw the day out a bit more. What better way than to hop on a ferry and cruise past Alcatraz?
Too lazy to crop right now:
From there, as if the 4 hours of walking were not enough, we walked from Pier 39 to the Ferry Building, which was another 1.5 miles. Ok here is something you need to take this note on, @MissJR. Go to Humphrey Slocombe for ice cream in the Ferry Building. Get in line, wait in line, enjoy. It made the Food Network's "top 5 ice creams in America" list. Is it that good? Well we all know that any top 5 is going to be impossible to define. But yes, it was good. On the ferry the kids asked me if we could go back tomorrow (hint: we will).
On the ferry part 2 - we took another ferry to get to Oakland, which is why we walked to the Ferry Building in the first place. The first ferry and this one were different lines & different locations. Even after 5 people took 2 ferry rides, the cost was still less than the Uber from Sausalito. Plus is was a great experience to take the boats as well as being able to spend some time outside the hotel room.
This also dropped us in Jack London Square in Oakland, which is a pretty hip area of Oakland (I know, I know). For sports fans let's say this is more of an A's clientele than the Raiders. Somehow I managed to convince everyone to try an Arabic restaurant, which was called Dyafa. I put the name here so you can add this to the list if you end up staying on this side. It was really good. Again, not cheap. But really good and for those of you who didn't catch that, we fed the kids Arabic food and they liked it. This is one of those watershed moments in family history.
The night before Mary told us to never walk in Oakland. She had suggested a place to get breakfast which is maybe a mile from the hotel, which I said maybe we could walk to. She gave me an emphatic NO. Not "that's not a good idea" but more of an "I forbid you to do such a stupid thing" kind of reply. Driving through Oakland after dinner made this clear as to why. It is a shithole, and probably rivals the separation of wealth you get at a Mexican resort with metal fences and security. There were homeless tent camps under the freeways that resembled a war fallout zone.
Got back to the hotel, went to the hot tub for a half hour or so, then back to the room to shower, chill for a little, then hit the sack earlier than normal.
In all, a great day.
Hint about Muir for others - it is packed at the entrance, and lower trails - they are for the avg person and below.
Any trail that goes up will result in a low traffic experience.
Glad you liked it. Great family experience - puts things in perspective.
Wait to you get to the see the really big trees at calavaras.....
connect with the petrified trees too. very cool.
Note Sue standing at the bottom right of the largest tree in calavaras.
Any trail that goes up will result in a low traffic experience.
Glad you liked it. Great family experience - puts things in perspective.
Wait to you get to the see the really big trees at calavaras.....
connect with the petrified trees too. very cool.
Note Sue standing at the bottom right of the largest tree in calavaras.
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San Francisco - Day 6 (Saturday)
Last day of our San Francisco adventure was driven by the need to tie up the last 2 things on the GoCity pass. We knew we were going to do the cruise around the bay, but the last thing was up in the air. After a family discussion in the morning, we decided on the San Francisco Dungeon. In the end, it was pretty tourist-trap-ish, but at this point we have really gotten as much out of this trip as we can in 5 full days. So doing some fun/silly/short things was good for the last day.
After the dungeon we went across the street to check out the Boudin Bakery. They make all sorts of stuff here, from decent bread to goofy bread-animals. We got a chocolate sourdough to split which was actually legit. It did an amazing job splitting the difference between chocolate cake and sourdough bread. Don't ask me, but they manage to pull it off. Kudos to that.
Spent a little time on Fisherman's Wharf which included a stop at a classic arcade, which is full of machines from yesterday to yesteryear, to machines that are from our grandparent's era. Check out my IG feed for a cool video on the French Execution machine. Cool or creepy.
Lunch was a quick stop at the Chowder House before we walked down the pier and got in line for the cruise.
Cruise was good, a bunch of stuff to look at. Alcatraz & the city:
As you can see, the sky is nice in one direction and not so much in another. From minute to minute this changes.
San Fran-Oakland Bay Bridge, which is apparently 6+ miles long. The lower deck of this partly crumbled in the 1989 earthquake.
And we went under the Golden Gate. Again, other side of the bay, totally in the fog. This is literally 15 minutes boat ride from above.
After the cruise we walked down to the Ferry Building and got more Humphrey Slocombe ice cream, which is just that good. Took the ferry to Oakland then walked down to Forge, which Mike said was a good spot for a group, which we were going to be again tonight as Mike & Mary and their Brother-in-law & his daughter were joining us. I wasn't sure if they up for another outing but they were in Oakland hanging out with them. They said they might try and come out to the East Bay to try and hook up with us, but I wasn't sure if that would happen or not. In the end, we had another nice meal with them. Again, just able to pick up and it's like we see them all the time. It's nice like that.
After dinner we went to Ben & Jerry's and the kids were allowed a small cup, but even I admit this is too much ice cream in a 2 hour span, so I passed.
Back to the hotel to do laundry and pack for the trip home in the morning, bright & early here but a full day lost with the flight plus time difference. Edit: plus the shitty Newark delays that never end.
This is just for @UtahJoe.
Last day of our San Francisco adventure was driven by the need to tie up the last 2 things on the GoCity pass. We knew we were going to do the cruise around the bay, but the last thing was up in the air. After a family discussion in the morning, we decided on the San Francisco Dungeon. In the end, it was pretty tourist-trap-ish, but at this point we have really gotten as much out of this trip as we can in 5 full days. So doing some fun/silly/short things was good for the last day.
After the dungeon we went across the street to check out the Boudin Bakery. They make all sorts of stuff here, from decent bread to goofy bread-animals. We got a chocolate sourdough to split which was actually legit. It did an amazing job splitting the difference between chocolate cake and sourdough bread. Don't ask me, but they manage to pull it off. Kudos to that.
Spent a little time on Fisherman's Wharf which included a stop at a classic arcade, which is full of machines from yesterday to yesteryear, to machines that are from our grandparent's era. Check out my IG feed for a cool video on the French Execution machine. Cool or creepy.
Lunch was a quick stop at the Chowder House before we walked down the pier and got in line for the cruise.
Cruise was good, a bunch of stuff to look at. Alcatraz & the city:
As you can see, the sky is nice in one direction and not so much in another. From minute to minute this changes.
San Fran-Oakland Bay Bridge, which is apparently 6+ miles long. The lower deck of this partly crumbled in the 1989 earthquake.
And we went under the Golden Gate. Again, other side of the bay, totally in the fog. This is literally 15 minutes boat ride from above.
After the cruise we walked down to the Ferry Building and got more Humphrey Slocombe ice cream, which is just that good. Took the ferry to Oakland then walked down to Forge, which Mike said was a good spot for a group, which we were going to be again tonight as Mike & Mary and their Brother-in-law & his daughter were joining us. I wasn't sure if they up for another outing but they were in Oakland hanging out with them. They said they might try and come out to the East Bay to try and hook up with us, but I wasn't sure if that would happen or not. In the end, we had another nice meal with them. Again, just able to pick up and it's like we see them all the time. It's nice like that.
After dinner we went to Ben & Jerry's and the kids were allowed a small cup, but even I admit this is too much ice cream in a 2 hour span, so I passed.
Back to the hotel to do laundry and pack for the trip home in the morning, bright & early here but a full day lost with the flight plus time difference. Edit: plus the shitty Newark delays that never end.
This is just for @UtahJoe.
Awesome tour, thanks for bringing us for the ride. Looks like you really wrung a lot out of this trip.
And on the fly.
As @TallGuy says, "Chapeau".
I was thinking of you today when we and some friends had ice cream for lunch (the upside of adulting).
Sadly they were out of their showcase flavor: Taylor Ham/French Toast, but urrrrything else was amazing.
Windy Brow Farms in Fredon.
Ice cream festival next weekend....
https://windybrowfarms.com
And on the fly.
As @TallGuy says, "Chapeau".
I was thinking of you today when we and some friends had ice cream for lunch (the upside of adulting).
Sadly they were out of their showcase flavor: Taylor Ham/French Toast, but urrrrything else was amazing.
Windy Brow Farms in Fredon.
Ice cream festival next weekend....
https://windybrowfarms.com
Welcome to San Francisco....This is our lord and savior....Did you kneel before him like all of the cowboys teams of the 80s did? 
(useless knowledge I have retained.....) So thats the western span of the bay bridge, the eastern span had a section collapse during Loma Prieta.....I remember this bc it happened on my birthday in 89.
(useless knowledge I have retained.....) So thats the western span of the bay bridge, the eastern span had a section collapse during Loma Prieta.....I remember this bc it happened on my birthday in 89.