San Francisco

San Francisco is one of my favorite cities. As we planned our trip, we wanted to have a few places where we could just rest and spend two nights in the same place instead of having to unpack for the night, sleep, and then pack and leave. One place was Memphis and the second place was San Francisco. We had family and friends to stay with and so that made it nice.

I had been to Alcatraz on one of my previous trips to San Francisco and so that was on the top of my list. I thought this would be a place that my husband and J would enjoy.

We took the boat there which is just a mile from San Francisco.

We went to a short film that they were showing that included a bit about the history of Alcatraz. Some of the beginning history was as a fort during the Civil War. I tend to not think of the Civil War as this far west but it did protect the bay.

The admission to included an audio tour which really does make the tour much more interesting to hear some of the stories from former prisoners, workers and even children who lived there.

The story came to life as we walked down the walkways, looking in the cells and hearing the stories. We heard about the escape and how the three men who escaped created a head from concrete and glue and then climbed through the vents.

I am not sure why her mouth is open -- maybe she was yelling for help.

San Francisco is just a mile away. One of the things that they said on the audio tour was that especially on New Year's Eve you could hear the parties. I guess that gives meaning to the saying, so close and yet so far away.

After our tour of Alcatraz, we ate a picnic lunch and then walked around Pier 39. We wandered in some of the shops and saw the sea lions.

We watched them play and listened to them bark. They really are loud. You can hear them before you see them. They are bigger than I thought.

We were getting tired and it was getting to be a bit overcast so we decided to just drive about the city a bit. We went to Lombard Street. That was even considered an attraction in our GPS. The worst part of getting to Lombard Street was going up one hill that seemed to be about a 30 degree angle. I wasn't sure our van was going to make it. It reminded me of going up to the Victoria Peak on the tram.

We did it, twisting and turning. We made our way to the bottom and then I took a few pictures. It is very much a tourist attraction. There were a number of people at the bottom taking pictures.

We drove and saw some of the cable cars and tried not to sing "Rice Roni, the San Francisco treat."

The last thing that we did was drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. My husband said that one of the times that he visited he walked across the bridge. I think I prefer to drive across. Just thinking about walking across brings out that dislike of heights.

It was a fun day and gave us a break that we needed in our travels. I think we must have rested up because as we were leaving the next day, Stuart asked if I thought we could drive all the way -- 12 hours. We did it, arriving at 1:30 am but it was good to be at our destination and not have to unpack and repack the car.