West Coast Trip: San Francisco (Day 8-10)

So, the holidays are cramping my style as I attempt to finish blogging our vacation. Well, there are still a few more places to see and go after this one, but I wanted to have everything up on a daily basis. Nice dreams, huh?

San Francisco was magical, beautiful, and quaint to me...before we got there. I had this image of San Francisco that I'm sure I got from books, movies, and the news, but I left with an entirely different idea of the "quaint" town. San Fran is big! I mean it's New York big. Now, it's not nearly as large as New York City, but it feels like it is because they have one of the largest percentages of people per square mile in the US. So, throw quaint out the window! The incessant rain and walking around for a cab for over an hour after we had been on our feet all day did not improve my attitude towards San Fran.

There are some redeeming qualities about SF, that I really didn't determine until I was back in cozy Ohio. I was so focused on the negative times in San Francisco, that I forgot all of the positive and fun things we got to do. Part of the reason why I had a bitter taste in my mouth about SF is because the rest of the trip was awesome. Everything really worked out well in every other location. And those of you that know me well, know that I get a little obsessive about planning, so maybe I was just upset that everything wasn't perfect. Now, everything wasn't perfect all the time, but we really had a great time on our trip. Trip of a lifetime for me and Ryan.

I'll stop complaining about SF :). You'll see the good and bad times in the pictures.

Lombard Street - "Crookedest Street in the World"

 

 

The view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Crissy Field Center

Beginning of our Bike Adventure

We may look happy, but it was almost 30 degrees colder on the Golden Gate Bridge. It was freezing & a little miserable! We made it across the bridge though (2 miles of wind, rain, colder temps, and all in nice clothes!)

We made it to Sausalito!! (We biked about 9 miles in total to get there...yes we are beasts)

And enjoyed a great seafood dinner in a warm, cozy restaurant on the water :)

Beautiful boats docked at Sausalito at sunset

At the very last minute, we found out that two tickets were available for the ferry to Alcatraz Island & Angel Island State Park. We were so excited! The tickets are often sold out more than a month in advance and since we didn't know what time we would want to go to Alcatraz...we didn't book any, but it all worked out. Even for me, the pessimist.

View of Alcatraz Island from the ferry boat. Angel Island is in the distance.

View of San Fran from Angel Island. On a clear day, you can see all five bridges of San Francisco from Angel Island State Park.

Angel Island is an old military post. The house on the right was a bakery back then. They still give tours to school age children. The tour includes the opportunity for the children to actually bake the bread and stay the night on the island!

Angel Island is the eastern hemisphere's counterpart to Ellis Island. Many of the Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian immigrants were quarantined on Angel Island before they were allowed to come into America (aka San Francisco).

Waiting to catch our ferry to Alcatraz

Ryan took this beautiful shot on the ferry ride

Alcatraz

Being there was so neat. The "tour" was a self-guided audio tour in more than 15 different languages. We got to hear about the attempted escapes, life on the island, and more. Definitely one of my favorite parts of San Francisco.

I locked him up! :)

My turn

View of San Francisco from Alcatraz...it is so close!

Beautiful architecture on some of the buildings

Where the prisoners ate their meals

A real past prisoner of Alcatraz. When I asked his name, he gave me his prison number. It was really sad because he still associates his identity with that number. He has written a book about his time at Alcatraz: Entombed in Alcatraz by Robert Luke.

Ryan woke up really early on our last day to take this picture at sunrise. The first time the bridge was not enshrouded in fog. I love his pictures!

Walking in San Fran

A park near Fisherman's Wharf where we had biked through on our first day.

The first time I got to see the bridge, which was the morning after Ryan took his awesome pictures of it. It was covered again within an hour of this picture.

Alcatraz from the trees

We found this neat farmer's market that had dirt cheap produce, flowers, and baked goods. I tried dried kale for the first time here!

Also found an annual book sale going on right next to the farmer's market. Every book was only $1! If only the line hadn't had more than 50 people in it, I probably would have purchased one.

Ghirardelli Square :)

Fisherman's Wharf

The world famous cable cars

Getting ready to take off for our first ride!

View of San Fran's crazy hills from the cable car

Love this shot of him

All in all, we had a great time in San Fran. I learned my lesson to not let a few things ruin my mood. Well, let's be honest, I learned my lesson after we left and I thought back on all of the fun things we did in SF :).