Foggy and Fun Filled Days

We arrived early afternoon at the San Francisco RV Resort and settled into our ocean-front spot, high on a 60 ft. bluff overlooking the Pacific. It was a beautiful view, but the advertisement of “beach access” was highly exaggerated. We ended up scaling down a rope over rocks to dip our toes in the ocean-not as dangerous as it sounds, just not the cute little walkways we see at the Jersey Shore.

The kids had a blast dipping their toes in the freezing water and posing for pictures.

We decided to spend the evening taking care of necessities-laundry, grocery shopping and, of course, a dip in the heated pool and hot tub and to make an early start the next morning.

We started out early on Wednesday, a foggy and chilly morning-quite a change from our previous weather patterns, and caught the BART (Bay Area Regional Transportation) into the city. We had purchased tickets online for a hop on/hop off bus tour of the city, so we spent the first half of the morning on the tour bus, taking pictures and seeing the sights.

After the tour, we walked over to see Fisherman’s Wharf and check out the sea lions. Apparently, July is THEIR vacation month too, and we only managed to find three of them basking in the sun.

No worries, Fisherman’s Wharf had plenty to do, including Meghan’s favorite pastime-Shopping!

We spent the morning scouring the shops, picking up souvenirs and had a terrific lunch at The Prime Market. Maura managed to spill an entire soda on her lap the minute it was delivered, and I ran to the shops to see if I could find her a replacement pair. Well, needless to say, finding pants in a group of specialty shops, like you find in resort areas, proved difficult. I reluctantly returned with a pair black and white striped leggings I found at the Alcatraz gift shop-yes, they look like prison pants! Anyone who is familiar with Maura’s fashion sense knows that she immediately LOVED them!! So much so, that she wore them to Alcatraz the next day.

After lunch we toured the Aquarium of the Bay-a cute little aquarium that had a wonderful walk through tunnel where you could see all the bay area marine life in action. While not as impressive as our Adventure Aquarium in Camden, it was still fun.

We capped off the afternoon with dessert and drinks (for Mom & Dad) at a cute little restaurant at the wharf-a good way to relax after all that walking.

Thursday brought another cool day (mid 50’s) although not as much fog as the previous day. We bundled up in several layers as we were heading to take the Alcatraz ferry trip to the Island. The kids enjoyed the ferry ride, and the views of the city were beautiful.

By the time we arrived at the island, the sun was shining brightly and although chilly, it was a gorgeous day. We picked up our headsets for the cell tour and started around the prison.

As we rounded one corner, one of the park rangers (Alcatraz is a national park) asked if we’d like to join a small group of people she was taking to see the hospital area of the prison (not usually open to regular guests). We happily agreed, she led our group of 12 through a locked door that they again locked behind us (creepy!) and we set off. As you can see by the pictures, the kids were invited to lay on the operating and x-ray tables and we were told lots of interesting facts about the prison.

The ranger loved Maura’s pants and said she looked like she belonged there.

We even saw some props and residual “blood” left from the making of “The Rock” with Sean Connery. As the tour was coming to an end another park ranger who had joined us invited us to tour the basement area. Meghan was wearing flip-flops and as the terrain was rougher, he said she couldn’t go, but I told Jeff and Colin to take the tour and we’d meet up with them later. They had to wear hard hats and also got to see the upper level jail cells-they put Colin in one!

We caught the 3:45 ferry back to the wharf and headed to Chinatown for some dinner.

Anyone who knows my crew knows that they are tough to feed-very picky and not into trying new things, but I am proud to say they all did very well in Chinatown. We found a cute little restaurant and they sat us at a big round table with a lazy-susan in the middle. Jeff and I ordered for all-egg rolls, chicken with broccoli, sweet and sour chicken, sesame chicken and shrimp lo-Mein. Everybody tried a little of everything, and while they didn’t like some things, everyone found at least one thing that they’d eat. Everyone agreed that the fortune cookies were fun and tasty!

We capped off our evening with a ride on the famous cable cars. We waited to be first in line for a cable car so we could ride standing up on the outside. Colin had the front post and the driver enjoyed teasing him. He asked Colin his name and had fun “introducing” Colin to San Francisco-“Hey, look this is Colin!” he yelled at passer-byes like Colin was a celebrity. When we got off, he had the whole cable car yell-“Goodbye Colin!” It was a lot of fun and seeing the city lit up at night was breathtaking.

Someone once said “The coldest winter I ever spent was the summer I spent in San Francisco” and I now understand that quote. The weather was chilly and unpredictable, but we had a blast in San Francisco!