Travel Post: San Francisco 2020

On Friday, February 7th, Jeremiah, my Mama, and I set out for the city by the bay, San Francisco.

Sorry if this little clip makes you dizzy - sometimes Boomerang is a bit fast!

We were told several times that we'd be sitting in traffic, not that the idea bothered the two Denverites too much, and Mom didn't seem phased by the idea either.

However, we had a very quick drive to the city from Campbell, so we really lucked out!

We wanted to see the Oakland bridge, so we drove through San Francisco to cross it, and then looped around to the Golden Gate bridge.

​Now, when I was in San Francisco in 2017, we had gone to this place right on the water that had great views. We couldn't remember what it was called, and Dad had referred to it as Presidio, but that ended up being a general name for a larger area.

After looking at the GPS, my mom and I determined it must have been down on Marine Drive on the San Francisco side, down by Fort Point. You can see the historical building under the bridge in this image taken on my cell phone. Don't mind our squintiness - it was bright outside!

I also took a selfie video... because #millennial. ​

One of the things on Jeremy's "List of things to see" for San Francisco was the Golden Gate bridge, so I am happy that my mom and I were able to remember this view point, as it truly is a great place from which to admire the bridge.

We had tried to go to the look out point on the other side of the bridge, but the Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point was not accessible due to construction. I bet it'll be open for tourist season!

That's okay, though. We got to the viewpoint I wanted for Jeremy.

Before we figured out how to get to Fort Point, we did find the Presidio parking area, as advised by my dad.

As soon as we pulled in the parking lot, my mom was like "This isn't it" and I completely agreed. We still took photos of the bridge from there, though.

This was Jeremy's first look at the bridge after getting out of the vehicle.

As you can see compared to the image above, we were much further away from the bridge in the Presidio parking area. There were trails to follow, but I knew we could make it by car to the spot that I had been to in 2017.

Jeremy stood like this for several minutes admiring the bridge.
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I had asked Jeremy to turn around for a photo, but since the sun was so bright, he wasn't able to keep his eyes open. I handed over my sunglasses so he could face the camera in the shot below. He doesn't look bad in circular frames either!

The one thing my mom really wanted to tackle on this day trip to San Francisco was to see Ghirardelli. Since it was not tourist season, we were actually able to park in the parking garage underneath Ghirardelli Square, which is only a few blocks away from the wharf!

Doesn't my mama look so pretty?

We went into Ghirardelli, of course. It was still pretty early in the day, so we didn't get anything, but we all agreed we would stop by again before getting in the car to go home... after all we were parked right there anyway!

Visiting California from Colorado in February is definitely an eye opener when comparing weather. In Colorado, we were having snow showers that week. In California, it was 65-70 degrees in the San Francisco Bay area, and there were flowers!

I took this image of the flower on the walk down to the wharf from Ghirardelli Square. We had strolled through San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park on the way down to the wharf, which is where this flower resided.

While I would never want to live in San Francisco (sorry, San Franciscans), I love how each horizon is unique.

​You have the bay, you have foothills, you have the steep and sometimes narrow streets, and it's almost as if the city builds the taller buildings on the taller hills!

We were walking along Jefferson Street down by the wharf when I looked up one of the seemingly endless streets to see this view.

Of course, there were crowds that got in the shot, but I waited for them to move out of the frame. I was left with this lone pedestrian, but I liked having her in the shot! And I was so gleeful that a few cable cars appeared in the background!

There was bit of haze in the air, which paired with the bright sun, created these two different intensities of contrast, which, in my opinion, gives this photograph a more vintage, or timeless, feel.

We wandered onto Hyde St. Pier, which houses a few historical ships and acts as a museum of sorts on your way out to the ticket booth. You can pay to actually tour the boats, but we decided that seeing them from the pier was good enough.

​PS - I don't think that seagull paid the admission fee ;)

The boat below is called C.A. Thayer, and I pulled the following from Google:

C.A. Thayer is a schooner built in 1895 near Eureka, California. The schooner is now preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. She is one of the last survivors of the sailing schooners in the West coast lumber trade to San Francisco from Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.

Here is the link to the National Park Service web page on the ship if you would like to read more: ​https://www.nps.gov/safr/learn/historyculture/c-a-thayer.htm

We stopped in several tourist shops on our walk down Jefferson Street. Jeremy found several good finds, and I had my heart set on a sweatshirt I saw in the very first store we stopped in - however I didn't purchase it in case I found it cheaper in one of the many other shops, and I didn't want to carry it with me all day.

​Every once in a while the buildings would open up and you'd get a view of the marina and the buildings across the way. Alioto's is a seafood restaurant, of course, and is located at the front if Pier 45 along the wharf.

All along the wharf were flower beds full of tulips. Apparently there was an event going on called Tulip Mania.

If you shared your pictures using the hashtag you could win a Pier 39 Fun Pack and a two night stay at Hotel Zephyr... and while this year's contest is over, I guess it's an annual event!
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https://www.pier39.com/?s=tulip+mania

We continued our way down to Pier 39 (which was the end goal for our trip to the wharf). We stopped at these crab stations to check out the menus, but I have to say - everything is so overpriced! When Jeremy and I visited Oregon and Washington, we could get fresh seafood for much better prices. San Francisco really price gouges you if you want anything but clam chowder and bread. Tsk tsk!

At last, we made it to Pier 39. The pier where all of the touristy fun hoopla is. Stores, museums, the aquarium, rides... it's all there! They even have a carousel towards the end of the pier. However, if you're planning on visiting, don't stop there! Go beyond it to get a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and sea lions!

When we made our way to the very end of the pier, fog was starting to settle in on the bay, and it started to enshroud the Golden Gate Bridge, which I thought made for a very cool effect. It even billowed up behind Alcatraz, which kind of just made it creepier than I already think it is (Shutter Island anyone?).

We were standing at the water's edge looking for the sea lions, that according to Jeremy's Google search should be there. He declared he didn't see any, and as if they were responding to his disappointment, they started barking.

There were only a few active ones. Apparently it was nap time for the sea lions, as many of them slept on the docks below. However, there were two that were very much active, doing somersaults around each other, giving each other kisses, some playful nips, and were just really entertaining to watch.

There are SO many things to do in San Francisco, that I have a feeling Jeremy and I could visit the city every time we visit my parents and sister in California and find something new to do every single time.

Jeremy already declared that next time we are in California that he wants to go to a Giants game. My mom added that we should go to Treasure Island too, so that's already two things to do in San Francisco for our next visit!

Looking forward to it!