San Francisco

Well, we successfully got us the the kids into and out of San Francisco.  It was a busy, whirlwind day, but it was fun!

We drove the RV to the BART (commuter rail) and took that into city.  We were clearly tourists and more than one person stopped to offer help (which we sometime needed and sometimes did not).  San Francisco is a very friendly city.

We took the Trolley to Fisherman's Wharf.  It was crowded, but everyone had fun, especially Elena who made fast friends with the woman sitting in front of her.  Beach St was SO crowded!  We walked several blocks in the wrong direction (my fault) and had to double back to Ghiridelli Square, but when free chocolate is involved, what is a few blocks?!  We got, not only the free chocolate, but Ghiridelli Ice Cream, too.  I LOVE their chocolate ice cream!!!

From Ghiridelli Square we walked down  Bay St, which was much less crowded, to Pier 39, which was CRAZY crowded.  We looked everywhere and could not find the company with which we had tickets.  Tom went off to find them, while we waited (it was now the time we were supposed to BE at the dock to board the boat.  Tom did not return.  There were TONS of people around, but no one "official" to ask.  We looked on all the information kiosks, but no luck and time was getting short.  We (by which I mean Thomas and Joseph), finally went in a store and asked, only to find out that our ferry did not leave from Pier 39, it left from Peir 33!  We were not late for our ferry, so the kids and I hoofed it over there, while Tom headed out way to try to catch up.  As it turns out, Pier 33 was not too far off and we made our ferry in plenty of time (Tom caught up with us while we were in line) and all was good.

Alcatraz was very interesting; even Laurinda enjoyed it!  Elena kept fiddling with her audio tour device, so it took her and me extra time to get through it.  And even though, it was by her own doing, she kept complaining that it was too long, and yet she did not want to "miss" anything, so she would not turn it off!  Sigh.   She enjoyed doing the Junior Ranger book and earned another Junior Ranger pin. 

After Alcatraz we walked to Chinatown to shop.  It was a bit hectic, but not too bad, as it was now nearly 6pm so Chinatown was relatively quiet.  The kids had fun and picked out some nice souviners.  After that, we tried in vain to find the "mochi candy" that the kids wanted.   I had brought some back for them in 2009, but they were no where to be found in 2011.  The boys were disappointed, but it was late and we were all tired by that point.

We caught the train back without much difficulty and to the RV park.  Although we were all tired, we were even more hungry, so we walked down the street to find a place to eat.  We found a littte italian restaurant and had a lovely meal.  The staff was so friendly and the food was great.   By the time we got back to the RV, we pretty much fell into bed exhausted, but it was a GREAT day.

We are getting a slow start this morning and will be heading over to Yosemite this afternoon. 

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My favorite park in San Francisco was Alcatraz.  It was a prison for men.  There was a gun gallery, a kitchen with lots of knives and lots of guards.  One time there was a riot. Some prisoners caused a distraction to cause the guards to go look at the diversion while the other prisoners were getting the key to get out by getting into the gun gallery.  The took some guns and captured some guards.  Three guards died.

There was also an escape from Alcatraz, but they don't know what happened to the guys who got out.  They escaped through an airvent.  They used spoons to dig through the cement.  They made a "boat" out of raincoats and got off the island.  Some people think they might have survived and gone to South America.

My mother won't let me post any more, so if you want to know more, you should definitely go to Alcatraz!

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"Joseph, what do you want to say?"  asked mom.

"Nothing really"  replied Joseph

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San Francisco is expensive.  (Thomas is our accountant and he is currrently "crunching the numbers" from yesterday).  I will write more later, but I am busy now getting these numbers done. 

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Tom and the girls are still asleep, so I guess that is all from us for now.  Have a great day everyone!