A Week With Friends, Part III - San Francisco

We dragged ourselves out of bed on our third day, and, after packing everything in our van except our day packs, hiked off to find breakfast in San Francisco.

Almost packed up and ready to tour San Francisco

At Breakfast - Dutch almost always had his i-Pad in his hands for pictures and to look up information

HarborView

It's very interesting, coming from Houston, Texas, as city where everyone drives, to see how many people are walking or using public transportation.  And we thought we would also enjoy using our feet for a good part of the day. After breakfast, we hiked down to Fisherman's Wharf where we watched a cable car being turned around by one person before we boarded it. We stopped off at the Cable Car Museum and then caught another cable car back down to the other end of Fisherman's Wharf where the ferries run. We passed Chinatown but didn't have enough time to take a look at it. I did enjoy all the different building styles and the ornate decorations.

Cable Car being turned around

Tracy taking pictures of two antique cable cars

These three sets of wheels drive all the cable cars in San Francisco.

Architectural delight

A fine mix of styles

 We decided to take the evening ferry over to Sausalito so we could enjoy the sunset over the bay.  After purchasing tickets, we walked down to Pier 39  to spend some time with the seals and eat lunch.

A few of the seals at Pier 39

 Then we spent some time just wandering around window shopping.

An alligator made of bread

Dungeness crabs

We  did a little more walking and looking and finally went back to the motel to retrieve the car. Then we went up to see Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill before taking the tight switchbacks on Lombard Street (billed as the crookedest street in the world) back to the Embarcadero where we put the van in a parking lot.

The Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill

One of Tracy and Dutch's target birds was the red-masked parakeets, of which there are feral populations in San Francisco. We looked for them on Telegraph Hill but didn't find them. Almost as soon as Natalie got out of the van in the parking lot near the ferry, she said she heard parrots. Soon all of us were seeing many small parrots with red heads. A local person walked up and told us that these parrots roosted here and could be found here every day.  This was across the street and a little further south from where the ferries leave.

Then it was time to board the ferry.  The weather didn't cooperate and give us the fantastic sunset we wished for,  but we enjoyed the trip and the coffee and tea we had at Starbucks in Sausalito and the walk through the town. When we got back to San Francisco it was about 8:00 P.M.  We found a restaurant open in the shopping center behind the ferry landing and ate supper before heading back to the the  Blue Goose Inn, (my residence).  Dutch and Tracy drove on up to Willows before they could stop and sleep.

 

Alcatraz from the ferry

It was another great day of playing tourists and enjoying each other. But three hectic days in a row had us all pretty tired.   But we only have two more days together and I want to be sure none of them get bored. 

View of Golden Gate Bridge from the ferry

To be continued.