"Blythe," I said, "You were coughing!" I know. I shared a bed with her. She shared her germs with me. I'm not sure anyone slept very well.
We launched off pretty early, walking around the corner from our hotel to a little shop that sold breakfast croissants and donuts, frequented by lots of locals. It was a bit run down, but charming, and Kent and I enjoyed our breakfast. The kids both wanted donuts but I told them a muffin would be better. We all ordered smoothies. Brandt ate his muffin and his smoothie. Blythe sort of ate her donut and two sips of her smoothie. She didn't like it. This lack of breakfast would prove nearly disastrous later on.
Last night I walked down a block from our hotel and bought three-day passes on MUNI, the public transportation system around San Francisco, good for buses, cable cars, and trolleys. We wanted to ride the cable cars, but each ride is $7 with no transfers, so the cost could mount quickly. The pass was $33 a person and could be used without limit during the three days. Perfect for our time frame and allowed us to leave the car at the hotel and not worry about parking.
After breakfast, we hopped on a cable car and headed downtown. I asked our cable car operator how long he had been doing his job and if he liked it, and he suggested we hop off, walk three blocks down, and go to the cable car museum. Sounded fun, so we took his advice. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the museum to open, but Kent and I talked with a nice couple also waiting to go in while the children ran up and down the street chasing pigeons, an activity they engaged in throughout our stay.
The museum opened, we walked in, and I pulled out my camera to take a picture of the children on a bench. I discovered that while I had packed the camera and the long range lens, I had failed to reinsert a battery after charging them (three in all!), and was unable to use the camera at all. We had a whole day's worth of activity planned, and no camera. I was so mad! We weren't really far from the hotel, but far enough that I wasn't going to turn around and go back. All of the day's photos were taken on my phone, and while most of them were fine, several of them are bad. I was frustrated. At least we had something.
The museum was fascinating. More than a museum, it is the actual site of the cable car motors and all the workings that make the cable cars run. A crew was doing a repair on one of the cables, and we were able to see them at work. There were huge wheels and pieces of equipment and made the whole cable car experience much more interesting.
We jumped on another cable car that pulled up right outside the museum and headed down to Fisherman's Wharf. We had tickets to go to Alcatraz at 12:30, and we wanted to make our way there along the wharf. There was lots to see, including an anchored war ship and submarine. Brandt begged to go on the submarine, and as they had a family discount that covered two adults and two children (just the right combination!), we went. It was absolutely fascinating!
The USS Pampanito began service in 1943 during WWII, but was retired as a memorial and opened to the public in 1982. We were able to walk all the way through the sub, from the front to back, seeing most everything and being told all about the sub and its history in a great audio tour. She sailed (is that what you say about subs?) with a crew of 85 who slept in tiny bunks and had almost no personal space. It was hot and smelled like oil and must have been pretty noisy too. On their third patrol they rescued 73 Australian and British sailors and took them back to Saipan, the best part of service for most of the crew. It was hard to imagine 85 men living in the space, but adding an additional 73 is almost inconceivable. It was super interesting and we were glad Brandt insisted.
Blythe the Riveter
As we walked down the wharf we ran into a dilemma. Our boat to Alcatraz departed at 12:30 and we needed to be at the pier at 12:00. This is lunchtime. I had planned on our eating something before we went over, but Brandt was so sick coming in on the plane and afterwards, we were concerned about him throwing up. So we decided not to get lunch before we went. We had some snacks in the backpack, but nothing substantial that would really carry us through. The kids wanted cotton candy and other junk, but we said we would wait to get food. This was a mistake. The boat ride was so short, Brandt wouldn't have had time to get sick, and he was fine. So everyone was hungry, and by the time we were finished on Alcatraz, at 3:00, the children were nigh unto starving and getting cranky. We should have had lunch.
But the fact that we were hungry did not stop us from really, really, really enjoying our visit to the Rock. The ferry ride over was nice; we stood in the very front and watched the island getting closer. We could see Golden Gate Bridge and had a great view of the city. We watched a short film about the history of the island and then had another fascinating audio tour of the cell house. We learned all about the prisoners and guards and their families who lived on Alcatraz. We heard about a riot, several attempted escapes, and the building itself. It was informative and interesting and we all loved it. Brandt and I had read Al Capone Does My Shirts, a historical fiction book about a boy who lives on Alcatraz because his dad is a guard. It was fun to see the actual place after reading the story.
The Golden Gate Bridge at a distance.
Friendly wavers
Alcatraz, also at a distance,
and San Francisco, too.
The bridge on the left of the picture is the one we drove over
coming from Oakland into San Francisco.
This is the apartment building the guards and their families lived in.
A cell and one of the rows of cells.
Three stories high and three blocks wide,
each cell was 5x9 feet, with cold water, a toilet, and a bed.
Not so posh.
A lovely view of San Francisco from the island.
End of the tour.
Blythe didn't want to wear her glasses on the boat for fear of them falling off into the water.
We desperately made our way from the boat to find some food. We walked down Pier 39 which is full of shops and restaurants and had a very late lunch and only slightly early dinner. The children both ate well, mostly because they were so, so hungry. Pathetic breakfast and then no other real food until 4:30. We didn't even have to beg them to eat.
Kent and I had the same thing--halibut with potatoes and veg.
The kids had chicken fingers, fries, and broccoli.
Pier 39 from out front of the restaurant
and from our table.
A prominent part of Pier 39 is also the sea lions that hang out on the docks. I have no idea what originally brought them to the docks, but with a plentiful food supply and lack of predators, I can see why they stay. There really are lots and lots and lots of them, most of them lying around snoozing in the sun. They are piled on top of each other and seem not to mind. As we walked towards them from the main thoroughfare, we saw an official looking man trying to drive off four sea lions who were laying on a dock separate from the others. He was shouting and waving his arms, and they all dove into the water at his insistence. However, as soon as he got back in his little boat and motored away, they leapt right back out and hunkered down in the same spot. So funny!
That's a sea lion statue we're sitting on.
Four rogue sea lions who were chased off and returned immediately.
All the rest, basking in the sun.
We promised the kids a treat after dinner, and settled on Ghirardelli's Chocolate shop for ice cream. We took a tram along the wharf, then walked a bit, including through a little park where we stopped to sit and people watch. We were just like many of the locals who were sitting on the grass enjoying the sun. As a side note, the weather couldn't have been more pleasant today. Not too hot, we didn't really even need our jackets, and sunny without feeling sweltering. Just perfect.
This is what we were looking at as we sat on the grass.
When we got to Ghirardelli's Kent and I both got a chocolate sundae, while Brandt and Blythe ordered chocolate shakes. Blythe didn't eat her shake as it was made with very dark chocolate. It was too rich for her. Brandt volunteered to eat her shake for her, but Kent and I felt one enormous chocolate shake was enough for any one person in any one day.
We wanted to take a cable car back to the hotel and there was a stop just a block up from Ghirardelli's. We stood there with a few other people and watched two completely full cars drive past us. They didn't even slow down to try and get us on. After the second one passed, I insisted we walk down to the terminus and get on there. It wasn't far, so we walked down and discovered there was a huge line to get on the cable car. They were completely filling them two blocks from where we were standing, but we didn't know. We were never going to get on. We would have had to stand in line for at least an hour, and as that would have been very foolish, we decided to take the bus back to the hotel. This was a much better plan and we got back well before we would have even gotten on a cable car. And what was more, we met the elders on the bus and chatted with them for a few stops until we had to get off.
While Kent and the kids hung out in the hotel room, I made a grocery store run to get some things for breakfast. We didn't want a repeat of this morning and felt that getting some cereal and fruit would be just the ticket. There was a Whole Foods just one block up from our hotel, so I just walked over to get a few things. It was the first time I'd been in a Whole Foods and I found the whole experience very amusing. They had no plastic spoons or even paper bowls. Instead, they had spoons made of corn and bowls made of recycled material, so everything would break down relatively quickly. The kid-approved cereal selections were few, and when I asked for some aloe (Kent got slightly burned today), the woman asked me if I wanted it for my skin or to drink. "People drink aloe?" I asked, shocked and confused. The woman assured me they do. Weird. So weird. I am not nearly healthy enough to make a trip to Whole Foods worthwhile, which is sort of pointless to say because we don't have a Whole Foods in Provo, and I'm not driving any further than Provo to shop for food. I felt like a phony being in there because I'm not nearly enough of a tree hugger to make the money spent seem worth it. At least we are prepared for tomorrow's breakfast.
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