San Francisco

A few weeks ago, we got a chance to visit San Francisco to play and visit family. We got a one day Go San Francisco card to help us plan one of our days there, and of course, we did the touristy stuff. Because there was so much to do, we decided to maximize our time and Go card at Fisherman's Wharf.

First stop was Alcatraz. We took the Alcatraz cruise boat across to the island; reservations for this had to be made several days in advance especially in the summer since they only have limited space and times they run. Anyhow, the audio tour we used once we were on the island was surprisingly pretty good and informative. We got to see and hear about the lives of the people in the prison as well as the lives of families who lived there on the island in the past. The scenery and weather was actually quite nice; the Alcatrez island had a variety of flowers and plants as well as different types of birds. Though it was nice, I found that I had terrible allergies in SF since I couldn't stop sneezing and my eyes were turning red and watery :( We had a great time anyways.

Following the Alcatraz tour, we made our way to the Pier 39 for lunch. I can't imagine how crowded the place must be in the summer; already people were hussling and bussling everywhere. Next on our agenda was the Trolley Tour of San Francisco on a "fake cable car." It's actually a replica of the actual cable car except it doesn't run on the tracks, and it's not attached to an electrical cable. We had a funny tour guide who kept making all kinds of jokes. He would speed down the steep hills of SF and have us pretend to be on a rollercoaster or crack jokes about the brakes failing and the last time the trolley went in for inspection. He did give us good tips on places to see and freebies in the area. We did have one way tickets for the "real" cable car, but the lines for that was 3 hours or so. Maybe next time we'll try the "real" cable car :)

We then headed to the scenic bay cruise which sails under the Golden Gate Bridge. Sailing under the bridge was the highlight of this bay cruise. It was pretty windy on the boat, and the audio tour was not as interesting. I was tired by the time the boat began circling back, so I took a little nap for the remainder of the boat ride.

Our last stop at the wharf was the aquarium.


We couldn't leave San Francisco without visiting with some friends and family in the area. We had dinner with one of my bioinformatics summer program friends in Chinatown; then, we headed off to visit my uncle's family. It was our first time seeing my cousin's baby. She was very friendly and outgoing...so cute...not at all afraid of people, so it was fun for us to play with her and babysit her. Hopefully, it won't be long before we see everyone again and before we have more adventures.