San Francisco

Kendall surprised me on Mother's day with a trip to San Francisco.  I was so excited!!  

We left Friday afternoon and got there around 4:00 pm.

Waiting for our flight.

Riding the BART system across the bay.

My reflection in the tunnels. 

We're in SAN FRANCISCO!

After we checked into our hotel, (which was fabulous) we immediately went out to see the sights.  We only had two full days and one night so we tried to make the most of every minute.

First thing we went to see was Chinatown.  Very awesome.

There were quite a few musicians that played on the streets.  

There were so many shops with amazing carvings and sculptures. 

Check out these bug paper weights.  Wouldn't that scare you to find on your desk?

And the best part of the whole vacation was the FOOD!

It was amazing.  

Here are the pot stickers we had, which were amazing!

We also ordered lemon chicken and barbecued pork fried rice.  Also amazing.  I didn't get a picture because we were busy stuffing our faces.

The restaurant was so old and very unique.  

Check out the ceiling.

The chandeliers were so neat.  This picture doesn't do it justice.

Some more shops we hit after dinner.

Chinese medicine.

After Chinatown we went to Fisherman's wharf to find the Ghiradelli Factory.  

Some of the sights we saw while waiting for the ferry.

Ferry Square.

Waiting....

The Boudin Bakery.  They have a turtle, alligator, and bears.

The sunset by Pier 39.

The Golden Gate bridge.  You can just see the tip of it.

Finally Ghirardelli Square.

By the time we got here we were freezing and the only chocolate we wanted was HOT chocolate.

Kendall got the caramel sea salt hot chocolate.   He was a dear and let me have some.  It was delicious!

I got regular hot chocolate and it was the best hot chocolate ever!

We drank our hot chocolate and sat by the fire.  

 On the bus ride back to our hotel I thought I was going to be sick.  Let me tell you I was having a mild panic attack because there was no garbage and LOTS of people,  I couldn't have gotten out if I had tried.   Thankfully I didn't get sick.   Oh my goodness how embarrassing that would have been.  

The next morning we ate breakfast at McDonalds with all the homeless people.  One guy came in with a huge bottle of alcohol and sat right behind me.  I mean RIGHT behind me.  We were inches away and he hadn't showered in a LONG time.   Our hotel was in the business part of downtown and so the only places to eat breakfast that was close by was McDonalds.   After the first day Kendall ran to McDonalds and brought it to the hotel.  

The first morning we checked out our surroundings. 

We found this funny little shack attached to this apartment building.  What could it be?

A very large pair of Levi's.  

Lots of very steep hills.  My legs were so sore the next day.  

We rode the trolley to Lombard Street.  The very famous twisty street.

There were lots of pretty flowers.

After Lombard street we went back to Fisherman's wharf to finish seeing the sights while it was warmer.

Alcatraz is in the back ground.

They had this quaint antique arcade games museum.  

An old WW II submarine.

The Jeremiah Liberty ship from WW II.  

Kendall wanted a picture by the torpedo.

Inside the boat.

Do you think Kendall could sleep on that bed?

After the boat tour we went to Boudin Bakery and had a lunch.

I had a chicken salad sandwich and Kendall had a shrimp sandwich.  They were both very delicious.

Fisherman's wharf had the coolest candy shops.  

The gold and silver men.  

At Pier 39 they had so many restaurants and yummy smelling food.

Here's the fruit you can buy and you can get dipping chocolate to go with your fruit.

We went to the aquarium there.

After the aquarium we went to the movie Snow White and the Huntsman, to rest our legs.  It was a pretty good movie and we both enjoyed it.  

For dinner we ate Thai food which was pretty good.  A little too spicy for me but Kendall liked it.  

They had an awesome shopping district and I bought a warmer jacket.  The sights and smells of the  city were something we just soaked up and enjoyed.  And of course to finish off the night we had a ghirardelli waffle cone with ice cream.  SO good!

The next day we went to Golden Gate Park. 

It was beautiful.

They had artists there selling their paintings.

We went to the Japanese Gardens.

We walked around the lake.

It was so beautiful.

We sat down and people watched.  And we saw these two dressed for the 1800's having a picnic.  

We went to the shopping district where Kendall could try the Japanese food and I could get my Italian fix.

Kendall had crab, seaweed, some weird spicy cabbage and wasabi.  I didn't like any of it and his plate smelled like bad fish.  He liked everything but the seaweed.  I think the seaweed is what made his whole plate stink.

I had a chicken, avocado, pesto panini and salad.  It was SO good.

 And my favorite part of the whole trip was Alcatraz!

We caught a ferry in the nick of time and rode it to the island a mile and half away.  

The city behind me.

Golden Gate bridge in the back.

San Francisco

The island of Alcatraz.

After you get off of the boat you climb about 4 steep switch backs and go into the prison.  Once you are there they give you a set of headphones for an audio tour.  

It was really neat.  They had real prisoners tell their stories about what it was like.  The audio would tell you where to walk and what happened where.

Here is a typical cell.  That is all you got.  If you wanted anything besides food, shelter, clothing and medical attention you had to earn it.

Some of the famous inmates.

This was the isolation chamber.  I am taking the picture from a door way.  They would shut the door and it would be completely dark.  One of the prisoners said he would take a button and flip it in the air and listen for it to drop to the ground and then he would feel the floor until he found it.   He would do it over and over again.   Most of the time they would only have to spend a week but some would spend more time in there.  I can't even imagine how terrible it would be.

There were only two escape attempts.  

One ended in many people being killed including some of the guards.  The men who attempted escape where executed.  

The second was successful, in the fact that they made it out of the prison but nobody ever saw them again.  The prisoners said they made it to South America and the authorities say they drowned. 

This picture is about the the successful attempt.   Three men took spoons and scraped away at the cement under the sink.  Then they put home made dummies in their cots so the guards wouldn't notice until the morning.  Behind the sink was a maintenance wall about four feet wide where all the pipes were.  They climbed out through the ceiling and where never seen again.

One of the buildings on Alcatraz.

The watchtower.

Before it was a prison and it was a Fort during the Civil War.  So they had cannons all around it.

That night we ate another delicious meal.  We people watched on Pier 39 and then crashed at our hotel.  We had an absolute blast!  One of my all time favorite vacations.