Another day in the City by the bay

Before we left home, Carlys and I made a detailed list of all the things that we would like to do on the trip. I think thus far, we have been very, very busy, but we weren't quite done. That led us to one final trip into the city.

The first item that we weren't going to miss was Lombard Street.

We spent more than 45 minutes in line, just to get our turn on the curviest street in the world.

Nana Carlys had to climb the very steep hills to very slowly get to the top

and then she very bravely drove the mom mobile down this very small and winding street.

Once we made it to the bottom, Nana parked and we got out to walk up and down this street as well.

The street was so beautifully landscaped and was blooming with the most beautiful purple flowers!

Next we wanted to ride a cable car. The workers weren't all that good at sharing information with naive tourists, but they did let all my boys ride for free.

We rode the car down to the cable car museum where Nana picked us up and headed for the pier.

While at the pier we able to see a merchant marine ship

and an old WWII submarine.

We opted out of the tours, bought the pressed pennies and headed through the Presidio.

We drove all the way down to Fort Point to see the waves crash up onto the rocks right below the Golden Gate bridge. I learned that my dad used to bring dates to this spot when he was a teenager! Oh- la-la.

Derek saw a pier and people fishing so we had to check it out. The wind was blowing so hard and it was so cloudy and cold, but people were catching crabs and fish. As we were watching 2 young men pull up their crab net, this seal jumped out of the water, just a couple feet from me, trying to get their bait. I fumbled for my camera, but my heart was pounding and this was the only shot I got. Look at the darker brown spot at the bottom of the photo.

Finally we really wanted to check out Golden Gate Park and ride the paddle boats. So we navigated our way to the park. Once we got there at almost 7 pm, we found out the boats closed at 5 and we were out of luck for the day. Carlys and I were not going to head back to Eric's defeated so, against the will of the children, we opted for one last stop!

Our last stop of the evening was back at the wharf for clam chowder in a fresh sour dough bread bowl. I remember eating this bread as a kid, not really liking it, but knowing it was special to my dad. All his friends would bring it to him after a visit to San Francisco!

Now that I am older and more mature, I like it too! YUM