Saturday, August 29, 2009

San Francisco

We arrived home late this evening from our family vacation to the Bay Area.
For daughter #1's birthday we spent the day in San Francisco. We brought our children here often as they were growing up, and everyone still loves to do the touristy thing in the City.


We parked our car and rode cable cars and public transportation from place to place.
When ever I go to San Francisco, one of my favorite things to do is people watch, because I see such interesting people!

We stood in line for the cable car and I met this woman from Washington, DC. I asked her how long she had been growing her nails and she said 21 years! Believe it or not, she is a postal worker and can do quite a few things with her hands, despite the nails. I wondered what motivated her to grow her nails so long, and she said she is one of a set of identical girl triplets and wanted to be unique from her siblings.

Then there is Bush Man who hides behind these cut bushes and scares people as they walk by. Groups gather across the street to watch, and howl with laughter every time he gets a passer by to scream. He's so popular, he's even been on late night TV shows.

And then there are the statue people who cover themselves in gold or silver.

Some tourists see the city by Segway.

Others are driven around in these GOcars.

In our family, we consider ourselves "foodies". There are certain foods we HAVE to have when we go into the city. Sourdough bread is one of them.

We had clam chowder on Fisherman's Wharf at Boudin's.

And hot fudge Sundae's at Ghirardelli Square.

Looking out onto the bay with Alcatraz Island in the distance.

We visited the Art Museums and saw a Salvador Dali exhibit.
But my favorite part of the day was walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. I have driven across many, many times growing up, but for some reason, never WALKED across.

Our three daughters, Aubrey, Amy and Elizabeth.
I was proud of Amy for being willing to join us on this 1.7 mile walk. She is almost 7 months pregnant with baby #3, and yet did very well.

It had been beautiful weather in the city all day, but by afternoon the bridge was windy and cold.

My brother also joined us on the walk. He lives nearby and we stayed at his house.

Mr. Cactus
Me with my brother.
He knows this area well.

The Golden Gate Bridge was built in the 1930's and has only been closed 3 times because of bad weather.
38 painters work on the bridge and are touching it up continually.

A lot of people like to bike across the bridge also.

Brrrr... cold and foggy.

As you cross the bridge, you enter Marin County.

I thought you might like to see what it looks like underneath the bridge.
We walked through the beautiful city of Sausalito and had dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant.

And then in the late evening took the ferry back to San Francisco.

A wonderful ending to the day as we watched the sun go down and the fog drift back over the hills of Sausalito like a heavy blanket.

15 comments:

Carol said...

What a fun, fun day. Thanks for taking us along.

Unknown said...

Thank you for the journey through San Fran! Lots of these pictures bring back great memories. We spent 3 weeks there in 2000 for family reasons. While there, the extra time we had we were able to do a little site seeing too. The people you saw were just amazing.

Anonymous said...

Fond memories of home...thank you!!

Material Mary said...

Sure looks like a fun vacation. Love sourdough bread!!
Mary

Jane's Fabrics and Quilts said...

Oh what a wonderful day, filled with memories. Thank you for sharing them and your family with us!

Sherri said...

Oh, I'd love to take a trip to San Francisco! Thanks so much for the wonderful vacation pics...almost like I was there!

Sandie @ crazy'boutquilts said...

Great photo's! It's so nice to take a vacation tour with a 'local'. :-) I rode across the bridge more than 20 yrs ago, so you brought back a few memories for me. Thanks for taking us along! ~your DD's are beautiful young women!

Janet said...

I enjoyed seeing some sights with you, Aren't people facinating? Thanks for sharing.

Kim Walus said...

Your pictures are wonderful and I loved your stories about the lady with the nails and the bush man. I've never heard of him and I would have been one of those that he scared. LOL! That would be fun to watch! Now I wish we had had the time to make it down to the Wharf and Ghiradelli's etc. That would have been fun!! I especially loved the pictures you took of the bridge.

quiltmom anna said...

Nedra,
I went to summer school in San Francisco thirty years ago. I expected it to be hot and was astonished how cool it was most of the time. Some of my classmates came from places in land and would be complaining about the heat as it would be 110 in the shade while on the university campus it was about 55 or 60 degrees. It was foggy most mornings and the fog would not burn off by after lunch. I am told that is fairly common weather in the summer. It is a really beautiful city and I would like to return to visit it someday.
Regards from a Western Canadian quilter,
Anna

Dawn said...

Looks like you had a great adventure!! I have only been to San Francisco once and it was quite the trip!

dotti white said...

Looks like you had an absolutely beautiful day! Thanks for the excellent tour--it's obvious that great memories were made that day!

Ricci said...

Oh Nedra, thank you for sharing your vacation with us. I had a glorious day today cleaning out my closet. I would have taken pictures but I can't find my camera under all the pile of clothes. But, rest assured, I'll send you a postcard!! Seriously, your trip sounded terrific.

Carin said...

It looks beautiful, I have only ever seen the bridge from the train headed farther North thanks for the pictures. I hope you had a blast.

Nanette Merrill said...

What a fabulous fun family trip. I loved seeing your pics. It just says happy on everyone's faces. I really hate to admit this but when we vacationed in san fran many many years ago the guy was doing that way back then and he got me. I screamed and jumped. It was dusk. Nothing like that had ever happened to me. And where he was there were homeless people hanging about, too. So it was rather creepy. I can't believe he still does this. I will never forget that.