San Francisco Summer Get Away! (by Phil)

I know, I know...we took our kids to Florida earlier this year...shouldn't that count as the family vacation for 2013?  Well, its been over 100 degrees for far too long in Salt Lake, and we needed another vacation if for no other reason than to cool off a bit.  Our destination:  San Francisco!

 

 

After a mere 12 hours in the car on Saturday, we found ourselves at Pier 39 on Fisherman's Warf with a few hours of daylight left for exploring.  Our first stop was the Aquarium on the Bay.  It's a smaller aquarium, but we found some fun.

 

like neon jelly fish that changed color with the overhead lighting...

A tunnel aquarium full of sharks and stingrays...

(yes...that's Micah's reflection behind the leopard shark)

...and our boys in a bubble!

 

From there, we took an evening bay cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge...very windy, very cold but very, very cool!

 

Just getting started (that's Golden Gate in the fog)

...getting closer (and colder)

...and closer

 

....almost there

now tell me that's not cool!

 

When we got back, we enjoyed some Sourdough (a San Francisco staple) and Trish's Mini Donuts on the Pier

 

(tourist tip:  You can  buy these in a small bag of six...but don't bother.  Buy the souvenir bucket of 36...don't worry they will get eaten...quickly)

 

 

 

We had decided to save money by staying in the southern suburb of Pacifica.  It was dark by the time we got into the hotel, so we didn't realize what a good choice we'd made until we got up the next morning and walked out of our hotel into this:

 

Rockaway Beach

 

So Jacob and I each grabbed a hot chocolate and strolled the sand and the rocks while we watched the early morning surfers with a serendipitous dolphin sighting

 

After catching an early morning church service in Pacifica, we changed clothes and drove back up to the Pier for our next adventure, courtesy of the Blazing Saddles bike rental company.

 

Here we are at the end of Hyde Street, about 5 miles from the beginning of the Golden Gate Bridge (visible in the distance between Jacob and I). 

(Not pictured:  Jennie, because she wouldn't ask a bystander to take a picture, preferring to take it herself and then complain that she is never in any of the family pictures)

 

On our way...

 

scenic stop along the beach

 

me and beautiful being patient with our cameramen

  

getting closer....

 

sitting pose...

 

standing pose

family shot...

 

with a pelican...

 

Getting ready to cross the bridge...

 

no fear in those eyes!

 

on the bridge at last!!!

 

not a bad view from up there!

 

 making our way over the bridge

 

Rather than turn our bikes around and make the 7 mile return trip to Hyde street, we took at 3 mile bike ride to coastal town of Sausalito...along with a thousand other tourists and their bikes

 

We weren't sure how we'd spend our time while we waited for our ferry but the boys found dozens of little sea crabs teeming through the rocks.

 

"Say cheese!"  (or whatever little sea crabs say when the smile)

 

"Perfect!!!"

 

 Once the bikes were safely returned, we made our way back to Pacifica for a relaxing evening on the beach

a nice place for a game of catch (pretty hot catcher huh?)

A pretty nice way to spend a Sunday evening!

 

Monday was spent a number of different places.  We started the day at The Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.  One children's museum boasting an Aquarium (much larger than the one on the Pier), a Planetarium, and a huge dome housing a rain forest.  Here's a few pictures:

 

Watching the penguins...more fun than you might think!

 

 

 

After tooling around Golden Gate Park for a bit, we headed back over the Fisherman's Warf.  On our way there, we managed to catch the cable car that had alluded us the day before, and road it down to the bottom of Russian Hill:

 

Our boys have built many sand castles, but never against a backdrop like this:

 

 

We headed home to clean-up and regroup before heading to AT&T Field for a Giant's Game

 

 

Jacob's favorite pitcher over the past few years has been Tim Lincecum.  You can imagine our excitement leading up to the game as we realized he would be pitching that night.

Jacob watching his idol, Tim Lincecum, walk off of the mound.  Tim struck out 11 batters in seven innings of work.  (Of course he would throw his first no-hitter on his next outing later in the week.  Come on Tim, you couldn't have done that one game earlier?)

 

We're also big Buster Posey fans.  He went 5-7 that night!  Here he is moments before hitting the two run homer to left that put the Giants in the lead

 

AT&T field...pretty cool huh?

 

the boys goofing off on a trolley car in the outfield

when did this one become such a goofball?

 

As the game went on and folks went home, we moved in for a better view:

praying for a run...

 

cute, huh?

 

 

When the game went into extra innings, a kind hearted usher took pity on our young family and let us sit in the lower deck to watch the rest of the game.  Good thing too...

...the younger boys were pretty tired

 

Micah, just about the time the crowd stood up for the 14th inning stretch

 

The game was on July 8th, one day before Jacob's birthday.  Little did we know, it would ultimately go 16 innings, and wouldn't end until the early hours of July 9th...on Jacob's 12th birthday

Look closely...the clock on the big screen TV in the outfield is just shy of midnight.  How's that for a memorable birthday?!?

 

As the game wore on into the wee hours of the morning, the seagulls tried to claim the outfield.  Mercifully, the thing finally ended around 12:30.  The wrong team ultimately won, but what a fun night!

 

After a few hours of sleep at the hotel and another half day of exploring, it was time to head home.  But because it was still Jacob's birthday we decided to stop in the suburb of Walnut Creek at the San Francisco Creamery.  We filled out one of these:

 

And they brought us one of these:

"What is it?" you ask.  This is "the kitchen sink."  Three sliced bananas, eight scoops of delicious ice cream and eight toppings, all topped off with an unholy amount of whipped cream.

 

Happy Birthday Jacob!!!!

 

We did our best...and spirits were quite high...

 

...but in the end, "the sink" beat us.  Not by much, but we'll have to come back when the boys are a little older and give it another try!

 

So to the City of San Francisco, Pier 39, Boudin's Sourdough, Trish's Mini Donuts, the Blue and Gold Fleet Ferries, the lovely coastal town of Pacifica, Rockaway Beach, the folks at Blazing Saddles, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Ocean, the San Francisco Giants, AT&T Park and "the Kitchen Sink," thank you for helping us provide our boys with another round of fantastic family memories.

 

God is good, isn't He?