Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf has changed. Or maybe my memories of the place have dulled with age. It has after all, been a good 13 years since I was last there. But the place seems to have become very commercialized. The charm is still there, but you kind of have to look for it. It was easier to find in the light of a quiet Monday morning than late Sunday night with the natives loud and boisterous over the 49ers win (and therefore entrance into the Superbowl).

San Francisco is one of my very favorite cities...because although it is a unique city in and of itself, it's also full of sentimental memories for me. My grandparents lived in Concord, CA...maybe 45 minutes out. We visited the grandparents every single summer. And though the majority of our vacation was spent in and around Concord, we always took one day to drive into town and explore the city.

After Brandon's gymnastics meet on Sunday we headed from Palo Alto and the Stanford campus back through San Francisco and right down the Embarcadero to our hotel across the street from Fisherman's Wharf. With no school on Monday due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day we arranged a late Monday flight home so we had some time to play.

Some pics of our adventures...

Hey sisters of mine...do you remember when Papa took us to Tarantino's for lunch? I think the only reason I remember it is because I wrote about it in my journal. But here it is!

Oh, Boudins. Y-U-M! We had breakfast here. Sourdough bread french toast and waffles. Oh my.

We were trying to take a GPS guided scenic route to Golden Gate Park. But lost in the awe of finding myself at the base of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge...as navigator I neglected to give Bryan enough heads up and we missed our quick turn off and ended up going across. Which didn't bother me much because strangely enough, I've never been over it! The Bay Bridge, yes...plenty of times, but not the majestic Golden Gate. So our scenic route turned even more scenic than planned. We pulled off into an overlook and took some pics. (New bucket list item: ride a bike over the Golden Gate Bridge.) Our mistake was a bit costly...it took us $6.00 in toll to get back over.

We spent quite a bit of time Monday morning in the bowels of a WWII ship, the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, which is docked at Pier 45 at the Wharf. Okay, I knew Brandon would get a kick out of it and that I'd find it interesting. But wow, I had no idea how utterly fascinating it would be. The history geek in me came out full force. I can't count how many times I turned to Bryan and said, "This is SO cool!" And although I don't think he was at all bored with our tour, more than anything else, I think his enjoyment came from watching how giddy I was. But beyond the history aspect of it all, I also felt extremely close to my grandfather. Papa was a sailor during WWII...was stationed on the USS Savo Island, an aircraft carrier. Being down in the guts of that ship...he was heavily on my mind, as more than at any other time I felt like I finally could grasp a little bit of what it must have been like.

 We went quite a few levels down...we were truly in the very bowels of the ship. Our guide seemed jazzed by our excitement and took us down lower and showed us things that I think most people don't get to see. Did I mention how completely fascinating it was???

Interestingly enough, the interiors of the SS Jeremiah 0'Brien's boiler room were used in making the Titanic movie.

 Brandon was rather enamored of all the guns on top of the ship....anyone surprised?