We estimated that the drive from Eureka in northwest California down to San Francisco would take about five hours, so we left relatively early the next morning. During the couple of hours immediately south of Eureka the landscape was covered with redwood forests and state parks, which made for a beautiful drive. The elevation changed quite a bit as well, and I stopped reading my book several times so that I would not get carsick from the twists and turns in the road. After about two hours the topography changed completely and all we could see was farmland and rolling hills. Soon we were in Sonoma County, driving through vineyard after vineyard. The miles of grape vineyards seemed endless outside of the car windows. Once we were about 30 miles outside of San Francisco, we started seeing more signs of urban civilization. Before we knew it, we were outside of Oakland, then Sausalito, and then finally we were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge!
After traveling over 700 miles over the last week, we were happy to have reached the last destination of our trip. Scott fought the massive crowds and found a parking spot nearby in the Presidio. Knowing that we would have limited transportation options once we dropped off our rental car in a few hours, we stopped to take a closer look at the bridge while we had the opportunity.
Lucky for us, it was an almost cloudless day and you could clearly see to the top of the bridge and the entire bay. We explained to the kids that seeing the entire bridge is rare since San Francisco is so foggy, but I don't think they believed us at all during this trip since all we saw for the next several days were clear skies.
It was so windy, and so cold!, out there on the bridge. But it was totally worth it to walk across and to see the beautiful view of the bay. It was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon and it seemed that everyone was out enjoying the lovely day.
After we walked around the bridge, Scott fought the maddening traffic across town to our hotel on Market Street. During the drive, it was interesting to listen to Amelia and John's comments about the unique architecture and hilly streets of San Francisco. Once we arrived at the hotel, Scott dropped Amelia, me, and the luggage off and then he and John drove a couple of blocks around Union Square to the rental car agency. The one-way streets and congested traffic near Market and Union Square made all of this a challenging driving experience.
Once we were all reunited we headed out to explore the city. The Market Street cable car turnaround was only a few blocks from our hotel, so we decided to walk over and let the kids get their first glimpse of a cable car.
Surprisingly there was a very small line, so we decided to take a ride spontaneously. While we were waiting in line for the cable car Scott secured a dinner reservation at Scoma's at the wharf, so the timing was perfect!
I quickly learned that it is a challenge to try and take photos while hanging onto the side of a cable car, but that didn't stop me from trying. Below are the best of what I got. First off, the photo of John below captures how enthusiastic he was about being able to hang on to the side of the cable car while it was moving. It only took him a few minutes (and the comment was made before we ever got to any of the steep hills) before John exclaimed, "Wow! This is awesome!"
Below is a picture of Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. You can faintly see Coit Tower in the distance on the right.
The view we had at the top of this hill looking out towards the bay was stunning. The night was so clear that you could easily see Alcatraz in the bay in the distance. I will admit that I felt scared and nervous on the steep descent down the last steep hill (I have become much more of a wimp with age!), but John was screaming "Woohoo!" the whole time as we descended.
Amelia and Scott were standing a little behind us on the cable car so I couldn't check in with them on the journey as much as I could with John, who was standing directly in front of me. When we got off the cable car at the end of the line, I asked Amelia what she thought of the ride. Her comment was awesome. She said, "That was fun! But I don't understand how hanging off the side like that is legal."
Naturally, the cable car stops just outside of the Buena Vista so we all enjoyed pre-dinner refreshments at this San Francisco landmark. Scott enjoyed his beloved Irish Coffee, I enjoyed a beer, and the kids enjoyed what they claim is the best hot chocolate ever. After we walked around Ghirardelli Square and the wharf area a little while we made our way over to Scoma's, where we enjoyed a delicious meal for dinner. What a great ending to an fun introductory day in San Francisco.
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