San Francisco - 2018 - Day 2

Posted in Family with tags vacation -

After some much needed sleep, we woke up fairly early-ish and took in the world famous Embassy Suites complimentary breakfast! Well, most of us did. Despite getting up in time, Ethan decided not to partake.

The first order of business, feed the addiction, off to the local Starbucks. Once that was out of the way, we were free to head downtown for a day in the city. Our first stop was Fisherman’s Wharf. To get there we got to cross the Golden Gate Bridge going south, which means we had to pay a toll! Actually we didn’t pay the toll right then, we were just scanned. For those interested in how to pay tolls for Golden Gate Bridge, you can just go to their website up to 48 hours after you cross and enter your license plate information along with payment details. Pretty easy. It costs $6 to cross the bridge most times.

En route to Fisherman’s Wharf we were lucky enough to be traveling on Lombard Street where we followed it to the Crooked Street area (not sure what to call it). There were a lot of tourists there (including us), so it was somewhat difficult to navigate.

After that brief diversion we were able to find some street parking near the Wharf where we would walk around for the next couple of hours, visiting different places between Pier 39 and Ghirardelli Square. We would also get clam chowder in a bread bowl at an Italian restaurant on the wharf.

Welcome to Fisherman's Wharf

Sourdough Creations

Maritime Museum

After lunch we got back in the car and headed to San Francisco University, the third of Ethan’s Jesuit school visits. SFU is located atop a hill at the geographic center of San Francisco. The views were spectacular. The campus was pretty nice as well. Much more up Ethan’s alley. While we all went on the tour, only Jenny and Ethan attended the presentation while Mireille, Quinton, and I played Uno at a vacant table on campus. By the end of the visit, Ethan announced that SFU was distincly his second choice at this time. We’ll see how that changes over the next year or so.

After the tour we had some time to burn so we drove around the part of San Francisco that we had never visited before, Golden Gate Park and the Presidio. Despite it being cold, the views were spectacular!

Overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge in the Presidio

Panoramic from the Presidio

We headed back north and stopped in Sausalito for a fairly forgettable seafood dinner at a local restaurant. After that we headed back north, did some swimming, and the kids went to bed while Jenny and I visited a nearby Brewery, Moylan’s in Novato. Really cool Brewpub atmosphere, and the beer was far better than the Yelp reviews would have you believe.

Written by Brandon Grady
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