I promise I didn't forget about you blog-lovin' people! I'm back and settled at home so I'm playing catch up with entries. On our second and last day in San Francisco we headed to Fisherman's Wharf to wander around and catch a ferry ride. After getting pretty frustrated about finding parking, we caved and paid $35 to park in a lot for the day. Honestly, it's not that much if you consider where we parked, but somehow yesterday we didn't pay for parking a single time! I don't know why we thought that would be the case again. Our first stop at the wharf was to the San Fransisco Maritime National Historic Park. We found ourselves on a few super old boats, imagining what it would be like to be working on one, transporting various goods to and from the US. I will just say that I'm not sure if I would have survived. Some of the men on the ship slept next to the steam engines and they said they felt like they were burning alive! No way, José. The time for our ferry was nearing so we started to head that way. The ride we chose was the Blue & Gold Fleet. After boarding the ferry we went to the top deck so we could get the best view. Thankfully we came prepared because it was windy and chilly! The ferry took us past Alcatraz and the islands of Tiburon & Salsalito. Once back on land, we walked to the infamous Pier 39 sea lions. There are well over 1,000 sea lions that call Pier 39 home. They began hanging out there many years ago after an earthquake. The people who use the pier for their boats complained the Marine Mammal Center and asked for help to rid them, but the Mammal Center suggested the sea lions stay there because they're safe from predators. So, there they stay! Basking in the sun all day long. We walked over to Boudin Bakery for a snack. Did you know that San Francisco is the home of sourdough bread?! I didn't either, until I arrived at Boudin. In 1849 the Boudin family started baking bread with the tangy air and wild yeast of San Fransisco. To this day, their bakery still uses starter from the original 'mother'! We got a croissant and also a loaf of sourdough to take with us into Yosemite so we could have some super fancy sandwiches one day for lunch. Our dinner plans for the evening had us scheduled to leave the city in the early afternoon. But we weren't going anywhere without riding a cable car first. The history behind the cable car is an interesting one. In 1869 a man witnessed a horse drawn street car slip down the super steep roads in San Francisco on a damp summer day. 5 horses died in the accident and the man knew something needed to be done to prevent this from happening again. There are 3 cable cars still running today and they are the only 'moving national landmark' in the United States. We hiked up a huge hill to catch a ride back down via cable car. Why didn't we ride up and then walk down? Good question. I still don't know the answer. For dinner we met up with some family friends who recently moved to the area, specifically to work at Apple! We got the 'insiders tour' and had dinner at their cafe, open only to Apple employees. Other than the cafe, we didn't see much inside of the Apple buildings. Which isn't surprising, since all of their stuff is super top secret. No photos were allowed, so we got one outside the building after dinner.
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