San Francisco (Tues. July 13)

Up early and off to San Francisco. We had tickets for an 11:00 boat to Alcatraz and we knew it would take time to get in with the morning traffic, get parked and find the actual spot we needed to board the boat. Alcatraz is such a cool place to visit. They have an audio tour of the cell house where previous guards and prisoners talk about life at the prison. They also interview people who lived there as kids when their fathers worked in the prison. It is a well done tour. It gives directions in such a way that you almost feel like you are a prisoner there and they are telling you what to do.

After Alcatraz we headed back to land and off the boat to Pier 39 where there is so much to see. It is really just a big tourist trap but the kids really enjoyed it. There are a lot of good restaurants and cool little shops. The highlight of Pier 39 is the infamous sea lions that hang out on the docks. We had lunch at a really fun place called Wipe Out. The atmosphere was great and the food was awesome!!! They had regular fries, garlic fries, chili cheese fries, and cheese fries along with onion rings. Your choice with your sandwich. With four of us there we each chose something different, with no one getting the regular fries. I had the garlic fries and they were out of this world!!! I liked them better than what the kids got. I have to try to make them when we get home.

Once we ended at Pier 39 we walked along the bay to see what else was around. On Pier 42 we found the coolest museum. It was called "Musee Mecanique". The museum had all types of mechanical entertainment machines from years and years ago. They had the old peeping movie booths and really old video games all the way up to arcade games from recent years. Most of them were really, really old. They all still worked and for about a quarter the boys could play them. They really had a good time. They probably could have spent an entire day there.

Around 6:00 a college buddy of mine, Joel Lorraine, who lives in the SF area picked us up and took us on a little tour to see a really nice overlook of SF and then down the most crooked road in the world. Then off for pizza and wings (is there anything else that 14 year old boys prefer!!!) and a nice visit. It was great seeing Joel. Now if we could just remember to take pictures of people!!!