San Francisco Baby!

Our second weekend in California was marked by our Annual Girls Retreat. It was a blast. We went to San Francisco, and the best part of it all...being able to leave the kids and know they were well taken care of! A big thanks to Aunt Sharon, Papa Steve, and Emmerson for all you did!! We had our itinerary in hand, and several maps and directions from MapQuest, to our various locations. We first drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and parked so that we could get out and walk across the bridge. It was a beautiful day, and not too crowded. This is the view from in the car as we drove across the bridge.
Mama Tess had bought us all California Dreamin' hats for the trip. I forgot to put mine on before the picture. That's Jack strapped on to Mama Tess' front.
This is the view of the city from the bridge.
That's me, Clarissa, and Elle standing next to a section of cable like the ones used in the bridge.

After taking it all in at the bridge, we headed on over to Lombard Street.

"Lombard Street is best known for the one way section on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, in which the roadway has eight sharp turns that have earned the street the distinction of being "the crookedest [most winding] street in world." The switchbacks design, was first suggested by property owner Carl Henry and instituted in 1922, born out of necessity in order to reduce the hill's natural 27% grade, which was too steep for most vehicles to climb and a serious hazard to pedestrians used to a more reasonable sixteen-degree incline." (Information gathered on Wikipedia) Mama Tess pulled over before we made our way down Lombard street, and I got in the drivers' seat, so that I could brag that I drove down Lombard street.

We ended up only having Mama Tess, Jack, and me in the car, because Elle and Clarissa got out to hike down the street.

That stretch of Lombard Street is really beautifully landscaped with Hydrangea of just about every color in the rainbow. Truly exquisite.

Then we made our way over to Pier 39. Our next big objective of the day was to get on a ferry over to Alcatraz for a tour. Unfortunately, all the tickets were sold out for that day. We were still able to see some really great things.

The girls all humored me by walking down Pier 39 to look at a submarine and ship from WWII. It was great to soak in some history while we were there, and I wanted to take pictures of the different relics, because Jarod enjoys learning about the war so much. This is the submarine, which I can't remember the name of right now...ladies, help me out. This is an actual torpedo.

So, when we were done looking at the historical artifacts, we made our way over to a little restaurant for some fresh seafood. We decided to all try the fish and chips and clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl. The seafood was delicious, and oh so fresh. While in San Francisco, we made a stop at Ghiradelli Square for our traditional ice cream fudge sundae, and free chocolate sample. Delicious. Whoever said diamonds were a girls' best friend, hadn't had chocolate yet.

We still had time to stop in lots of different shops an buy several souvenirs. It was a day filled with lots of fun things to see, great company, and lots and lots of laughter.