Thursday, July 30, 2009

San Francisco

Last Saturday our family took a day trip to San Francisco. We began the day with a picnic lunch on this nice little beach area we found right across from Ghirardelli Square. The weather was sunny, breezy, and perfect.



Ashlee loved the beach. She was begging us to go swimming, but we thought we'd save that for another day. There was too much we wanted to see and do. The boys had fun playing tag and knocking each other over in the sand.

I loved these ships in the harbor.

We made a stop by Boudin's Bread Company, home of the original "San Francisco Sourdough." You could smell the bread baking from a block away, and it smelled wonderful. I could've stayed there all day and just smelled the bread. Instead, we went inside and bought a loaf. They have a place on the sidewalk where you can stand and watch the bakers, and ask them questions on a little microphone that protrudes throught the glass. They get really creative forming the dough into different animal shapes. See these cute little teddy bears? This guy attracted quite a crowd.

The history of Boudin's sourdough bread is printed on the exterior window of the building. I have made sourdough bread from a starter before, and it was a lot of fun, but it didn't turn out nearly as good. I think it's fascinating that they have been using and replenishing the same "mother sponge" (i.e starter) for over 150 years!

Afterwards we headed over to Pier 39, my favorite place on the embarcadero. They had a Farmer's Market going on with lots of yummy-looking fresh produce.

Ashlee was the only one brave enough to do the bungee cord jumping on the trampoline.

I bought a bag of Mrs. Fields cookies while she was waiting in line, and told her I'd only give her one if she did a flip. It worked!

We of course had to go see the stinky, barking sea lions. It was very cold and windy out on this part of the pier, so we bought the kids some hot chocolate from an outdoor cafe stand.

Carousel ride- our whole family was able to ride together.

Ashlee being sassy.

We were on the upper level of the carousel, which made me a little nervous being so close to the edge.

I think this was my favorite sight of the day- Alcatraz in the fog. What added to the effect was the foghorn of a ship pulling in. This is what I love about San Francisco- the breeze, the fog, and the ships.

The streets were crawling with these crazy guys who paint themselves gold and silver, put little kazoos in their mouths, and go to town with thier boom boxes. What a way to make a living.

We looked down and some homeless-looking guy was making these balloons for the kids. We felt obligated to give him a buck.

Time for dinner. We went to Cioppino's, a seafood restaurant right on the Embarcadero. Here I am gearing up for my Dungeness crab.

The kids were more interested in playing with my food than eating their dinner. Ashlee ended up taking home one of the claws. I must say, this crab was deeeelicious. I had to have Forrest crack it for me, though, and get the meat out. Much too tedious of a job for me to take on being as hungry as I was. Forrest got the clam chowder in a bread bowl.

We ended the night with a trip to one of my other favorite spots in San Francisco- Ghirardelli Square. Originally we had planned on getting sundaes and eating them on the beach before we went home, but it was 9:30 by the time we got out of the restaurant and it was FREEZING! So we bought some chocolate bars and ate them in the car instead.

It looks so neat lit up at night.

Good bye, San Francisco. We hope to see you again soon!

1 comment:

  1. How fun for you and the family, Lisa! I love all the pics....like I was there watching the day unfold:-) I'm so glad you guys were able to do that!!!

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