More San Francisco

Spent most of Monday being typical clueless touristas on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.

I got up early and walked down to Pier 39. It was too early for most of the shops, but fortunately a coffee stand was open allowing me to pick up a large latte. I also had a chance to walk around the pier and view their world famous pinnipeds.

Eventually went back to the hotel, met Denise in the lobby and we went to Johnny Rockets for breakfast. I had to excuse myself to dial into a conference call for work and Denise stayed behind and struck up a conversation with a vacationing family from Denmark.

Jacob eventually woke up and joined us downstairs.

After a fair amount of arguing about what to do, we finally settled on walking tours of the USS Pampanito, a WWII submarine, and the Jeremiah O'Brien, a WWII Liberty Ship. (Alcatraz tour tickets were all sold out and I did not particularly want to try to score tickets from the scalpers on the street.) I thought the tours were very interesting, but I don't know that Denise or Jake totally agree. It's hard to imagine a submarine crew of 70 or so sailors crammed into the tiny spaces aboard ship. It would drive me nuts. After the confines of the Pampanito, the Jeremiah O'Brien seemed particularly huge. The engine room was really amazing, over 4 stories tall, with stairs and ladders running everywhere.

These ships are on some pretty prime waterfront property, if you ask me. I mean check out the view from the bow of the Jeremiah O'Brien.

Running around ships for a couple hours, climbing through hatches and up and down ladders works up a pretty good appetite. We wandered off to one of the wharf-side seafood shacks for lunch. We ordered a wide assortment, trying to sample a little of everything; Denise had the clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl with a crab cocktail side, Jake the fried shrimp and I had a crab salad sandwich and calamari salad.

We fooled about a bit more, stopped in at Boudin's to buy a few loaves of sourdough and then checked out, heading north across the Golden Gate. You can see pictures ad nauseum of the whole sordid morning by clicking here.

I took the coast road for a twisty ride up to the Point Reyes National Seashore where we did nothing much beyond strolling through the visitor's center. We have been there a couple times previously and it is beautiful. I was hoping to do some exploring through the park and maybe work in a side trip to the Drakes Bay Oyster Farm, but Jake and Denise both seemed pretty beat. So we cut over to Petaluma, then up to our motel, the Holiday Inn Express in Ukiah.

Next stop, Humboldt State University.