San Francisco, CA

As we were checking out of the KOA, Dawn complained to the manager about the loud family next to our site. She said that we weren't the only ones to complain, and she was going to speak to them about it. No matter to us, we are on our way to San Francisco!    We parked near the Golden Gate Bridge after driving over it, and walked down to Fort Point National Historic Site, located directly beneath the south side of the bridge.   This fort guarded San Francisco during the Civil War era, and was the last brick-and-morter fort constructed in the United States.  We toured the fort, even got a few passport stamps there, and also explored a nearby pier.  We walked out onto the Golden Gate Bridge, but Dawn was scared of the heights and wind, so we didn't go all the way across.

  She beat it back to land while Tyler and I took pictures.   We had a good view of Alcatraz prison from up here.

We then drove to the Marina district, and toured Fisherman's Wharf.  We had lunch at one of the little places on the water, then we went into the Musee Mecanique, a museum full of antique coin operated machines, dating back to the turn of the century, and they all still worked! (except they have been converted from pennies to quarters) Behind the museum along the pier, they had a couple of WWII ships on display.  The USS Pompanito, SS383, a WWII Submarine, and also a Liberty Ship.

We walked down to Pier 39, on the way we bought a couple of pencil drawings from a vendor on the street. While walking to the Pier, Dawn got "bombed" by a swooping seagull! We watched the famous Pier 39 seals for awhile, then we got some ice cream and watched a magic show that was going on.

Dawn was excited to see an antique carousel there as well.  When we finished our tour of Fisherman's Wharf, we headed out...but not before taking a ride down Lombard Street, known by The Guiness Book Of World Records as "the crookedest street in the world".  There was actually a line of cars waiting to go down that street, as it is a well known San Francisco tourist attraction, while people who actually lived on that street looked on in amusement.  Tyler jelousley watched some kids who were skateboarding down it as well!  My only regret was that we didn't have time to go up Coit Tower, which offers a wonderful view of the city and The Golden Gate Bridge.  I took some great photos of the city and the Golden Gate Bridge from up in the tower, the last time I visited here back in 1998.  We just didn't have time today, we need to move on and get closer to tomorrows destination....Yosemite National Park!