Saturday March 30 2013

We caught the 10:00 Ferry to San Francicso from Vallejo. When we arrived in San Francisco, there was a huge farmer's market at the Ferry Pier. They had hundreds of tents selling fresh vegetables, flowers and food. People were everywhere, to the point that it was difficult to walk around the Pier area. We went inside the Pier building and bought a breakfast sandwich and Larry got an 'Arnold Palmer' to drink. The lady explained that the 'Arnold Palmer' was made of part Tea and part Lemonaide and it had an interesting taste. When we finished eating we walked around inside the Pier where they have shop after shop of anything and everything you could possibly want. We went outside and waited for the tram down to Pier 39 (Fisherman's Wharf). We boarded the tram and rode it as far as we could. We got off the tram and stopped at an information booth and they told us where to go to get tickets for the Cablecars. We walked about 6 or 8 blocks before we finally found Ghirardelli Square, which is the depot for the Cablecars. We got in line to buy our tickets and then waited more than an hour in another line to board. We watched the Cablecars come down and then get pushed onto a turn table that turned the cars around to proceed back up the hill. We finally got on a car and rode it up the very steep hills through Knob Hill, Chinatown, Russian Hill, the Financial District and many more popular areas of the city. We got off the Cablecar at Union Square. This area is the high end shopping district with Macy's and all of the large national department stores. In Union Square, they had an Art Show going on and we walked around and looked at the paintings and photo's for awhile before reboarding another Cablecar headed back to the Wharf. We rode the cars for a couple of hours and sat with our mouth open at the amazing streets and buildings all stacked on the very steep hillside. The trees in some areas were amazing and were so large they grew over the top of the streets. The buildings were such interesting architecture and very, very old. We got off the last Cablecar near the Wharf area and walked the far end of Jefferson Street. This is a totally different area and much cheaper than Pier 39 area. They had street vendors selling all types of seafood and they had some restaurants where you could go inside and set down to eat. We decided to go into Mike's Lighthouse, which was very small and we sat in a booth that was so tight we could slide into it. We ordered an Anchor Steam, which is a local beer we had yesterday at the Crab House. We looked at the menu and Larry ordered a shrimp and scallop pasta, I ordered Shrimp and Crab Cannollini. My selection was amazing and much better than Larry's. The prices here were about 50% less than where we ate yesterday and I felt it was much better. We left this area and started walking back to Pier 39. My legs and feet hurt so bad I could scream after all the walking we've done in the past 2 days. We finally made it to the tram line and when we got on, it was standing room only. It was so crowded there was not even a possibility of making our way to the front to pay our fare. We found out, however, that we have been paying too much anyway as senior's fees are 50%. I don't think anyone who boarded with us paid either, so didn't feel so bad about sneaking a ride. We arrived at the Ferry Terminal and found that we had an hour or more to wait for the next Ferry. It was getting quite cool and started raining. We were lucky to have had such a beautiful day as the forecast called for rain all day today. We walked back into the terminal and bought coffee for Larry and a Latte Mocha for myself. When my Latte came it had the most beautiful design on top that looked like a leaf. Each Latte they made had the same design and the gal made it by pouring the milk from a pitcher to create the design. We sat inside at a small table and drank our coffee and about 45 minutes later, the Ferry pulled into the dock. While we were having our coffee, Pete sent us a picture of the whole family, Taylor, Kyle, Morgan, Addison, Leslie and Pete. What a beautiful picture of our wonderful family. Made me very homesick as they were all out eating, celebrating Leslie's Birthday which is tomorrow. I hate missing the special occasions when we are away from home. I sent Taylor a picture of my Latte and she sent back that she wished she was here with us. We boarded the Ferry and arrived back in Vallejo around 8:00pm. I was so tired, I thought someone was going to have to carry me to the car!! We arrived back at the motorhome and it started raining harder. I went to bed and slept a deep sleep all night.