Starting off the day at Fisherman's Wharf near Pier 39. Mom's not too happy about having her picture taken when it's windy, apparently.
Gotta fix the windblown hair before a picture!
Almost done!
There! Looking beautiful as usual. :)
This is a flower.
They give out free chocolate squares at Ghirardelli Square. I was offered four by the time we left.
Mmm... chocolate!
Mom got a strawberry cone at the chocolate company headquarters. Go figure.
I, on the other hand, got a chocolate cone.
And I liked it!
Confined space? No really!
Cable car turnaround near Ghirardelli Square. They turn the cars around by hand on a giant turntable.
Mom, annoyed that I am taking yet another picture.
Dad wondering how long our wait will be to get on the cable car. (A bit less than an hour, it turned out.)
Hopping on
And, we're off!
Oops. I must have not seen that rule.
Heading up (and I mean UP!) Hyde Street
Looking back toward the Bay (the camera, not me)
Ding ding!
Passing Lombard Street (a super steep, super twisty street that you have to wait in line for an hour to drive down).
I think this might be why they have the "don't lean out" rule.
The sheaves (giant spindles, pronounced "shivs") that turn the cable for the four cable car lines in the whole city (at the Cable Car Museum)
One of the giant motors that turns the cables
A grip: this is the thing underneath the cable car that grabs onto and lets go of the cable so that the car can start and stop.
They had a bunch of signs and articles from the 1906 earthquake at the cable car museum. Looks like there was some incentive to obey the law back then
Dad enjoying the display
Glad I wasn't around then
People were shot for stealing and for INSULTING WOMEN?!?
It turns out that there are a lot of Chinese people in Chinatown
I really wanted to go to Lucky Star, but we didn't make it over there.
We at lunch at a Chinese restaurant. This might be why it tasted good.
Looking south down Kearny Street
Vallejo Street dead-ended in the middle of the city. Here's why.
The parents, with the Bay Bridge behind
On the steep streets they use "perpendicular parking". I wonder if the cars ever tip over....
Christopher Columbus gallantly looking over the Bay toward Alcatraz
Just in case you want to get a REALLY good view of that eucalyptus tree
Coit Tower
Me, Columbus, and Coit Tower
The City (with a capital C, thank you very much)
Dad and Mom on the way down from Telegraph Hill
Flowers
Apparently they deliver in SF
Stuff you can buy in Chinatown. Mom thought it was poop (all different shapes and sizes!).
Want some ginger?
Bird's nests, used to make bird's nest soup. The most expensive one was $3840/lb. (Right after this the lady came over and told me "No photo!".)
An interesting commentary on what "America" is.
Quintessential San Francisco
Mom looks good. I look awkward.
Me and Dad
Me and Mom
There's that wind again!
Mom and Dad at the Presidio, with the foggy Golden Gate in the background
Mom and Dad
One little (and slightly sunburned) happy family
Golden Gate Bridge at sunset
Golden Gate at sunset
Birds!
Sunset
More sunset
Watching the sun set
