Mile 8233: PCH + SF Part 1 = Fun Times
Ah…the California Coast. Beauty unparalleled…windswept coastline…pristine beaches…endless blue skies…and the coldest water you’ve ever encountered. A common misconception of travelers to California is that it’s always sunny and warm there when in reality it’s often foggy and not-so-warm. Even in Southern California, the average daily temperature on the coast
is about 66 degrees. Pleasant, for sure but warm…I don’t think so. I’ve made it a personal policy to only attempt getting into the Pacific Ocean during the months of August and September…the rest of the year the water is a bit too frigid for my taste. This year, however, the water temperature in San Diego has hit some record highs…73-77 degrees which was very, very nice for a person such as myself who is extremely averse to being cold and damp. The warm water and swimming weather lasted until right around Ventura (north of LA) when things started to get a bit too blustery. After spending the night in Hotel Hell in Santa Maria, we got an early start and had
breakfast at Pismo Beach on the central coast. The weather there was noticeably chilly and gray which always seems a little strange considering we were only about 100 miles up the coast from Ventura where there were no wet suits to be found but lots of sunshine and warm water. After San Luis
Obispo, the Pacific Coast Highway takes a very narrow turn and winds its way around the cliffs of the coastline. Tori is a bit of a Nervous Nelly and was concerned I was going to launch us over the edge of the cliffs but alas, we all made it through intact.
We spent Sunday night in beautiful and sunny Monterey including a stop at the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. Toriand I really liked the Aquarium…Steven…not-so-much though he begrudgingly confessed that the shark tank was cool. Tori took these shots of some of the jellyfish and they turned out amazingly well considering they were through the glass.The Aquarium is very big on preservation and investigation of the oceans so there is a heavy theme of conservation throughout the building and the exhibits. It also seems like a great place for the under 12 set as there are tons of hands-on activities for the kiddies…mine were, of course, a bit too old for most of the stuff but it looked like a lot of fun.
Early on Monday it was off to San Francisco, one of my favorite cities in the world. We got a great Hotwire deal at the Handlery Union Square Hotel and devoted the first afternoon to checking out the Cable Car Museum and wandering
through Chinatown (a fabulous place to wile away hours for kids with money to burn). Tuesday was a big day as we kicked 
off the morning with a bus ride to the Golden Gate Bridge where we took the foot/bike path across the bridge. Unfortunately it was too foggy to really see much and Tori was not enjoying the swaying of the bridge, so we only walked about a third of the way across. The pictures turned out pretty cool though…this one on the left was taken on the bridge. From the GGB we headed east through Crissy Field towards the Marina. We didn’t have time to go in, but the Exploratorium (science museum) is housed in the cool building pictured below. It was fun to wander through
the grounds for a bit before we took off for the obligatory tourist spots of Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman’s Wharf. We had tickets for the 3:55 boat tour to Alcatraz so we cruised quickly down the Embarcadero to catch our boat.
Alcatraz is actually run by the National Park Service and the entry fee includes the roundtrip boat trip and a very well done audio tour through the cellblock. The island
itself has an interesting history…originally it was a military prison during the Civil and Spanish-American Wars…then spent 29 years as a federal penitentiary…and was ultimately occupied by Native Americans in protest of US policies toward American Indian issues. The cell block was actually much smaller than I expected though as Steven pointed out…only the worst of the worst were sent here so you might imagine there weren’t too many. No one was ever sentenced to Alcatraz…you could only arrive here from another prison in the system. Alcatraz’s most
View of Bay Bridge and San Francisco skyline from Alcatraz
famous inhabitants included Al(phonse) Capone (interestingly he died of untreated syphilis that created holes in his brain), Robert “The Birdman” Stroud and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. We spent some time wandering around the island…trying not to get blown into the San Francisco Bay and then headed back to Pier 33 in San Francisco where we took the Mason-Powell line cable car back to the hotel. The long day was completed by a trip to a sushi bar which I didn’t even have to bribe the kids to attend. They liked everything…even tried the raw stuff (spicy tuna for the sushi aficionados)…though admitted they liked the cooked stuff better. I’ll save the last day of SF for the next post as I’ve gone on long enough and there are tons of pictures for this location. Tomorrow morning we head up the northern California coast through the Redwoods towards Portland, Oregon (and Powell’s Books!) to visit family. Type to you soon…
Evening view of Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz
Tags: 6 - West Coast, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
Stacey
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Hey there Stacey! Glad to hear/read that you are doing well with your travels…. I finally had a chance to read and catch up on all of your adventures – love, love, love San Fran – great pics! Still haven’t tried the pretzel recipe, but I will soon! Take care!
P.S. Xander still refers to our guest room as “Stacey’s room” too cute! Guess he wants you to come back 🙂
August 28th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Sometimes Stacey’s driving is a little scary, right Tori? 😉 Maybe I am just bitter I didn’t make the blog with a pic in San Diego. Looks fun, you guys keep driving safe.
Love,
Erin