San Francisco – Day 4

Our last day in San Francisco dawned bright and fresh. Notice the difference in our view from the condo porch.

View on Thursday:

View on Sunday:

We were lazy on Sunday. We slept in, ate our Tacoliscious leftovers, drank coffee, sat around reading books for a few hours.  It was well after 1 PM before we set out for the day. Hah! Can you imagine the pure luxury, I never just sit and read for three hours straight anymore, ever. (I had nearly forgotten what it was like to get that lost in a story.  I was reading a really really good book called Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monniger. It was the perfect vacation read, I highly recommend it!)

Anyway we looked online and figured out what the Gay Parade route was going to be and then looked to see what we could go do that would be away from the crowds and craziness. (Not a social commentary or anything – I just do not at all like crowds like that. I can deal with crowds at places like a concert where there are seats or blankets and you kind of have your own space, but the kind of crowds where people are pressing up right on me gives me trouble, I feel like I can’t breathe. )

So we went down to the wharf and explored Ghirardelli Square and all the boats around the piers and had lunch.  We discovered two wine tasting rooms.

You know I should explain – we really are NOT huge heavy drinkers, really. We do like wine though (all things in moderation!) and I should also say that on this trip we bought two cases (24 bottles) more or less and that will probably last us something like 7 YEARS.

And also, to explain how a wine tasting works – you usually try about 5 wines from a menu and each pour is typically about 2 ounces (and often Will and I split those, so it ends up being about 1 ounce).  So in this post and in previous ones when I talk about going to all these vineyards and tasting rooms, we are talking about SIPS of wine, not huge goblets or anything.  So I hope that puts anyone’s mind at ease about all this wine drinking that went on!

First we tried and purchased some wines -

 

Then we went to a 50’s style diner and sat on the patio looking out over the bay:

(The camera was set on Sepia, I don’t really know why!)

 

 

Our view as we ate lunch:

 

Next we explored the old historic boats on Hyde St. Pier. I was honestly prepared for this to be um…boring. But the displays were fascinating and you can get right on and explore every part of the different ships. It was really neat and I could help thinking how much the kids would have loved it.

 

First we went on an old steam ship.

  

We both took a turn at the wheel.

It was HUGE inside. As in there are even real model t’s and old tractors and things inside. And one room where we met two men busy building model ships. We visited with them for a while, learning all about the process. He showed us a tiny perfect model he was working on, then he told us he had been working on it since NOVEMBER. It was crazy to see the itty bitty tiny lathes and other tools.

   

It was a really fun place to explore, in fact they ended closing so there were 2 of the boats we didn’t get to go on.

Our flight on Monday morning was really early, so I was up at sunrise to take one last picture of a view I could never tire of -

So that about wraps up our vacation in California, I do have a little bit of video I took that I’ll post up once I get it all compiled.  I had such a wonderful, romantic, fun time but I was also more than ready to get back home to my regular life and sleep in my own bed again. I missed my kitchen and my dog and of course my little ones. I missed the space we have here – space to park and live and a back yard after the hustle and bustle of the city. I guess I am just a Texas girl at heart.