A Day in San Francisco

After we got to Travis on Feb. 11, we couldn't rent a big van until the next day, Thursday.  That was fine because we were all exhausted!  We watched the Olympics and attempted to order pizza for dinner to be delivered to the TLF.  Bob was clear that we were on base, but 45 minutes later, we got a phone call from the driver saying he didn't know we were on base, and he couldn't get on, so we needed to meet him at the gate (about a mile away).  Bob told him we didn't have a car, and the guy hung up on him!  By this point everything in the BX food court had closed, so Bob had to walk over to the on-base Burger King to get dinner.  I guess Burger King has a contract with AF bases because there always seems to be one on base.  We had to eat several times at Burger King during the course of this trip.  I was never a huge fan of Burger King, but let me tell you--after this trip, I don't think I will EVER want to eat there again!  Just the thought turns my stomach!

Thursday, we picked up the van, and Bob and I went to the commissary to get breakfast and lunch food.  We talked about actually doing something, but none of us were really motivated.  I was depressed that we seemed to be stuck in CA while the east coast had a huge snowstorm, we were worried about our house because Christine had texted us right when we landed to say that she had gone over to change the water in the fish tank, and there was water under our fridge leaking into our basement storage room (she turned off the water, moved a bunch of boxes, and set up fans), and no one was excited about going anywhere.  So we watched more Olympics, and I polished off the rest of my birthday chocolate macademia nut clusters, which were delicious and cheered me up a bit, LOL.  I did put a request out on facebook to a friend from Sacramento to get her recommendations on what to do.  Christina gave us a fantastic itinerary, so we decided we would go into San Francisco on Friday.

We got there around lunchtime and ate sandwiches in the van.  Then we walked over to a museum by the Hyde Street Pier (the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park), where all the old boats are.  The museum was really well-done, I thought.  The displays, about the history of the bay, were interesting, and they also had a lot of sounds to make it seem like you were there in whatever picture you were looking at.  Then we went down the pier and bought our tickets to go tour the boats.  It was a real bargain for us--$5 for adults, and kids under 16 were free!

The first boat we toured was an old ferryboat, built in 1890, called the Eureka.  I think it was my favorite.  The first floor was filled with a bunch of old cars!

The next floor up was where all the passengers would have sat.  It was so light and airy, but I'm sure it was jam-packed with people, and not so nice then, LOL.

We walked around on the deck, and we could see a bunch of sea lions on the next little pier over.  We never did make it over to Pier 39, which is so famous for the sea lions, so I was very glad the kids could see and hear them here!

Next we did a guided tour of an 1886 square-rigger called the Balclutha.  The tour guide asked me when the next little one was due, so I was obviously looking pregnant enough even at that point that people felt very comfortable assuming I was not just fat, LOL.  The tour was interesting, although Nathan and Luke felt like they could have gotten all the information just by reading the signs.  The guide was very slow and deliberate, so I understood their frustration!

From the top deck, you can see us on the gang plank, but also the ferry behind us.

We also toured this cute little tugboat called the Hercules.

After all the boats, little (and bigger) people were flagging, so we headed over to the Ghirardelli Square, where we stood in a long line and bought ice cream for everyone.  It was good, but not as good as Young's!  It did ward off starvation, however, so that was a good thing.  Whew!

Next we headed over to Pier 45, where we visited the Musee Mechanique.  This arcade has a ton of old games, most of which are only a quarter.  Bob gave the kids each a few quarters, and they had a fun time picking games to spend them on.  Of course, most of the old games aren't really all that exciting, LOL, so they were sometimes disappointed.

I spent my 2 quarters making this really detailed model of a turn-of-the-century amusement park light up and go.  It reminded me of Idlewild, the old amusement park by Bob's parents' house!  I thought it was well worth my $ .50, and Micah and Drew liked it too.

Caleb mastered the "Steam Shovel" game, where you had a complex set of instructions to make a scoop open up, lower down, scoop up gum balls, close back up, raise up, and then move over to the chute, where you would then drop the gumballs in.  Caleb got enough gumballs for everyone!

By the time we left there, we were definitely stuck in rush hour traffic leaving San Francisco.  It took us awhile to get back to Travis, but we decided to wait until we got close to the base to stop and eat.  We found an In-N-Out, and stopped there.  We were so surprised to find it totally crowded and hopping at 8:00 at night!  We finally got our burgers.  Bob and the kids loved them (Nathan and Luke raved about how good they were, as well as how simple and easy their menu was to navigate!), but by this point, I was totally and completely burger-ed out.  I don't think I'll be eating another hamburger from ANYWHERE during this pregnancy!!  On a side note, I was more nauseous during our time at Travis than I am pretty much ever during pregnancy.  I think it was all the weird food we were eating, and the rather random times we were eating it!  We went back to the TLF and went to bed, although not without checking facebook to see if any flights east had popped up.  They hadn't.  Sigh.