Maritime National Park

We visited the National Maritime National Park and Museum Saturday. We were able to board and explore four historic ships. Here are some photos.

Is this the fore deck or the poop deck?

The colored sails tend to hang out together and the white ones together. Purposeful?

Steam tugboat with colorful sailboats in the background.

I don't think Nathaniel was supposed to ring the bell. It drew the attention of a docent who came over to tell the (long) story of how the bell was rung every half hour because the sailors didn't have watches. He described how many "dings" would be rung for a particular time and demonstrated by saying ding that many times with meaningful pauses.

In front of Eureka - a fancy ferry that used to run between San Francisco and Sacramento.

Nathaniel loves to explore and try things out. We visited the park and museum for him and the Ghirardelli shop for Davis.

Russian Hill in the background (Davis wasn't fast enough to get out of the shot).

Photo-willing family members with Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Of course, what trip down to the waterfront could be complete without a visit to Ghirardelli Square. The hot chocolate is a definite desert, not just a beverage.

Point Reyes National Seashore

The boys and I went to San Francisco this weekend so we could all stay in the tiny studio apartment. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County and out to the Point Reyes National Seashore. We were lucky to have a nice sunny day. We are starting to learn that in N. Cal. you either have fog and clouds at the beach, or you have sun and WIND! Wow, what wind.
Here is the beautiful seashore behind us.

We went out to see the lighthouse - but it was closed because of the high winds. Boo!

We saw lots of hawks, egrets, turkey vultures, a couple peregrine falcons, deer, elk, lots of cows, sea lions, elephant seals, and all we got a picture of was Nathaniel's favorite, the conglomerate rock.

Despite the cold wind, closed lighthouse, and whale noshow (it's whale migration season but we didn't see any), the boys managed to have some fun.

Waiting for the shuttle bus to take us back to the visitor's center where there was hot cocoa and freshly baked cookies (not bad for National Park Service food).

Davis was the only one willing to hike out to chimney rock point with me. Lovely place, not sure if we'll make it back there since there are so many other places yet to explore.

Golden Gate Park

Today's adventure was exploring a little bit of Golden Gate Park. It is nowhere near the Golden Gate Bridge, FYI. It is a little like Central Park and the National Mall. It is very big with lots of trees, paths, lakes, museums and gardens. However, the museums, unlike the National Mall, are NOT free. We chose one museum for the day - the California Academy of Science.
Nathaniel really enjoyed the museum. Davis - so so.

We also walked through an arboretum and saw a fantastic fox. It was an urbanized fox and cared little if we were there or not.

The day was sunny, but windy and cold.

Not so windy that the windmill was working, I guess.

Wind coming off the ocean to the right. We tried 4 different places to get hot chocolate. Not a hot chocolate friendly park.

Japanese Garden

Amphitheater

Living roof of California Academy of Science building.

Free range Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs in the rain forest exhibit. Any kid could have picked them up and licked them. (Think about it... you probably know some kid who would.)

Blue jelly fish (never seen blue before.)

Muir Woods in the Rain

Muir Woods is in Marin County on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was worth exploring - even for a short muddy walk.
It was rainy (you can see the drops reflecting the flash.)

Kind of dark in the photo because of the heavy cloud cover, but it was very green in real life.

Chris and Nathaniel in one of the giant redwoods.

Hollow log too small for Chris.

The hollow log is just right for Nathaniel.

Nathaniel and I were searching for Banana Slugs, but he only found psychedelic (looking) mushrooms.

Probably would have been nicer without the rain, but it is very green and mossy so it must rain alot there.

The Garners go to Alcatraz

The boys are out of school and into prison - for the day anyway. We took a ferry out to Alcatraz Island. It was surprisingly sunny for Alcatraz, so the grounds were very pretty. But it would be absolutely depressing to have to live in the prison. The cells are so small and you would probably never be warm. No wonder they all tried to escape.
Nathaniel found a bird that was willing to pose for a picture.

A garden shed on the grounds looked almost inviting.

The narrow strip of ground to my left was some of the prisoners' gardens.

There would be a cot in the cell for the prisoner. Lovely.

Self portrait

Prison in the background. Agave growing over rubble from military family housing off to the left.

Yeah, just in case you didn't know it was illegal to help prisoners escape.

Nathaniel didn't like the signs all over the place that said, "Access restricted for your protection" He would have liked to go up all the stairs (like the ones on the guard tower in the background).

San Francisco Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year found us "camping" in Chris' San Francisco studio apartment. One person on the bed and three on the floor nearly filled the place. But it's a great base camp for exploring San Francisco.
View from studio apartment's door.

Cable Car Museum

Cool building we noticed while we were standing under it.

Walking up Telegraph Hill.

Coit Tower on top of Telegraph Hill.

Bay Bridge from Telegraph Hill.

Interesting details all over city.

Lighthouse, Marin Headlands.

Picnic at Marin Headlands near one of the many military bunkers.

Fort Baker - Marin side of Golden Gate Bridge.

Walkin down Russian Hill. Steep (look at door frame to see actual horizontal line).

Lombard Street. The memorable part is driving up the other side before you go down the zig zag. Soooo steep!

Exploratorium science museum. The science of toilet water.

Muse'e Mechanique at Fisherman's Wharf.

Christmas tree lighting in Union Square.

Cable car ride. So welcome after walking up hills for a few days.