We committed to not renting a car or taking any taxis, which meant we took public transportation, walked or biked EVERYWHERE. Let's just say we got A LOT of steps! And luckily the MUNI system in San Francisco has this AWESOME pass that we paid $18 for and got 3 days of unlimited rides on any of the MUNI vehicles (buses, streetcars & cable cars). And since Meadow thought it was the 18th when we got into the city we actually got 4 days of riding, because really it was the 17th, but we had marked off the 18th, 19th and 20th. And I would feel guilty, but none of the drivers even looked, they just saw the cover and said "okay".
Here is a picture of the BART. It was the first and last form we took in the city (not including planes). It was not included in our MUNI pass, but it was only $5.35 from the airport to the city, so way cheaper than a cab or a shuttle.
Next we rode on the bus. The bus we really wanted to take was PACKED, like not even standing room packed and since we had suitcases, we moved on to find another line that was not as packed. Luckily, locals are more than happy to stop and give directions, even if you are not asking, in fact I don't think we had to ask once, whenever we pulled out the map, someone always stopped and helped.
The next form was the "F" Line. The "F" line cars are these historic street cars. They are so cute and fun to ride.
Here are the innards of the Cable Car Museum. The white wheels are what pull the cables. Each of the four routes have their own cables. It was a cool museum to see, I had it on my itinerary originally, but Meadow was like "LAME", but then after we rode the cable cars she was like "LET'S GO!"
Here are the gardens. They were really pretty. Apparently, when Alcatraz was first spotted it didn't have any vegetation and the people brought soil to the island and began planting. And now it has a ton of flowers and other plants.
The famous lighthouse
Here was some weird white bird on the island. It was not listed on the signs about the birds, so I don't know what it is.
It was mating/nesting season on the island, so some parts were closed off. And there were a TON of birds.
Here is a seagull sitting on a nest, it was really close to the walkway, so I had to take a picture.
Okay, so our hotel was not the greatest, but it was inexpensive at only $70/night (crazy, right). It didn't have AC (which was fine, except the first night, because it was SO HOT!). There was tissue shoved in the door to stop it from rattling. And there was no screen in the window. (Which in its defense, I only saw once screen in the whole city, it was rather weird, I love screens on my windows!)
BUT, the best was the tower of eggs! They advertised having a continental breakfast and the first day it was this tower of eggs and muffins. The next day it was oatmeal and the final morning the tower of eggs was back. Needless to say, Meadow and I went out for breakfast every morning.
On Monday, we rented bikes to ride across the bridge. And we totally did it, in all, we rode about 28 miles and were outside for 5 or so hours (including eating and sightseeing).
We also went to SFMOMA. We couldn't take photos of the paintings and stuff, but we could photograph somethings. So here is a really cool bridge, Meadow walked across, but I didn't, because the floor was see-through and I don't do see-though floors.
And here are the shoes I bought. The first pair are named Michael and they are Angel shoes. They are resistant to many things, including Satan. They are so cute and have blue soles, however I made the mistake of wearing them the last day in the city walking around and I got a massive blister, they need to be broken in : (
Also, I got these cute shoes. Their names are Marion and they are Bass Minstrels, note the cute music notes on the soles. They do not say they are Satan resistant, but I am betting they are!
Oh and here is a picture of my hands. I forgot to apply sunscreen to my hands the day of the bike ride and got BURNED! They still hurt. I did however apply sunscreen to my nose and still got burned to the point of blisters, it sucks.
So this is a basic overview of my trip. I took 271 pictures so obviously I did not post everything, but if you want to see all my pictures you can go here. They are super exciting...
And I am very glad to be home. I am such a homebody! Plus, I missed KPP and she totally missed me, as she has had to be RIGHT next to or on me for the past two days.