Seeing San Francisco

Because we flew into San Francisco and Scott had parked there when he flew out, we had a car and an entire afternoon to visit the city. The day didn't end up exactly as we had planned... By planned, I mean I spent three hours on-line the previous week with mapquest and my friend Laura's notes (she lived there for a year and wrote me a small book on what to see and do while we were there- thanks, Laura!). I knew how to get to stop 1: pic opp. with the Golden Gate- kids could run around after flying for five hours, etc. Then, stop 2: Free Wednesday museum visit. Stop 3: Fisherman's Wharf for dinner and sea lions.
We first wanted to take a picture of the kids with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Well, it was cloudy, windy, and the pic op didn't turn out exactly like I'd planned. We walked around the "beach" for five minutes before Will asked to go to the car so daddy could "turn the warm on."
Next, we were going to go to Exploratorium, a hands-on Science Museum. The first Wednesday of each month, the exact day we were there, the museums in the city are free. What a great break for us, huh? Well, us and 3,000 other people who wanted to get in... Skipped that idea, pouting as we drove by...
So, we drove on out to Fisherman's Wharf, where a tourist can be a tourist. By this time, we were all tired, hungry, and broke. We'd had to pay an arm and a leg (almost a first born...) for parking at the airport, so our budget had been infringed upon. The kids shared a sourdough pizza, and Scott and I had warm, clam chowder- YUM!! A little bit encouraged at this point, we decided to press on with out plans. You can still have fun for free, right? Well, we were going to teach our kids that money didn't buy happiness... but this area was not the one to do that in. Between all the little souvenir shops, the pier attractions like a carousel or cotton candy, and the fresh, warm doughnuts, everything Will and Em were interested in would cost us. So, we briskly walked past the money-items and pumped up the sea lions.. cute whiskery faces, flopping around, entertaining us. As you walk out the pier, following the signs that take you to look at the sea lions, you wind around shops, up and down stairs. It's a real excitement booster. We expected to see something awe inspiring with each turn. Finally, we came to the end of the pier.. and a sign. The sign explained how, around May, the sea lions migrate south to breed. On a floating dock, way out, there were six sea lions, sunning themselves. They looked like big, wet bags. They didn't even look back at us. Major disappointment!
So, four hours ahead of time (the second time we've ever been early), we went back to our car, headed out 80 West, and sat in traffic all the way home to Sacramento.
Maybe we'll try that again, one day...