Last Big Day in San Francisco

Jill's Journal: Today marked our final full day in San Francisco and, just like the other three, it was a very, very full day. This one was also extra special because it was highlighted with not one, but two, cable car rides.

It started with yet another drive across that magnificent bridge. If we ever make it back to San Francisco with older children, we’d like to bike across it in the pedestrian/bike lane. They just weren’t ready for it at 3, 5, and 7.

Our number one goal of the day was to get the girls on a cable car, the thing they most wanted to do in the city. We had scoped out the locations and the one with the shortest lines by far was the Powell and Mason line – but at the end of the line (Taylor and Bay) near Fisherman’s Wharf. Seeing those cars turn around is really a treat. What a well-orchestrated, old-fashioned marvel.

Here’s the girls riding on their first car, on the inside. On our second car, all three got to hang off the side just as they envisioned. Part of their vision probably didn’t include their parents keeping a strong hold on each of them…but safety first. Reality bites. :)

And one final cable car shot. I think the cable cars will probably be the number one thing the girls remember about San Francisco because they anticipated the ride so much and then thoroughly enjoyed it when we got the chance.

The girls loved being able to see the cable underneath the street which pulls the cars. After riding the cable cars, we negated the entire point of riding by then walking for nearly three miles around the city, including over the top of Nob Hill. Of course, three miles up and down the steep hills in San Francisco has to be the equivalent of walking about double that anywhere else. Then add kids into that equation, including a 3-year-old who needed some carrying up those hills…and we felt we walked closer to 10 miles in theory than just three.

Normally sidewalks are a smooth line, if that makes sense. This one was curvy to accommodate some tiny one-car garages. The girls loved leaping off each hump. You just don't see sidewalks like this anywhere else.

Union Square. Most people know this is one of the world’s premier shopping and theatre districts and the heart of San Francisco, but not everyone knows it was named for the pro-Union rallies staged in the plaza during the Civil War. (I didn’t know that either!) The 97-foot tall monument commemorates the U.S. victory at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Spanish-American War.

Our impromptu walking tour led us to the lovely Grace Cathedral at the top of Nob Hill. The original Grace Church was built at a different location in 1849 during the Gold Rush. When San Francisco was leveled in the 1906 earthquake and fire, the church wanted to rebuild. A family gave their also-destroyed property on Nob Hill for a new, more prominent location. The cathedral took a few decades to build and wasn’t completed until 1964.

Grace Cathedral is as imposing inside as it is outside. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Dalai Lama, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have all preached here.

Also at the cathedral is the AIDS Interfaith Chapel, a memorial to the nearly 20,000 San Franciscans who have died of AIDS. This is a piece of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, with each panel three feet long by six feet wide (the size of a grave). The quilt block is rotated regularly to represent the tens of thousands of names sewn into the fabric.

Our final major stop of the day was the Palace of Fine Arts. The girls had a big treat waiting for them – an afternoon at the Exploratorium. I don’t even know how to describe the Exploratorium except to say it’s a hands-on science and perception museum. It’s perfect for school-age kids (and, I suspect, for adults with even a passing interest in science).

I had never been to the Exploratorium before, but Rob had been a few times and was in his element showing the girls around. It’s tough to tell who enjoyed it more. I just stood back and immensely enjoyed watching them all together.

Erika especially loves science and I believe could have spent all day there (and perhaps multiple days). She was fascinated by just about everything.

Even the little girls had fun and I don’t think they even knew they were learning.

Happy girls, distorted by the glass.

Extraordinary grounds. Stunning, really. It was the perfect ending to our adventures in San Francisco proper. We’ve had such a fantastic (and utterly exhausting!) time.