Jesse’s beloved grandmother passed away in January, so we headed down to the bay area for her funeral. We decided to extend our trip a night and take in some of the sights in San Francisco. We didn’t really know what to do in the city with two small kids, but we ended up having a pretty amazing day!
We stayed at the Argonaut Hotel which was, quite frankly, incredible. When we arrived, the bellhop instantly became Alma’s and Harriet’s best friend. He told them all about the area, and showed them a treasure chest. The lobby of the hotel had a treasure chest full of toys that the girls got to dig through and choose a toy. We don’t travel much, so maybe this is normal, but I was totally blown away. After we were settled in, we headed out to fishman’s wharf (but first got the girls complementary hot chocolate in the hotel lobby).
It was an incredible day in San Francisco. On our way into the city we stopped and bought some sun block. These Oregonians weren’t prepared for a gorgeous blue sky day in the bay.
Our first stop was the Musée Mécanique. What a fun, cool place! It is full of old arcade games and other coin operated mechanical things. We didn’t have any quarters, but just looking at the machines was fun.
We walked down the museum’s pier and saw some big ships and a submarine and Rosie the Riveter (whom we love dearly thanks to Rosie Revere, Engineer).
We kept walking around, saw live lobsters, crabs, street performers, and lots of boats.
On Pier 39, Alma and I rode the carousel.
Halfway through, Alma asked me to let go so she could do it herself. Her independence is increasing these days. I love it in moments like this – I hate it in moments when she decides to run away from me. Luckily her dress is easy to spot, and she still doesn’t go far.
We had lunch at Boudin, and went through their factory tour. We got free admission since we ate at the restaurant, and figured we might as well go in. It ended up being really, really cool! I love watching things being made. Factories are pretty amazing.
After lunch we went to ride the cable car. The station is literally across the street from the Argonaut, right new Ghirardelli Square. We had to wait for about an hour. But it was an hour in the sunshine, with live music, great company in the line. No complaints from me, and the kids did a really good job, too!
Alma was excited to ride Trolley. I understand the difference, but with Alma’s affection for Daniel Tiger, we just called the cable car Trolley. We rode across the city.
Harriet fell asleep (seriously? It was so loud and so much was happening…) and stayed asleep when we got off the cable car, got back in line, and rode the cable car back to Ghirardelli. Then we waited in another line to get ice cream sundaes to share.
We walked down to the beach for the sunset in the sand. After dinner we walked around the wharf some more. Does this even sound like a January day?
