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We left Yosemite National Park on June 22nd for San Francisco. We
took the Oakland Bay Bridge
to cross from Oakland to San Francisco. My kids had a chance to
see another bridge in the bay area beside the famous Golden Gate Bridge.
They were amazed to learn the Oakland
Bay Bridge
has two levels. West bound lane is on top level and east bound lane is on
lower level.
We chose to stay at Radisson Hotel in Fisherman Wharf
for convenience. After checking in our hotel room, we had time for a
quick dinner and a walk to the “crooked flower street” on Lombard Street
bordered by Hyde Street
to the west and Leavenworth
Street to the east. It is hilly to walk
there from Fisherman
Wharf. We all had a
chance to do our exercise. My daughter was especially impressed by the
crooked flower street and she begged me to go there again by car when we
have a chance.
On our second day in San Francisco,
we took cable car to Market
Street, a major shopping area in San Francisco. My
kids told me San Francisco is like New York City in
the West. I jokingly told them why not saying New
York City is like San
Francisco in the East? We had a fun time
“arguing” about the subject. We spent about two hours in the area and
then took city bus line F to get back to Fisherman Wharf.
We had to be there so we could board the ferry to tour the Alcatraz. The Alcatraz
Tour had a pretty detailed audio program to help tourists understand
history of the facility along with infamous incidents and the reasons why
it was closed in 1963. After we were done with Alcatraz
Tour, we walked around the busy Pier 39 for sightseeing. The famous Sea
Lion Pier now has less sea lions and people are still guessing the real
reason behind the mystery.
During our stop in the bay area, we invited our nieces from UC Berkeley and our
nephew from Stanford University to join
us for dinner. All of them recently graduated from their respective
universities. During the conversation, the campus tour subject came up.
We decided to stay one extra day so we can have personal tour of their
campuses. That is the beauty of traveling by car in this country. We have
the flexibility to alter our plan at the last minute.
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