San Francisco

We had a really good time in California! Our first night in San Francisco, we met an old co-worker and his fiancée at Destino for some delicious South American food.

The next couple of days were jam packed doing all the touristy sightseeing. Saturday morning, we took the ferry to Alcatraz. Upon landing, Rob felt compelled to do his best impression of Sean Connery saying, "Welcome to the Rock"...repeatedly. If you ever visit Alcatraz, I recommend the audio tour. I learned some interesting details about prison life and some of the escape attempts. We also saw a lot of cormorants and seagulls on the island. One of the seagull nests had some spotted chicks in it. A NPS ranger informed us that the mother can tell the chicks apart based on the spots on the head.



After Alcatraz, we stopped by Pier 39 to see the sea lions that camp out on the docks. I think they're my favorite "sight" in San Fran. I was also surprised by how loud their collective barking sounded. We then rented a tandem bike and rode from Fisherman's Wharf, across the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito.



Sunday, we hiked all over the city. First, we stopped by the Ferry Building which is like a larger version of the North Market. Then we climbed the 300+ Filbert Steps to Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. There's a pretty cool documentary about the wild parrots that live on Telegraph Hill. We didn't see any parrots, but the views from Coit Tower were worth the hike. Finally, we walked up Lombard St. It's so steep that there are eight switchbacks at the top for cars to drive down.



I've posted more photos on Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/ningyang1/sets/72157605688877536/detail/