California Road Trip – First Stop San Francisco

California has many places of interest to visit.  Thought I would share a few of these with you, places we’ve enjoyed discovering.  So get your maps out and start locating these hot spots.

First stop on our road trip is San Francisco, located about one hour and 40 minutes Southwest of Modesto.  San Francisco is a large city with a population estimated at 820,000 living in 47 square mile area.  Now compare that to Vance County where we live which has a population of 45,500 people living in an area of 254 square miles.  Without even visiting San Francisco, how would you describe the differences between the two locations? 

San Francisco is built on a series of hills making many of the city streets steep and curvy.  Big difference from our flat and straight highways!  The Golden Gate Bridge is a major attraction in the city as is Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39 with a beautiful carousal and the sea lions in the marina.  You can see Alcatraz across the bay.  Anyone ever heard of Alcatraz? 

Found this picture of the bridge covered in fog

The Golden Gate Bridge was built in the 1930s and was opened to traffic in 1937.  One of the world’s largest suspension bridges, the Golden Gate is 4200 feet long.  A suspension bridge uses cables anchored in towers to hold up the bridge.  It has six lanes of traffic for cars, as well as a pedestrian walkway and a cyclists’ path.  According to goldengatebridge.org, “as of April 2011, 1,929,896,448 vehicles have crossed the Golden Gate Bridge (includes northbound and southbound) since opening in 1937.”  That is a lot of cars!  The bridge is painted orange and is often surrounded by fog.  The day we visited, I remember the heavy fog and my inability to see the bridge because of it.

Pier 39 is a mix of shops, restaurants, and entertainment.  Three things I remember most about the pier, the sea lions, the carousel, and Alcatraz.  The marina at Pier 39 is home to noisy, lazy sea lions.  They spend considerable time basking in the sun watching the world go by. The noise they create is a barking sound, much like a dog’s.

The pier is also home to the San Francisco Carousel.  Have you ever ridden a carousel at a fair or carnival?  The San Francisco Carousel is unique.  It is from Italy and was handmade.  The rides are animals of all sorts.  The Pier 39 website offers the following information about the carousel. “The San Francisco Carousel is intricately hand-painted and depicts scenes from famous San Francisco landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Chinatown, Lombard Street, Alcatraz and the popular California sea lions at PIER 39.  It is the only carousel in the country that has artistic renderings of its home city.  Eighteen hundred twinkling LED lights illuminate this carousel, which features 32 animals to ride, including sea dragons, sea lions, dolphins, panda bears, and of course, horses.  Amongst the intricately designed animals are chariots, and for the more adventurous riders there are spinning tubs.”

Standing at the end of Pier 39 and looking across the bay you see Alcatraz.  Ever heard of Alcatraz?  Alcatraz is actually an island with a number of buildings on it to include a prison for hardened, and some very famous, criminals.  It was first used as a federal prison in 1934.  In 1963, Alcatraz was closed as a prison.  Today, it is part of the National Park Service and is open for tours.  Alcatraz was also known as “The Rock.”

Next stop on our tour will be San Jose and the Winchester House.  Take care.