Pacific Journey: Santa Cruz to San Francisco

Pardon me while I get a little touristy, for as we continued our trek north from Point Lobos to San Francisco, I felt impelled to show my boys some of the SF area’s great classics.

We started, however, with a quick trip to Santa Cruz’s famous Boardwalk. We didn’t ride any rides, but I wanted the boys to experience the crowds, music, beach scene, and atmosphere of this fun seaside park. Besides, it’s the site where some parts of the American teen vampire film “The Lost Boys” were filmed in the 1980s. Each time I see that movie, I remember the feel of being at the Boardwalk from when I was a teen living in California. That soundtrack still rocks, by the way. All right, too much info about my youth — moving on.

We got to San Francisco and — hey, look, more fog! As I mentioned on previous posts about our vacation, fog was the norm for our trip, so we greeted it with a chuckle.

The ever-present fog certainly didn’t stop us from having a good time. These are some views from Telegraph Hill, where Coit Tower sits. The Transamerica Pyramid was in the fog photo above. We also had a nice view of the crooked Lombard Street, which we had just driven down.

And there’s Alcatraz. Don’t bother trying to get a tour of the former prison on a whim, by the way. Those days are over — you have to book your tour weeks in advance now, thanks to hotels and touring companies swooping up most of the tickets online.

Here’s the Coit Tower itself, built in 1933. It was named after and, in fact, funded by benefactor Lillie Hitchcock Coit through part of her estate. The story of this eccentric woman is fascinating — she was a cigar-smoking, trouser-wearing, gambling woman who occasionally dabbled in volunteer fire-fighting. The quote “well-behaved women rarely make history” makes me think of her.

Way up on the tower wall, I spotted these birds clinging to the side. Swallow fledglings, perhaps?

On our first day we also visited San Francisco’s newly-relocated Exploratorium, a “hands-on museum of science, art, and human perception.” It truly is a learning laboratory. We spent hours there, and it still wasn’t enough time to see and do everything.

The Exploratorium is a must-do when you visit SF, regardless of your age. I insist! At the Exploratorium, there is even an experiment involving guests. If you see two water fountains side-by-side, one a classic metal style and the other created from a nice, clean toilet, which fountain would you be willing to drink from? I find this a fascinating study. Well, the answer for our family was obvious.

My favorite place at the Exploratorium was the monochromatic room, a room lit by lamps that only emit a single wavelength of light. But with special flashlights, you can shine white light on photos, toy cars, clothes, and other objects in the room to discover their “true colors.”

The next day we visited Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, Ghiradelli Square, and other classic spots. We ate delicious food and even took a boat under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Here’s the view from our cable car at the top of a very steep hill. Cable cars, still moving on 19th-century technology, give a sense of thrill, as in “Will it make it to the top of the hill? Will it be able to stop on the downhill? Will it roll backwards? Will that car hit us while we sit in the middle of the intersection?” We were most impressed with the operators — putting the brakes on those cable cars is hard work.  Not the healthiest of pigeons — perhaps it should wean itself off of leftover hot-fudge sundaes. I’m sure there is a lesson to be learned there about nutrition, but I admit we did later have our own Ghiradelli treats.

Over at the California Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park, visitors learn about different subjects with overall more visual learning than the hands-on approach of the Exploratorium. The building houses a planetarium, a multi-story rain forest, and an aquarium. I really liked the 197,000-square-foot Living Roof, covered in specially-selected native plants that thrive on little water and can handle the salty air and wind. This eco-friendly roof keeps the interior building 10 degrees cooler than a typical roof would. For younger kids, this science museum might be the way to go, especially with the aquarium and rain forest, while older kids really get involved over at the Exploratorium. At least, that’s my take on it. You know me, my favorite subject in the rain forest was a spider, the Golden Silk Orbweaver. These spiders weave their giant webs both in displays and openly in parts of the rain forest area.

Around town, I admired the waste bins enough to take a couple of pictures. While many cities have separate trash and recycling, San Francisco takes it a step farther and has bins for composting. It also labels the trash bin as “Landfill” — this helps people keep in mind what waste truly is and where it is going. I hope Austin gets to this point.

We were amused by the TARDIS-like toilets seen around the city (Dr. Who fans will know what I’m talking about). They are automated (even the door slides open with the push of a button) and supposedly self-cleaning, but as any public toilet is expected to be, still nasty. One of my sons bravely tried one out, just to say that he did it. Our short city visit over, it was time to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and get back to the coast, to redwoods, and to nature in general. Muir Woods is next!