Today was our day to abandon our San Francisco neighborhood and play tourist over at Fisherman's Wharf. I had been there a couple of times on business trips, but Jody had never been. Since the "F" line historic streetcar stops across the street from our hotel, we got out our $2.25 exact change and proceeded to take the streetcar down to the Embarcadero and Fisherman's Wharf.
     First stop was Pier 33, home of the Alcatraz Cruise . They had a big sign out front that said "Next Available Cruise Leaves August 19", but we already knew that. We just went there to check out the pier and the gift shop. Of course I had to get an Alcatraz t-shirt. Next stop was to wander down to the famous Pier 39 where all the action happens. It was still early, around 10:00, so we figured we better get our tickets for the Blue & Gold line Escape from the Rock Harbor Tour. The boat left at 11:30, but seating was first come, first serve, so we wandered around Pier 39 and checked out the seals and sea lions until 11:00 when the line for the tour started forming so we could get a good seat. While we were waiting in line, we met a really nice couple, traveling with their teenage son and we talked about our motorcycle trip and some of the places we'd been.
     When the boat started to load, we were early enough to get one of the coveted upper deck seats so we could take the best pictures. The Escape from the Rock tour is 90 minutes rather than the typical 60 minute harbor tour, and the spend the extra 30 minutes concentrating on Alcatraz . They still do the same ride under the Golden Gate Bridge, and the ride over to the Bay Bridge and the cityscape. It was a nice day, there was no fog or wind, and the sun was out so it wasn't too cold. It was a great tour, and we got lots of good pictures. For the most part, the fellow tourists were pleasant, though there was a little jockeying for position to take pictures. The young couple on the seat next to us, especially the girl, looked cold and bundled up. It turned out they were from Delray Beach, Florida and were having the same trouble as us with the cold weather at the beaches.
     By the time we got back to shore, a cup of coffee sounded great, so we found a little shop and had lattes and watched the street performers. We walked length of Fisherman's wharf over to Pier 45, and checked out the mechanical pinball museum and decided to take the tour of the USS Pampanito, a WWII era diesel/electric submarine.     It's docked at the pier and you can go down inside to see what it would have been like . They use an iPod audio player to give an audio tour. This time it worked reasonably well. The submarine is really small inside for a crew of 84 men. and there were 4 huge diesel engines taking up most of the room.   It must have been really hot and loud in there when it was in operation.
     When we finished up with the submarine, we headed over to some of the shops on Beach St before returning to Pier 39 to do some more serious shopping. There were a lot of good restaurants also, but we were mostly checking out some of the specialty shops. Jody snagged some interesting non-tourist shirts, and we picked up a couple of San Francisco t-shirts along with a couple of things for Julia. Wherever we go, people still comment on Jody's black fringe jacket. By the time we finished up, we had to decide whether to eat at Fisherman's Wharf or to head back to the hotel and eat in the Castro District. Ultimately, we were getting tired from walking, and were ready to get away from the tourist crowd and back to the comfort of the neighborhood .
     That's when we found out that we were not the only people on Fisherman's Wharf looking to go back into town at about 4:00. As we stood at the streetcar stop and watched the first 2 streetcars pass by without stopping because they were full, we had to figure out a different strategy. So I got out the trusty iPhone, found a map of the "F" line, and figured out where the earlier stops were. A short walk later to the previous stop, and we just made it onto the streetcar, so we could watch ourselves drive past the people who were still waiting where we used to be,
    The ride back to the hotel should have been uneventful, until the drive announced that the streetcar was not going all the way to the Castro district, but the last stop would be on 9th St, about 6 blocks too soon. In retrospect, we probably should have waited at the bus stop for the next streetcar, but instead we decided to just walk the 6 blocks back to the hotel It did give us a chance to check out more of San Francisco up close .
     When we gt back to the hotel, we decided to try another of the corner restaurants within walking distance. This one was a place called the Slider Bar. Without knowing what a Slider was, we ventured in, and found out Sliders were a mini-burger, and you ordered 2 or 3 of the various kinds and matched it up with either one of the french fries or a salad. I had the 3-Alarm jalapeno slider and the Big Kahuna bacon-pineapple cheese slider with garlic fries. Jody had the chicken slider and the veggie slider with a salad. Both were delicious! Tomorrow looks like some more walking, as we head over to Golden Gate Park and pass through Haight-Ashbury. It should be fun!

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11,512.7 miles total

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275.053 gallons total