Road Trip! (pt 3) Being a tourist in San Francisco

I've said on this blog that I love living in new places because that's how you learn what a place really is. For example, my short span in New Orleans was a different experience than visiting as a tourist. But I would still argue that everyone has to go to Bourbon Street on a Saturday night at least once.

I love living in new places and experiencing what the locals like. But I also love being a tourist, and going to all the places that the locals have long stopped visiting.


I was a tourist in San Francisco for a couple of days this week. What a wonderful city. It was my first visit, and I did all the things a first visit requires.

I went to Fisherman's Wharf ...

 and to Pier 39 where the sea lions live. According to pier39.com, the sea lions moved in after the 1989 earthquake. In the protected marina environment, the population sometimes numbers in the 100s.

I walked the hills of San Francisco - I knew San Francisco was hilly, but I had no idea how hilly it actually is. San Franciscans must have amazing quad muscles.

The good thing about walking? The views on the way up ...

But then I got tired, so I took a cable car after viewing the famous curvy Lombard Street. This is a shot from the top of Lombard:

My husband and I came back to the city the next day, and not only did I get to try my first In-N-Out Burger, we also took a boat trip in the Bay. Which was more fun? Well, the burger was good (but I still prefer Five Guys Burgers & Fries). But I checked a few more tourist destinations off my list with the boat tour. We rode under the Golden Gate Bridge ...

... and around Alcatraz. Did you know the guards' children used to live on the island and commute by boat to school? (I read that in a pamphlet on the train back to our hotel.) This was the view as we rode away from the island.

Fun times.

I do want to visit San Francisco again and spend more than two days, so I can go to some great restaurants (that the locals recommend!) and visit more than just the downtown. But for the whirlwind tour I had, the hot spots were enough for me.

Oh, I almost forgot. The best part of hitting the tourist spots in San Francisco? Ghirardelli Square and the Ghirardelli chocolate shop there. Yes, you can get chocolate by Ghirardelli anywhere, but somehow the chocolate bars I picked up in the "original" shop tasted better (though I may have imagined it)! Maybe because it has less distance to travel after manufacture? Oh and if you're wondering how to really pronounce Ghirardelli, according to the website, it's: Gear-ar-delly. Guess I've been saying it wrong all these years.