I'm a Local Tourist!

My German friend, Lea, visited me last week and she had one goal in mind; to explore as much as possible of the beautiful magical city of San Francisco.

At first I thought of Pier 39, a really fun place for food, shopping, and, of course, the sea lions. Pier 39 is only the beginning of fun places to visit so Lea and I poured over her guide book to the city, circling things we wanted to see. I pointed out the sea lions, hoping we'd get to see them. Actually I want to bring one home. Wouldn't it fit in my bathtub? Oh yeah, that's a no-no from the state of California. Darn it.

Our list included a little museum hopping, Golden Gate Park, Alcatraz, the Presidio, Pier 39, driving or walking over the Golden Gate Bridge . . . the list went on and on and then we remembered -- oh yeah, Lea was here for 3 days. The list must be pared down.

In the three days she visited we covered a lot of ground. Pier 39 was stop #1 after the Ferry building. I was so happy that the sea lions was a huge favorite with Lea too. We spent lots of time taking pictures and laughing at their funny antics. We had to leave the area after it became apparent I was actually attempting to talk to the mammals of the Bay. I just love their antics and their funny attempts to fit as many of them as possible on one pier. I could easily spend all day there . . . but the City called us.

We ate at Bubba Gumps and then did more shopping. Lea laughed at the store of nothing but socks, and I had fun shopping for my left handed son at the Lefty's store.

The next day we covered more of the city in my car, managing to tour part of the Presidio, and all of Golden Gate Park, including the Japanese Tea Garden, and the windmills at the far western end of the park. Earlier in the day, while I was taking care of some things at home, Lea visited the Jewish Museum and a few other museums nearby. According to Lea, the Jewish Museum is well worth the visit so it's on my list, my ever growing list.

On our final day we wanted to fit in as much as possible, so we were on the first boat to Alcatraz, cruising over to experience what it would be like to be a convict on the Rock. I'm so glad we were not locked in the solitary confinement hold . . . whew. We were good girls and narrowly escaped back on the return trip to the City. We decided we'd be good so we would never have to live in a cell.

Lea and I also visited the USS Pampanito, a floating submarine museum, and a stroll down the rest of the Embarcadero, past the Maritime Museum and the live lobsters and crabs calling out to us. No, I'm just kidding, they were silent and unaware of the hungry eyes on them.

My favorite, besides the sea lions, was the Cable Car ride up the very steep streets of Hyde to Union Square. Ding, ding. We clung to the poles and laughed as it reached the top only to coast down, brakes burning, into Union Square, home to some major shopping.

We finished our final day shopping. As we boarded Bart, I'm pretty sure Lea patted me down to be sure I didn't have a baby sea lion stuffed in my backpack. Where's the trust? On the Bart ride home to the suburbs we were both quiet and sleepy. Our list had a lot of check marks and lots of circled things for next time.

It's good to be the tourist that lives here. I have more chances to gaze at those adorable sea lions. I wonder if the neighbors would believe it's a new breed of dog?