Monterey and San Francisco

We left Santa Barbara and headed up some more of Pacific Coast Highway 1 to Seaside, CA to meet our friends Brandon and Natalie Rounds. Brandon was in law school with Brendan for one year before he joined the Navy. We miss them lots but Brandon is doing wonderful things to protect our country! The views up the coast were amazing. We found an area where we could head down to the beach and I put my feet in the Pacific-it was freeeeeezing!

We met Brandon and Natalie for a great lunch. After lunch we headed to Monterey, CA to see the sea lions. They were so fun! We have a great video of a sea lion eating a crab and then it dove down into the ocean to grab another.

We arrived in San Francisco mid-afternoon and strolled around Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf. We ate dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company on Pier 39. There were great views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz from our seats.

The following morning we went back to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Alcatraz tours sell out weeks in advance during the summertime. We were unaware of this and weren't able to get tickets. So instead we went the Aquarium at the Bay. It was so neat. They have two glass tunnels you walk through while fish and sharks swim over you. They also had an area of the aquarium where you could pet stingrays, sharks, and starfish. The stingrays were so playful!

After leaving the aquarium we went to Gharadelli Square for some yummy chocolate and hopped onto a cable car for a quick ride before leaving San Fran. Now the public transit system in San Fran is confusing and I was warned ahead of time of this-but still we were still so confused! They call the trolley-looking cars (like in Rice-a Roni commercials) the cable cars, but they also have buses that run on cables. These are NOT the cables cars (although they have cables above them). But we figured is out eventually and went for a ride!

On our way out of San Fran we stopped for some pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge.
































































































































































































Car was filthy from the grand canyon and all the driving!





















































































































Petting the sting rays. They were young ones and very playful and would jump right out of the water to us!!!







































ALCATRAZ!