One of the areas that we wanted to see was Chinatown. I guess I had heard so much about it, I just couldn't leave without seeing it. It was incredible. I don't think I've ever seen that many people crowded in a smaller area. Not the Chinese, the tourists. I'm sure if you could have gotten an overview picture it would have looked like a large anthill with the ants moving in and out. Again, there were shops and restaurants side by side. Every little nook or cranny had a stall or shop that was selling something, and everything was colored with bright colors as seem to be favored by the Chinese people. We went through Haight-Asbury area but it really didn't seem all that different from many neighborhoods we had seen in other cities. Now, I will have to admit that a number of the people we saw wandering around on the streets were so strange looking that it was hard to tell if the "hippies" in Haight-Asbury were any different from anyone else. Of course, we had to go to the Golden Gate Park. It is a really lovely park that goes on for three miles. There are any number of things to see in the park itself. They have an Asian Art Museum, Buffalo paddock, California Academy of Sciences with a planetarium, Conservatory of Flowers, Dutch Windmill, Japanese Tea Garden, Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, among others. You could take a day just to see this park alone. Our day was winding down so we wended our way back to the Fisherman's Wharf to have dinner and catch our ferry back home. Out of the wharf you could get a sightseeing boat to visit the famed Alcatraz. However, by the time we got back there it was too late to take the boat. So we strolled around the wharf area looking for a place to eat. Everywhere we went we saw street performers as well as beggars. There were so many, in fact, that it reminded us very much of New Orleans, Louisiana. One beggar had a very ingenious sign. It read: "I'll have to be honest. It will all go to sex, drugs, and booze." Would you believe people gave him money? We finally found a nice restaurant overlooking the bay. While we were having dinner we were able to watch the Sea Lions that had taken over several of the floating docks and were sunning themselves. Something that occurred while we were eating really amused me. Here was this dock with maybe 8 to 10 large Sea Lions on it and a flock of Seagulls swooped down and ran the Sea Lions off the dock. I'm not sure what it was on the dock that the Seagulls wanted but I thought it was interesting that they were able to run a group of large Sea Lions off. Now, mind you, I have tangled with Seagulls in the past and understand that they can be rather nasty when they want to be. Well, soon it was time to board our water taxi for our trip back to Vallejo. As we were pulling out of the SF Bay we were treated to a beautiful sunset just over the Golden Gate bridge. What a beautiful ending to a really exciting, tiring day. I wanted to go back another day, but Bob said he'd had about all he wanted of "big city" to last him for a long time. If you go to SF be sure you give yourself a couple of days to see everything you want to see. The time we were there was an ideal time to go. All the locals we talked to said that the tourist season was slower this time of year. I thought it was really exciting and wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Good Luck! Have Fun! and Stay Safe!

Laura