Sibling trip to San Francisco

In June of 2005, my sister Renee and I took a 4 night trip to San Francisco.  We decided it was the best trip either of us had ever been on!  San Francisco has many attractions.  Our favorite was Pier 39 and the sea lions.  We spent a lot of time just sitting and watching them.  Not that we didn't do other things as well.  We went for rides on the cable cars, took a boat over to Alcatraz, ate at In-n-Out, took a Bay Cruise, ate a dinner of ice cream sundaes at Ghirardelli, walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, checked out a beach and watched the seals some more.  When traveling to San Francisco, I highly recommend the trip to Alcatraz.  Get the audio tour, which guides you around and has actual interviews with some of the inmates.  I enjoy touring old prisons and Alcatraz was pretty impressive as well as creepy.  The island is a big nesting ground for lots of birds and I managed to avoid getting pooped on.  This happens to me a lot when traveling so it was a pretty big accomplishment!  The Bay Cruise that we took was pretty nice.  Our tour went out under the Golden Gate Bridge, around Alcatraz and back to the dock.  The wind was ridiculous, but otherwise it was a wonderful way to see San Francisco from the water.  I would also highly recommend walking on the Golden Gate Bridge.  It took us maybe an hour to walk to the other side and then back again.  There are small tourist centers on either side.  The one on the San Francisco side has food, but we didn't actually walk all the way to the one on the other side so I'm not sure about that one.  Now, the bridge is pretty high up and I am not fond of heights, but it wasn't that bad.  The views are definitely worth it! 

I'm sure there are lots of shops and fancy restaurants in San Francisco, but we didn't see any of that.  We ate at In-n-Out, a little place called Lori's Diner, had hot dogs and pizza at the Bridge, clam chowder and crab cocktail from little vendors along the Wharf, and probably Subway.  Our hotel was several blocks from the Wharf, but it was within walking distance.  We did a lot of stuff for not a lot of money.  San Francisco is certainly a city that is doable on a very small budget and I would highly recommend going!