Day 2: All Fun and Games

Our day started off with a blast from the past in the charming neighborhood of Glen Park. We met up with one of my first friends, Blane Bachelor, and her husband Chris and their ridiculously adorable son, Dax (Melina has since been referring to him as “Cute-asaurus Dax”). After breakfast and a lot of catching up, they introduced us to Glen Canyon Park, a wilderness oasis in the city. The trails on the park wind through the canyon and the trees arch overhead so it feels enchanted and other-worldly. To enhance that effect, the park is scattered with fun surprises like fairy shrines and tree forts, and the paths are lined with blackberry bushes. The kids loved gorging themselves on the berries (at least until Dax regurgitated his) and ran and climbed and played all morning.

As Dax says, “Go go go!”

When in California…

After that wonderful reunion we didn’t have much of a plan (very unlike us!) so said our goodbyes and headed north to the touristy part of town. Our morning managed to keep us away from the craziness of the San Francisco marathon, and it was just wrapping up as we arrived at Embarcadero. We had planned to eat lunch here at the Ferry Building but we had just snacked in Glen Park and weren’t hungry yet. Instead we walked along the Embarcadero towards Pier 39.

Fun at an art installation on the Embarcadero

We had no intention of setting foot in the crowded crazyness of Fisherman’s Warf, but our poor planning meant we arrived there just as the girls were getting hungry and Zach’s sinus medication was wearing off so he needed a rest. We picked Boudin’s because the line was relatively short and clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl sounded good to all of us. Bad idea. We ordered quickly at the Panera-like counter and snagged a table, and then waited for almost 45 minutes for our soup! People came and went with theirs and they still didn’t call our name. The only bathroom in the area also had a crazy long line, so of course Diane announced she had to go just before our food arrived. Thankfully when the food finally was ready it was decent and allowed us to fill our bellies and rest up a bit. At this point we we’re feeling a little off our game, having gone a few hours in a super touristy spot without seeing anything worth braving the hordes of tourists. So we gathered ourselves half-heartedly and went to my must-see spot: the sea lions at Pier 39. This is where our day got back on track! The sea lions were hilariously entertaining! We spent a good hour watching them, the girls screaming with laughter as the bulls fought each relentlessly, chest-bumping each other off the docks like lazy sumo wrestlers. We longed to snuggle with the cows and pups that slept so soundly and managed to look so serene and relaxed despite the posturing of the males right next to them. I would love to see an Animal Planet show in the vein of Meerkat Manor about these comedic creatures.

Masses and hordes of (surprisingly kind and polite) tourists at Fisherman’s Warf

We ripped ourselves away from the fascinating sea lion show and on Blane’s recommendation went to the Musée Mécanique, an arcade jam-packed with games even older than the stuff we play in Ocean City, MD! This place was a gold mine of interactive games, from fortune telling machines to pac-man to mechanical dioramas to distinctly PG-13 stereoscopic peep shows from the early 1900s, all costing $0.10-$0.50. It was amazing!! We spent about 10 dollars there total, and it was money well spent. Our favorites were the Harry Potter sorting hat, the claw/crane gumball machine, and best of all, the cowboy diorama called “The Song of the Prairie” and marked with a sing reading, “If you are easily offended you should not play this game.” I was worried it would be violent or racist so avoided it at first, but then my curiosity got the better of me and I popped in a quarter when the girls weren’t looking. I waited in anticipation while the tiny cowboys jiggled for a moment, and then sounds started coming from the machine. I strained to listen and soon identified the noises as…fart sounds. I died laughing and called the kids and Zach over to play it again for them. Juvenile, yes. Brilliant and hilarious, also yes.

At the end of the day I asked Diane what her favorite part of the day was, and without hesitation she said, “Disneyland!” When I told her we didn’t go to Disneyland, she said, “I know…I meant the thing that was like Disneyland!” Of course she was referring to the Musée Mécanique.

Did not watch this.

Did not watch these.

I actually did pay a dime to see this: a fan with legs dangling from it jiggled for about 3 seconds total.

Since we were so close, we popped over to Ghirardelli Square and skipped the long lines by getting ice cream in the take-away cafe upstairs instead of the mobbed parlour downstairs. There was even a spacious booth waiting for us, and no line! The perfect place way to enjoy our sundae and plan out our dinner. We considered hoofing it back to Union Square for about two seconds before the cold weather and our aching feet reminded us that would be a terrible idea. By the way, it is COLD here. Apparently a typical summer day in San Francisco is in the low 60s with a chilly breeze and little sunshine (although we somehow still managed to get a little sunburned today). It’s a welcome change from hot and humid Virginia, but our light hoodies are no match for the evenings when it gets down into the low 50s! So we opted to Uber in a warm car back to Union Square where we got steaming bowls of Pho before turning in for the night.

Asleep before we could even get the lights off.

I can’t wait to see what San Francisco has in store for us tomorrow!