Last week Chris proposed we do something new for our weekend hike. He suggested that we take the San Francisco Bay Ferry from Vallejo to San Francisco and walk from the Port of San Francisco down to Fisherman’s Wharf for the day. Chris and I used to take day trips to San Francisco, via the ferry, quite a bit several years ago. Life happened, as it tends to, and we stopped going for our day trips. We didn’t have a plan other than to take the ferry in as it is more convenient than finding parking and fighting traffic in and out of the city.

The ferry ride through Mare Island out to the bay is a nice way to get into San Francisco, if you ever have the chance. It drops off and picks up at the Ferry Building at Pier 1 in the Port of San Francisco and Pier 41 at different times throughout the day. A lot of people that work in the city use the ferry to commute to their 9 to 5’s. Before the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges were built in the mid-1930’s, connecting the north bay and east bay to San Francisco, The Port of San Francisco was the second busiest transit terminal in world.

After we disembarked, we headed into the Ferry Building before we made our way down the Embarcadero. There are coffee shops and small cafes. There are ice cream shops and donut shops. Cheese and wine. There is even a bookstore that faces the water called “Book Passage” that we always used to stop in to browse around. Around the front, facing the Embarcadero, there was a farmer’s market going on. Fresh fruits and veggies, nuts and a very excited chocolatier boasting about his “dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt.” He had samples but we were on a mission to get down to Fisherman’s Wharf. 

The Embarcadero was a freeway until the Loma Prieta earthquake hit in October of 1989 causing portions of the elevated freeway to collapse on itself. Instead of rebuilding, the city decided to tear it down and develop the area instead. Thusly, turning the Embarcadero Freeway into Embarcadero Boulevard. What we see today, at the Port of San Francisco, has only been around for 30 years.

As we made our way down the Embarcadero, people watching, smelling the street food and dodging random people talking to themselves, we realized how much the piers had changed since we were there last. There are still San Franciscans jogging down the Embarcadero weaving in and out of crowds of sightseers; unbothered. There are still loud talkers, fast walkers and people wandering aimlessly. The Exploratorium moved down to piers 15 and 17 from the Palace of Fine Arts in 2013. Had it been that long since we’d been to the city? I’m kind of in denial right now. We did not go inside the Exploratorium but decided we would go back and check it out at on a future trip. There seemed to be a lot of pier renovations going on. Some of the renovations looked complete, some looked like they had not yet started but it all looked promising, like the city is attempting to beautify the Embarcadero.

Pier 39 was built by an entrepreneur in the late 1970’s to help transform Fisherman’s Wharf into a tourist attraction. Prior to that development, Fisherman’s Wharf was literally a fisherman’s wharf.  There are still fishing boats that dock there bringing in fresh fish and crab for local restaurants. Pier 39 is full of tourists. There is an aquarium at the entrance, right next door to Hard Rock Café. All of your wildest tourist needs will be met; t-shirts and jewelry, keychains and snow globes. The one shop I loved to stop in was the Treasure Island Irish Gift store, which is no longer there. Clam chowder is available at almost every restaurant. There’s Bubba Gump’s Restaurant on the second level that is always packed. Plenty of dessert choices from Trish’s Mini Donuts to Dreyer’s Ice Cream. I also scoped out a pretty sweet churro cart but kept my cool and walked out to the edge of the pier to get a view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate.

Chris has never been to Alcatraz; I’ve been about 4 or 5 times. Its one of those tourist attractions that is always sold out if you didn’t buy your tickets months in advance. I totally recommend it. It’s a great history lesson while also being an eerily beautiful place at the same time. Hop on a ferry over to the island and take a tour around the former prison. You get to walk through the prison blocks, into cells, and check out the former rec yard. I’ve heard they even have night tours; I’m cool.

We kept on cruisin over to pay a visit to the sea lions. The sea lions are hilarious. Singing and fighting for room to sunbathe on the small floating docks. They draw quite the crowd. It doesn’t matter how old you are or where you came from, the sea lions are a must see.

Whenever we go on one of our day excursions, we always stop to eat somewhere, and I always want to make the most of my meal. Like, making sure we eat somewhere that we haven’t been before. So, while we have eaten their sourdough before, we had never actually eaten at Bistro Boudin at Fisherman’s Wharf. We went up to the bar where there was a small table for two. I’m not a drinker typically but Chris enjoys his beer on occasion. Anchor Steam used to be my all-time favorite beer when I did enjoy drinking. Bistro Boudin had it on tap in the bar so we both had a pint. Let me just say, if it always tasted that fresh out of a bottle, I’d drink more often. Maybe it was that I hadn’t had an Anchor Steam in so long, maybe its that the brewery is down the street, or maybe I was just thirsty, but I drank it a little too fast. It was refreshing and delicious. Though I did have to give up the last 1/3 of it so I didn’t get drunk before we ate.

I was adamant about my need for a clam chowder bread bowl. The menu tempted me otherwise. We like to do this thing we call, “Table Cakin.” It’s when we order things for the table and everyone shares. We dubbed this type of sharing after our trip to New Orleans when Chris’ brother ordered pancakes “for the table” and called them “table cakes.” This is a way for everyone to try something new. We ordered the Sourdough Tortilla Tacos and the Fish and Chips. Best. Fish. And. Chips. Ever. Chris’ lack of speech led me to believe that his tacos were equally amazing. The plate came with one of each; Dungeness crab, cod and shrimp. We table caked.

After our meal we walked a bit further down to Hyde Street and then turned around and made our way back. On the way we stopped at The Crepe Café for coffees and table caked a Nutella crepe. Afterward we crossed the street and headed into the Musee Mecanique. This unique museum houses vintage coin-operated arcade games, zoetrope’s, and antique instruments. Each one costing 25 to 50 cents to play or watch. The owner has quite an impressive collection. I put $5 in the change machine and walked around playing for about 15-20 minutes. It’s an inexpensive way to entertain yourself for a beat.

We walked back over to Pier 41 and waited for the ferry to take us back Vallejo. While our trip was a short one, only having lasted about five hours, it allowed us to get out of the house for the day, spend some quality time together and get our exercise walking down the Embarcadero. When you step off the ferry at the Port of San Francisco and see the city scape, it is breathtaking. The beauty of it gets me every time. That this place exists, basically in our backyard (50 miles away) and we aren’t there all the time is beyond me. No matter what day you go to San Francisco, it is full of tourists from all over the world. It makes you appreciate your backyard a little more. What we take for granted, others have saved money for and crossed oceans to see. San Francisco, we will see you again very soon.

The Wandering Randall’s