Day 3 - Final Destination

I’m so grateful the flight we found was for late morning.  We slept in, each took a glorious shower, and then packed up for the flights.  The hotel was not even 10 mins from the airport so we took the shuttle over.  Smooth check in and security check and we were at our gate with a few minutes to spare.

It was a direct flight - only about 2 hrs.  We had a bit of a wait for our luggage but in no time we are out by the curb waiting for our driver to pick us up.  

It was a fun ride to the hotel… the Bay Area is just gorgeous… there’s water literally everywhere with homes tightly covering the hills that surround.  I think this is gonna be a great place to visit and perhaps a fun place to come again.

We checked into the hotel and by some luck our room was ready early (its only about 1 pm at this point).  So we dropped off our bags and headed out.

Because we hadn’t planned to be in San Fran until after suppertime on the train, we didn’t have anything planned, so instead we just walked around Fisherman’s Wharf and explored the area.

We stopped for in-and-out burgers for lunch and then walked down to visit some historic ships in harbor.  We first wanted to tour of the USS Jeremiah OBrien.  Unfortunately they had just moved the ship to a new pier and weren’t open yet to visitors.  So, we headed back toward the submarine tour and made a few stops on the way.

First we visited the Aquarium on the Bay at Pier 39.  They had a nice sampling of local sharks in their tunnel tanks and we especially enjoyed watching the octopus and the playful sea otters.  

After that, we walked through Pier 39 and did some window shopping.  At the end of the pier, we took pics of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz island.  

Then we stopped by the hangout for the local Sea Lions, which were so fun to watch!

 

Then we headed back to pier 45 where the USS Pampanito is docked.  We listened to the entire audio tour (about 40 mins) and both found it incredibly interesting.  The tour was an interview with several men who served on the sub during WW2.  They told stories and shared about life aboard the sub while we stood in the spaces they worked and lived for all that time.  The favorite for both of us was hearing how they rescued some 75 allied soldiers who were shipwrecked in the South Pacific.  I already struggled to think of what it would be like with the 75 crew members but to double that… I cannot even imagine.

After the tour, we both decided it was time to head back to the hotel.  We were ready to kick our feet up after a very long day.

Ordered a pizza from Uber so that we could just stay in for the evening… and by 8:40 but of us were struggling to stay awake.  It was a huge day but a really, really good one!