Thursday, May 9, 2013

Ocean Beach / Lands End / Sutro Baths / Point Lookout, Chinatown and Pier 39

On Friday we headed out for our last day of sight seeing. We first stopped at Ocean Beach which was just a few minutes from our apartment.



Sand dollars and sea shells in the sand


We drove up to Lands End, which is the furthest point east in the city and looks out over the ocean.
The pool down below is called Sutro Baths, which is the remains of a fancy pool complex that burned down in the 1960s.






We were able to walk down and the kids could explore the remains of the pool house building.




We walked the trail to Point Lookout, and found this neat cave along the way




From the very top we had a great view, and were able to see dolphins swimming in the water! The two spots in the center of this photo are their fins - we watched them swim for a few minutes, it was so neat.


We drove downtown after and ended up in Chinatown again - it was like a magnet just kept bringing us back to Chinatown!

We found this really cool playground right in the middle of this busy urban area, a good play break for the kids.




Then we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf again, this time to Pier 39.

This street performer caught Ella's eye so she went right up to him to investigate. He was doing some type of mime / robot performance and she couldn't tell if it was a real person or a 'real robot.' He did a little act with her, it was so cute.





































Neat view of Alcatraz from the pier



And we were able to see the sea lions all resting at Pier 39. Most of them were just laying down resting in the sun, but some of them were so noisy and active, climbing all  over each other, making their big barking noises, and jumping on and off the docks - it was quite a sight.




Friday night was a really special memory for Ella. She had slept in the room with Cayla, Cammi and Gavin in bunks every night, but that night they made a fort and all slept under it. Cammi and Ella slept in her bed, and then Cayla in the other bottom bunk and Gavin on the floor. They stayed up late coloring and talking and being silly, and even managed to sneak some oreos from the kitchen. Ella is still talking about their special sleepover night. 

We were all sad for our vacation to end on Saturday, it was such an incredible week filled with really great memories. Ella is still talking about her time with her cousins and I hope that we are able to see all of them again soon.

1 comment:

sharon said...

What an amazing adventure! It looks like just the best time ever. It's so wonderful that the Whiteside cousins had so much fun together. The "umbrella" story is just the sweetest, dearest thing. I'm soo happy that you all had this fantastic time together. BTW: When I was last with Ella she couldn't stop talking about all the fun she had with "big Cammi!"