Day 14: San Francisco

We wanted to make the most of our time in San Francisco, so we got up early and headed downtown. Believe it or not, the one day we happened to be here was the day of the Gay Pride Parade! We arrived early enough to stake out a good spot, and we waited for the fun to begin.


There were certainly some interesting characters milling about. The weather was gorgeous and the feeling was very festive – people seemed happy and content to be a part of such a big celebration. The parade began with hoards of lesbians riding motorcycles; they called themselves “Dykes on Bikes.” Next the men came on their motorcycles with a “Mikes on Bikes” sign. There were drag queens, naked people, gay and lesbian police officers walking in uniform with their partners, people marching for gay family rights, and everything in between. Jennifer Beals of “Flashdance” and “The L Word” was the Grand Marshall of the parade and we got a great close-up view of her, shown below:

Here are just a couple of pictures of the marchers we saw:

We stayed for awhile and had a great time taking it all in. It felt nice to be a part of something so joyful and celebratory.

Our host for the weekend, Jeremiah, joined us during the parade and then the three of us walked through downtown to the Embarcadero part of the city. That area was damaged in the ’89 earthquake but was renovated into a market area with cute shops and restaurants. We enjoyed lunch outside in the warm sun, and it was great to catch up.

We then walked through Telegraph Hill and up a nauseating number of stairs to get a different view of the Bay and the city (we ended up walking so much that Steve got blisters).

Jeremiah was a great host and tour guide.

Jer had to go so we parted ways, grateful for his hospitality. Steve and I then walked some more and made our way down Lombard Street (pictured below), the “curviest street in America.” Lest we get too excited, a local drove by all of us tourists and yelled out the window of his car, “It’s just a street that curves. It’s not that f*&%ing big of a deal!”

I still thought Lombard Street was cool.

We then rode the famous San Francisco cable cars to get down to Fisherman’s Wharf. Steve thought the Wharf was a little too touristy, but I liked it - there was certainly a lot going on. We had a beer by the water, took some photos of the sea lions lounging on a nearby dock, and boarded our 6:20 boat for Alcatraz.

The Alcatraz tour was very interesting and also creepy. We learned a lot about the history of the place, including facts like it was created after the Gold Rush as a fortress to protect San Francisco, it was a federal prison for 29 years, and it was occupied by Native Americans in the early 1970s as they protested the way they had been treated by the government. We also saw many of the cells and solitary confinement areas; you can see below that I wanted out!

We enjoyed the evening tour because it included a few unique features, such as a tour with park rangers as well as views of the Rock after dark.

After the tour, we headed to Ghirardelli Square to check out the famous chocolate store (Jesse, you’ll be proud that I snagged numerous free samples and considered donning a disguise to obtain more). We vowed to return to try one of the giant ice cream sundaes.

We eventually made it back to Jeremiah’s neighborhood and had a quick Thai meal before getting back home. I did laundry while Steve rested because of the big driving day coming up.

We probably won’t have internet access for a couple of days so don’t be surprised if there isn’t a new posting for a bit. Thanks for reading and leaving your comments – we love hearing your thoughts on our trip’s progress. Hope you are all well!