Things to do San Francisco
Vacation Ideas

Remember, this is the wharf where the fishermen bring their catch of the day so you’ll want to take advantage of this fact.

You’ll want to take a stroll and check out the boating trips and excursions which leave from the wharf.

These attractions include fishing or sailing charters, round trip ferry rides back with six destinations available and perhaps a visit to Alcatraz Island with guaranteed return.

Ghirarelli Square and The Cannery are nearby with their unique shops and fun stuff. There are bike rentals for an inexpensive tour of the water front and don’t miss the ritual visit to the sea lions. Just follow the sound of their bellows and you find them.

Now look for signs to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. You’ll find it on your map. This Recreation Area has a road that climbs to the top of the mountain that overlooks the bridge. On the way up, there are several places to stop and park.

Now, all of these instructions are to enable you to see the bridge from many perspectives. Be sure and get out and find a place to sit and stare at the view. This is particularly true when you have reached a point higher than the top of the bridge. We are talking about an awesome view which really needs a a picnic lunch to fully enjoy.

When you get to the very top you’ll find a carved out mass of rock where an artillery piece was placed in 1942 to ward off a possible Japanese invasion of California.

You can park and walk thru the rock and get a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean. You have also passed into a whole new view facing West and North. You will really like this little adventure.

Some of the places that are serviced by the Cable Cars are: Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Lombard Street, Fisherman’s Wharf, Financial District and many others. If you are an engineer or inventor you just might want to stop at the Cable Car Museum and look around.

Of course, you’ll probably also want an explanation of how the cable system works and how the brake works on the car when it’s going downhill. Please don’t leave San Francisco without a long ride on the Cable Cars and be very sure to take lots of photos.

The Academy of Sciences has some excellent exhibits related to the science of water, land and space which involves just about everything our lives come in contact with. Essentially it is a class A+ natural history museum.

The Children’s Playground may be the very best playground they have ever played on so your family group better check it out. Merry-go-rounds, Carousels, Treehouse Village, Adventure Play Yard and Hidden Hollow are just a few of the interesting things that will absorb all that extra youthful energy.

Visiting the de Young Museum is like traveling to distant lands without a boat or an airplane. The many magnificent paintings provide a peek into the culture of many lands. Some of their exhibits include collections of art from New Guinea, Oceania and Africa.

The San Francisco Botanical Garden is the home of stunning scents and classic colors which emanate from their World collection of plants and flowers. A visit to a classic Botanical Garden can quiet and soothe the mind in the middle of a busy vacation.

With all that hype perhaps you will quickly pencil in the Exploratorium for your upcoming vacation in San Francisco. Independent of your age or your scientific knowledge, the exhibits in Exploratorium will easily stimulate your curiosity and kindle your desire to either find a solution or just learn something.

The result being that you have absorbed knowledge and thus become smarter while having heaps of fun. The good news is that there are hundreds more of these entertaining exhibits just waiting for your interactive hands and mind to get involved.

Some of the exhibits are described as follows: grow and shrink in a distorted room, explore between your ears in a mind collection, create a bubble with a two foot diameter, climb through a maze using only touch to guide you plus many others. The key to Exploratorium is the use of entertainment and fun to help you to better understand the world around you.

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