Day 12: San Francisco
The day started off bright and early. Despite our exhaustion, we were excited for the coming day. Once we finished packing our
stuff away for the church preschoolers, we loaded the bus with our wallets and
cameras in hand. With a traveling breakfast (Pop Tarts) in our stomachs, we
made our way to the famed Cliff House.
This restaurant has been in place since 1906, and it has burned down three times and rebuilt to resemble the
restaurant that was built in the early 1900’s. The bread that we received (Poppers) was to-die-for and was the same recipe that they used since the opening
of the restaurant. The executive chef of the Cliff House, Kevin Weber, gave us a special tour
of the establishment and shared a brief history of it as well. It turns out that
the restaurant used to rent bathing suits to tourists for five cents, but now you
can buy these same bathing suits on eBay for $1,500. We concluded our tour with
a walk out onto the back patio, where we saw huge rocks in the ocean covered in
birds, and wayyy off in the distance we saw the tails of whales as they were
swimming by.
After an amazing tour and even better view, we fought against the crisp wind and loaded back onto the bus.
 |
| Headed to the Pier! |
 |
| Posing at Pier 39 |
 |
| Time for RESEARCH! |
Finally we headed for one of the
happiest cities in the world, San Francisco! Quickly arriving we all headed
down to The Fisherman’s Wharf and the 39th Pier. We took a few
pictures, saw a family of seals, heard and learned some informative research
presentations and then were let lose into the city. With San Fran having so many opportunities to
fill your day with, the TWB’ers enjoyed various activities such as eating at In-And-Out Burger and Boudins (aka the best place for clam chowder) exploring China Town, and challenging the unique tourist
shops owners with bargaining. We all came back together at 4:00 to enjoy a Chinese
family style dinner with our TWB family.
Stuffed from the one of few hot meals we’ve had on this trip we had
about two more hours to explore San Fran before we met back at the bus and vans.
 |
| Enjoying the Wharf! |
 |
| Lombard Street- one of the curviest in the world |
 |
| Ballin with the Locals |
 |
| The boys doing some exploring! |
 |
| Everyone was so excited for Kevin to speak Chinese in Chinatown. |
Enjoying a Chinese meal at the Far East Restaurant in San Fran!
 |
| Fortune Cookies were "founded" in San Fran |
Heavy legged but full of anticipation we made our way to
the famous Golden Gate Bridge. The
intricate structure and enormous size of the bridge was quite an impressive
sight. It is a TWB tradition for the brave participants to run the full length
of the bridge (1.7 miles) without their shirts in the brisk wind while others
in cars honk and yell of encouragement for us to finish. Today some ran and
some walked, and as everyone trickled in to the other side we all enjoyed a
beautiful view and sunset on the opposite side of the bridge.
 |
| We love our Hunter!! |
 |
| The first 5 girls across- they ran! |
After a few clicks on the camera and posing for Heather, TWB loaded up the bus and traveled back to the church for a much needed night of rest. The Sleepy’s are especially ready for bed! Signing off for the last time, you’re favorites, The Sleepy’s.
