Day 12-San Francisco

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.