7/5/2015

Our second major trip of the summer took us to San Francisco. We spent the first day checking out the O.co Coliseum and watching the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics (2-1).

The A’s stadium was easily the worst stadium we have visited so far. It was like walking though a concrete labyrinth to find our seats. There was no view of the field from inside the concourse and the food options sucked. The stadium felt like you were sitting in a giant bomb shelter that happened to have a baseball game happening in the middle of it. But, we have to visit them all, and the O.co Coliseum was our 6th Major League stadium as a family.

One positive of the game, besides the Mariners winning, was that the boys got to run the bases after the game.

7/6/2015

During our second day in San Francisco we explored the Presidio and walked on the Golden Gate bridge. We made it about halfway across the bridge before turning back. It was very windy but the amazing views of the city were worth it.

After seeing the bridge, we drove through the areas north of the bridge along the coast. All that area is very beautiful country.

7/7/2015

My boys are always up for exploring a neat museum, so we spent our 3rd full day on the bay at the California Academy of Sciences. This amazing place is an aquarium, rainforest, planetarium, and natural sciences museum all rolled into one.

We were all blown away with how much cool stuff there was to see. There was an entire rainforest inside the museum, where you walked around the perimeter and explored every level of the ecosystem. They had an impressive aquarium and a cool exhibit on earthquakes the boys loved. I really enjoyed the show I caught in the planetarium and would have loved to see several more, if there was time. Even the massive building’s living roof was awesome to check out.

If you are ever in the San Francisco area, I can’t recommend seeing the California Academy of Sciences enough!

7/8/2015

The 4th day of our San Francisco adventure brought us to AT&T Park to see the Giants play the Mets. The Giants’ stadium is almost a polar opposite of the O.co Coliseum. AT&T Park is nice and open, has a beautiful view of the bay, and great food options. My only complaint is that the parking is difficult, due to its location on the embarcadero in downtown San Francisco.

The Mets ended up beating the Giants (4-1), and being a Dodger fan, I couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome. So, this was a successful outing that marked the 7th Major League stadium off our family’s to-see list.

7/9/2015

We started off the last day of our trip visiting Coit Tower and, in the process, experiencing some nice San Francisco summertime weather, fog and drizzle.

After Coit Tower, we drove down Lombard Street, the “crookedest street in San Francisco”, and then explored Chinatown. We continued our impromptu walking tour of San Francisco by walking around the Financial District and ending up at the Ferry Building.

After all that walking, we finished up the day by meeting our friend Kevin for dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf, and then dessert at Ghirardelli Square.