This morning I checked off a little bucket list item: running across the Golden Gate Bridge. I woke up before the family and drove alone to the Battery East parking lot (there was only one other car there) for a 6:30 am start. It was chilly and windy, as expected, but I was hoping it would be sunny. Unfortunately I would not see the sun because of the famous San Francisco fog. Oh well, it was more appropriate this way I suppose!

The distance is not very far (only a couple miles each way) and the total round-trip run from the parking lot to the lookout parking lot on the Marin side (including picture-taking) took less than an hour. The east side sidewalk is reserved for pedestrians while the west side is bicyclists only. I saw only one other runner on my way across to the Marin side of the bridge, but on the way back I saw maybe 6 runners and 6 walkers. There were many more cyclists, though… I’d estimate about 25 total, including a poor family of tourists who appeared to be dragged out by their father to brave the cold, wet, wind. It didn’t look fun for them. I smiled as I thought of my family who were sleeping warm and snug in their hotel beds at that moment.

With the run finished, it was time to get down to business and visit a couple college campuses! First on the list was UC Berkeley. Because of COVID-19, the buildings are closed and campus tours have been cancelled but the campus grounds are still open so we walked around the campus and got a good feel for the area. The sun was shining bright, but the temperature was a very nice 76° F / 24° C. The UC Berkeley campus is really cool and the store was open so Koa bought a Cal hat.

Next, we grabbed some lunch at Berkeley Bowl and then headed over to Palo Alto to visit Stanford. Koa really liked the campus and he bought another hat at the store.

Next on today’s agenda was a visit to a friend’s place to pick up some cooking materials for Mariko, and then ramen at Orenchi Beyond. It was delicious! Definitely recommend. And a perfect way to end another long day in the Bay Area.

Source

This morning we did a very touristy thing: we visited Alcatraz Island. It was a quick ferry ride from Pier 33 to the windy former prison, and there we toured the many buildings, listened to an audio tour of the cellblock, and learned about the Native American occupation. It was fascinating!

The island was also a fort in the 1800s and then a military prison, before becoming a Federal Penitentiary. It also brought back memories of watching the 1996 movie The Rock, so we put that on our list of films to rent and watch with the kids.

After returning to the city, we spent the rest of the day people- and sea-lion-watching at Pier 39.

I need to mention the breakfast we had at Sweet Maple in the morning. It was awesome! I had the Savory Soufflegg Skillet, which had shrimp scampi on an egg soufflé. Delicious! We also tried some of their “Millionaire’s Bacon” which was also tasty, but bordered a bit too closely to beef-jerky to me to be truly amazing.

I hope you had a nice day as well!

Source