San Francisco- Fisherman's Wharf and Cablecar Tour

Tom did a great job organizing our day at San Francisco, so I thought I'd commemorate his planning expertise with a blog post. Email me if you're looking for someone to plan our trip through San Francisco.

Fishermans Wharf & Sea Lions

The first thing I would recommend you do (whether you arrive by cruise ship or other means) would be to walk over to Pier 39 and visit the sea lions. We went at 8am, before the crowds arrived. We spent a bit of time barking back at the sea lions and planning the rest of our day.

According to pier39.com:

The sea lions camped out in PIER 39′s West Marina have been endearingly coined The PIER’s “Sea Lebrities.” The boisterous pinnipeds started arriving in droves in January 1990, shortly after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. At first they numbered from 10-50, but due to a plentiful herring supply, available dock space and the marina’s protected environment, the population grew to more than 300 within a few months.

Each winter, the population can increase up to 900 sea lions, most of which are male. During the summer months, the sea lions migrate south to the Channel Islands for breeding season, but in recent years a small group stays year-round at PIER 39′s K-Dock.

A Self-Guided Cablecar/Streetcar Tour
The next portion of our day involved a bit of planning on Tom's part. Lucky for you, I'm sharing it below.

In case anyone is looking for a nice cablecar/streetcar tour, do the following (or click this link):

1. From Pier 39 (near the sea lions), walk south on Powell Street toward Beach Street.

2. Turn right onto Bay Street then left onto Taylor Street.

You will then be at the corner of Bay Street and Taylor Street, where there will be a gated 'turnaround' where the cablecar will, you guessed it, turn around.

Basic Rules to follow

3. After the cablecar lets everyone else off and turns around, it will pull in the station. Board the train, and pay the conductor $6 when he comes over to you.

4. The cablecar, since it can only go one way, will be taking you towards Powell St & Market Street.

5. You can either sit inside the car (see below).....

....or sit/stand outside the car (like Tom and I decided to do).

5. Take the cablecar to the last stop, which is Powell St & Market Street. It is another turnaround spot, but this is where you get off the cablecar.

6. Walk across Market Street to the other side, and turn right.

7. Walk for 1 block, to the corner of Market Street & 5th Street.

Streetcar

This is the continuation of the route, click here for the streetcar directions.
8. Board the F (Market & Wharves) streetcar going towards Fisherman's Wharf.

You will get off the streetcard at "Embarcadero & Stockton St", which is directly in front of Pier 39.
From there you can do a variety of things, but we went on our tour to Muir Woods.

Boudin Bakery
Upon returning, we visited Boudin Bakery and bought some amazing sourdough to munch on.

You can order specialty breads, in the shapes of teddybears, alligators, cablecars, turtles and more.

According to boudinbakery.com,

The Original San Francisco Sourdough™

In 1849, the Boudin family struck culinary gold. Wild yeasts in the San Francisco air had imparted a unique tang to their traditional French bread, giving rise to “San Francisco sourdough French bread.” Today, the Boudin family's initial recipe lives on in the hands and hearts of our expert bakers, with a portion of the original mother dough still starting each and every sourdough loaf we make.

And, you should be able to see the bakers in action, like the one below making raisin bread.

You can visit the factory at 160 Jefferson St. San Francisco, CA 94133.

Honesly, I'm trying to convince Tom to pursue travel planning as a freelancer. As it is, it is his passion and he basically does this for fun anyways. This tour was somewhat 'on the beaten path', but we had to fit Muir Woods right in the middle of the day.

In the future, we'd love to go to Lombard Street and also to see the 'Painted Ladies' from Full House by travelling to Alamo Square. And, had we a few extra hours available to explore, we'd definitely be visiting a few places on the Atlasobscura.com website- which has some more 'obscure' places to visit.


So tell me:
Anyone been to Boudin Sourdough Bakery?
How about the cablecars/streetcars?
Would anyone be interested in travel itineraries in cities we travel, or in NYC for daytrips?