Rest stop in San Francisco, Sept 11 - 22, 2011

We sailed into San Francisco 5:30PM on Sept. 11th a day after the storm ended. To say we were happy to see the Golden Gate Bridge is an understatement. Now I know how my grandfather must have felt when he saw the Statue of Liberity the day he emigrated from the Austria-Hungarian Empire in 1914. He had a rough passage too and cramped in the steerage berths of a tramp streamer I bet he felt lucky to be alive.

                     

First look at land in 5 days.                                             Golden Gate in our sights.

                                                    Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge


We sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge at 5:30 PM with full sail. It was a clear afternoon with a light breeze blowing us into the bay. The crew were in high spirits and enjoyed the sunshine and warm temperatures.

We tied up for the night at Saint Francis Yacht Club and moved over to Pier 39 the next morning. Bryan had one day to tour San Francisco so we all set out together to make the most of the day. First, we walked along the waterfront to Ghiradellie's Chocolate Factory to indulge our sweet tooths. Bryan was primed for some rich chocolate, we didn't realize how much of a choc-o-halic he was until he started to salivate when he saw the big vat of chocolate being stirred by a antique machine. If anyone asks, Bryan prefers his hot chocolate shaken not stirred. After desert we jumped on a cable car and rode up past Russian Hill to Chinatown. Its a little known fact that the best thing after chocolate is mushi pork and crispy noodles. Yeah man that's just what we had and it was gooooood!

     Craig at Ghirardelli's                                                        Chinatown