SF Day Four

Today marks our final full day here in San Francisco. My feelings at this point are quite mixed. I absolutely love this city and have thoroughly enjoyed our time here, but in the same breath, I miss our kids terribly and can't wait to hug and kiss them both.

Alcatraz was on the agenda for today. We got up early, and for the first time since we've been here, we went to Starbucks! It was delightful! We then walked down the waterfront to Pier 33 where the Alcatraz tour boats depart. After a short boat ride, we arrived at the island. There are a couple of different options when you get to the island. You can pay $1 and get a self guided tour guide manual.

Brian outside of a general population cell

This manual is full of facts about the history of the island. We ended up buying one of these and referring to it several times during our day. Another available activitiy on the island is an audio tour . They give you a headset and player, and through voices of actual former guards and former prisoners from the island, you're walked through the prison. You're told about different happenings in several areas.

Me, in a solitary confinement cell

This was so worth the time. We learned so many interesting things about the prison. One thing that really touched me during the tour was when one of the former inmates was talking about how one of the worst things about being on "the rock" was that you can so clearly see San Francisco from Alcatraz. He said it was terribly becuase you could see everything that you were missing. Being in the prison was very interesting, but there was also an erie feeling throughout. One part that was particularly sad for me was seeing the visiting area. During this portion of the audio tour, a former prisioner and his sister talk about the first time she came to visit her brother on the island. His first visitor in 7 years of incarceration. It pulled at my heart strings a little bit.

This sign is posted as you approach the island on the ferry

Some other interesting things I learned about Alcatraz that I didn't know were that some employees of the prison and their families actually lived on the island. I also didn't know that the food served at Alcatraz had a reputation of actually being quite good. And lastly, I learned that there are many gardens on the island. And that the island originally was just a large peice of sandstone with no dirt. But, large amounts of dirt were brought over via ferry boats. The beautiful gardens are still kept up on the island and really do add to the beauty of the area.

This is one of the cells. In the bed is a "dummy head". Heads like these were used in one of the sucessful escapes from Alcatraz.

This is a corridor of cells. It's amazing how many there were.
All in all, this has been one of the best vacations I have ever been on. I've gotten to see several things I'd been wanting to see for a long time, and got to experience several things I'd only heard about. I certainly hope this is not our last time here. My only wish for next time is that we can bring two little Schienbein's along with us!

"San Francisco has only one drawback. 'Tis hard to leave."

- Rudyard Kipling

(WE HAVE SEVERAL MORE PHOTOS FROM OUR ADVENTURES HERE, BUT THE INTERNET IN OUR HOTEL IS HORRIBLY SLOW....SO, WE WILL POST MORE PICTURES ONCE WE'RE HOME.)

Day Three

Today was yet another glorious day. Not only was the weather near perfect, but we got to see so many interesting and amazing things. I was in heaven all day long.

We started the day early. We'd made reservations for 9am at the San Francisco "go-car" tours. There we got a small car, like a mix between an golf cart and a go-cart. You rent it by the hour, and it has a GPS system installed that directs you to various tourist attractions. What the great part is, the car speaks to you and fills you in on really interesting facts about things you see along the way.

The yellow beauty parked here is our go-car

Brian wasn't nearly as excited about it as I was, but I thought it was one of the coolest things I've done on a vacation in a long, long time. One of the cool things that the car told us was that the seals that lay around on the Pier weren't there until after the 1989 earthquake. But after the quake, for some unknown reason, they showed up and have been on the Pier ever since. Fascinating, I know.

First, the car directed us to the Golden Gate Bridge. To get there we had travel through an area of these beautiful multi-million dollar homes. They were absolutely breath taking. Once at the bridge, we made a couple of stops to take pictures. I honestly could have stayed in the area of the bridge for hours and hours. It was so beautiful and awe inspiring. It was definitely one of the high points of this vacation. Although it was a little hazy, we ended up getting quite a few really nice shots.

Brian + Arika + The Golden Gate Bridge = LOVE
In case you were wondering...

Golden Gate Park was next on the tour. We learned Golden Gate Park was designed by the same person who designed Central Park.

Next we went to the "Painted Ladies" (the 'Full House' houses), saw tons of BEAUTIFUL Victorian homes, the"psychedelic"(that's what the car called it) Haight/Ashbury district, and then on to The Palace of Fine Arts, and then..................to Lombard Street!!!!

Also a big highlight for me! The is called the most crooked street in San Francisco, but we found out that it actually isn't the most crooked. But, it's far prettier than the street that beats it out. We also found out that the street was designed in the way that it is to help with the intense slope. With the twists and turns, it's now far more manageable. This street was amazing. We drove down it, taking in

the views of the city and the area along the street. There is beautiful landscape all along the roadway.

The view from the top of Lombard Street

As we're navigating our way down

And, the best view we could get from the bottom!

We ended up being out on the tour for just over three hours. Brian wasn't as gung-ho about the tour as I was. Besides not liking to look like a tourist, he wasn't a huge fan of driving around in a little car with no roof or doors, wearing a helmet and listening to a voice, playing loudly, telling you about everything you were passing. But, he did find it pretty interesting and stuck it out for the entire trip. Despite a couple of nervous moments on busy roadways, and an instant or two of wrong turns, it was a very enjoyable activity.

After we turned our "go-car" in, we jumped onto a cable car and rode to Union Square. Here, we waited.......you're not going to believe this, and HOUR to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. I know, I know. There are Cheesecake Factory's in Washington. But we were soooo hungry, and it sounded so good. So, we waited. We ended up eating lunch outside on the deck. Here we had a great view of a bunch of skyscrapers in the area. It was great.

We came back into the Wharf area after lunch, and once again, hit the Ghiradelli Ice Cream shop. We're terrible. But their hot fudge is to die for. We took our treats to go, and walked down to the Pier again to get a glimpse of the seals while the sun was still up. We got some pretty nice photos out on the Pier of the seals, and also of Alcatraz in the distance.

The noisy seals

The Golden Gate Bridge from Pier 39

Brian, with Alcatraz in the background

Coit Tower from Pier 39

Brian and I are both exhausted! It was a busy day. We're in our room relaxing, and have talked about maybe heading out again in awhile to do some shopping....but, we'll have to see. Laying here, watching TV, feels pretty good right now. And, we need to get rested up for our adventures tomorrow! Until next time.......

"San Francisco itself is art, above all literary art. Every block is a short story, every hill a novel..."

- William Saroyan

The Day my Love was Born

It's our second day here in San Francisco, which also, in case you can't tell from the title, is Brian's birthday! So, before I get into the happenings of our day, I'd like to just say how grateful I am to be the wife of such a wonderful guy. He loves me so much, and takes such good care of me and our family. I feel so lucky to be sharing my life with this Canadian. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!!! I love you so so much.

The Birthday Boy, waiting for the game to start (note his handsome new 49er's sweatshirt, and his birthday coat, courtsey of his beautiful wife and gorgeous mother in law)

I've officially decided that I am in love with this city and would move here if I could afford it. This place is so unique, and so interesting. I can't wait to see more of it! The only thing that would make this trip better would be if our kids were here! We've been in contact (frequent contact...sorry guys) with our moms, checking in on our little angels. From what we're hearing, Tayler is being a huge help with Carson, and has been behaving perfectly. In fact, she was rewarded with the Hannah Montana game for her DS by Papa Scott! Carson's been a very good boy too. He took 2 long naps today, and has been his normal, happy self. We're such lucky parents. Our kids are the greatest. I can't wait to hug and kiss them on Wednesday.

Today we had tickets to the San Francisco 49ers game verses the Washington Red Skins at Candlestick Park. For those of you don't already know the 49ers are Brian's all time favorite foot ball team.

This was the second game of theirs we've been to, but the first we've been to at their home stadium! It was really exciting. We ate a bunch of things that were bad for us (hotdogs, garlic fries...DELISH!) and cheered on Brian's favorite team. Then, if the day wasn't wonderful enough, the 49ers ended up winning!

Then end of the game was actually very exciting (and that says a lot coming from this girl....who seriously does not get the whole football craze deal). I was even jumping up to my feet in those last few minutes...hoping that my husbands team would come through!

The final score! Woo Hoo! Go Niners!

This is the face of a man who's favorite football team just won

I kept my eyes peeled the entire game for "unruly" fans. Just doing my part. =)

Afterward, we came back to the area of Pier 39 and had Brian's birthday dinner at The Hardrock Cafe. Brian really enjoyed Hardrock's food when we were in Maui, so we thought we'd give the San Fran locale a try. It did not disappoint!

Then we walked around the Pier again. Browsed a few interesting shops, and watched a few street shows. We also walked along a boardwalk area along the water. In the distance, we could see the lights of Saulsalito, and the lights of the Golden Gate Bridge. Then we heard a very strange noise. It almost sounded like someone in distress...but after a second of listening, we realized it was the seals that the Pier is famous for! We walked over to a group of floating docks where there were several seals just barking their hearts out. We couldn't see them very clearly as it was pretty dark...but every once in awhile you'd see movement as they laid out there, just yapping away! It was really funny. We've decided that we're going back there tomorrow, while it's still light, so we can snap some photos of those noisy little suckers!

I can hardly wait for tomorrow......we have so many fun things planned!!! And don't worry, I'll be snapping photos right and left, despite my husbands eye rolls!

"No city invites the heart to come to life as San Francisco does..."

-William Saroyan

Santa and San Fran

Reporting live from our first day in San Francisco! Where to begin. Well, first of all....Santa was very good to the Schienbein family this year. Tayler received the much desired DS she'd been wishing and hoping for, Carson got rattles and teething toys, I got a bluetooth (grrr...I'm pretty sure Brian was teaming with Santa to get that as he is forever telling me to put my phone down in the car) and Brian got a Home Depot giftcard, and Brian and I both got 49er pajamas to wear while we're here. (thanks Mom!) We had a wonderful day and felt really blessed to have our happy and healthy family together enjoying the holiday.






Early this morning, Brian and I caught an airplane to beautiful San Francisco!!! (our kids are spending our time away with their grandmas, who are taking wonderful care of them) As our plane was decending into the Bay Area, I had my camera ready because I wanted to get a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge from the airplane. But, much to my dissappointment, we were not even close to the bridge on our way in, and I didn't get a glimps of it. We took a cab from the airport ($50 ride in case you're wondering). Our cab driver really seemed to know his way around the city, but did NOT have time to wait for annoying things like vehichles driving the speed limit and pedestrians crossing the road. Let's just say, more than one person has told me that I'm not a very good driver, and MY knuckles were white during this ride. But, the good thing was I did get a teeny-tiny glimps of the Golden Gate Bridge (just the very top of it) while we were riding to the hotel.

We checked into our hotel around 4pm and purchased our tickets for Alcatraz (we're going on Tuesday!) Originally, we didn't think we were going to get the opportunity to visit Alcatraz becuase I read somewhere online (I swear I read it!) that Alcatraz was closed December 25 through January 2....but, thanks to the front desk clerk here at our hotel, we found out that the online information was false! Alcatraz tours are up and running! I'm so very glad that we're going to get to go.

So, after we got all settled, and freshened up, we set out to explore some of the area around our hotel on foot. We headed straight to Pier 39 which is only about a block from our hotel. There I noticed Boudin at the Wharf, which just so happened to be one of the "must go" places on my list. They are the makers of San Francisco's famed sourdough bread. So, of course, we had to try some. I ordered the clam chower in a sourdough bread bowl, and Brian order a peperoni pizza with a sourdough crust. It was all SO DELICIOUS! Brian teases me about the things I take photos of (the dinner I ate for instance) but I like to remember things I do while on vacation. After he ordered our food and brought it to our table (I had to find us a table and stay to protect it...that place was packed!) he said to me "there is a guy over at the order pick-up counter that I think you could be really good friends with. He was taking photos of his food before he took his order from the counter." Ha. Ha. Ha.

After we ate, we started walking again. Not too much farther down the wharf I noticed something else that had been on my "must do" list. Ghirardelli. We got in a really, really long line there to get some "world famous" ice cream...which, I have to say, was unbelievable. We shared a brownie sundae....delicious.




We shopped around a little bit more. Brian got a San Francisco 49ers sweatshirt to wear to the game tomorrow...and bought Carson a little 49ers beanie cap. I bought some postcards, and now here we are, back in our hotel room. We're both pretty worn out from our busy day today, but we can't wait to see all there is to see in this exciting city!!!

Until tomorrow.........

"What I like best about San Francisco is San Francisco"

-Frank Lloyd Wright