July 4th in San Francisco! (lots of pictures)

[Serj22]

So, on our annual trip to SF for our July 4th Anniversary (yes, I'm that good) we finally remembered a camera. So I could make it a photo-story worthy of the interweb.

First, we left our home in Benicia, and drove the 15 minutes over to Vallejo, to get on the Ferry over to San Francisco, Wifey needed pics of us waiting an hour for the Ferry... so here ya go:
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My eyes do not do well in bright light, hence the squinting. But when the ferry arrived and let us on, we were pleased, as it's a very expensive ferry at $12 a person one way... hrmph...

What are you doing?
I'm taking pictures out the window:
That's the Golden Gate way in the distance, and the second pic is the City as we were pulling up towards Pier 41 and Fisherman's Warf.
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Then we got off the ferry, and started walking to the nearest fisherman's warf clam chowder bowl salesman to buy his wares. I purchased a clam chowder bowl for the two of us, and we dodged tourists and hundreds of people to sit down next to the U.S.S Pampanito and company, where I snapped this exciting pic of a big bad Hummer 2 not being able to go around some birds. HE stopped for about 5 minutes, tried honking at them, tried going around them, and it took him forever, big bad Hummer was scared of the birds...
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[Serj22]

What is the U.S.S. Pampanito you ask? Well, it's an ancient WWII diesel submarine, and was used in the movie "Down Periscope" (comedy) as a ship for Mc-Hael who had a tattoo on his penis and was therfore not taken seriously as a submarine commander so in a war game they gave him a Diesel sub and a rag tag crew to face off against a real Navy nuclear sub with decent crew. Great movie, and all filmed in the Benicia/Martinez area and Mothball fleet. I snapped a shot of it since I didn't want to pay to go in it (it's a museum now)
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Next we walked down the street to Pier 39, which has a large selection of tourist trap stores, such as a store that only sells interesting socks, and one that only sells interesting hats.. go figure, and a lot of sports stores of course (because of the 49ers)
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Then, my wifey, who I will refer to now as Micaella (Muh-kay-luh) since that is her name, had to use the restroom, so as she waited in line with 300 other women who did not want to use one of the 1,000's of porta-potty's while I sat at a bench and looked out at one of the many SF marinas:
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As for the porta-potties, they were everywhere, and would literally line streets for blocks. It was amazing! :eek: And neither of us would use them, for good reasons. The man in this pic appears to be mad that I am taking his picture in front of the porta-potties, though he was not the subject of the shot, the massive amounts of toilets was:
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[Serj22]

Then we walked down the street some more, and I saw a man driving a Deuce-and-a-half that was amphibious (could go on land and water) and was offering water and land tours of the city, what a lucky guy to have such a cool toy, but he was playing "Rolling on a river" by CCR and dancing a lot. I also like the look on the guys face in the center, also in the shot is a green Del Sol.
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Then we sat and thought contemplatively after Micaella bought me some sunglasses at a cheap knock off store (one of many) that sells imports of copy brands:
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Then we walked to the resturaunt we go to every year, because it is the least crowded and easiest to get a seat: HOOTERS! We love that place and we discuss why the waitresses all have decent top halves but nothing worth looking at in the bottom. Hmmm... and this time there were some girls who looked way too old to be working there but, whatever.
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Oh, and then we headed over to the "Ripley's BElieve it or Nor Museum" because she had never been, so we went, paid the $30 entry fee and looked at all the cool stuff (actually quite fun and a long set of exhibits) one of my favorites was right in the beginning, it was a dinosaur made entirely out of chrome truck bumpers:
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[Serj22]

THen it was time to head to the spot we sit to watch the fireworks, yes it was only 8:00PM and not quite dark yet, but we found our way there through urban spray-paint artists, people painted like robots, and the like, anyone who's in Canada, think about any street actors you see in Victoria, and we have them here too.

We passed by one of the many "Captain Dan's" that several stores around the world own, and took a photo with him... and his sadly broken hook...
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So Micaella made a replacement hook:
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WE then proceeded to walk down towards Ghiradelli square where we usually sit, and saw a large stage, like usual with a jazz band who plays covers, in their set was "Enter Sandman" By Metallica, "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol, and "respect" by Pantera. I know, it was interesting.
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Then we have our view after sitting on the grass, pretty nice huh? The fireworks come right off the break-water on the left. And that large interesting ship on the right, is the Balcutha, the last iron wind jammer, look it up if you're interested. It's home is right there except for once every 5 years when it gets dry-docked and serviced to keep it floating.
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[Serj22]

Then as we were sitting I saw 2 angry looking tattooed men wearing sleeveless shirts (it was cold) selling lighted and shiny things to children nearby:
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Then we took another picture:
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And that was that, untill the fireworks started, which I took a video of for later. The fireworks in SF are spectacular and they have 2 shows which are identical going on simultaneously to American Patriotic music (syncronized) and the amount of effort and design put into them is incredible. They were great. Then we almost didn't get on the Ferry home, and would've had to take a bus, but we wound up being the last 2 people able to board since the coast guard restricts the ferries to only 300 people. we barely made it. Then we got into the Beetle, and drove home and went to bed really late. THat was my day.

[electric V]

The U.S.S. Pampanito is a really cool sub. If you are into old WWII stuff it is neat to see. I went there and to the Hornet with my cub scouts years ago.The Hornet is amazing at how big it is you can really get lost in there:D

That looks like a great trip though. I hope you really enjoied it.

[Serj22]

The U.S.S. Pampanito is a really cool sub. If you are into old WWII stuff it is neat to see. I went there and to the Hornet with my cub scouts years ago.The Hornet is amazing at how big it is you can really get lost in there:D

That looks like a great trip though. I hope you really enjoied it.

I got to go to all the resticted areas of the Hornet when I was in Sea Scouts... are you jealous?

[electric V]

Ya the Hornet was one of the coolest trips that we ever did. Although me and some freinds did get lost once or twice it is an incredibly huge ship. It looks big from the outside but when you get in it it is just unbelivable and we got to spend the night that was fun. I stayed on the 3rd row of bunks because I never slept in a bunk bed before.

[denzCRV]

I actually slept on the USS Hornet when I was in scouts also! That was SCARY considering the many people that died when a lot of disasters struck that ship :eek: The boat also smelled really bad! lol. I remember when we left, and then came back just for a tour so my mom could check it out, I totally remembered the smell and I remember smelling it for a couple days after visiting the Hornet..

Other than that, it was a good experience lol. Hey Serj since you are a SF expert, how far is like SFSU from Golden Gate, Fisherman's Wharf, etc? I'm planning on visiting a friend close to SFSU and want to take her to those two places but I'm not sure if they are far from there (traffic wise) and what's the best route to get there?

[Serj22]

I actually slept on the USS Hornet when I was in scouts also! That was SCARY considering the many people that died when a lot of disasters struck that ship :eek: The boat also smelled really bad! lol. I remember when we left, and then came back just for a tour so my mom could check it out, I totally remembered the smell and I remember smelling it for a couple days after visiting the Hornet..

Other than that, it was a good experience lol. Hey Serj since you are a SF expert, how far is like SFSU from Golden Gate, Fisherman's Wharf, etc? I'm planning on visiting a friend close to SFSU and want to take her to those two places but I'm not sure if they are far from there (traffic wise) and what's the best route to get there?

I literally have no idea what streets are called in SF, I just know that you need to drive back towards the bay bridge, but miss it and drive off to the right and just get to the water. Driving along the water yields pier 41, 39, and etc...

The golden gate is closer to the University. I remember the University being closer in regards to places like China Town, it may be more worth your while to jump in a cab and tell them where you want to go. I always get lost in SF, even though I know where I'm going.:D

[denzCRV]

Ok. What's the best way to get to Golden Gate? If time will not permit, I just want to take her to Golden Gate.. The street is Vidal Street it's relatively close to San Fran State Univ..

[Serj22]

There's a street right next to Vidal called "Lake Merced" find a way to get on that and head North, in other words if the ocean is on your left, you're going the right way. It will turn into "Sunset Blvd" stay on the street, don't make any turns yet. The road will end at "Lincoln Way" take a right on that street. Drive a little bit and turn left onto "Crossover Dr" Stay right on that street and it will fork to the right a little then it will make a small left turn, do not turn off this road as it becomes "Park Presidio Blvd." Stay on that road and you will see Highway 101 in a little bit. That is the highway the golden gate is a part of, I'm not sure where the park is, but I'm sure you can get to it around there.

I don't know how mapquest or google suggest how to get there, but those are the streets I know that will allow you to drive in that direction without hitting one way streets going the wrong way.

You are also relatively close to the SF zoo on that street and "Ocean Beach."

To get to Fisherman's warf and etc, you will go on the opposite direction on highway 101 when you get there, and get off on Marina Blvd. Then keep making left and right turns so you are as close to the water as possible, and you will find Fisherman's warf and later on will be pier 39. Both have parking structures nearby.

[denzCRV]

Awesome. I'll print your directions out aside from what I got from Mapquest. lol. I'm not sure if my Tomtom GPS will be accurate since it's an 04 system :eek:
Mapquest said something like go to ACEVEDO AVE, then ARBALLO AVE, then to PINTO AVE , then TAPIS DR.. then HOLLOWAY AVE, then 101 and so on...


Don't want to waste too much time just lookin for the place lol since i dont have much time :(

[denzCRV]

Oh ya last but not least, how are law enforcement when it comes to no front plate and front tint? I know in bigger cities they are more strict, so do you advise that I should put my front plate on since I have front tint already? :confused:

[Serj22]

Oh ya last but not least, how are law enforcement when it comes to no front plate and front tint? I know in bigger cities they are more strict, so do you advise that I should put my front plate on since I have front tint already? :confused:

Just put the plate on it won't hurt. Hopefully they don't notice the tint. SFPD has a little more things to worry about so they'd only pull you if you notice.

[denzCRV]

eeekk! haha. Ok Thanks. Goodluck to me I guess. Just got worried when my friend who drove in LA recently got pulled over because of his no front plate, and just got a warning for his front tint. I don't want to get hassled because I have those 2 illegal things on my car especially that it's my first time taking the V out of town. Usually with the 4Runner, I only have one illegal thing which is no front plate also so usually law enforcement doesn't mind me hehe. :D:o

[Serj22]

YEah, the no front plate is an indication to look elsewhere on the car for something wrong. Don't give them that option. Looking at the bumper and seeing the plate, they'll look away, and may not notice the darker window

[illegal]

nice pics. I was there, omg it was already last year! I have so many pics of sanfran it's crazy!

[denzCRV]

Well out of my pure luck, I made it back to Fresno without a ticket :) My chrome exhaust tip fell off somewhere on the freeway! The accident probably moved it or loosened it so now the insurance definitely needs to get me a new one.

I'll post pics of my trip. It was not too bad actually Serj. For some reason I didnt have a hard time getting around to the places I wanted to get to! I'll post pictures later when I get home from work.

[Serj22]

Well out of my pure luck, I made it back to Fresno without a ticket :) My chrome exhaust tip fell off somewhere on the freeway! The accident probably moved it or loosened it so now the insurance definitely needs to get me a new one.

I'll post pics of my trip. It was not too bad actually Serj. For some reason I didnt have a hard time getting around to the places I wanted to get to! I'll post pictures later when I get home from work.

I'm glad you didn't get lost in SF, I hate getting lost there, since none of the freeways make any linear sense. Wait it said South... why am I going North to get there and why is the freeway going East?!?! sort of thing. I had a large exhaust stack fall off my car on the freeway before, and then I couldn't find it... it was about 3 feet long too, huge truck pipe taht stuck out the back of my Jimmy...

[illegal]

Awesome. I'll print your directions out aside from what I got from Mapquest. lol. I'm not sure if my Tomtom GPS will be accurate since it's an 04 system :eek:
Mapquest said something like go to ACEVEDO AVE, then ARBALLO AVE, then to PINTO AVE , then TAPIS DR.. then HOLLOWAY AVE, then 101 and so on...


Don't want to waste too much time just lookin for the place lol since i dont have much time :(

tom tom uses the same software as map quest (booooo)

[Serj22]

tom tom uses the same software as map quest (booooo)

It does? well, I know what I'm not buying then. Mapqeust is still the only thing online I've seen to spell street names wrong making me hopelessly lost, and usually making me go a really long way around something before I get there.

[fillsteak]

Trip looked great! Why is everyone going to SF!? Man, wish I could go now... Lots or breweries and brew-pubs in the bay area, too! Glad you had a fun time!