Our 30th Anniversary Part 4, Quack, Quack!

Note to readers:  I have been having problems with my eyes lately and haven’t been able to post.  My apologies.

Sunday dawned a little gray and drizzly, and can we all say it together, early!   Since today was our day for touring with the Duck and Alcatraz, we decided to get up early.  I was thinking of maybe sleeping in til about 730 or so.  Nope, not with early bird Doug.  Also, I don’t know about you, but I never sleep well the first night away from my own bed, needless to say in a king-sized bed.  One minute I was close to my DH, the next I was clear over on the other side of the room just by rolling over.  We also have 2 cats that sleep, not next to us, but on us, and missed that a little bit.  Naw, not really! 

We did want to leave early so as to get there in time, but Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39 is a long way from the hotel.  I had decided that we should take a cab as it would be easier as they were having a street fair that day and would be closing part of that area off, and traffic would be redirected. 

Of course, you know who, had different ideas.  He wanted to ride a trolley car up there but I wasn’t sure how far it would take us or how close. Well after a quick breakfast, we decided to talk to the Concierge at the hotel and see what they had to say. 

Having never dealt with a concierge before and the service was complementary, we decided to ask a few questions.   I must say that when talking to her, it was an experience that I can only say is like talking or listening to a person who takes a deep breath and keeps talking in rapid fire succession!  Trying to get a question in sideways was not easy!   She was very helpful and reassured us that the trolley would drop us off right in front of the Fisherman’s Wharf Sign and that our Duck Tour was across the street, and for a lot less than the cost of a cab.  Doug jumped at the idea, and the trolley we needed was just one block over from the hotel.  Very handy! 

We walked over to the trolley station and having never really used it we studied the map while waiting.  It was drizzling rain and we had a cover so we sat and waited.  About 10 minutes later, a trolley came along and Doug asked if it was going to Fisherman’s Wharf, and he said yes.  How much? Free, as his meter wasn’t working!  What luck, we saved $2!   LOL!! 

After a quiet ride on the trolley car and trying to see the view through the rain, we arrived.  Right in front of the Fisherman’s Wharf Sign.  But we couldn’t see the Duck Tour.  I believed it was across the street at a little shop and Doug didn’t think so.  So, we decided to walk around for a bit.  Very quiet for 730 am on a Sunday morning and places wouldn’t open until 9 am.   There’s that darn early theme again.  After convincing my husband that it was across the street, him being the skeptic, we went across the street and there it was.  Just like I said so.  Then again, I saw the sign and he didn’t. 

Just to keep warm, we decided to walk.  Now, we were at Pier 39 where the Duck Tour begins, and we passed several other Piers on the way.  There are several that have nice shops, and then a lot of them are businesses and or warehouses.   The Alcatraz Cruise was later in the day, and we wanted to see how far and long it would take to get to Pier 33.   Believe me, there is a lot of ground between the piers to cover!  It took about 10 minutes to get there, which was good so that we would have plenty of time for lunch before boarding………  We walked around some more, down past the Embaradero and then back, and the shops were starting to come alive.  We also sat and looked out at the water and just relaxed for a bit.

For those who don’t know what a Duck Tour is, it’s a tour by land and sea of SF.  Remember the old landing boats that were used in WW2?  These are converted and used for tours with a cover and windows that you can look out.  Our tour was at 10:45.  The crew was late getting there due to a problem with the BART system.  You can imagine Doug standing there and waiting.  Me, not really a problem, I understood.  What I didn’t understand is even though we were first in line and were being waited on is that our cashier couldn’t get her computer to work, and the gal next to her had already taken care of 2 customers!  The other cashier told us to come over and took care of us.  No big deal, they weren’t leaving without us.

All Aboard for the Duck Cruise!  We had our picture taken before boarding and bought it when we got back.  We got on board and it was a small crowd but a lot of people around our age.  Our Tour Guide was Duck Rogers, very entertaining!  He had a mix of music that went along with the tour and we all had our Quackers to quack along with.  Since the city was closed off in some sections for the street fair, we went along some back areas that really had a lot of history to them.  Now, I didn’t get many pictures since as we were leaving, it started to storm and rain on us….  Thankfully that only lasted a few minutes.  But the windows are a little low, so in order to get a good picture you have to lean out half the window as there are several tall buildings. 

We sang and quacked as we went through SF and had a blast.  We saw the church where Sister Act was filmed, where Janis Joplin got her start and several other historic sites.  If you refer to the link at the beginning of my saga, you can find out more.  We were enjoying ourselves and had a blast trying to get the people on the street to sing along with us, which some of them did! 

The couple sitting across and in front of us had just celebrated their 33rd anniversary the day before and ours was tomorrow, March 21.  Sorry, didn’t get their faces in the picture just back of heads. 

This is our tour guide, Duck Rogers, well traveled and very funny! 

Some random pictures:

After  cruising through SF by land, it was time for a water cruise!  We went out on Pier 39 and into the water with a gentle splash of water.  Duck asked if there were any birthdays, nope.  But there were 2 anniversary, the couple in front of us and ourselves.  Since they had been married a little longer, they got to drive the boat.  Hence, the reason for the earlier picture.   Then it was our turn, or actually Doug’s!  Now, for those of you who don’t know, Doug was in the Navy and used to drive a aircraft carrier, so this was a piece of cake for him!

After everyone had a chance to drive around the bay, we came back on land and back to where we started.  And just in time for our cruise to Alcatraz!  Since we started late, we didn’t have as much time to eat as we originally thought.