Redwood Vacation 2017 - Day 1

We decided to do something a little different this year.  For the last day of school, once the kids got home from school, we quickly packed up the van and drove to the airport for our 7:05 flight to San Francisco.  The flight was delayed about an hour, but we made it to the airport and through security without any major issues.  When we finally arrive at SFO, we had to take a separate shuttle to the off-campus SIXT car rental place and we didn't make it to the Marriott Courtyard at Fisherman's Wharf until close to midnight.  We were excited to hit the mattresses!

When we woke up, we enjoyed breakfast at "Joni's Breakfast Diner", which was a very good breakfast.  We were hoping to go to Alcatraz, but we had no idea how difficult it was to get tickets.  You have to book weeks, if not months in advance.  So, we weren't sure what we were going to do, so we decided to walk into the wharf and check things out.  Almost immediately, we stumbled into a "Big Bus Tour" shop and we were able to buy tickets for all of us to take the Big Bus tour.  Plus, 4 of us (Jason, Ashtyn, Alyssa and Jantzen) got tickets to tour Alcatraz and Amy, Aubrey and Jarrett got tickets for the local aquarium.  Without any planning, we finally had a fun day set up for us.

We decided to go ahead and jump right on the big bus to try out the tour.  It ended up being an AWESOME experience!  It took a little over 2 hours, but we got to see most of the city and had an entertaining tour guide as well.  Here are some photos of the bus tour:

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

  

After the bus trip, we barely made it back in time to the meeting place for our trip to Alcatraz.  It really was a treat and we enjoyed the experience.  Here are photos from Alcatraz:

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

    

After Alcatraz, we met Amy, Aubrey and Jarrett on Fisherman's Wharf for some quick shopping and dinner at the Crab House:

 

   

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