Cable cars, not trolleys

On this road trip, I couldn't leave San Francisco without riding the famous cable cars. The last time I had been on a cable car, I was about 14 years old. I remember being with the family and having a hard time getting on one in Chinatown. It was the height of rush hour...and tourist season...and every cable car was full. It would have been a long walk back to Fisherman's Wharf, especially with my 5-year-old sister in tow. Thankfully, we were able to find one with enough room for the five of us.

This morning, I met my friend Johnny at the Market and Powell cable car turnaround. Unfortunately, he had to catch a flight back to DC in the afternoon, so we said our goodbyes before I hopped on a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. The San Francisco cable cars are the last manually operated cable cars in the world. Which is the reason why they are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and are much loved by tourists visiting the city. And, it is wonderful to ride the old cars, traveling up and down the steep San Francisco streets. When I got down to the Wharf, I was ready for lunch. Since it was so rainy and chilly, I elected to eat at one of the restaurants on waterfront to get out from the weather. Turns out I selected one of the oldest eateries in San Francisco... Alioto's. I ordered the fried scallop basket...my favorite...which came with a cup of clam chowder. The soup was great, and I also enjoyed the accompanying sourdough bread...of course, you can't mention San Francisco without thinking sourdough, too!

After lunch, I walked to the nearby Musee Mecanique. This museum is also an arcade of sorts, filled with antique coin operated machines. Games, music makers, fortune tellers, and other entertainment devices...this place had it all. As I looked over the unusual machines, I noticed most of the patrons were adults...many of them older...and, they were having a lot of fun! I tried out a couple of the machines, choosing ones that had just had stuff moving around. Having enjoyed the sourdough bread I ate for lunch, I next went to Boudin Bakery. A San Francisco institution, this bakery has been making sourdough since 1849! Believe it or not, their bread contains the original mother dough (sourdough starter) in every loaf! Since I still had another 5 days of my road trip to go, unfortunately I couldn't buy very much bread. I decided to just get a small loaf for dinner, and a couple of fresh baked cookies.

After a brief visit to the San Francisco Maritime Historical Park visitor's center...it was too rainy to check out the ships...I took a cable car back the Market Street. The first time around, I rode inside the cable car. This time, I decided to stand on the back deck...it would allow me to take photos and video of our trip. I also discovered it gave me a great view of the brakeman operating the brake to help control the speed of the car as it traversed the steep streets. When the cable car reached its terminus, after buying some takeout dinner, I rode one of the old trolleys on my way back to the hotel. There is a difference between the cable cars and trolleys in San Francisco. Where the cable cars are actually propelled by underground cables, the trolleys or street cars are electric powered and travel routes with overhead power lines. But, they both share 19th century origins.

As I compose this blog post, it's very windy and rainy outside. And, it's supposed to be that way tomorrow. In fact, it might rain from now till the end of my road trip. That's a rather depressing thought. But, as I have up until now, I'll make the best of it. Oh, and by the way...the sourdough bread from Boudin Bakery was excellent!