We scoped out the ferry terminal this morning, to see how far it was, then circled back, hit up a Trader Joe’s market (not as good as Whole Foods in my opinion), swung in to the vet to grab some dog food (a tiny bag, as they barely stocked ANY food) and made it home after an hour (with the baby on my back that was plenty).
We went into Trader joe’s to find some mandarin oranges as Rylie has recently discovered how delicious they are in a can and inhales them. Unfortunately we had to “settle” for the real thing. At first I was peeling off the skin and slicing them, but after she went through THREE oranges that ended pretty quick. Good thing the bag is huge.
We hoped that with the time change and falling back we could get an early nap in at 9am and be ready and on the ferry by 11. The clock was ticking, and she had to wake up by 10:45 for us to make it, as we calculated. But, at 10:50 she briefly stirred, which was enough for us. We crammed our belongings into a backpack, sent Nixon out to pee, grabbed Rylie and literally ran all the way to the Ferry terminal. It felt like the Amazing Race.
It was a long shot for us to make it in time, but out of breath and sweating with burning lungs, we clamoured onto the ferry just as it was about to leave. Phew! Otherwise, we would have had to wait an hour and 45 min longer for the next ferry, which seriously eats into the “happy baby” window of 4 hours. So, we were able to relax, change Rylie out of her pi’s and enjoy the sunny view.
Once we arrived in San Francisco, our first stop was food. A sushi bento box, a coffee and a scone. Quick, and right at the terminal. Gone are the days of a nice sit down meal in a cafe somewhere, or if we do choose that, that’s it for the outing. We wandered through the neat little market shops and out onto the Embarcadero where we went from Pier 1 to… 39. It took a while, but the sun was shining and it was a nice stroll. We made it to the Fisherman’s Wharf just in time to hear displeasure with a certain stroller occupant. To the carousel, we heard squeals of delight, then off to the Sea Lions (more squeals), and to take pictures of Alcatraz from the pier.
From there we followed the tacky tourist streets around to the Powell Hyde Cable Car stop which was fairly busy, but got worse as we stood in line for about 10-15 min. That was a neat experience, with such steep hills it was a challenge to stay in your seat without sliding sideways, especially while holding a squirmy baby. Unfortunately the photo ops were limited, to none, and we didn’t get to sit facing outwards as those seats were also few and far between.
We rode to the end of the line, where we were plunked down on Market street somewhere, and though we intended on taking the F line back to the terminal, it really never happened. We poked in a couple of stores then walked straight back in the right direction. And, once you’ve walked a few blocks, and you only have a few more left, what’s the point?!
Well, we’d been carrying Rylie more time than she rode in the stroller and though we’d taken turns carrying her it was a bit much, and all in all, we should have maybe considered the hiking backpack instead, even though neither of us really wanted to carry her for several hours in that either.
We slipped perfectly onto the 3:30pm ferry back to the Marin County side and home for a marathon nap. Navigating a big city as a couple sans kid was a challenge in itself, but add a plus one and it becomes an interesting adventure.