San Francisco & the Cable Cars

We stayed in the SF Bay Area for a week. That was time to do a little tourist stuff, visit friends and pay respects to family members who have passed on.

The Golden Gate Bridge from the SF Side

One day we went into the City. 

Golden Gate Bridge from the Larkspur Ferry

San Francisco

We took the ferry in from Larkspur, we rode the cable cars, we rode the street cars & we walked. We did tourist stuff!

Once we arrived in the city, we caught a cable car on Market Street. I had not been on a cable car since the mid-1970s. When we got on I thought about my great-grandfather.

That's a cable car on the left, there is a cable under the
tracks that pulls the cars along.

It seems my great-grandfather was riding on the outside of a cable car in 1902 and fell off. He hit his head and died within days of the accident.  I thought about this when I got on the cable car!  I didn't ride standing on the outside either....

When I last rode a cable car back in the 70s, I was unaware of my family history with the machines so it was just fun.

San Fran after the 1906 earthquake - my grandfather was there for that. He said the
ferry boats leaving the city would only take gold or silver, no paper money.
With that in mind when I was born, he made a frame to hold five silver
dollars so I'd never be too broke to take a ferry from the city.

We had a good day! Fisherman's Wharf, the seals at Pier 39, the cable car museum, clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl not to mention riding the cable cars. Then we took the ferry back to Marin County.

Clam chowder in a  San Francisco
sourdough bowl. It was good!

The cable car museum houses the cables that move the cable cars. It's free and well worth the time

Sea lions enjoying the day

Fees! I'll mention this because it's useful.
 We paid $7 each for our first cable car ride, but while on it the operator told us about the MuniMobile app. That was a deal! For $12 (ea) you can buy a pass that allows you to ride any SF public transit for the whole day! The passes stayed on the phone, all I had to do was show them, that saved us $$ as we took several cable car & bus rides that day.

It costs to go into the city via bridge, but leaving is free. The Bay Bridge takes cash or the local electronic transponder. The Golden Gate Bridge doesn't take cash, it's all electronic! If you're not hooked up they will send a bill to the address linked to the license plate. You can go online and take care of it before you cross, or after if you don't want to wait for the bill in the mail.