Adventures in San Franciscon - Sydni & Janelle

          We landed in San Francisco today, which is Wednesday, March 21! Since this was my first time seeing the Golden Gate Bridge and actually being in San Francisco, it was a really fun experience. I was surprised that the air wasn’t that cold because before this trip, I was mapping out the temperatures for each city on each day so that I could be mentally prepared. It was more like a cool or crisp feeling, like if you’re in Washington: a clean air feeling. After getting off the plane in the morning, we got onto a bus and met Tom, our bus driver and expert on everything San Francisco. I personally learned more about the cable cars, cities, and even their city hall. On the bus, we got into three groups pending on teachers. I was in Mrs. Graves-Grantham's (Mrs. G-G’s) group, which included Janelle, Allena, Kiana, Brayden, and me. We ended up doing a scavenger hunt all around Fisherman’s Wharf, which was a great opportunity to bond with new people, and learn more about the history of that particular place in San Francisco.

We walked along the roads for a little over two and a half hours, sightseeing and looking for interesting things to take pictures of. We all decided to go to Pier 39 first, so that we can work our way back to all of the other destinations. We spent most of our time there. At Pier 39, there were all sorts of little shops and restaurants around, and a huge carousel filled with - as we “scavenged” to find out - 1,800 LED lights illuminating it. To me, it was more like a culture, which was breathtaking. There were also sea lions there, around 30 of them, just lying around yelping at each other on the water. That was also a really compelling moment just to be able to see the animals and the mountains overlooking the ocean.

Along with Pier 39 we also got to see the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory, cable cars, Alcatraz (a prison island also known as Al’s Rock), and so much more. After we were done, we got to eat at some of the different places on our way back, trying new things along the way. We got back onto the bus and drove back to the airport where we would take our flight to Frankfurt, Germany after we all finished the hunt and met back up. It was fun to be able to experience the diversity between our islands and a different city. It was different to see new creatures, learn about new places and how they express the information, whether it is through a sign, a plaque, or just things on the ground that you have to look up to figure out. Although San Francisco was only our first stop, it was a powerful one where we got to learn more about our own country before we set off on our adventure to Europe.

- By: Sydni G.

Brayden posing with “the funniest postcard”...

Our group posing like body-builders in front of the "sea-leberties" AKA sea lions...

Our two funniest people in our group playing a shooter arcade game with the rest of us behind them watching...

Today, we arrived in San Francisco! For our layover, we did a scavenger hunt around Fisherman's Wharf with our separate groups. My group included Sydni, Allena, Kiana, Brayden, and I.  It was a scavenger hunt that let me really appreciate the city of San Francisco. There was this stair case that replicated a piano and with each step came a different sound that came from under the steps, I had no clue about this, but it gave Pier 39 more of a unique feel. The sea lions were also really cute and a joy to watch, however, they have attitudes. I saw one push another into the cold bay waters. Overall a really fun layover!! - Janelle R.

21 March 2018

After a long flight, we finally arrived in San Francisco. It was 60ºF, which took some time to get used to! Since our layover on the way to Germany was long, we were able to go out into Pier 39 in San Francisco and do a scavenger hunt. We got on a tour bus and got a quick tour of some parts of San Francisco, such as Chinatown and Little Italy. Our bus driver, Tom, gave us a lot of facts about the history of the buildings, and even current events that were happening in San Francisco. The goal of the scavenger hunt was to take the best photos and earn the most points by answering questions about the Pier and Alcatraz. From the Pier, we could see Alcatraz, also known as Al’s rock. Alcatraz used to be a federal penitentiary. It held criminals such as Al “Scarface” Capone, and Machine Gun Kelly. We learned that it was closed down after 23 years because it was expensive and they couldn’t keep it open. We also learned that there were 14 escape attempts from Alcatraz.

            The Pier had a lot of seafood and tourist attractions. My favorite attraction at the Pier were the sea lions. Around 1990, sea lions started to take over the docks in the water. For the scavenger hunt, we posed as bodybuilders in front of all of the sea lions. My group stayed to watch the sea lions for a while. It was interesting to see how the sea lions interacted with each other. They barked very loudly, and sometimes would start play “fighting”. 

            A fun game that we had with the scavenger hunt was that if you caught someone sitting, and you took a picture of them, your team got 100 points. When my group was at In and Out, we were all sitting, when another group comes into the restaurant. We all stood up before they could take a picture, but it was funny because we all stood in perfect synchronization. The people in the restaurants looked at us like we were crazy, but we laughed it off. San Francisco was so fun, even if we didn’t get to stay very long.    - Liana  

Sea lions at Pier 39

Asa being caught sitting down!