San Francisco- Pier 39 & Fisherman's Wharf

My mom used to tell me stories about Pier 39 from several decades ago. 

Apparently, things have changed. She'd never seen the seals and sea lions on the platforms and having been back at least once on each visit, I was excited to show her around.

My earliest memories of Pier 39 were from my last trip to that area as a child. I took my mom by the seals and we grabbed snacks at Trish's Mini Donuts (a must stop for each of my visits).

After Pier 39, we wandered down to Fisherman's Wharf so I could share with mom my favorite lobster sandwiches. While we had planned to share one, we ended up buying two. While walking the first one to the picnic benches, we were attacked by seagulls who stole the sandwich.

Insanely, that has never happened to me on any of the trips before. It seemed like it had happened a lot that day since there were paper sandwich carriers everywhere and flocks of birds getting way too close to diners. Pretty awkward!

From here, we caught the cable car up Hyde Street and made a stop at Swensen's. This is the setting for one of my family's favorite stories. My dad once tried to drive a car down Lombard Street while holding a strawberry ice cream cone. He dropped it. On my last childhood visit, my dad made his second attempt and luckily, the rental car got away without a drop. He was pretty proud of that.