One or two Saturdays a month, Tyler and I try to put off our typical weekend errands and do something special. It’s been a really neat bonding experience for our little family, and with Tyler working a lot lately it’s been nice to have a Saturday with him (almost) all to myself. We received a free ticket to San Francisco’s Aquarium of the Bay, so we headed north to check it out and walk around Fisherman’s Wharf a bit.

First we needed lunch, so by recommendation of Say Yes to Hoboken we ended up at Roam Artisan Burgers. Everything is seasonal and sustainable, with no added hormones or antibiotics. Their beef burgers are 100% grass-fed, free-range beef and Tyler and I both agreed the quality was excellent. Next time I’m going to try their organic, gluten-free, vegan veggie burger that’s house-made. We got the fry-fecta of fries, which included russet fries, sweet potato fries, and zucchini onion haystack fries (which were the bomb-diggity and I’m going to try to make at home!). The fry-fecta is easily enough to feed 3-4 hungry people. And since we love our food (and, uh, knew we wouldn’t be coming back very often) we also got their house-made agave-sweetened raspberry soda and a tahitian vanilla bean milkshake. The soda was an acquired taste (lightly sweetened, very fizzy) but the milkshake – oh the milkshake! If you love a good vanilla bean like me, you’ll have to try it yourself because it knocked my socks off.

Next, we took a necessary drive down Lombard street, and discovered a Jones St. not far away. :) When we arrived at Fisherman’s Wharf, I was in shock of how crowded it was! I think when I was sixteen I didn’t mind doing touristy things, but oh how my tastes have changed. Tyler and I would much rather spend an afternoon perusing shops and parks of a normal SF life than battle the crowds and rancid, oily fish smell of the Wharf.

The aquarium. How do I put this kindly? Our report is that even with a curious toddler, we were in and out of the aquarium in less than an hour. It was dreadfully disappointing. The best part was the long tunnel of fish on level two, but compared to the Academy of Sciences we went to a few weeks ago, this was bland, missing colorful fish and coral, and crowded. The entire tunnel was much too dark to see many fish, and even the fish that were in there weren’t much to get excited about.

The Birch Aquarium in La Jolla (San Diego) isn’t very big, but at least has dozens and dozens of fish tanks and an outside reef where you can touch sealife. Aquarium of the Bay had probably only six to eight fishtanks (I’m not kidding here!), two small reef areas, and a the tunnel. The reef areas were “eh” because they had (only 3) manta rays, but there was no way any kid under twelve could stick his arm in deep enough to ever pet one. Our consensus was “good thing it only cost us $8 to get in” because it was quite a let down. (I have a Happy Hollow park & zoo membership, which gets us free or a 50% discount to zoos, aquariums, and science museums nationwide. We used it to buy the extra adult ticket at 50% off.) Do what you wish, but if your family is visiting SF the aquarium wouldn’t be the best bang for your buck. $17/person admission is a little steep for the experience you get.

When we realized it was only 2pm, we decided to walk up and down the wharf. Tyler had never been to Ghirardelli Square (wha??!) so we walked a mile towards the bridge to hit that up. It was a surprisingly beautiful, clear, sunny day – the best weather we could have asked for. While trying out a shortcut we walked through at a big warehouse on the wharf filled with vintage arcade games. Free admission to walk around, and most games were only a quarter. It was here we wished we hadn’t spent our quarters on parking because a lot of them were from the early 1900s and were very intriguing!

We’re so glad we were able to get out for the day, but I don’t think we’ll be heading towards the Wharf again anytime soon. Next time we want to hit up Muir Woods and Sausalito and maybe walk or tandem bike the golden gate bridge. Suggestions?