Destination: Aquatic Park, San Francisco
Explore Aquatic Park, Visit The Maritime Museum, And Play At The Musée Mécanique
This is part of a series of family-oriented day trip outings around the San Francisco Bay Area I look forward to enjoying with my kids once social distancing and shelter in place isn’t the norm any longer.
NPS Photo
Social Isolation — Day 21
Instead of focusing on the negative’s today, I want to mention a positive — connecting with old friends. Something that I need to work at, but a dear old friend got in touch today and we had the most delightful conversation. It really made my day.
I need to practice this more and get in touch with people I don’t talk to enough.
Who have you reached out to recently, checking up on an old friend is just what we all need right now.
Destination: Aquatic Park, San Francisco
Explore Aquatic Park
Visit the Maritime Museum
Play at the Musée Mécanique
I love a day wandering around Aquatic Park. Wandering around the old ships and imagining life back when you had to take a ferry to cross the bay, or even longer back as one of the original sailors to enter the bay. Wandering out on Municipal Pier to see what people are catching, maybe seeing the sunset behind the Golden Gate Bridge. Even just sitting watching the swimmers do laps is fun. Or make your way to the top of the former Casino where the Maritime Museum is to enjoy the view from the rooftop. So many terrific little things to string together into a wonderful day out.
Explore Aquatic Park
Admittedly, this is on the edge of a very touristy area. And while playing local tourists occasionally is fun, I typically stay away from places like Pier 39, usually. Aquatic Park and the Maritime Museum maintain an exceptional authenticity without feeling commercial.
Aquatic Park Municipal Pier is that curving pier creating a protective area for swimmers and boaters. There are both a historic swimming club and rowing club headquartered here (links above). You’ll often see swimmers out here, and sometimes rowers.
There is also a small beach here. For a beach in San Francisco, this spot is remarkable. Often sunny and water quality historically tests well, the water here is much warmer than out at Ocean Beach.
Be sure to take some time to walk out onto the pier and see what people are fishing for. This is one of the best spots to go fishing as it’s so close to the opening of the bay. The pier is falling into disrepair, and part of it is permanently closed off. There is a citizen group trying to raise funds and awareness to save the pier (link above).
Visit the Maritime Museum
By BrokenSphere — Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8935106
The Maritime Museum is located in a few spots, along with the boats you can go tour. There is the museum itself at 900 Beach Street in the original art deco casino entertainment complex, the Visitor Center (good spot to use the bathroom, by the way) at 499 Jefferson, and the Hyde Street Pier with the historic boats. To tour the boats, you will have to pay for entry, but the rest is free. They have some cool hands-on exhibits to see some of the shipping history of San Francisco. Don’t forget to pick up your Junior Ranger guidebook and get sworn in before you leave.
They have some really cool ships to tour at the pier, and they even offer some restoration demonstrations. My favorite is the ferry that used to run on San Francisco Bay before we had bridges. The Balclutha is great to walk around on too.
Play at the Musée Méchanique
Musée Mécanique by Allison Meier
Originally located in the basement of the Cliff House, the Musée Mécanique is a wonderful spot to spend an hour or two. When the Cliff House underwent its last renovation, the Musée lost its spot and almost had to close, until this space at Pier 45 was found. I’ll usually cash out $20 into quarters and let my kids pick and choose what we do.
From turn of the century arcade novelties to more modern video games like Ms. Pacman and Centipede, you’ll find something entertaining here. A number of these games were recovered from Playland at the Beach, and they have one of the last remaining Laughing Sal’s anywhere (you can find one at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk also). Done forget to stop in at one of the photo booths for something to take home with you.
Cody Tolmasoff is an author and publisher for Adventuring.in. He is a recovering programmer and a San Francisco native, raising two daughters, and regularly finding new adventures around the SF Bay Area. This article is an excerpt from an upcoming book, 52 San Francisco Bay Area Weekend Adventures, Day Trips With Your Kids!
Find him on Twitter @codyo, and read his most recent title Adventures in Getting Out on Amazon, filled with advice on successfully getting your family out for day trip adventures.
Originally published on Medium on 3 April 2020