• Enjoy a short, scenic boat ride over, then wander the prison cell blocks at Alcatraz

• Sightsee aboard a bright-red 1955 Mack fire engine

• Stroll through Chinatown and lunch in one of the old-time, curtain-enclosed booths at Far East Cafe 

• Climb all over the collection of historical vessels moored at Hyde Street Pier

• Have fun and learn about science at the same time at the cavernous Exploratorium

• Take a whirl on an antique carrousel in Golden Gate Park, then frolic for a while at adjacent Koret Children's Quarter playground--the first public playground in a U.S. park

• Get a great kid's meal served in a cardboard classic car and play an oldie but goodie for two bits on a mini-jukebox at Mel's Drive-In (did you know jukeboxes were invented in

• in 1888?)

• Spend an afternoon at the

• Zoo, which has a special Children's Zoo and another antique carousel

• Watch the bakers at Boudin at the Wharf make this famous sourdough bread, then purchase a souvenir loaf of bread in the shape of a darling turtle or alligator.

• Stuff yourself with the best ice cream sundae ever at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Manufactory in Ghirardelli Square

(excerpted by permission from the 9th edition of Weekend Adventures in