Recently, my grandparents took me to San Francisco for my 16th birthday present. Yes, I know...I'm not 16 anymore. But my grandpa had knee surgery and needed to recuperate for a while, then life took us up and we couldn't plan the trip until a couple weeks ago. However, better late than never! The trip was a blast and I had a ton of fun!
Yes, we were biking. But we were riding no ordinary bikes! We were riding 70 pound electric bikes (you could still pedal if you wanted)!
The Golden Gate bridge in the background. We'll be riding over it soon.
You can see the huge battery just over the back wheel. That thing is heavy!
On the other side of the bridge near Sausalito. We came 7 miles from San Francisco to Sausalito. I tried to not use the motor for a lot of that - especially up the hills. I was trying to see what it felt like for the professional cyclists when they pedal up hills. I found it was quite tiring - but then again, my bike weighed about 7 times more than theirs do :)
San Francisco!
When we made it to Sausalito, we rode around town for a while, then ate lunch at a hamburger joint. Afterwards, I went solo (only one bike had a decent amount of battery left) and raced around town for 20 minutes. I went quite a ways! It was so much fun going up and down the hills at blazing speeds (well, maybe not up at blazing speeds)!
After we biked, we took a ferry back to San Francisco, returned the bikes, then walked to Fisherman's Wharf. Papa T and I toured the submarine and the battleship there, while Grammie became a poster.
Grammie didn't want to go into the sub, so Papa T and I went alone. It was very impressive! It's amazing how they design the sub to get the most equipment into the smallest area possible.
I apologize for the blurry pictures in advance! The picture above is of the torpedo tubes - later on you'll see them open.
A massive torpedo. Notice the bunk beds right above them!
I believe these are battery generators. They may be engines, however. The sub has both engines and battery generators (they use the engines to run the generators, then run off batteries so they are silent underwater).
The kitchen! I was actually impressed at their kitchen in such a tiny space.
Here's an open torpedo tube...
And here's one with a torpedo in it.
Anti-aircraft gun!
The sub from the outside.
Next stop? The U.S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, a fully functional supply battleship! They still take it out on history cruises.
It is a tall ship - this picture was taken from the deck.
I couldn't resist comparing the battleship's kitchen to the sub's. I think this one's a bit bigger. It also looks like it was used recently (notice the spices in upper right corner, as well as the paper towels).
I wish this picture was clearer, as this was the coolest thing. That oblong thing with the three different circles of differing sizes is the engine. Under each circle is a piston. High pressure steam enters the small-circle piston (the high-pressure piston) and presses it down. The steam still has a lot of pressure, so it enters the slightly bigger medium pressure piston and presses it down. Though it has less energy, it still presses the piston down the same amount because the piston is bigger. Last, it goes into the low-pressure large piston and presses it down. All the pistons are pressed down the same amount, though, so it is all synchronized!
The steam tube. Papa T was telling me that if there was a puncture in this superheated steam valve, you would be able to hear the steam whistling out but you couldn't see it. If you heard the steam, you would freeze, because the steam is coming out at such a high velocity that it would cut you in half if you walked into the stream!
Here is a picture of the massive low-pressure piston. This is the biggest piston and crankshaft I have ever seen!
Hannah - you would appreciate these. No, your eyes do not deceive you - that is a full set of semaphore flags!
The anti-air guns were slightly bigger on the battleship than on the sub. I like this picture with the flag waving in the background.
Papa T was telling me that the phrase "the whole nine yards" came from this type of weapon. Bullet belts typically came in nine-yard stretches, so giving the enemy the whole nine yards was giving them every bullet you've got!
The Jeremiah O'Brien!
The trip was tons of fun and very enjoyable. Thanks again, Papa T and Grammie!
Casey
