Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco Treat!

Finally, I'll tell you about San Francisco!! We had a great time, we were aptly prepared for the weather and it was great not to be surprised. We spent a ton of time walking - there are LOTS of hills in San Francisco in case you didn't already know. These two kids from Lubbock weren't quite prepared for ALL. THE. HILLS!!! I'm still sore from all the walking...and we did get to a point where I wasn't even relieved to go downhill because that hurt too! We called it our guilt-free vacation since pretty much all there is to do there is walk and eat - which we did both. A lot.

So you know timing, we flew out of Dallas on Tuesday night and landed in San Francisco about 11pm their time (1am to us). It was a long flight, but we watched Seven Pounds while we waited at DFW and for most of the flight. It was just the two of us on our side of the row, so it was actually a pretty nice plane ride - even in coach!

We got to the hotel (the Ritz-Carlton) about midnight (2am Central) and checked in. For the two of you that don't already know this story, when we finished checking in, I found myself face-to-face with Alex Rodriguez! I tried to whisper to John and he didn't really believe me until he saw the girl behind the desk chuckle suspiciously so he bee-lined for the elevators. We rode up the elevator with A-Rod, Kate Hudson and 3 other people. Everyone except A-Rod was really nice - making small talk in the elevator and laughing. A-Rod positioned himself with his nose almost touching the front door of the elevator, presumably so we wouldn't DARE take his picture. Of course, to my 2AM brain, I never even thought about a camera, and even if I had, I'd want a picture of Kate Hudson, not A-Rod. Duh!!! So, to sum up, Kate is too good for A-Rod. Not a big shocker!

After all that excitement, we couldn't sleep so we went to a bar close by and had a drink. By the time we got to bed it was after 4AM central time and we were up by 6:00 California time, so we got about 4 hours sleep. Whew!

On Wednesday, we started our journey by going south of the hotel to Alamo Square to see the Painted Ladies. For those of you that don't know what that is, here are the pictures:

They call those houses the "Painted Ladies" and they're pretty famous. One of them is apparently getting a little facelift. The architecture there was just so interesting to us! The houses are ridiculously expensive and they're very squished. John and I decided we understand better what people mean when they say "Everything is bigger in Texas". It's just because we have some SPACE!!! The garages are all very small and at the bottom of the houses. They're similar to the Brownstones we saw in New York. In San Francisco, they don't go as high as they do in NYC, and we assumed that was because of the stability of the ground in NYC compared to California.

Also in Alamo Square, which was a small park, there were these HUGE trees.
Of course, these aren't the famous redwoods north of San Francisco, but we were surprised at how big these trees are, especially with the earthquake activity in that part of the country.

We left Alamo Square and headed for Twin Peaks. This is two peaks (side-by-side) which you can climb and get a great view of the city.

Did I mention CLIMBING?!?!? We found the stairs just off the bus route and started our ascent.

This is what they looked like close-up. Ummm, we're not in Kansas anymore Toto.
When we got to the top, we were disappointed to find that we couldn't see ANYTHING. There was a lot of fog on this particular morning (as there are many mornings there) and there was no view to be had. At least we can say we went up there to try! Here's John in all the fog.
More fog...this was our view.
There are roads that go around the peaks, this is the road from the top of one peak.
Once we descended, we rode another bus (we worked very hard to figure out the public transportation system) to Golden Gate Park. It's a huge park area in west San Francisco. We walked around the park, which was undergoing some construction on the walkways, and took a couple of pictures, but just imagine trees and grass. It was pretty there since it's in the middle of a bunch of concrete, but nothing amazing.

Within Golden Gate Park is the Japanese Tea Garden. We'd read that this is the tourist trap of the area, but that it's worth the small price of admission. It was - very nice and well maintained. This is a zen garden inside. Very nice!
The landscaping was very intricate and they had traditional looking Japanese architecture too.

This was a bridge that kids were loving to climb up and get their picture.
So of course, I had to do it too!
And a picture of John and me right as we were leaving the tea garden.
By this time, we've walked about 4 miles uphill and climbed about 700 stairs on 4 hours sleep, so we decided to go back to the hotel to rest and freshen up. When we were leaving, we took a taxi and drove right by the California Academy of Sciences. Apparently they were having a "free" day and wow - the line was the longest line I've ever seen. John and I estimate that there were thousands of people winding around for at least 1/4 mile. It was incredible. Weekday admission for an adult at this place is $25. I bet those people were waiting for at least 3 hours and I bet some of them didn't make it to the door before they closed. There isn't a museum on the planet I'd wait that long to see!

For our first night's dinner, we decided to eat at The Dining Room at the Ritz. We'd read enough that we expected a French Room experience. We didn't quite get that, but it was pretty good. We also had good service and our waiter took our picture, so it was worth it.
Thursday morning, we slept a little later and woke to more fog and more cold. Luckily, we had been watching the weather there for weeks and were completely prepared for the cold. The temperatures were between 55 and 65. First thing, we headed east of the hotel to the Ferry Building. We had lunch reservations at the Slanted Door, but we were early, so we walked around the water some. There were huge ferries leaving from the port with hundreds of tourists and I got this picture with one of the ferries, a sail boat and the Bay Bridge.
These birds were all over the place in the area. They weren't scared of any human and came up to me immediately when I sat down on a bench. It was like I wasn't allowed to sit down unless I fed them!
This picture was taken after we ate, but I wanted to show the clock at the center of The Ferry Building. It was noon.
From there, we headed north toward Coit Tower. On the way, we stopped at a tea place and I finally tried bubble tea! My sister had it for the first time in Taiwan and raved about it. To me, it was okay, but I found the bubbles (which are balls of tapioca) distracting. The tea was quite yummy though!
We made our way to Filbert Steps - a scenic walk up to the base of Coit Tower.

This is a picture of the hill that we were about to climb.
And this is the FIRST set of steps. There were probably 6 or 7 more about this height. There were stairs FOR.EV.ER.
Another flight of stairs.
Along the stairs, the people that live in the houses plant the most amazing gardens. It's unbelievable how beautiful these are knowing that they don't have a lot of dirt to work with.
Almost there...more steps!
Finally, we reach Coit Tower. You can barely see him, but that's John at the bottom. I think if you click on the picture, it will open bigger in another window.
And this was the view - not even from the top of the tower - this is from the BASE of the tower. To go to the top of the tower, there were a lot of people and yet another line, which we chose to avoid.
This is the Bay Bridge from the base of Coit Tower.
And Alcatraz from the same place.
After riding the bus back down from Coit Tower, we headed toward Chinatown. Of course, there was MUCH to see and do here. I actually didn't take any pictures - I was too busy shopping for a good deal on a camera (which I did not find). I'd heard it was similar to Chinatown in NYC, but I didn't really get that feeling. It was very fun, but I didn't see any of the "deals" that NYC is so popular for. I did buy a jacket there - for use that night going to Alcatraz. After Chinatown, we headed to Pier 39. Along the way, we found this pretty park area in front of a gorgeous church. There were several people milling about and we found ourselves wondering exactly what these people do for a living that they don't go to work and they make enough money to live there!
We were heading to Pier 39 to eat at a pizza place there before going on our tour of Alcatraz. Of course, we did stop on the way to the pizza place and have some of the famous sugar donuts. Wow - those were good! They're mini-no-icing donuts and they sprinkle sugar on the top before they hand them to you. YUMMY!!!
Also there was a huge, beautiful carosel at Pier 39. This was about the only thing there we thought David might have enjoyed. We thought it was a good call not to bring him!
This is John with Alcatraz in the background from Pier 39.
And you can barely see it, but Golden Gate Bridge is there, with a sailboat in the foreground.
As we were leaving on the ferry to Alcatraz, this was our view of Coit Tower.
Again, it was a bit overcast, but the Golden Gate Bridge is there.
This is San Francisco from the bay.
Artsy version of the picture above.
So once we got to Alcatraz, we were herded into the shower room. Yep, this is where the prisoners showered. Ewww!
And I took this picture by putting my camera through the bars. The cells are 5'x7'. Not exactly comfortable. The audio tour told us that they were let out of their cells once per week for exercise.
Here's a board showing the famous inmates that spent time at Alcatraz. Of course, everyone has heard of Al Capone, but have you heard of George "Machine Gun" Kelly? How about Robert "the Birdman" Stroud? The audio tour was led by two former guards and two former inmates. Honestly, it was a bit creepy, but very educational!
There was an escape from Alcatraz where two brothers and another man dug holes in the back of their cells with sawed off spoons from the Dining Hall fashioned into drills. They burrowed behind the cell into an opening and shimmied up and down piping to the San Francisco Bay. One body was later discovered in the Bay, but the other two have never been accounted for. Of course there were many attempts, but personally, I would not want to jump in that water...even in August! Here's a picture of the cell where they'd burrowed through the wall.
The prison was closed in 1963 and this is a picture of the last prisoner leaving.
From a deck outside the cellhouse, you can see Ghiradelli Square. A narrator on the audio tour talked about how the prisoners could sometimes hear sounds from the city. Must have felt so close to freedom, and yet, so far away.
Immediately after the tour, we headed south in a taxi to The Castro Theater. This is a very old movie theater (with updated sound & video) in an older part of San Francisco. It was incredibly intricate and super cool. It was very late by the time we left, so we went back to the hotel.
Friday, we slept in a little, and then headed out on a trolley. I was standing up on the front edge of a very full trolley car. With the movement of the car, the wind was FREEZING! This was our first time on a trolley and our driver was a former "Bell Ringing Champion"!! If you follow that link, he's Byron Cobb and he made the trip all that much more fun! He was very personable and made jokes with all the passengers.
Now I can't explain why I have a picture taken while we were IN the trolley, but I don't have any pictures OF a trolley...silly girl. They look like you'd expect, plus full of people.

We got off at Lombard Street (aka the crooked street) and walked down the stairs (MORE stairs!!) on the side. It's very pretty, and very crooked. We did see a couple of teenage boys race up the road. Not very safe, but it's not like the cars are going very fast.

When we got to the bottom, we took this picture - John is standing at the entrance to the street.
Some nice pictures as we walked down.
This is a house on Lombard Street. Just LOOK at those flowers!! These flowers were everywhere and we're not quite sure how they're getting so big. Seriously, there's no dirt for these things. So - anyone know what these flowers are?

After Lombard Street, we took another bus to the Golden Gate National Recreational Area. This is the park where people have taken the pictures you normally see of the Golden Gate Bridge. It's a nice park, lots of tourists, lots of people along the street selling jewelry, art, Christmas ornaments, etc. This is Alcatraz Island from that area.
And of course, the Golden Gate Bridge.
Aren't we cute just towering over the bridge?? We're giants.
Right next to where we were taking these pictures, was a group of kids with their feet in the water. I didn't touch the water, but I would think it would be just FREEZING cold. The kids were screaming every time a wave came. We just thought that was so funny!
From there, we headed back to the park area to a sight we didn't expect. This is the entrance to The Palace of Fine Arts. We're not sure what the purpose of all this is, but right in the middle of the park is a HUGE structure.
That's me standing in front of it.

You can see the people standing at the base. This part of the structure was a huge dome with several columns.

From there, we headed to the west edge of San Francisco to the Sutro area. Around here is the famous Cliff House restaurant (we did not eat there) and the Sutro baths. We didn't walk down to see them close up, but this is from the top of the hill overlooking the baths.

I think they call this rock Seal Rock, but I'm not sure. The waves were crashing up against it, and if you look closely, you can see that there are 2 people on top of the rock and one of them is holding a fishing pole! Again, it was a foggy day, so it's hard to see some stuff.
By this time, we were tuckered out again and we had another late night, so we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and rest just a bit. We had dinner planned that night at Michael Mina which sorely disappointed. If you ever think about eating there, stop. We didn't get a picture (even though our waitress was pretty good and very friendly) because we probably would have had scowls on our faces!

After that, we headed to the Curran Theater where we were to watch a Broadway play called "August: Osage County." The play was about 3 hours long, but we honestly didn't even notice! It was very good. We did get an illegal picture in before the show started. We were on the front row, stage left (I think?? Or is it stage right?).
After the play, we were exhausted! We knew we needed to pack and leave the next day so we crashed.

We woke up Saturday morning, sleeping probably the latest of any day we were there. We were worn out and knew we had a very long day ahead of us. We got ready, packed and checked our luggage with the hotel. By the time we did all that, it was around 10:30. We headed for Ghirardelli Square for lunch. We didn't have a place for lunch already picked out (the only time of the trip) so we walked around when we got there. We discovered that most restaurants in San Francisco don't open until 11:30. I just think that's odd - why wouldn't you open a little before that?? Anyway, we were a little early so spent some time deciding what we would want to see when it all opened. We ended up having lunch at Lori's Diner. When they tried to sit us at another too-close-for-comfort table, we asked for a booth. Not only are the houses squished together there, but tables in restaurants are always just a tiny bit too close also. Do people there not have personal space?!

Anyway, we had a decent lunch, then headed out. We went to the actual Chocolate Store on Ghirardelli Square and it even smelled wonderful! We saw how they make chocolate and I posed in front of the big vat of chocolate being stirred by a machine...YUM!
We also went to ElizabethW for gifts for Meme and Grandmother for selflessly staying with our kids so we could travel to California. We walked around for a little while, and then headed up Bay Street for more shopping and eating. We actually ate even MORE! We stopped at a seafood restaurant and got some chowder, we stopped at In and Out Burger and got a burger to share and I'm pretty sure we had dessert in there somewhere too. No biggie though, we walked the whole time, so it's fine, right??

We also ended up getting David and Katherine a San Francisco Music Box which they love!

We decided it was time to head for the hotel so we could get to the airport, so we swung back by Ghirardelli Square and got a picture of John in front of the logo too!
We got to the airport in plenty of time, so we did have a bread bowl of New England Clam Chowder there at Boudin. It was so good! What a way to end a trip where we ate the whole time! Our flight was calm and we watched another movie. By the time we got home, it was about 2AM and I was exhausted, but almost couldn't sleep since I was just dying to see the kids!

When we got up Sunday morning, the kids were so happy to see us, and we were thrilled to see them. David had plenty to tell us about his soccer games and fun with Meme and Grandmother and Katherine wouldn't let us out of her sight. Even when John tried to put her down for her nap, she would just scream when he left the room, so he sat with her until she fell asleep.

Meme and Grandmother headed home on Sunday and we were SO SO SO SO grateful for them taking care of the kids. Not only that, but for the time they spent with the kids and the value of that relationship with them. I love that my kids are so close to their grandmother and great-grandmother!! Thank you!!!!!

Okay, Meme, it's your turn! Tell us about your week last week!