San Francisco!

When we last left our daring adventurers they were ecstatic at the sight of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Thursday, May 19
It is interesting how things turn out. Before the trip if you would have asked me what cities we were most excited for, what cities we would have liked the best I’m pretty sure we would have answered that we were most excited for San Fran & Portland. Looking back (and even during the trip) it was weird when the realization hit that Seattle was indeed our favorite city on the trip.

We were mighty excited when we saw the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course this had to do with the gas fiasco and the many near death experiences of the last few hours before we got into town, but mainly it was because San Francisco was somewhere we both had been waiting a super long time to get to.

It was craziness. First you see the bridge and then you see this city and everything is so white it is insane. I felt like we were driving into Greece. But this ecstasy was replaced the instant we got off the bridge. Michael is already stressed to the max because of the hours of cliffside driving, but now we are in a city! EEE! Truthfully, I thought he was overacting because it didn’t look to be that bad of a driving city but I was wrong. It is insanely stressful to drive in San Fran. I think it is even more stressful than NYC. Well, ok maybe that is taking it a bit far, but it is stressful in an entirely different way than NY.

You know how when you are on a roller coaster and you are going straight up and you can’t see over the hill until you get to the very top? That is what it is like driving in SF. And these maniacs have stoplights at the near top of the hill. So you are not safely on the top of the hill, instead you are left in peril hoping to God that your brakes are working. It is HORRIBLE!!!

But finally we make it to the SF Hyatt.

Water Pressure 3
Room Space 3.5
Temp Control 3
Décor 4
Staff Helpfulness 2.5 (-.5 for coffee incident)
Beds 4
Coffee 2 (-1 for coffee pot)
Facilities 2 (expensive bar/rest; no gym; horrible elevators)
Noise Level 2 (outside & inside -lobby)

Other:
-1 for weight sensitive mini bar
-1 for coffee machine taking so long
-1 snooty attitude
-1 no vending machines
+1 restaurant gave big portions

At first glance we really liked the Hyatt. It is a very large & stylish looking hotel. As the days went on though we began to see the problems underneath the pretty façade. First, the good. The hotel is very striking when you first arrive. The decor of the rooms is good. We really liked our beds. We ate at the bar the first night we arrived and although we thought it was a bit pricey we were pleased with the portions provided.

The bad. The hyatt tries to come off as this upscale hotel, but really they are trying to pinch every penny they can out of you. The mini bar is computerized, so if you try to move things around (i.e. put something of your own in there) you will automatically be charged. We didn't know this and had been moving things around all night. The next morning we saw the tiny notice on the mini fridge and called the front desk. Thankfully, they removed the charges. If you want to use the fridge for yourself it is a $10 charge. Also there are no vending machines because they want you to take the overpriced products in the minifridge. This was a bit annoying.

Next issue was that our coffee maker was broken. It took over an hour for someone to come and replace it.

The hotel is located on the edge of the embarcadero right across from the Ferry Building. It is a bit of a walk to most sights, but if you don't mind a walk it is not too big of a deal. There are bus stops right at the corner.

After we returned our rental car (which is when I learned of SF driving stress) we walked back to the hotel. The walk was nice and we learned very quickly of how hilly SF is. Wow. No joke. Thank God we found a map that showed you where the hills were so that in the future we could avoid most of the massive inclined streets.

It was a pretty laidback evening. We were exhausted from our treacherous drive, the gas debacle and the SF driving; so we just had a small meal at the hotel bar.

Friday, May 20
For day one we had a pretty ambitious plan. We started off the day with lunch with Michael’s high school friend Jenny. We had our first sushi of the day and it was very tasty. After lunch Jenny went back to work and Michael & I started our adventuring.

I think it is pretty obvious that Michael & I are no rookie tourists. If we go to a city we really want to be incognito tourists. It is like every city is auditioning to be a potential new home. So it was a bit disconcerting that we were so intimidated. For the love of God we are not from some little town! We are seasoned travelers who have adventured many times in NYC! How the crap can we be intimidated by this West Coast city?

Although I do think that SF is the closest thing to NYC that I have encountered, I think there were a few factors leading to our apprehension. At this point, our vacation is over a week. That starts to wear on you a bit. Thankfully we recovered after San Fran but I was worried for a hot second. Plus, the geography of the city is really rough. I think those hills are a big part of why it is so intimidating. When you are at Fisherman’s Wharf and you look up and all you see is hill, you want to roll up in the fetal position and start crying. Also, I think the anticipation for SF was too much. Sometimes when you have been waiting to go somewhere for so long, you almost can’t believe it when you are there. I guess that’s how people feel when they get to NYC for the first time. It is like, wow. I don’t know where to even start here.

But our trepidation is short lived and we continue on our day.

After we leave Jenny we head to Powell Street so we can be touristy and jump on the Powell-Hyde cable car. Apparently people in SF get very upset if you say “trolley” instead of “cable car”. Just a heads up.

After a little bit of a wait we hop on the cable car and Michael holds on to the railing for the ultimate SF tourist experience. The big hills are a little less irritating when you are not driving/walking them. We take the cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf, walk around a bit, grab a Starbucks drink and head back up the big hill so we can check out Lombard St.

I’m not sure what kind of crack Michael was smoking but he decided to call his father as we were attempting to climb up the hill. So in the midst of his huffing and puffing he was telling Papa Wood about all of our adventures.

Finally we made it to Lombard Street. It is the crookest street in the country (maybe the world?) and it was built in 1922 so that cars could more easily handle the 16 percent grade. Check!

At this point we consider going to Coit Tower but I am very, very afraid of more hills. So we go back down the big hill to Fisherman’s Wharf so that we can get some fun postcards! Hooray!

After checking out all of the tshirt & souvenir shops we decide to head back to the hotel. We consider taking a streetcar… (streetcars are different than cable cars; interesting side note, streetcars were shipped in from around the world, we spy cars from Baltimore, Philly & Milan!) but it is stuffed with tourists! So we walk back to the hotel and motor to get ready for dinner with Jenny.

We have done enough walking for one day and decide to cab it to North Beach for dinner. EEEK! Cabs in San Fran are expensive!!! North Beach has lots of Italian restaurants. We have dinner at Calzones. The food at Calzones was adequate. Not the best meal of the trip but not the worst either. I had an arugula, dried cranberry salad with fuji apples, caramelized walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette.

After dinner Jenny takes us on a dive bar tour of San Fran. We start off at Vesuvio in North Beach. Of all the bars we visit this evening Vesuvio is the most non-dive. It is very casual and a good place to hang and have beers.

After Vesuvio we head to Chinatown and the Buddah Bar. The Buddah Bar is a fun dive bar. We have the bar to ourselves (well, there are 4 other people in the bar) and everything is super fun until all of the sudden 25 people storm the bar! EEEEE! We make a break for it and Jenny takes us on a very long walk to High Tide. High Tide is the champion dive bar of the evening. It wasn’t the best bar, just the biggest dive. You know, the kind of place where you are drinking and having fun but you don’t feel completely comfortable in? We have a little issue with the juke box and end up playing the bars’ 3 most popular songs. I’m a little worried about what songs will be played. We wait anxiously and then Usher comes on. Wow. Didn’t see that one coming. In between songs I bond with Jenny’s friend Jessica who tells me she is a JC fan. Apparently she had no clue who he was until her friends took her to a show and then the sleeveless, sweaty wonderfulness was more than she could take!

The second most popular song according to the jukebox is AC/DC. I contemplate suicide for a few brief moments but instead decide to drink heavily for the next 4 minutes. Still at the mercy of the jukebox, Abba is the next song. Wow. This bar must be populated by a bunch of schizophrenics. So the 3 most popular songs at the High Tide are Usher, AC/DC and Abba. Craziness!

After many a drink we decide it is time to call it a night and Jenny gives us directions back to the Hyatt. As Michael and I are walking we start to realize that our surroundings are changing a little bit. Hmmm, is it me or is everyone looking a bit shady? Well, Michael is speeding up a bit…it looks like George St down here (not nice George St, I’m talking Remsen Ave, George St….C-Town!!). I don’t really recognize any of these street names.

Finally we come upon Market Street. That was fun! A tour of the Tenderloin! The Tenderloin is where all of the San Francisco crack addicts live. No one bothered us at all but it was definitely a little sketchy for a few blocks! EEEEE!


Saturday, May 21
“SCREW IT!”

This was our most stressful day of the trip. Voices were raised a few times, but through it all Michael and I were able to have fits of laughter so it all ended up good.

We got up and headed over to Jenny’s for breakfast. It was a nice little ride to the Haight were she lives. We get to see the Full House house! Yay!

It is a beautiful day in San Fran! Apparently it is the nicest day all year and everyone and their brother is out! So we go to the rental car to pick up our vehicle for our adventure to Muir Woods. Uh-oh. Lots of people at the Budget Car Rental! The only vehicle left is a mini van. EEEK! That is going to be scary driving the curvy roads! Booo to mini-vans!

We have a bit of a stressful drive through San Francisco and then hit a lot of traffic. Booo traffic. So we head to Sausalito. Ahhh. I like Sausalito. Very Mediterranean, very relaxing. We walk around a bit, check out the sailboats & have lunch on the rocks by the water. Oh wait! We spy a K-Fed look a like! (K-Fed=Kevin Federline) Sausalito has refreshed us!

Try number 2 for Muir Woods. Traffic has subsided so we head up into the mountains to hit Muir Woods. We make it all the way to the woods and guess what! There is no parking! At this point the little red alarm is going off above my head. SCREW IT! We wanted to have a little Nellie-Francine moment but this whole drive is making me very, very mad!! As I drive back towards the city Michael reasons that we’ve seen enough trees anyhow.

Since Muir Woods was a bust we try Golden Gate Park. Bad idea. Our map does not adequately display the area…part of the park is closed off…nothing is where it is supposed to be we can’t find the flippin AIDS Memorial! GRRRR! Michael really, really, really hates our map…a lot. It is hot and now I’m very grumpy! We finally locate the Japanese Garden but it costs $3 to get in! Right now I don’t like San Fran and don’t want to give them any more money. So we walk to the arboretum (how do we pronounce that mikey?) and this is where I drop. I have a little tantrum (for the sole purpose of pictures) and then Michael and I give up and just lay. Hee Hee, we get people to take pictures of us sprawled out on the grass.

After the arboretum collapse we decide to return the mini van. Michael and I get dangerously close to an argument as we try to navigate back to the car rental. Luckily we make it to the car rental without killing each other and we decided to rest up for our evening out in the Castro.

I’m sure you are aware that San Fran is known as the gay capitol of the world. The Castro is the gay mecca of San Fran. So we were a bit eager to get to the Castro and investigate.

We had a pretty entertaining cab driver who told us of a very sketchy sex club. Umm, thanks!

I wish we would have had more time to explore the Castro. Our San Fran time had tired me out a bit and I definitely would like a chance to check it out again. It is a fun neighborhood with lots of bars and lots of boys. It is a little overwhelming. We tried a few bars out (Club Mix, The Café, Metro) and they all seemed good. I really liked Metro. Nice chill vibe, fun ambiance.

Day 3-May 22
Ahhh. Last day in San Fran. We start off the day at Yank Sing for dim sum! If you don’t know, dim sum is kind like a buffet. You sit and the people pass by you with carts showing you what they have and you take it if you like it. Usually it is a pretty cheap meal. Usually. The food was very tasty; sea bass, duck, dumplings & egg rolls. But it was probably double what you would normally pay for dim sum. It is rather amusing that our 2 most expensive meals are Chinese food.

We didn’t have too much time to spend in the Ferry Building (which is full of gourment shops) but we stopped at Sharffenberger Chocolates and Cow Girl Creamery.

Next we head out to Alcatraz. The ferry is a nice ride, a little bit on the windy side and that water is rough!!!! It is interesting to visit Alcatraz and see all the history. Those cells were tiny! We see Capone’s cell and learn all about the guys who “escaped” (they were never found so odds are that they didn’t survive the swim). I promised Jay that I wouldn’t go into “the hole” (i.e. solitary confinement) because he was worried about me bringing home some angry spirits.

After our Alcatraz adventure we meet up with Jenny to check out Haight-Ashbury. This is the “South Street” area of San Fran (it is also where all the hippies lived in the 60’s-counter culture and such). We do a quick lap and then head to Chinatown for super fun Floating Boat Sushi Restaurant. You sit at a circle bar that surrounds the sushi chef. Little boats float past you with sushi on them and you pick up whatever you want to eat. It was fun until I started to think about how long the sushi was probably sitting out. Then it wasn’t so fun anymore.

We really, really like Chinatown. It is our favorite part of SF. We find fun little surprises to buy. Ohhh! A Karate Kid Drum! Hooray! Ohhh! Pashmina’s for $15! I buy 2! Later Michael is super jealous that he didn’t buy one when he had the chance!!!

San Francisco has exhausted us. Thank the Lord that tomorrow is Monterery!!!

Next up:
The Giant Dipper! Monterey is just what we need! And Michael finally takes over KT’s brain!!!!