San Francisco Day 3

On Wednesday morning, Betsy picked us up bright and early, and we went for a run over in Marin County. Brett lives out that way, and she has found some gorgeous running trails. Unfortunately, it was very foggy that morning, so our planned route was not going to have the amazing views of the Bay that it normally has, so she made a quick change and we did a different trail through the woods. It was uphill on the way out, and once we got high enough, there were beautiful views of the woods above the fog. There was also a clear brook that we crossed several times. It was in the high 60s and the air was so clean and crisp.


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Afterwards. we had brunch and bloody marys at a place in town.


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I had an omelette and sourdough toast.


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Betsy took us back to our hotel, and that afternoon I was much more in the mood for the Filbert Steps. These are steps that climb up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower. They aren't a major tourist attraction, and I had to research just a bit to figure out where they start. We had also watched a great documentary years ago called The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill about this area. There are gorgeous homes on either side all the way up. We were the only people climbing up when we were there, although several people passed us going down. There were lots of comments online about how one needs to be in "marathon shape" to climb these....I'd say if you can do a 5K, you're good. Or if not, just go slow. ha.

Here is the start. See the steps at the back of the parking lot?


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There is an amazing view of the bay from these homes. Cheap real estate, I'm sure.


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We didn't actually go to the top of Coit Tower. There was a long line, and I thought the view was just fine from the top of Telegraph Hill. Todd did buy a cap in the gift shop there b/c we forgot his, and his head was getting blistered even with sunscreen.

Then we walked back down steps on the other side of the hill and just wandered....taking turns wherever something looked interesting. Thanks to the magic of a smartphone, I could always figure out where we were and what bus to hop on or what walking route to take when we decided to go home.


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We ended up in the North Beach neighborhood, and we stopped at a great little coffee shop by a park and had dessert and coffee. It was 3pm on a Wednesday, and there were (non-homeless) people who did not look like tourists all over the park. We tried to guess what their stories are that mom and dad and kids are out playing in the middle of a day on a Wednesday. In one of them most expensive-to-live-in cities in America.


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I had a latte. Todd had beer, now that I look at the picture. We loved this tiny coffee shop. And we loved sitting by an open door with a cool breeze blowing in on July 27th.


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My trusty compass from WalMart that got us going the right way when the phone said...."Head W on Market...." etc.


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That night we met Betsy (Brett had to work) at The Mint for some karaoke. Betsy and I used to sing together at church in high school, and it was fun to sing together again.


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Next we walked to a Thai restaurant (in the Castro? I think so.) I had a Mai Tai, and we all thought the food was delicious.


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Betsy took this great shot. I love it.


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Then Betsy dropped us back at the hotel....this was our last night in the hotel.

San Francisco Day 2

On Tuesday morning, we had an early breakfast at a greasy spoon across the street from the hotel, and then we took a bus down to the wharf for our Alcatraz tour. I had read online that it was best to do the first tour of the day, so off we went. We took a chilly and foggy (not complaining! we loved the weather!) ferry ride across the bay to Alcatraz.


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We have discovered through these wonderful 10 years of marriage that we both enjoy tours that have to do with history. As I put all these pictures up, I realize how many of our activities had to do with history. ANYWAY, we first watched a movie about the history of Alcatraz, and then we did the audio tour. We thoroughly enjoyed it, although they talked REALLY slow on the audio tour. There were lots of gorgeous plants on the island, and lots of birds! And it smelled like bird poop. The part about the prisoners and escape attempts was interesting, but I was most interested in the little tidbits they told us about the wardens, guards, and their families that lived on the island. There were interviews in the movies with the now adult children of the guards, and they discussed riding the boat across the bay to school each morning and the community atmosphere on the island. Fascinating! We also got to see the ruins of the warden's mansion, the homes of the guards, and their community building.


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When we rode back across the bay, the fog had lifted a little bit and I was able to get some shots.


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When we arrived back at the wharf, we walked down to the maritime museum and toured a submarine. One of our favorite parts of our San Diego trip years ago was their maritime museum, so we always have to check for any boats to tour! Oooh, so exciting. ;) This submarine was really large and interesting, and there were actually two older gentlemen on there who had served on submarines....so they had lots of relevant tidbits to share.

Todd by the torpedoes...


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We were planning to climb The Filbert Steps that afternoon and see Coit tower, but I was tired and weary of navigating by that afternoon. After resting for a bit at the hotel that afternoon, we went out to eat with Betsy and her boyfriend Brett. I don't know how I didn't get his picture? But here are the rest of us. We started out with drinks at a place called Absinthe, and then had sushi somewhere else. Betsy ordered for us, and it was all delicious and so nice to just have it arrive at the table without having to even try to decide.


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Mmmmm, these involved pineapple and basil. DELICIOUS!


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San Francisco Day 1

Last summer, Todd and I started talking about taking a trip to San Francisco this summer to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We talked about it, planned it out, and saved for it all year. We were SO excited to go. Gran and Grandpa kept the boys all week for us, and we are so very appreciative and thankful!

We arrived at SFO on Monday around noon. So happy to be in 60 degree weather!!! We took the BART (subway) from the airport to our hotel (Holiday Inn) in downtown San Francisco. We looked at lots of different hotels all over the city, but in the end we decided to do this one b/c it was close to the BART and lots of other forms of transportation, we had points to pay for it, and I just like the Holiday Inn. Not too cheap....not too fancy!

Here is the view from our room:


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As soon as we got there, we grabbed a quick lunch by the hotel and then jumped on a bus headed for Golden Gate Park. I had studied up on public transportation, and we used a bus pass and Hopstop on my phone to navigate all over San Francisco.


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Top of the bandstand:

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At 4:00 that afternoon, we took a Segway tour through Golden Gate Park. This was a wonderful way to start our trip! There is SO much history and so much to see in the park, and this was a great way to get around. There was a leader and six people in our group, and we wore earpieces so we could hear the leader tell about the park and give us instructions. I couldn't take pictures and drive the Segway at the same time, which was kind of nice, actually. This was definitely a highlight of our trip!!!


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After our tour, we walked to 9th and Irving in The Inner Sunset and had a delicious dinner at Park Chow.


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