SAN FRANCISCO VACATION - PART THREE

Part 3 of our San Francisco trip:

You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

.....That evening we went back down to the pier for dinner.We wandered around for a while people watching and into a few shops. There are street entertainers and music. The usual street painters that rapidly create pictures of local scenes using spray paints and scrapers. At least these guys were wearing respirators. The ones we saw in Mexico were just breathing in the fumes all night. Musicians were plentiful too. I felt badly for the ones with few people stopping to listen. Others gathered large crowds.

My BB Guy loves his shellfish. I figured I would be able to come up with something I like on the menus because I do like fish, I just don't eat shellfish.
We went to the Crab House at Pier 39 and of course the nautical theme was required. They had whole crab shells lining every wall and they were all painted differently. Very fun and creative.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brraveheart/241935046/lightbox/

As soon as we were seated I went to the washroom by the front doorway. As I opened the door it was apparent that there was only one stall and there was a woman already in the tiny room so I waited outside the doorway instead of trying to squish out of her way so she could get into the bathroom stall.
A group of ladies came in the restaurant and one of them went to go around me into the bathroom. I mentioned that someone was already in there. She started to go past me to go in and I nicely said just so you know I am in line. She got rather aggressive in my face and said "is it okay if I go and wash my hands". Whoah. I wasn't trying to stop her from washing up but I also wanted her to know that I wasn't waiting for my table with the rest of the people lined up. So in she goes just as the other lady is coming out of the stall and they can barely move in there together. I waited until they both came out so I could finally go in and use the toilet. Jeesh. Imagine how happy I was when she and her 2 friends ended up seated next to us. 

Tilapia

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seafdecaqd/2366015250/sizes/m/in/photostream/

I must say that I wasn't impressed in the least with this place. The floors were sticky, the service was poor. My guy had mussels... to eat I mean...and he said they were just so-so. Being from B.C. where we have the best salmon in the world at our doorstep I wasn't going to order it here. I asked what kind of fish they used in their fish and chips. Tilapia. Uhm no thanks. Tilapia is a type of carp and is usually farm raised mostly in China. They are high in fat and the farmed ones are even higher in fat and thought to be more harmful to your heart than eating bacon or a burger. I had a salad and fries. This place was not cheap and we would not go back or recommend it.

Off to walk some more up and down the street. More people watching, more street entertainment. We thought some ice cream was needed. (I am sensing a theme here) We had passed a Ben & Jerry's earlier that day so back we went to the kiosk. Nope. Closed. Try their other location up the street their sign says. Okay off we go in that direction. Nothing. Past many shops, lots of tourists until finally I put the brakes on and pointed out that the whole street vibe had changed and we were heading into a less desireable part of town. My big guy wasn't concerned but I always trust my instincts. We turned around and found a little shop that had ice cream. I think we are crazy at this point because it is windy and really quite cold and we are going to eat ice cream outdoors. Chocolate mint is worth it!!

We eventually found our way back to our hotel and packed it in for the night. Lots of fresh air even when it is fishy fresh air is a great sleep tonic. G'night.

The plan for the next day is a local bus tour. A condensed version of San Francisco brought to us by Harold at Tower Tours. He was a lot of fun and we really did enjoy his tour.
We went everywhere.

  We went past the pet cemetery which is under an overpass by the Presidio.

Over the Golden Gate Bridge of course.

Everywhere we look the fabulous old homes with that distinct look jump out at us.
We were inside the bus so I don't have many good pictures but I have borrowed some free use ones to give you the idea.

 

http://www.freefoto.com/preview/1215-19-105?ffid=1215-19-105

The highlight of the day was going to the site of the old Sutro hot springs baths. We were told that they opened in 1896 as a public bath houses owned by Adolph Sutro, a tunnel builder. He had a mansion built on the cliff but it was destroyed by fire a year after surviving the big earthquake.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sutrobaths.jpg

We had a bit of a bathroom break here and we zipped into the gorgeous restaurant Sutro's at the Cliff House for a beverage. Built overlooking the ocean, all glass in front, it was just our kind of place. The views of course stood out but the food going by made our mouths water and we didnt' have time to eat. This is one place we decided we will come back to if we visit again.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51352098@N00/3286997646/#/photos/nerdcoregirl/3286997646/lightbox/

Click here to see a quick video of 8 frames showing the previous incarnations of Cliff House before it burned down. It was really something to see.

After gulping down a quick drink we were once again on the bus. I forgot to mention the lady on the bus that all of us wanted to strangle. No matter what the tour guide, Harold, said she had some comeback, some stupid quip to show us all how funny she was. OMG this went on for hours. I...mean...everything...he...said...she had to chime in. She had about a 15 minute quiet time right after lunch but other than that she never shut up. Aaaarrrgggghh.

We went through Golden Gate Park and had a good laugh about how the designer who hated statues was forced by the city to put some in the gardens. He has them hidden away where you can hardly see them because they didn't stipulate where they had to be placed, just that they had to be there. I like that guy. 

No trip to San Francisco would be complete without a visit to the Haight Ashbury district. I am such a freak for music from the 1960's and I know a great deal of that culture came from this area. I remember as a teen going to the Easter Be-ins up here in Vancouver which were being held in conjunction with the original one held down here.

Note the legs hanging out the window. Yup, giant inflated legs.Wearing fishnet stockings of course.

Once again the architecture is catching our eyes. We are all familiar with the styles here and these Victorian ladies are amazing. I would have loved to see the insides. We were advised that a proper paint job with the historical colors can increase the value of these homes by many, many, many thousands of dollars.

Oh look...the back of the head shot of the big mouth lady. Ignore her please.

And the most famous of all.

These final houses are used in so many movies and t.v. shows you must recognize them. I even have a jigsaw puzzle of these houses. 

The bus was not allowed to stop or idle here so he dropped us off up the street and he drove around the block to come back to get us in a few minutes. As we quickly went out to take the pictures we started to notice all the broken glass beside the parked cars. There were 3 that had their windows smashed and broken into. They target the tourists cars. Can't imagine coming back to my car and seeing that.

Well enough for now. The fourth and final post will be up soon. Thanks for following along on my vacation.

SAN FRANCISCO VACATION - PART TWO

Part 2 of our vacation continues here:


We were leaving Carmel on the Monday and thought we would take a drive up to Big Sur. The view of course was spectacular.

Can you believe that nestled in those trees below was a beautiful home. They wake up to that view every day. Wow.

We passed through El Sur Ranch which is a 7000 acre ranch and into Andrew Molera State Park. Once in the park we were surprised at how similar the forested area was to our B.C. forests back home. It felt like we had been there before.
We stopped at a tourist stop and once again felt the items looked mainly like imported stuff and bore little historical or local character.
With one exception of course.

This little bus was certainly quirky. The 1960's are apparently still alive and well here. The one shop area had lots of great plants growing but this one here is something I don't recognize at all. Do any of you know what it is?

The ladybugs were loving the sage plants. Aren't they cute?

It was time to head back down the hill and on to San Francisco but first we stopped in the city of Gilroy famous for their garlic. It was time for lunch and we were also looking for a shop that would be selling garlic products. The gps took us to a shopping center with an Italian restaurant in it so we figured this was a good place for lunch. 

It was called Carino's and it was managed by someone with a good Irish name of Murphy. My BB Guy had the 16 layer lasagne and I had the Chicken Marsala. We both enjoyed our meals and the young lady serving us was the size of a peanut and very outgoing. We asked her where there would be good place to buy garlic products. She gave us directions to one not too far away in a small outlet mall. We managed to find it with a few wrong turns. It was in an outlet mall that was almost empty. Only a few shops had opened up in there and the rest of the mall was empty spaces.

Well here we were in a store devoted to garlic. Garlic sauces. Garlic braids. Garlic aprons. Garlic nuggets. Pickled Garlic. All things garlic. We shopped around this store for a good 15 minutes and were the only ones in the store. I figured the owners watched the store from a camera in the back because they didn't come out. Five more minutes pass by and still no one comes out and by this time we are ready to go.
"Hello" "Hello". Nope no one comes out. I stick my head in the back and don't see anyone. Uh oh. I knock on the bathroom door and no one answers. Double uh oh. I slowly open the door but no one is in there either. We have now been in the store about 25 minutes.
We decided to call the police but my BB Guy's cell phone won't dial an operator. He has walked just outside the door and is looking around. He comes back in and I hand him the telephone from the counter. This same counter has a lap top sitting on it and a cash register.
He called 911 and told them the scenario and the said they would send a security company over.
I am by the door as well and I can see a man and a woman walking slowly across the parking lot with drinks in their hands. La, la, la. Over they saunter. The owners.
"Oh" they say. "We didn't see anyone go into the store".
We told them we phoned the police and he just says "we went to get a drink". Almost half an hour the store was left unattended. They didn't say thank you, they didn't seem embarrassed or even relieved that we were honest people. They just rang up our purchases and handed us the bag. Too weird.
Carry on to San Francisco which hopefully will be less weird then the Gilroy Garlic Goobers. 

We were staying right down at Fisherman's Wharf at the Hyatt. 

I have to say the room in Carmel was nicer. The air was better in the room. I had a hard time breathing at night in this one. No that's not our room above. That was one of the lobbies.

It was very close to the pier and we were walking all over the place.

Everywhere you looked at the pier the birds are scooping up food. I'll bet they could get real mean if they wanted what you were eating. The funniest part of the pier would be the big old seals that congregate on the docks. 

They pile up on top of each other and then they shove and push and jostle and bark at each other. They are so funny and the crowds love them. BB Guy filmed them with his phone. Have a listen to these clowns.

Okay that is it for part 2. There is still more to come. See you soon and don't forget to join in the Writer's Challenge.

SAN FRANCISCO VACATION - PART ONE

My BB guy and I  took a few days off for a holiday getaway this past week. We decided to go to Carmel, Monterey and San Francisco. I have never been there but he has once before.

Our trip started out as many of mine do. Without my luggage. I seem to be luggage challenged. You can read about this HERE and HERE.

We left  early (6:00am)  on Saturday morning and drove down to the Canada / US border. We breezed through there and made our first stop for breakfast before heading down to the airport in Bellingham. We were flying to Seattle then on to San Francisco. We could have driven the distance between Bellingham and Seattle but the traffic is pretty bad since it would have been rush hour both ways and the parking fees are crazy. It is cheaper and quicker to fly.

Once in Seattle the airlines requested volunteers to take an earlier flight which we jumped at. They were to switch our checked bag (with all my stuff in it) to the earlier flight. Off we went. My suitcase? Uh  no….. of course not! That would be too easy wouldn't it.

We would use the time we saved to go and pick up our rental car. A quick trip on the train to the rental car area and then a lengthy procedure to actually get the car. The agent was very nice and she was trying very hard to get us a suitable  vehicle that the BB Guy would fit into comfortably. 

Question: Can you drive a Ford Focus if you have ADD? Ha, ha, ha….thanks to the guy standing next to us for that one. He had a million of them. Can you transport prisoners in an Escape? You get my drift?

This procedure took over an hour. Time to drive back to the terminal to pick up my suitcase. We hope. I jumped out at the baggage claim doors just in time to see "big red" coming down the carousel. Woohoo. A quick dig in the suitcase for the GPS and off we go.

The weather was a bit cloudy but it was California and we were hopeful. We were driving down to Carmel and things were going great.

Oh look………..SNOW………...in California……….between San Francisco and Carmel.

Things are still going great. We are in a big vehicle and the BB Guy is an experienced snow driver. (Did I mention we are in California?) Carry on down to Carmel. We are staying at the Carmel Mission Inn. It is a lovely place and right across the street from a mall! 

 Look at our funky room. This bed was so comfortable.
We get checked in and make the first foray out to shop. We head to the Safeway which I must say was a really nice store. We are jealous of all the beautiful produce in the store not to mention the wine. This store has 3 aisles of wines and liquor. We don't sell alcohol in our grocery stores in British Columbia. Not allowed. Did I mention we really like wine? We do. We really, really do. We bought wine. We also bought a piece of Brie cheese and a small loaf of bread, some pistachios and cashews and some orange juice.

 We went for a short drive around the area to scope it out and then back to our room for a bit of a rest. And some wine. Backing on to our hotel is an area called the Barnyard which is a little shopping area with many restaurants. 

Our first dinner was at Bahama Billy's and was a little overpriced but we still enjoyed our meal. Unfortunately there was a very large group in the restaurant that were extremely noisy with several really loud children.

The next day we got up to a glorious, sunny day and went in search of some good coffee. Heading down to Carmel by the Sea we found a little coffee shop and grabbed a couple of grande cups of a good French roast and a piece of crumb cake to share. We quickly found a parking spot right at the ocean. Yes fellow B.C. people. A beach area with lots of empty parking stalls. Free parking stalls. Believe it or not.

We walked along the walkway almost getting whiplash looking left at the fabulous homes facing the beach and then right to the ocean view. There were many people out on the sand with lots of dogs who were having the best time ever. There were a bunch of surfers floating around out there too but I wonder if they actually get up on their boards and surf. It didn't look like it. More of a social meet up I think.

We headed to Monterey for a late breakfast-early lunch. The drive started with the 17 Mile Drive, which you pay for, to cruise through the tree lined streets and then back out to the ocean. Years ago they let my BB Guy through for free because he was bringing an Indy race car down to the golf course for a display. No luck today. We paid. We also wondered if when you live in the area do your friends have to pay to come over for a visit? That could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on who your friends are and how much you like them.

This photo of the moss covered trees doesn't do them justice. They were glowing lime green.

Once in Monterey we find that the parking is definitely not free. We park off the main strip and manage to get change from one of the change machines on the street. We plunk in our money and head out for a walk down to the main area of Cannery Row. Think Steinbeck. There are many references to the author here. 

Since we really never had breakfast we decide eat first and then investigate the area more. We ask a young busker for his recommendation for the best breakfast around and he directs us to a place about 8 blocks away. Off we go down the promenade to find the place. Right where he said it was and it looked really good. Too good it would seem as there would be a 45 minute wait for a table. Since we had already been up for many hours and had not eaten anything other then that little piece of crumb cake that we split we were not prepared to wait that long for a table.

Lucky for us, right next door was a little diner called Archie's American Diner. Now my BB Guy has this issue with me taking pictures of our food in restaurants so the camera doesn't usually get pulled out at the table. (weirdo eh? ) Here is half of their menu. They do have breakfast items too but lets cut to the chase here. They have garlic fries. Fresh raw garlic mixed with parmesan cheese and parsley sprinkled over your hot fries. Did I mention the garlic? All over my fries.  Oh Sweet Delilah these are good!!! 

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/fadedmilkyway/3764884792/

We then tried to walk off some of the food and headed back to Cannery Row. There are restaurants every couple of feet along with the obligatory T-shirt stores. I have to say I was not impressed with the quality of any of these places with their products being made off shore. They all had such a low quality feel to them you just know that one run through the wash would just ruin them. Tourist dollars stayed firmly in my pocket except for at the chocolate shop that also sold ice cream. A scoop of Espresso chocolate was just the perfect finish. Now that was a quality product.

We wandered and peeked in windows and people watched. There were so many things to photograph but I thought these boats were really cool.

By the time we got back to the car we both were commenting on how many pregnant women we saw here. Seriously if they all gave birth right then and there the population would have increased by 1/3 I am sure. It was really noticeable.

Back to Carmel and to another good long walk around. Every other shop in Carmel by the Sea is a gallery. Some really fabulous pieces for sure but nothing that would fit into my country style except for the one shop with a huge double sink vanity with a one piece hammered copper top and sinks with decorative copper faces on the cabinets. It was really nice.  Here is a lovely little walkway secret garden.

Lots of walking worked up an appetite (again) so back to our hotel to wash up, have some wine and figure out our dinner plans. Turns out we wanted Mexican food and there was a place right across the parking lot. The place was call Hola, By The Sea and we were happy to say Hola to them. We both had fajitas and we ordered a big pitcher of Margaritas. Don't they look good? They were Top Shelf Margaritas meaning they were made with the tequila from the top shelf of the bar or the better quality tequila. They were fabulous and we enjoyed every last drop throughout the evening.

Although we left the ocean before dinner I saved this photo until the end. The sun shimmering off the ocean as the day winds down. This is the end of this post of the first day and half of our trip. I will post part 2 soon as we head back up to the San Francisco area.