I Left My Home in Georgia, Headed for the 'Frisco Bay

Going from Pacific Coast time to East Coast time makes for a doozy of a jetlag, but I finally feel normal today. And for all of you that have ever visited San Francisco, you know that it was totally and completely worth it. We were gone nearly a week, and got home this past Friday. Let's go on a photo tour. I'll start at the beginning.

We arrived at noon on a Saturday, checked in at the Westin St. Francis, and headed to Fisherman's Wharf via cable car. Had lunch and the waitress said we had to go to this old-timey arcade, the Musee Mechanique. It was so neat, and of course Bert beat the machine in arm wrestling on the highest level. :)

After the arcade and checking out the sea lions, we walked a short distance to Ghiradelli Square, where we shared the best ice cream sundae I have ever had in my life. I was worried about all the calories, but shouldn't been have due to the walk from hell we had to take straight up several hills to Lombard Street, the "curviest street in America":

The GPS on my phone was messed up, so after all that, we ended up walking really far through Chinatown back to the hotel in Union Square. Exhaustion.

Day two. We got up, caught a MUNI bus and went to Golden Gate Park. I LOVED the Japanese Tea Garden. If you go to San Francisco, I highly recommend this. Pictures cannot do it justice; it is truly one of the most magical places I have ever been:

We walked through Golden Gate Park and saw stunning flowers on the trek to Haight-Ashbury, the hippie district. We got some fabulous peace posters, but the most memorable part of this area was Scooter Girl:

Why, yes, she is only wearing a tutu and rainbow colored knee-socks. Why? Well, she was probably on her way to the Gay Pride Parade. Yep, we were there while 1.5 million people were there for a gay pride extravaganza. The nudity freaked me out.

Anyway, then, we ended up walking a crazy long way AGAIN to get to the Painted Ladies:

There are lots and lots of houses that look like this in San Fran. When we FINALLY got there, we were exhausted. Bert and I proceeded to get into an argument about if the Tanner Family lived in one of these. No really. But first, I belted out the "Full House" theme song. No really.

Side note. I was right. The Tanners did NOT live in a Painted Lady. See here. Bert should know to never question my pop culture knowledge. :)

That evening and for the next few days, I had a conference to attend. It was fabulous and I learned so much and made great contacts. Really wonderful professional experience.

In the evenings, Bert and I enjoyed some fabulous meals. Our two favorites were Naan-N-Curry, an Indian restaurant and our very top - Michael Mina. The Indian restaurant was delicious and reminded me of my family. Nice having a moment with "my people." And Michael Mina - WOW.

I had wanted to go to this restaurant since seeing it on the show "Giada's Weekend Getaways". She ate a lobster pot pie there that looked divine. So, Bert and I went and ordered off the prix fixe menu (which you have to do). For my first course, I chose something that sounded good and involved strawberries. It was called foie gras.

FOIE GROSS!

Little did I know it was liver. It was disgusting. I actually did not find out it was liver until the day we left when I remembered to Google it. I started gagging in the airport. Thank goodness that waiter was super nice and not hoity-toity at all. Plus Bert said it was my first time to try it, as we didn't want the chef to think it was HIS foie gras that I didn't like. It's all foie gras that I despise.

Anyway, the lobster pot pies came out - divine. It was all I had hoped for. Then, our waiter came back and said, "The chef is concerned you didn't have enough. He will send out a cheese course with his compliments." WOW. Talk about service. The cheese was delicious. The shining star of the meal was a root beer float (with root beer and sassafras sorbet) and two warm and ooey-gooey chocolate chip and pecan cookies. It was not just a good meal; it was an incredible dining experience. Five stars. After that, we went to a super cool speakeasy recommended by Alli.

Our next big excursion some days later was the Golden Gate Bridge. Magnificent.

We were told we could walk the bridge (It took around 30 minutes of crazy windiness and super noisiness with all the cars whizzing by) and would be right in Sausalito. WRONG. After walking nearly two hours, Bert and I FINALLY arrived in Sausalito. Here I am really depressed and tired:

Anyway, we FINALLY arrived, and it was gorgeous. I cried at lunch because the food was gross, but that's another story. Here is a snapshot of lovely Marin County:


I was still upset until we found a candy store, and I got some new gorgeous earrings. Then all was well.

Our last big excursion was to Napa Valley. It was nice to be back in a car and not reliant on walking belligerently long distances or taking public transportation. We went to V. Sattui, which had a fabulous lunch, and Mumm Napa. It was so very beautiful. We went on a tour at Mumm Napa, and also went to a gallery at Mumm where they had Ansel Adams photography. It was a great day, and we felt very cultured.



We had time left before having to take the car back, so we went to Twin Peaks to see a truly incredible view:


In fact, there were lots of postcard views. Sometimes the scenery was so incredible that it was hard to truly absorb what you were seeing. Magnificent. It was a great week, and after a long stretch of being crazy busy for me and Bert, it was just what we needed. And while there's no place like home and the South is that for me, I definitely heart San Francisco.

Labels: family, travel, vacation