I've been wanting to visit San Francisco for a while now. I always envisioned it as a girls trip, but my chances of making that happen this year slowly went out the window. Then I got a surprise phone call from Travis about 3 weeks ago saying he had just had lunch with a lab that was offering to fly him out for a seminar to San Francisco. They would pay for his flights, two nights at a nice hotel AND the seminar.. and those get pricy. The proposal... I go with him and finally make my San Fran trip come true! It was all pretty last minute, but from the moment we made the decision, I was online, researching and planning. I could.not.stop.thinking.about.it!!!! And was SO crazy excited.
Then, disaster. A few days before we were supposed to leave, Travis checked the weather and found out it was supposed to rain THE ENTIRE TIME!! And not just sprinkle, but have a Weather Advisory- inches of rain and horrible wind, up to 50mph!! I was devastated!! Seriously, I shut down and cried and cried. I know it sounds pathetic, but I was SO SAD!!! I didn't even want to go anymore. I had pictured beautiful, sunny weather and now it sounded like a cold, miserable mess. I don't know how I came around to the idea of just going and making the best of it, but I'm really glad I did! I still could have done without the rain, but even with it, it turned out to be one of the best trips I've ever gone on!
We drove into Mesa on Thursday and got the kids all situated with our families that were taking care of them. Wayne dropped us off at the airport for our 5pm flight. Everything went smoothly, and we were cruising into San Francisco about 6pm, with the time change. It was so fun to look out the window and see the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, all lit up and magical! I was GIDDY excited!
We picked up our rental car and decided to check into our hotel and then get something to eat. The seminar was in Berkley- about 45 min. away, so that was where our hotel was also. Our friends, Brinn and Michael King and Jacob were also flying in that night at 10pm, so we knew we'd have to go back to the airport to pick them up. It was fun driving across the Bay Bridge for the first time!
Loved our hotel! The Hotel Shattuck. It was built in 1910! It was classy and I loved this chandelier. It was right next to Berkley college and the area had a very college feel to it
I asked the concierge for a restaurant recommendation and she told us about a place, just up the street, called Gather. So we walked a block over. It was right next to one of Berkley's stadiums and a game must have been letting out because there was lots of foot traffic walking by, all dressed in their school colors. Why do I love that so much?! If I had had more time, I would have loved a tour of the campus. I even told Travis that dropping in on a random lecture would actually be so much fun for me. He was kind, not to roll his eyes. While I was going on about that, he liked to tease and use his "hoity toity" voice and say things like, "Ahh yess, I'm go to Berkley College, I'm soooo special." And I good naturedly laugh then protest, "Yes they ARE special! Berkley IS special!" Ha! I'm a nerd, and I know it's strange, but colleges honestly hold such appeal to me. Especially Ivy League or antiquated ones like Harvard, Stanford, Berkley. ANYWAY, that just added to the appeal of this restaurant for me.
The menu was fun! I didn't know what half the ingredients were, but that just made it better. Our waiter poured our water out of a glass milk bottle- no ice. I guess ice is for the low class. I ordered the Winter Squash, wood fire pizza. Travis ordered the burger. Yes, he found the burger. But it was dressed with fancy cheese and herbs and a house made "ketchup" that was really good. Best bite of burger I've ever had. And I loved my pizza. I also got a Blood Orange soda with Cardamom... cuz, why not?! Half the fun was the ambiance. The light fixtures hung, draped in fishing net. You could tell the wood table was solid and made from an expensive tree. ;) The bench Trav sat on was made of leather belts, sewn together. There were large, glass containers of canned vegetables, lining the shelves. I could hardly sit still for how happy I was to be there. Travis smiled at me like a patient parent. He doesn't care for the fluff. But he's happy I love it. Afterward, we walked to a little ice cream shop- Thrifty style- and got a scoop of regular, cheap and delicious ice cream. I'm pretty sure the smile never left my face that night.
Trav was a doll and picked the gang up from the airport while I showered and lazily watched TV. Such luxury... all by myself!
The next morning(Friday), the guys headed off to their implant seminar and Brinn and I started our day of Mommy freedom! We found a yummy crepe place for breakfast, just around the block.
Since it was raining all day, my plans of walking around the city, turned to things we could enjoy INSIDE. The De Young Museum was popular on all the "Must Do" lists I read online. And I do love myself a good museum.. art or otherwise. Not that I'm some art snob... far from it, but it's fun to pretend. ;) And sooo nice to leisurely walk around a "grownup" place with no kids and feel like I'm doing something fun and a tad educational. My brain seems to be heading toward mush-land more and more. I guess it's in the middle of the Golden Gate Park (which is bigger than Central Park in NYC.) Driving through part of the park made me so sad that we couldn't get out and just walk around the gardens. It was sooo green and beautiful. With huge fountains and pretty architecture. But it wasn't just raining hard, it was crazy windy. My big umbrella I bought just for this trip, blew inside out within the first 3 minutes of pulling it out. But here is the museum n the distance.
We had no idea what this crazy 3D looking wall mural was in the very front of the museum, but it sure made for a cool backdrop!
I took 2 art history classes in college but very little of it stuck with me. We definitely enjoyed this art from a very naïve standpoint, but we enjoyed it nonetheless! As you would expect in an art museum, there were lots of nudy pictures and voluptuous women. We were super mature about it. I kept thinking how 5th grade we sounded giggling and making funny comments throughout. My mom's comment made me laugh when I posted about this on Instagram: "At least the women were adored for being fleshy instead of anorexic!" Haha! Seriously though. They had no idea how lucky they were! ;)
When we walked up to this pictures of George Washington, we both knew we'd seen it before so we figured it must be famous and picture worthy! ;)
A Picasso.... yeah, still don't get his art.
Looky, looky! Home! But I hear it's frozen over right now. :/
After a couple of hours we left to go to the Ferry Building, down by Fisherman's Warf, to get lunch and see all the vendors. This place had been recommended by multiple people. Unfortunately, it was 30 min. away. And even more unfortunately, we got lost. Brinn tried to be the navigator while I drove and we made a TERRIBLE team! We got onto the Bay Bridge when I guess we weren't supposed to. It was ridiculously stormy, with rain coming down in hard sheets so quickly, the windshield wipers couldn't clear it fast enough to see. It was super windy and I got my first prickles of fear, being on this monstrosity of a bridge in the worst weather I'd seen in a long time. Somehow, we turned around after the bridge and had to get back on to go back the way we came. Bah! It was really frustrating! I hate driving in a big city where I don't know where I'm going, then add in the rain and wind and zero visibility and tons of traffic, and huge bridges and it's a miracle I didn't have a panic attack and shut down on the spot! Finally, we made it to the Warf district and drove around a bunch before finding parking. That's the other hard thing about San Fran... parking is a B#$*!
Finally!! We were walking into the Ferry Building. I was so sad when we found out the Farmer's Market wasn't open that day. I guess it's only on Tues, Thurs, and Saturdays or something. Bummer. But just the shops inside were fun to browse through! There was organic chocolatiers (like this couple goes to Brazil and picks their own cocoa beans and makes their own chocolate), organic frozen yogurt, a fancy creamery with all sorts of cheeses, gourmet hand soaps and body products and the cutest little bakery ever, among a dozen other things.
Ok, this place knocked my socks off. They only had two flavors, but it was organic frozen yogurt, made straight from this family creamery. I can't even describe it. It was like tasting frozen yogurt for the first time, the way it's SUPPOSED to be made! I'm afraid I'm ruined for life. It was that good.
I had so much fun browsing this bakery! They had little bags of Turkish Delight! Ha! I had NO idea that was a real dessert. Just thought C.S. Lewis made it up! ;) So I had to buy a bag and some Belgian chocolate for Marcie and Carrie who were helping with the kids. Okayyy, and a lemon tart for me! My mouth just filled with saliva all over again. Everyone needs a tart in their life.
I also bought some Manchego cheese for Mr. Trav. One of his favorites from his mission in Spain. Have I mentioned how much fun this was?! Um, so fun. Put shopping and food together and you've got a very pleased Stephanie.
The rain let up just a tad, so Brinn and I walked along the docks and snagged a picture before heading back to the car. That's when I got a call that the guys were done with their class. But, they were 45min. away and didn't care if we stayed in the city, so we decided to stay and try to snag a trolley ride! We drove around for 30 min. trying to get a parking spot closer to the trolley, then gave up and ended up parking EXACTLY where we had just left! Not annoying, at all. ;)
It was pretty confusing to figure out exactly where it stopped and how the process of paying and getting on was, but we figured it out and just in time! We only had to wait like 5 min. before it pulled up and we hopped on. Apparently, the lines for the trolley can get really long and it's even harder to get a bench seat on the outside so you actually see outside. Welp, not if it's raining apparently! We hopped right on and were the ONLY crazies, willing to sit in the rain on the outside bench. As it started, I closed my eyes, leaned forward and just soaked in the rain falling on my face!! I was SO grateful! So grateful for the rain! I was actually laughing in happiness, and shouted out, "HELLO SAN FRANSICO!!!!" and waved happily at people on the street. Haha! You can tell I don't get out much!
We drove through the Financial District and the buildings were incredible! The sky scrapers were gorgeous pillars of glass and steel. It felt a lot like NYC. Then we briefly got glimpses of Chinatown and moved up to Nob Hill. The hill we climbed was so steep and it was so cool to look down the street and see where we had come, with the coast at the end. It was also interesting to watch the workers apply the brakes and communicate to each other as they approached intersections and problems. It was quite a lot of work to maneuver and brake that thing!
This was the Fairmont Hotel. Ka-ching!
I think it's fair to say we were really happy we made time to do this!
The stinky part was driving back to Berkley.
I believe it was 14 miles.
It took us an hour and 15 min.
Bleh!
The poor boys were starvin' Marvin when we finally got back. We had put them in charge of dinner plans. I was a little disappointed when they decided on pizza. Like, just regular ol' pizza?? When we have our pick of any fun restaurant in the area... without kids?! Well, they were fine to change plans, but they wanted something quick. Friday night in a college town at any decent restaurant meant a wait. The concierge recommended a Mexican place called Comals. It was a 45 min. wait. So we started walking up and down the blocks, looking for another option. Personally, I was fine to wait for Comals. It looked really yummy and yummy food is worth waiting for. The Kings and Jacob decided to just grab some pizza down the road. Unfortunately, at this place you had to order chips and salsa if you wanted any. But at least they were really good. We shared some tamales and shrimp tacos. Not huge helpings by any means, but it was decent food.
When we got up to leave it was at the worst possible time! DOWNPOURING! I tried to pull out my busted umbrella but it was a crumpled mess. I still held it above my head and enjoyed people laughing at me as we RAN down the street! By the time we got to the hotel, we were as wet as if we had jumped into a swimming pool. I have never felt more like the much acclaimed drowned rat.
I was just praying it would let up by morning!
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