San Francisco

I am writing this quick note from San Francisco. We arrived yesterday, Wed. March 11. After we figured out how to get out of the airport on the BART system, we got to the Union Park area. We walked up about 6 or so blocks to our hotel where we are staying. Jody, Kelly's brother got us a room at the WorldMark by Wyndham. It is great, just perfect for us. We couldn't check in because we were so early, but they held our luggage for us and we headed over to Chinatown. We went in a few little shops and then found a Sushi bar, we had lunch and then walked to Union Park and through some of the shops there. When I vacation, I look for certain souviners from each place. I always get an apron, a charm, a spoon and magnet. So, my first purchase in SanFrancisco was a charm of a trolley car. We got passes for the week on the MUNI that is the transportation systems here. We rode a trolley car down to Fisherman's Wharf. The first thing in that area we did is go to the famous Ghiaredlli square. We had ice cream there. Then we walked way down the wharf, and took in all the sights and stores. Went to the Boudin Bread bakery and watched them make sourdough bread. I got my apron on the Wharf, it is an Alcatraz black and white stripped one. We bought tickets to go to Alcatraz on Saturday. We found a Harley store, which is Kelly's favorite place to get souviners. He got 2 t-shirst that Say SanFrancisco on them. We headed back on the trolley to our place and crashed early. We had been up since 4 utah time to get out of there. I ran across the street to a little market and got some drinks and we ordered a pizza to our room. It was good.
Today we hung around our room, being lazy till about 10:30. It was nice. We decided that we'd head back to the Wharf today. First we stopped at Lombard street. It is a vey famous, and the most winding street. We walked down it, and at the bottom Kelly started talking to a guy taking care of the gardens. He happened to be a resident of Lombard street and he was very informative and gave us some history. It was cool. We walked back up, Huff and Puff. And headed back to the Wharf. We went to eat at some little place. There is a little side street that had a million little places with crab, lobster, shrimp, etc. We ducked into this little restaurant, Nick's Lighthouse. I had Shrimp and crab cocktail, and Crab chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Kelly had Blue Point oysters on the half shell and lobster bisque. It was delicious. Then we walked to Pier 39 and watched the sea lions, they are famous there. We walked all the shops on the pier and bought a big bag of assorted candy. We went to the Bay Aquarium, that was pretty cool. Then we caught a cable car down to the financial district. I grew up in a city, Las Vegas, but that is nothing like this city. It was incredible the buildings and the people. On just about every corner there are street musicians, and beggars and all sorts of crazies. But they don't really bother you, they just do their thing. We took a trolly back to the union park area. We did some more wandering through Virgin records, the Ferrari store, the Apple store. Then we saw a movie. We were talking on the trolley about finding a good steak tonight and the trolley operator recommended a place called John's grill. So we headed there for dinner. Come to find out it is famous, well in literary circles so to speak. It is where Sam Spade eats often. He is a character from the story, The Maltese Falcon. Very good steak!! Happily stuffed, we headed back up the hill on the trolley to Bush street where we walk one block and are back at our hotel. Tomorrow we want to rent a bike and we plan on riding across the Golden Gate bridge, they say it is pretty level, takes about 3 hours total. We will ride across the bridge and into Sosulito (sp?) and then take a ferry back to the Wharf. A friend of ours did it a week or so ago and said it was incredible. Good thing I've been going to the gym. Tomorrow night we go see Wicked, which is the real purpose of this trip. I am so excited!! I will post pictures later as I am too lazy to get the camera out and try to upload them right now. This has been so much fun so far. Thank you Kelly for this wonderful Christmas present.