One day my mom mentioned to me that she had to go to Napa for a retirement party for her old boss and that she would come back home on Friday. Jokingly, but half way serious, I asked her if she would be able to extend her trip and I would fly to San Francisco for a long weekend getaway....so she did! I thought it would be so much fun if my sisters and brother came, so we made it a "sibling and mom weekend"!
I'm sure you can imagine how many pictures we took, so it almost made more sense to group the pictures together instead of posting them in the order in which they actually occurred. We visited the same place a few times throughout the trip.
And yes I made an itinerary ;) which at one point my sisters admitted to me that they don't know what they would do without me putting so much planning into a trip and making an itinerary!
So here is an overview of what we did by day and then I'll post all the pictures:
Day #1 (Thursday):
My mom was still in Napa and joined us on Friday morning.
So my siblings and I headed to the airport, got checked in and they said the flight was full and they needed to start measuring bags...well we all brought carry ons but filled them to the max. **A little travelers tip...max out the carry on luggage and fill it until its going to pop, you will get through security with it because they don't measure it there, once you get to the gate they will either tell you to measure it, or will ask if anyone wants to check their luggage since the flights are usually packed. If you aren't in a rush and can wait at baggage claim, let them check your bag, and now you don't have to lug it around and keep up with it, and ta-da you just got to check your luggage for FREE!**
So anyways, we all maxed out our carry ons (except Nate) so we were forced to measure them, of course they didn't fit in the measurer thing, so we were forced to check them...for free ;)
We let them know we were flying to LAX and then to San Fran, so we board the flight and take off...once in LA we grab a bite to eat to hold us over, and board for San Fran.
We land in San Fran and wait at the baggage claim, here comes Mandy's bag....and Stacey's bag....and Nate's bag...but not mine.
I talked to AA and they said my bag landed at LAX and never got back on to go to San Fran. Ugh I was so mad but there was nothing I could do and I didn't really need it anyways.
So AA said it would come on the next flight, which was about 2 hours from then, and they would deliver it to my hotel, so that was nice.
We took a cab to the hotel (thought we might wreck, the cab driver would gas it and brake, gas it and brake). We finally arrived safely at our hotel and check in, and I'm not having to carry my heavy luggage like everyone else ;)
We freshen up and head back out. We walked down to the Embarcadero for lunch and ate at Hog Island Oyster. We got Oysters (of course), Halibut Chevechi and Clam Sausage Chard Pasta and we all tried a local brewed beer. It was delicious! We didn't want to experience many attractions without my mom so we didn't look in the Embarcadero and just tried to stay outside on the pier.
Panoramic of the pier
Salty oysters!
A little bit about Hog Island Co:
Hog Island Oyster Company is the San Francisco oyster bar and retail outlet for the Tomales Bay oyster farm of the same name.
Hog Island's newly expanded Ferry Building restaurant now seats 130, (65 seats inside and another 65 outside), now has a full liquor license for the first time, has expanded their menu items, and have introduced longer hours.
Chef Christopher Laramie (Brasa, eVe) is heading up the kitchen, and the star of the menu continues to be the company's own oysters, farmed in Marshall and available raw and in three different grilled preparations. There are also oysters from Washington state, sustainable halibut and geoduck clam dishes, grilled squid, and for the seafood haters, steak frites. Hog Island is well known for their excellent grilled cheese sandwiches, as well as for their amazing produce from the company's own farm in Marshall.
In 1983, Hog Island began farming oysters in the tiny hamlet of Marshall on scenic coast Highway One. Today, the company grows and sells over 3 million oysters a year. Hog Island shellfish are grown using a refined technique from France. All shellfish is sorted by hand and put into a state-of-the-art seawater tank system using an ultraviolet sterilizer to purify the seawater. Close monitoring provides extra assurances of safety and quality.
After lunch we walked back towards our hotel and stopped at O'Briens bar for a few rounds. We had a lot of fun there. We sat outside on the patio and the weather was perfect!
After drinks we headed back to the hotel to get ready and my luggage had arrived!
We got ready and headed out to an Irish Pub, that I can't remember the name of.
After we left there and were walking back to our hotel, I saw this ticket on someone's windshield. I think it's hilarious how large it is!
Day #2 (Friday):
My mom arrived bright and early. We all headed down to Starbucks for a little pick me up. We took the trolley bus to Pier 39 and did a little bit of walking around and ate lunch at Wipe Out (Grilled Baja Fish Tacos, Coconut Shrimp, Fried Fish, and Fried Calamari). Here are a bunch of pics from Pier 39:
A little bit about Pier 39:
Pier 39 is a shopping center and popular tourist attraction. At Pier 39, there are shops, restaurants, a video arcade, street performances, an interpretive center for the Marine Mammal Center, the Aquarium of the Bay, virtual 3D rides, and views of California sea lions hauled out on docks on Pier 39's marina. The marina is also home to the floating Forbes Island restaurant. A two-story carousel is one of the pier's more dominant features, although it is not directly visible from the street and sits towards the end of the pier. The family-oriented entertainment and presence of marine mammals make this a popular tourist location for families with kids.The pier is located at the edge of the Fisherman's Wharf district and is close to North Beach, Chinatown, and the Embarcadero. From the pier one can see Angel Island, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Bay Bridge.
Pier 39 was first developed by entrepreneur Warren Simmons and opened October 4, 1978.
Where did all the sea lions go? This is an interesting clip to read: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Famed-sea-lions-vanish-from-Fisherman-s-Wharf-5585563.php
From here we walked down to where you board for Alcatraz and took the ferry over for our tour. Here are a bunch of pics from Alcatraz...which was super super cool by the way, and I suggest everyone do it at least once!
Before loading the ferry:
On the ferry:
Alcatraz Island is located about 1.5 miles offshore. Often referred to as "The Rock", the small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison (1868), and a federal prison from 1933 until 1963. Beginning in November 1969, the island was occupied for more than 19 months by a group of Aboriginal peoples from San Francisco who were part of a wave of Native activism across the nation with public protests through the 1970s. In 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area and received designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
The Guards Tower
Gardens planted by families of the original Army post, and later by families of the prison guards, fell into neglect after the prison closure in 1963. After 40 years, they are being restored by a paid staff member and many volunteers, thanks to funding by the Garden Conservancy and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. The untended gardens had become severely overgrown and had developed into a nesting habitat and sanctuary for numerous birds. Now, areas of bird habitat are being preserved and protected, while many of the gardens are being restored to their original state.
In clearing out the overgrowth, workers found that many of the original plants were growing where they had been planted – some more than 100 years ago. Numerous heirloom rose hybrids, including a Welsh rose that had been believed to be extinct, have been discovered and propagated. Many species of roses, succulents, and geraniums are growing among apple and fig trees, banks of sweet peas, manicured gardens of cutting flowers, and wildly overgrown sections of native grasses with blackberry and honeysuckle.
The United States Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz was acquired by the United States Department of Justice on October 12, 1933, and the island became a Federal Bureau of Prisons federal prison in August 1934. Alcatraz was designed to hold prisoners who continuously caused trouble at other federal prisons. At 9:40 am in the morning of August 11, 1934, the first batch of 137 prisoners arrived at Alcatraz, arriving by railroad from the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas at Santa Venetia, California, before being escorted to Alcatraz, handcuffed in high security coaches and guarded by some 60 special FBI agents, U.S. Marshals and railway security officials. Most of the prisoners were notorious bank robbers and murderers. The prison initially had a staff of 155, including the first warden James A. Johnston and associate warden J. E. Shuttleworth, both considered to be "iron men". The staff were highly trained in security, but not rehabilitation.
During its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary claimed that no prisoner successfully escaped. A total of 36 prisoners made 14 escape attempts, two men trying twice; 23 were caught, six were shot and killed during their escape, two drowned, and five are listed as "missing and presumed drowned". The most violent occurred on May 2, 1946, when a failed escape attempt by six prisoners led to the Battle of Alcatraz. On June 11, 1962, Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin carried out one of the most intricate escapes ever devised.
Here are some pics of the jail cells:
It's been said that the closing of the gates were the most feared sound, but come to find out the inmates actually liked hearing the sound because it meant that they survived another day and weren't killed out on the yard or in the eating hall.
Here is a video I took, but this video does not do it justice. In person, the sound is actually bone chilling, like everyone describes.
After spending a few hours on Alcatraz we headed back to San Francisco. Once we arrived back near Pier 39, we all decided it was time for the San Fran famous clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl.
It was delicious!
We walked around Fisherman's Wharf, did some sightseeing, souvenir shopping, and even got water massages and electric shock therapy on our backs!
After a nice relaxing massage, we headed down to Ghirardelli Square for some chocolate and ice cream...even though it was really chilly!
On the way to Ghirardelli we were able to see the old Balclutha.
Balclutha was built in 1886 in Glasgow, Scotland. Designed as a general trader, Balclutha rounded Cape Horn 17 times in thirteen years.
During this period she carried cargoes such as wine, case oil, and coal from Europe and the East Coast of the United States to various ports in the Pacific. These included Chile for nitrate, Australia and New Zealand for wool, Burma for rice, San Francisco for grain, and the Pacific Northwest for timber.
In 1902 Balclutha was chartered to the Alaska Packers' Association (APA). After having struck a reef off of Sitkinak Island near Kodiak Island on May 16, 1904, she was renamed the Star of Alaska when bought by APA for merely $500. After extended repairs she joined the salmon fishing trade, sailing north from the San Francisco area to the Chignik Bay, Alaska, in April with supplies, fishermen, and cannery workers, and returned in September with a cargo of canned salmon.
For this trade she carried over 200 crew and passengers, as compared to the 26-man crew she carried as the Balclutha. In 1911 the poop deck was extended to the main mast to accommodate Italian and Scandinavian workers. This expansion is called the shelter deck. In the 'tween deck, bunks for Chinese workers were built. Her last voyage in this trade was in 1930, when she then was laid up after her return home.
In 1933, Star of Alaska was renamed Pacific Queen by her new owner Frank Kissinger. She then eked out an existence as an exhibition ship, gradually deteriorating, and was for a while exhibited as a "pirate ship".
In 1954, Pacific Queen was acquired by the San Francisco Maritime Museum, which restored her and renamed her Balclutha and moored her at Pier 41 East. In 1985 she was designated a National Historic Landmark.
After viewing this incredible ship it was time for ice cream!
After filling up on ice cream, we got the great idea to walk up the super steep street of Hyde to Lombard...bad idea and so not worth walking down Lombard. I wish we would've just taken Leavenworth (a not so steep street to the bottom of Lombard).
A picture I took while on the Duck tour Saturday...we were still kind of far from it.
Some pictures I took while walking up Hyde
Finally made it to the bottom of Lombard and it's now dark :(
On our way back to the hotel we walked through Little Italy and stopped for a piece of pizza, and then walked through Chinatown thinking all the lanterns and cute lights hanging between the streets would be on....wrong they weren't, and it was kind of dark and scary! I will post our "daytime" walk through Chinatown down below.
This building reminded us of the Flatiron building in NYC!
After getting back to the hotel we were all exhausted and needed sleep.
Day #3 (Saturday):
We woke up and had breakfast at Mel's Drive In. I had only been here a few times while in California. But it was just as good as I remember!
We headed to Fisherman's Wharf to catch the Duck Tour (amphibious vehicle), and for those that have not done this are really missing out! We had the best driver, Capt. Van, he was hilarious and told us so much history of SF. We saw all the major attractions in SF, and we took lots of pics. But like I mentioned before, the pictures would be so scattered around, that I wanted to organize them better. So although we saw a lot of Chinatown, I will post those later from when we walked through Chinatown during the day. So most of these pics are from the bay and a few random ones.
Here is a video of us going from land into the water:
They even let us drive the boat which was really cool!
While aboard the Duck Tour we were able to see AT&T Park from the street, as well as the bay.
I also got great shots of the Bay Bridge.
After hopping off the Duck Tour we walked across the street to the Musée Mécanique (English: Mechanical Museum). It is a for-profit interactive museum consisting of 20th-century penny arcade games and artifacts. The museum owns over 300 mechanical machines, and is one of the largest privately owned collection of such games in the world.
When I saw this machine that says "If you are easily offended do not play this machine"....I had to know what it did that is so offensive, so we put some money in and this is the video we got...
SO GROSS!
After playing games for a bit we decided to walk down to the Embarcadero for lunch, because we knew they would be having their Saturday Farmer's Market and there would be a bunch of fun vendors down there.
On the way we saw these HUGE trees!
Then we needed to take a pit stop and have a bottle of wine on they bay, and to play with the toys along the way.
Once we arrived at the Embarcadero, it was like heaven! Every fruit, vegetable, cheese, wine, candy you could think of was here!
Yes, that is a fried cricket that Nate ate!
For lunch we ate inside at Mijita. We had shrimp tacos, burritos, guacamole, and margaritas. Delicious!
After lunch we walked back to our hotel to change shoes and freshen up.
The park across from our hotel
A beautiful church next to our hotel
We took off once again, but this time headed for Chinatown.
Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese community outside Asia. Since its establishment in 1848, it has been highly important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in North America.
This is the "Dragon Gate" AKA Chinatown Gate located at Bush St. and Grant Ave.
Did you know: Chinese purchasing their own chickens always wanted the head left attached to the body. It's said that the brains in it would make you smarter. The blood is gelled and used in soup and other dishes including, very early recipes for hot and sour soup and several stir-fry dishes.
While here, I wanted to make sure we stopped by Tin How Temple.
In 1852, the Cantonese clan association in San Francisco founded the Tin How Temple, one of the earliest Chinese temples in San Francisco Chinatown. This temple is dedicated to Mazu, in gratitude to her blessings to the early Chinese migrants to United States. These migrants braved the storms and perils of sea travel when they journeyed from China to Unites States. By praying to Mazu and appealing to her during crisis, Mazu blessed them and gave them the psychological strength to complete the journey.
In fact, Waverly Place has a Chinese name called Tin How Temple Street. Not many Mazu temples around the world has a street named after it and this shows how important Tin How Temple is to the people of San Francisco.
To reach the Tin How Temple, visitors must use the stairs to reach the third floor. The 2nd floor is occupied by clan associations but curiously, they are inaccurately described by many guidebooks as “mahjong parlors”.
Inside the temple, Mazu sits on the central shrine with her assistants by her side. Above the shrine are rows of lanterns donated by devotees. You can see the names of donors that are written on slips of red paper and attached to the lanterns. In front of a table is a table full of offerings. The ritual items such as the joss stick holders were donated by devotees more than a hundred years ago.
Or maybe airing some fresh herbs and groceries!
Tea tasting was a must in Chinatown.! It was delicious and fun!
Because I work for Dr Pepper and we own 7UP, I had to get a pic of these old signs!
This is the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. It was opened in 1962, and they make traditional fortune cookies, as well as chocolate flavored fortune cookies, almond cookies, and other sweets. Visitors can observe workers using motorized circular griddles to create fortune cookies, which they sell for $3 a bag. The company also makes "fortuneless" cookies. They charge for photographs of the workers, for 50 cents. Most of the time when I'm told not to take pics, I still sneak them in. How am I supposed to reminisce when I have no pictures! And how do I blog?! So I took pics and paid 50 cents and when I handed them the 2 quarters he looked at me like I was crazy!
I wrote in Chance's cookie: "Hon, I will always love you. xoxo"
Hon = inside joke
I carried this cookie in my pocket when we left for the airport on Monday, to be sure it stayed in one whole piece. He thought it was really cute, but we both thought it tasted a little burnt.
I just thought this was funny "Tang FAT Hotel"
For dinner we walked up to Little Italy and had a very scrumptious, carb loaded, all pasta and bread meal at Trattoria Pinnochio. It was worth every calorie!
On the way back to the hotel we stopped by Union Square and they were getting ready to play an outdoor movie, which I thought was so cute!
After Union Square we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
Day #4 (Sunday):
We woke up this morning, grabbed a quick coffee and bite to eat and headed for the old school cable cars. The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last manually-operated cable car system.
Of the twenty-three lines established between 1873 and 1890, three remain (one of which combines parts of two earlier lines): two routes from downtown near Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf, and a third route along California Street. While the cable cars are used to a certain extent by commuters, the vast majority of their 7 million annual passengers are tourists
We hopped off the cable car (not to be confused with a trolley...the conductor said he would kick us off if we referred to them as trolleys) in Fisherman's Wharf and walked over to Pier 39 to waste some time before catching the ferry to Sausalito.
We were all craving Lobster Bisque since Mandy mentioned it on Friday while we were eating Clam Chowder. So all the girls ordered Lobster Bisque & a mojito, and Nate ordered Clam Chowder again with a Samuel Adam's.
Once we were finished with lunch we jumped on the ferry to Sausalito and rode across the bay and had a little rum and pineapple drink.
While here we felt it was only right if we did a wine tasting so we went into this cute little shop that had wines from Fotsch Vineyard in Napa.
We also needed to get salt water taffy and ice cream :)
After walking around and relaxing in Sausalito we jumped back on the ferry and headed back to San Francisco. Here are a few shots I got of the Golden Gate Bridge:
Once we got back, Mandy, Stacey and Nate were too tired to keep sight seeing so we sent them back to the hotel and my mom and I jumped on a pedi-cab and went to Coit Tower.
Coit Tower was paid for with money left by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a wealthy socialite who loved to chase fires in the early days of the city's history. Before December 1866, there was no city fire department, and fires in the city, which broke out regularly in the wooden buildings, were extinguished by several volunteer fire companies. Lillie Coit was one of the more eccentric characters in the history of North Beach and Telegraph Hill, smoking cigars and wearing trousers long before it was socially acceptable for women to do so. She was an avid gambler and often dressed like a man in order to gamble in the males-only establishments that dotted North Beach.
Lillie's fortunes funded the monument four years following her death in 1929. She had a special relationship with the city's firefighters. At the age of fifteen she witnessed the Knickerbocker Engine Co. No. 5 in response to a fire call up on Telegraph Hill when they were shorthanded, and threw her school books to the ground and pitched in to help, calling out to other bystanders to help get the engine up the hill to the fire, to get the first water onto the blaze. After that Lillie became the Engine Co. mascot and could barely be constrained by her parents from jumping into action at the sound of every fire bell. After this she was frequently riding with the Knickerbocker Engine Co. 5, especially so in street parades and celebrations in which the Engine Co. participated. Through her youth and adulthood Lillie was recognized as an honorary firefighter.
Her will read that she wished for one third of her fortune, amounting to $118,000, "to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved." Two memorials were built in her name. One was Coit Tower, and the other was a sculpture depicting three firemen, one of them carrying a woman in his arms. Lillie is today the matron saint of San Francisco firefighters.
Here are some pics of Coit Tower throughout the trip:
After we hung around there we took a cab to Alamo Square Park to view the famous "Painted Ladies".
They were just as I remembered in the opening credits of Full House!
After we hung out there for a bit we jumped in a cab and went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We walked in the door and Mandy, Stacey and Nate were just now sitting down from the long walk back to the hotel. So they could've gone sight seeing with us and would've gotten back at the same time ;)
After going down to the hotel pool, my mom and I decided it was time for dinner. We ate at the hotel restaurant called Bin 55. It was pretty good!
Day #5 (Monday):
We woke up this morning and headed downstairs to grab a coffee on our way out. Once outside we jumped in a cab and headed for the airport. We arrived a little early and grabbed some more food for the plane since we left around 10:30am and didn't arrive back in Dallas until 4pm.
All in all this was a fantastic trip. We learned so much, did tons of relaxing and got to spend quality time with my siblings and mom!
Thanks so much for this trip mom, couldn't have happened without you. We love you!!
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