I have been to parts of California a number of times--living in Arizona makes that easy. My cousin reached out and was interested in seeing San Francisco, San Diego, and driving the coast. So I heartily agreed, all excited to see some of the areas I haven't yet seen.
My cousin is from Philadelphia so we don't see each other often. For several years, I was able to plan work trips to New Jersey or Philadelphia. Now we just have to plan a little harder! We found out my brother and sister-in-law are also in San Francisco and though they were driving north, we planned to meet up for breakfast.
We flew into San Francisco at night. My flight was 30 minutes late and his 20 minutes early so we got in minutes of each other. We got to our hotel and settled after midnight, but we were quite amped up and excited for the trip. We stayed at the King George Hotel, a small boutique hotel two blocks from Union Square in the Tenderloin district. The area is a bit patchy but the location was really great and convenient for getting around.
We got up fairly early and met my brother and his wife at a nice little organic breakfast place on Beach Street, near Fisherman's Wharf. We took a trolley up, and my cousin was checking off his bucket list. The line runs a block from our hotel. Our time was short, but it was great seeing them.
We left to go to pier 33 to pick up the ferry to Alcatraz. I had been but my cousin hadn't, and it's such an interesting experience that I was happy to go again. The ferry takes around 30 minutes and you arrive. It's a small island very close to the coast of San Francisco. It seems so close, however, the currents are fierce and the area has lots of sharks swimming around, so escape was quite treacherous. We did the audio tour and walked around. Even the second time, it's just amazing to see the tiny cells and to walk through the halls, imagining the life of the residents.
One of the remaining living former inmates was there for a book signing. He looked like a cute old guy and like someone's grandfather.
We took the ferry back and headed over to pier 39 to see the sea lions. There are a dozen or so little docks where they lay playing, fighting, tanning, sleeping. Some are apart from the others and most are laying on top of each other. They are like the pitbulls of sea mammals, with no boundaries and they must be on top of each other. :)
We grabbed a bite to eat at a little Italian place then headed to see the painted ladies. There was a large gathering of probably 200 people on the park across the street sitting and looking at the houses.
We headed back and chilled out at the hotel for a short bit. I should say that the area hit record temperatures that were over 100 during the day. It's pretty much unheard of and usually San Francisco is significantly cooler than inland. Thankfully we knew and dressed accordingly, but it was hot and humid.
We hopped the trolley again and headed to Chinatown. We went to a place the hotel recommended, but there was a family coming out when we went in and they said to absolutely not do it. So we trusted their judgement and looked elsewhere. We ended up at another place with a short line, which we took as a good sign. We got to talking to a couple who has lived in SF for 40 years but they are from the Ukraine. It ended up that a large table opened, and they asked if we would be ok sitting together. Sure!
The food was good and we really enjoyed talking with them! It made for a really fun night.
On Sunday we got up and picked up our rental car right across the street from our hotel and headed out to the Golden Gate Bridge, and then stopped in Sausalito for breakfast before heading north. We planned to see Muir Woods and the redwoods. However, the traffic was backed up five miles so we gave up and drove on. That is the second time I had a failed attempt to go there.
We went to downtown Sonoma and walked around a bit. I did a wine tasting at Zina Hyde, which I enjoyed. We stopped for some yummy ice cream before heading to Napa. We went to V Sattui, one of my favorite places as the buildings and grounds are so beautiful. I did a tasting and then we headed to Raymond, a French winemaker that someone I know who works and lives in Napa recommended.
The grounds were nice and had some interesting touches. The wine was very good overall, and we met a lovely couple that moved to Phoenix a year-and-a-half ago! We really enjoyed our conversation and I shared my contact information with a plan that we'll meet up soon. We then went to Hess Collection, where the gal I know used to work until recently and she hooked us up with free tastings. The gal who took care of us was wonderful and poured us extras based on what we said we liked. I left with a bottle of Artezin Zinfandel, enjoying the 30% friends and family discount.
We went to downtown Napa and put our name in at a Spanish tapas place called Zuzu. We walked around a bit until our table was ready and what a great meal! I was a bit, well, 'happy' but it was great. There is an heirloom tomato tapa that had me licking the plate, and I liked it so much I got a second. We got some paella, ceviche and several other dishes. The service was good and it was a really nice dinner.
On Monday we started our way south, first stopping in Monterey. I had been there once before to go to the aquarium, but don't think I've seen the town. We drove through the historic town center and parked in Cannery Row to walk around. Maybe I missed the attraction, but I didn't think it was a pretty town in the least.
We then went to Carmel, which was in my top two to see. We walked a bit and then went to a mediteranean restarant. It got 4.5 stars on Yelp, but besides the hummus, I didn't think it was that great. My shawarma definitely wasn't in the list of the best I've had. We walked around a bit and realized we had to hoof it on down to Hearst Castle to catch a tour before they close.
Unfortunately, Big Sur is closed, or much of it, due to landslides. Big Sur was my #1 thing to see on the drive but it wasn't meant to be. I'll go some other time. We took the freeway down to San Simeon then toured Hearst Castle. Wow. It's gorgeous and truly amazing with the ancient artwork. Every inch of the place has a tapestry from 500 years ago, a sculpture from 1,000 years ago, or a mosaic. It's opulent, and amazing. It rivals the artistry of any of the palaces I have seen in Europe. And I think that was the idea.
We drove to Morro Rock to take some pictures, amazing by how large it is. We stopped in the town to grab a bite at a small local BBQ place, then checked into our hotel. I asked the lady helping us if she has a corkscrew, as I bought a bottle of nice wine at Hess and really didn't want to check a bag on my return. She did! Yay. When we were leaving, a couple of girls came in and also asked for a corkscrew! I laughed and handed it over, and decided to uncork my wine right away in case anyone else needed it. Turns out they are from Hannover, Germany, here in the US for three weeks and touring CA and going to Vegas before heading home.
I unfortunately bailed on my blog at this point, so will see what I can add from memory and pictures!
WTH???
Then we went on to Santa Barbara, the lovely Santa Barbara.
Zoltar??
Our next stop was Venice, where we spent the night. We walked out to the pier to watch the sun set and it was amazing!!
We continued our drive, down through Malibu and looked out on the amazing cliffs. We didn't stop to take pictures, though it's beautiful. We hit a massive traffic jam and got stuck for a good hour. Hilarity ensued as we saw a couple in the car behind us having quite the row. They were clearly screaming at each other then started hitting each other and the poor guy was clearly getting the worst of it. Actually, it was funny until they came screeching forward and we were worried they would hit our car! Soon enough, maybe an hour later, the traffic opened up and we were on our way. Best of luck to that poor couple.
We stopped in Laguna Beach for lunch. Wow. Double wow. I wished we had some time to really check it out. The beach was stunning and we went to a restaurant that looks over the water and is so amazing! The food was great and the view...!!!
We then left and made our way through LA traffic. It was steady but not too bad, and at 11 am. Pretty amazing when you think of it. We drove directly down to San Diego to get to see it some before I had to fly back home. We wandered around the Gaslamp district, which is really cute. We saw a Cat Cafe and had to go in for a coffee and some kitty snuggles. Dave had found a couple of interesting bridges when he looked at things to do and I hadn't done that before, so why not? One was a wooden bridge and the other a suspension bridge.
I flew back and left Dave for one more night, with guidance for him to explore Coronado. He did and enjoyed it!
Well, that's all folks. I wanted to get this done before heading on my next trip, so mission accomplished! :)
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1 comment:
I must say, your cousin sounds like a pretty fun guy!
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