phoenixcub

So, here's a play by play of Chris's and my trip to San Francisco! :-)

Thursday, we took Valley Metro to the airport. The #12 was late, which made us late for the Red Line, but we still got to the airport with plenty of time. We ate at Paradise Bakery after going through security. Our flight on Ted was about 30 minutes late, but it was a very nice flight. We landed in SFO about two hours later and got our bags and took BART to the Civic Center Station which is right under the hotel we stayed at: Hotel Whitcomb. We checked into our hotel, which was very nice! It was built almost 100 years ago and was great. I would definitely stay there again. The bed was super comfy the bath products were great smelling, there was a Starbucks in the lobby and the front door was like 30 feet from the Civic Center Station entrance. So after we checked in, we got our City Passes which had Muni passes and passes for a bunch of museums and stuff and then went to the Castro for lunch at a place called The Cove. It was yummy. We then went to Fisherman's Wharf and went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, which was fun. There are a few little things to try to scare and surprise you there. There was one part that was like "look over here" and I walked over there and the floor started shaking. After the museum, we walked back to the streetcar stop and Chris got some yummy fudge for us at a chocolate store on the way. We then took the F-Line Streetcar back to the Castro and had dinner at The Sausage Factory. It was yummy! We then took the subway back to the hotel and slept.

Friday, we woke up, ate something very quickly at Starbucks in the lobby and then took the F-Line to Pier 33 to catch the ferry to Alcatraz. We watched a video and took the audio tour of the prison. It was cool to see. We then took the ferry back and went over to Fisherman's Wharf to have lunch at Boudin. I had clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl and a Caesar salad. Both were very yummy. We then went to Pier 39 and took the Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise, which took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and near Angel and Alcatraz Islands. It was beautiful and I have pics I took of it, which I will be posting later. After the cruise, back at Pier 39, we did the Aquarium by the Bay, which was also very nice. After the aquarium, we went to Ghirardelli Square to take the Powell & Hyde Cable Car back to Market Street. We then went into subway station and had to wait 20+ minutes for a train because there was some sort of medical emergency at the previous station. We ran into Ray/rei_saru there while we were waiting and chatted with him for a bit. A train finally showed up and we took it to Castro to meet Jake/jakesj for dinner at Nirvana. That was quite yummy. We then went to the Starbucks in the Castro for a bit before calling it a night and taking the subway back to the hotel.

Saturday, we woke up around 9:00 and met Chris/nebulocity1976 and his friend Dave for brunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Yes, we have The Cheesecake Factory here, but I wanted to go to that one for the view, since it's on the 8th floor of Macy's in Union Square. It was also great to get to meet up with and hang out with Chris and his friend. So, we had a great brunch and then parted ways. Chris and I took the #30 to the Palace of Fine Arts and went to the Exploratorium. That was a lot of fun! After that, we made our way over to Golden Gate Park and went to the deYoung Museum. Unfortunately, we made it there too late in the afternoon and didn't get to see much of it, but what we did see was very nice. I would love to get to see more of that museum next time I'm in SF. We then left and made our way back to the Castro for dinner at a place called Fuzio, again, very yummy. We didn't have a bad meal the whole time we were there except for the service at a place we went to today, but that story will come later. So anyway, after Fuzio, we did a little shopping on Castro Street and then took the subway back to the hotel and called it a night. Chris got hungry again a few hours later and ordered a pizza, but I passed out. I didn't even hear the pizza guy deliver. :-P

Sunday, we both woke up around 9AM. I had wanted to see the Mission Dolores Basilica, so decided to go to Mass there this morning at 10AM. So, I got ready and took the J-Line over there for Mass. It's a beautiful church. It was very nice. I then went back to the hotel for Chris and I to check out. We then took the subway back to Castro to meet Jake and his BF, Scip, for brunch. This time in the Castro Station was definitely interesting. We came up the escalator and started to exit. The escalator to Castro Street is to the left, to the right is a big support pillar. As we walked past the support pillar, we heard the sounds of grunting and moaning... we proceeded to the escalator and turned around to see an old man come out from behind the pillar and zip up his pants... immediately followed by another old man also zipping up his pants. So, I think we know what they were behind the pillar doing. I just can't believe that they were doing it in such a public place... in broad daylight! Eeeep! Anyway, we met Jake and Scip at a place called Luna. The food was good, but damn, the service was slow. The server never returned to refill my coffee and we barely saw him during our whole meal. The food was very good, though, but the sassy Mexican host(ess) needs to tone it down a bit. :-P We finished our meal, said our good-byes and Chris and I got back on the subway to go to Montgomery Station to go to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. We got to see a great exhibit there called "Take Your Time" which is a bunch of light installations. It was very pretty. We got to see two other floors of collections before having to head back to the hotel. We got our bags back from the bellman, then took BART back to the airport to catch our flight back to Phoenix. The flight was good, on time and we got back to Phoenix around 9PM tonight.

We had a great trip. Chris really liked it there. I definitely see another visit in the future. I would love to get to see more of the deYoung Museum and the Legion of Honor Museum that we didn't get to see. San Francisco is definitely such a beautiful and vibrant city. I love to visit there... but it's always good to come home. :-)