Crawling out of the bed this morning proved a bit more challenging than I had anticipated. I thought when I went to sleep last night that the excitement of the day would propel me out of the blankets and into the streets of San Fran. Not true. Around 9:45 Ryan finally coaxed me awake and we agreed that getting up was in our best interest. Plus, we had an 11 o’clock check out time and still needed to pack everything up, go get the car from the garage and load everything up for our hotel transfer. A little stress ensued, but we managed to keep it at bay. No pun intended. We were out of the room on time and Suz walked down to meet us for our driving tour of the city.
We decided to park down near the ferry station, where, as it turned out, there were vendors, tents, and street performers everywhere! It was Chinese New Year today and everyone was preparing for the parade scheduled for 5:30. We meandered through the crowd and the lines for the various vendors to make our way inside the ferry station. The station was a lot bigger than I thought and there were just as many people inside as out. I’m pretty sure we could have had a complete lunch on all of the samples that were out in the aisles. We found some amazing olive oils and balsamic samples, but I figured it’d be a better idea to find some real food somewhere. We settled at a little walk up café called Il Carne Rosso. Suz had to fight a guy off to get a table, but we landed at one while Ryan ordered our lunch. This place was great – they had about 5 or 6 options available, that they change every day, and each thing was amazing. We had a porchetta sandwich with pickled cabbage and some parsnip soup.
We left the ferry station and decided to head around the bay and see some of the sights. We stopped along the ba
y to see some of the crazies who swim laps all year round and we took a few pictures of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge from afar. We then jumped on the bridge and drove over to Sausalito. We got a few great pictures just off the other side of the bridge and got to see Suz’s friend’s overpriced residence with a great view over the bay. We both agreed that no house or view was worth $4000 in monthly rent! As we gawked at some more of the houses and properties, Suz suggested that we keep driving to see John Muir Woods State Park. At first Ryan and I weren’t that interested, but once Suzie mentioned it was a Redwood forest, we were absolutely on board! That was one of the things we were most excited to see in this part of the country. We drove up and down some pretty Californian winding (understatement) roads to get to the park. The terrain was incredible and breathtaking – so much green and ro
lling mountains. We finally reached the park and the sun came out. There wasn’t as much of a chill in the air as when we started out this morning, so it was definitely perfect walking weather. We took a trail into the park and proceeded to feel overwhelmed. You can imagine all you want about what seeing a redwood tree will be like, and you imagine that looking at pictures is enough. If it’s on a list of things you want to do and you keep putting it off because you figure there are other things that will be more impressive, move it closer to the top of your list. The trees are magnificent and don’t come close to anything you’ve imagin
ed. You might think that seeing one or two of them is enough, but I felt about these trees the same way I felt about seeing the mountains of Alaska. You walk in with the notion that you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all – and then you actually see them and realize that you’re an idiot. Every single one I saw was more different and amazing than the next. I’m pretty sure I could have spent the whole day there, but, eventually we agreed we had to get back because we had an important night ahead of us.
On our way back into the city, we made our way over to Lombard Street – the only winding street in San Francisco. It meanders down one of the hills and is made up of sharp curves in a snakelike format, all the way down the hill. It was neat to drive down it and definitely one of those things you have to do when you come into the city. After this, we drove up and down some ridic
ulous hills on our way to drop Suz off at her hotel. We had to check into our new hotel, the Marine Memorial Hotel. We made our way, at last, and checked in. Once I got into the room, I immediately wished we had been here all along. The room was at least twice the size of the last one with a lot of sweet little details. At the front desk we found out that Happy Hour was free from 4-6 for hotel guests and that there was a complimentary brunch served every day until 11. Love it already. It was about 4:45, though, and Ryan and I had still not made a reservation for dinner. Tonight was really his responsibility, because he wanted to take me to dinner and a show. In the hullabaloo, we kind of forgot to make a reservation, though, and started to get a little worried that our delusions of steak grandeur just might not make it off the ground tonight. As I curled my hair, Ryan searched around town for a steakhouse that would be able to get us in at 6:15 on a Saturday. He gave up after about 3 calls and remembered that the restaurant on the 12th floor of our hotel was a steakhouse. We both agreed it was our only option, so called up and reserved a table. I was just relieved that we had a place to sit at 6:15 and some guaranteed food.
After we got our selves all spiffed up, and might I say, we looked GOOD, we headed upstairs. When we
got into the restaurant we were more than pleasantly surprised. The sun hadn’t yet set so we had an incredible view of the entire city and even the bay. We had a table right at the window and the restaurant was quiet, except for the lovely piano being played several feet away. Perfect. We ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio, a couple of steaks, and had ourselves an incredible meal. We kept remarking, all the while, how perfect this ha
d worked out and I really couldn’t get over it. The view was spectacular, the food was great, and it was the perfect pre-show steak dinner. We finished up, not worrying too much about the size of the bill, and headed downstairs to grab a cab to the show.
I should have thought ahead of time that cabs in the city were going to be scarce, what with it being Saturday night AND Chinese New Years with the big parade taking up half of the city’s streets. We trotted down the hill, thinking we would just walk until we found a cab, but it soon became apparent that all the cabs in the city were occupied. Foolish us for not calling ahead…again. About 2 blocks away from the hotel, though, when we were just about accepting our fate, I glanced across the street to a hotel where a couple of people were exiting a cab. I sent Ryan over, immediately, to steal it from the hotel. The guy thought we were pretty sneaky, and, appreciating the fact that we had small bills and big cajones, so he accepted our fare. We pulled up just as the lights were ringing the 5 minute curtain call, and we found our seats just in time. Really, this night could not have been working out more beautifully.
Wicked was a blast. We were a little miffed at first that Glinda and Ephalba were being played by the understudies, but once we heard the first few songs, we put our concerns to rest. The performance was great and we had a blast. I was so relieved that I had someone sitting next to me who was actually into
the show and not bored to tears, wondering when he’d be able to escape to a more entertaining Saturday night adventure. This was exactly where we both wanted to be and we soaked up every second of it. After the show, we were supposed to meet up with Bernie and Suz for one last drink. We were dying to show them the 12th floor view from our hotel, but, as it turned out, the bar closed at 11. We hoofed it up 5 blocks and over 3 back to our hotel, through some pretty sketchy streets. Ryan kept pulling his iPhone out and I thought for sure we were about to be mugged a time or two. That’s all I needed, was another reason to dislike that $300 excuse to be mugged. When we got back, Bernie and Suz weren’t answering their phones, so we decided to come back up to the room for our own champagne and bed relaxing. Ryan popped the cork and we sipped on a glass before he succumbed to the alluring draw of the hotel bed and pillows. I stayed up for a bit, thinking about our day and working on some of this journal. As it turns out, these entries are a lot longer than I had originally anticipated. As I keep writing, though, I realize just how packed our days have been and why we are so wiped out every time we come back to the room. I think tomorrow will be a bit lazier of a day, but boy oh boy, today will be hard to top. You don’t want your vacation to peak on the second day, but if this was any indication of how much fun the rest of the trip is going to be, I say “bring it on!”
We decided to park down near the ferry station, where, as it turned out, there were vendors, tents, and street performers everywhere! It was Chinese New Year today and everyone was preparing for the parade scheduled for 5:30. We meandered through the crowd and the lines for the various vendors to make our way inside the ferry station. The station was a lot bigger than I thought and there were just as many people inside as out. I’m pretty sure we could have had a complete lunch on all of the samples that were out in the aisles. We found some amazing olive oils and balsamic samples, but I figured it’d be a better idea to find some real food somewhere. We settled at a little walk up café called Il Carne Rosso. Suz had to fight a guy off to get a table, but we landed at one while Ryan ordered our lunch. This place was great – they had about 5 or 6 options available, that they change every day, and each thing was amazing. We had a porchetta sandwich with pickled cabbage and some parsnip soup.
We left the ferry station and decided to head around the bay and see some of the sights. We stopped along the ba
y to see some of the crazies who swim laps all year round and we took a few pictures of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge from afar. We then jumped on the bridge and drove over to Sausalito. We got a few great pictures just off the other side of the bridge and got to see Suz’s friend’s overpriced residence with a great view over the bay. We both agreed that no house or view was worth $4000 in monthly rent! As we gawked at some more of the houses and properties, Suz suggested that we keep driving to see John Muir Woods State Park. At first Ryan and I weren’t that interested, but once Suzie mentioned it was a Redwood forest, we were absolutely on board! That was one of the things we were most excited to see in this part of the country. We drove up and down some pretty Californian winding (understatement) roads to get to the park. The terrain was incredible and breathtaking – so much green and ro
lling mountains. We finally reached the park and the sun came out. There wasn’t as much of a chill in the air as when we started out this morning, so it was definitely perfect walking weather. We took a trail into the park and proceeded to feel overwhelmed. You can imagine all you want about what seeing a redwood tree will be like, and you imagine that looking at pictures is enough. If it’s on a list of things you want to do and you keep putting it off because you figure there are other things that will be more impressive, move it closer to the top of your list. The trees are magnificent and don’t come close to anything you’ve imagin
ed. You might think that seeing one or two of them is enough, but I felt about these trees the same way I felt about seeing the mountains of Alaska. You walk in with the notion that you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all – and then you actually see them and realize that you’re an idiot. Every single one I saw was more different and amazing than the next. I’m pretty sure I could have spent the whole day there, but, eventually we agreed we had to get back because we had an important night ahead of us.On our way back into the city, we made our way over to Lombard Street – the only winding street in San Francisco. It meanders down one of the hills and is made up of sharp curves in a snakelike format, all the way down the hill. It was neat to drive down it and definitely one of those things you have to do when you come into the city. After this, we drove up and down some ridic
ulous hills on our way to drop Suz off at her hotel. We had to check into our new hotel, the Marine Memorial Hotel. We made our way, at last, and checked in. Once I got into the room, I immediately wished we had been here all along. The room was at least twice the size of the last one with a lot of sweet little details. At the front desk we found out that Happy Hour was free from 4-6 for hotel guests and that there was a complimentary brunch served every day until 11. Love it already. It was about 4:45, though, and Ryan and I had still not made a reservation for dinner. Tonight was really his responsibility, because he wanted to take me to dinner and a show. In the hullabaloo, we kind of forgot to make a reservation, though, and started to get a little worried that our delusions of steak grandeur just might not make it off the ground tonight. As I curled my hair, Ryan searched around town for a steakhouse that would be able to get us in at 6:15 on a Saturday. He gave up after about 3 calls and remembered that the restaurant on the 12th floor of our hotel was a steakhouse. We both agreed it was our only option, so called up and reserved a table. I was just relieved that we had a place to sit at 6:15 and some guaranteed food.After we got our selves all spiffed up, and might I say, we looked GOOD, we headed upstairs. When we
got into the restaurant we were more than pleasantly surprised. The sun hadn’t yet set so we had an incredible view of the entire city and even the bay. We had a table right at the window and the restaurant was quiet, except for the lovely piano being played several feet away. Perfect. We ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio, a couple of steaks, and had ourselves an incredible meal. We kept remarking, all the while, how perfect this ha
d worked out and I really couldn’t get over it. The view was spectacular, the food was great, and it was the perfect pre-show steak dinner. We finished up, not worrying too much about the size of the bill, and headed downstairs to grab a cab to the show.I should have thought ahead of time that cabs in the city were going to be scarce, what with it being Saturday night AND Chinese New Years with the big parade taking up half of the city’s streets. We trotted down the hill, thinking we would just walk until we found a cab, but it soon became apparent that all the cabs in the city were occupied. Foolish us for not calling ahead…again. About 2 blocks away from the hotel, though, when we were just about accepting our fate, I glanced across the street to a hotel where a couple of people were exiting a cab. I sent Ryan over, immediately, to steal it from the hotel. The guy thought we were pretty sneaky, and, appreciating the fact that we had small bills and big cajones, so he accepted our fare. We pulled up just as the lights were ringing the 5 minute curtain call, and we found our seats just in time. Really, this night could not have been working out more beautifully.
Wicked was a blast. We were a little miffed at first that Glinda and Ephalba were being played by the understudies, but once we heard the first few songs, we put our concerns to rest. The performance was great and we had a blast. I was so relieved that I had someone sitting next to me who was actually into
the show and not bored to tears, wondering when he’d be able to escape to a more entertaining Saturday night adventure. This was exactly where we both wanted to be and we soaked up every second of it. After the show, we were supposed to meet up with Bernie and Suz for one last drink. We were dying to show them the 12th floor view from our hotel, but, as it turned out, the bar closed at 11. We hoofed it up 5 blocks and over 3 back to our hotel, through some pretty sketchy streets. Ryan kept pulling his iPhone out and I thought for sure we were about to be mugged a time or two. That’s all I needed, was another reason to dislike that $300 excuse to be mugged. When we got back, Bernie and Suz weren’t answering their phones, so we decided to come back up to the room for our own champagne and bed relaxing. Ryan popped the cork and we sipped on a glass before he succumbed to the alluring draw of the hotel bed and pillows. I stayed up for a bit, thinking about our day and working on some of this journal. As it turns out, these entries are a lot longer than I had originally anticipated. As I keep writing, though, I realize just how packed our days have been and why we are so wiped out every time we come back to the room. I think tomorrow will be a bit lazier of a day, but boy oh boy, today will be hard to top. You don’t want your vacation to peak on the second day, but if this was any indication of how much fun the rest of the trip is going to be, I say “bring it on!”
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