SF, sunny winter in windy summer....

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Everybody loves San Francisco....that's an easy statement to which most of you will agree.


We arrived in San Francisco from the North, on a sunny beautiful afternoon...and first experience first, we had to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, a first drive for all of us....what an experience!

This may actually be close to my tenth visit to the windy city. My last time visiting SF was one of a kind, four years ago, boys trip with Leslie. But lets be honest, nothing beat a nice grounded family, one where the kids are old enough to walk their own way through the ups and downs streets without complaining every five minutes that their feet hurt. Well, we may not be there yet, but we are getting pretty close to good solid feet!

We slept three days in the windy city. It was also time to return the car which brought us to here from Seattle. So for 2 nights out of 3, we kept the budget low and slept next to SFO airport. It was also nice not to drive for a while. Early morning and on the BART (local light train)to SF downtown. We first drop our bags to the W hotel. Thanks to some nice connections, we landed a huge Fantastic suite...for an outrageous 90 usd plus few points a night....nice!

On our program for San Francisco the first point was the weather. We made sure to secure a purely SF windy summer. We landed some really cold wind, no rain, some fog, and a lot of sun....nice! You will witness the sailing jackets on the pictures...

Next the transportation modes....we took the BART, we ride the tram, we took the "alcatraz cruise" and we walked a lot! The tram was as expected a huge highlight for Tiffany and Leslie. Wish that little ride was a little cheaper thought!

And the food....we love the food in SF. Well, this time we were running so much that some of this food was on the fast track. But we took the time to enjoy one of my favorite food place in the world. This is hardly a restaurant, more a seafood shop turned food lover counter. I name, the Oyster Depot. We had oysters, clam chowder, shrimps and crab...huge!

For the evening we also had the chance to meet D MJ Binkley. To make it easier, we had some wine in our little suite while the kids were geting an early night sleep. MJ and Dave , for those of you who don't, are some of the liveblood of travelblog. It was so nice to meet you guys, and hope to meet you again soon somewhere on our small earth.

We spent a lot of time walking the streets of SF. We spent some time around Chinatown, Little Italy, Lombard Street, and few other neighbourhoods. What a time we had! On our last afternoon we took time to vist Alcatarz. It was a good idea to have booked tickets weeks ahead. Once we show up to collect our prepaid tickets, we had to witness that all tickets where sold out for the coming two weeks, pretty impressive!

Last time I came to SF with Leslie, I tought he was a little too young to enjoy the experience of Alcatraz. That time, we sailed the Bay on a small fishing boat, enjoying a closer look of the landmark. He did visit the place when he was a year old, but guess what, he doesn't remember anything. So this time it was a perfect experience for Leslie. Tiffany enjoyed it too, but seems she is still pretty young and easily impressed by the sounds and winds of a cold jail!

Did I mention that we also got some time to enjoy some retail therapy...new school bags and some red stilettos...oh yes...

It was soon time to ride the BART back to SFO, and a last little wine bottle from Napa in our hotel room. Early morning, I went to pick up our new toy for 10 days....ready to enjoy the beautiful sound of our new red Mustang! More adventures to come, more sun to come, next entry, few hours East of San Francisco...

With love from four of us....

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Another nice blog.
Lots of smiles in those photos. Loved seeing the kids locked up in Alcatraz! Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully, our paths will cross again. We are heading to Morocco in October.

[Marie Therese Smith]

Love California
I am so enjoying all your travels... I was just taking the trip you are on in early July... started in Portland, down through the Redwoods, the coastline and San Francisco... then to San Jose's Winchester House, back to the beach, PCH Hwy and down to Solvang, then back to the beach, Ventura, then inland from there... and Hollywood and Universal and then Big Bear Lake and Mojave Desert to Calico Ghost Town... We had the most amazing time... I'm from there, so this was my opportunity to show my home state to my husband and son... Enjoy your time, it's just so beautiful there!

[Maisondubonheur]

Was great to meet you!
Let me know if you need info on Morocco. I used to be a tour guide 15 years ago in the North. I loved Fes and Meknes. I also teach some golf around Agadir. i was not really a big fan of Marrakesh. What I wish I could have seen, but didn't go there was Ouarzazate. I'll be in Africa in September and November, but DRC and South Africa.