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Published: August 24th 2010
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Enjoying San Francisco
A day spent exploring Pier 39, the marina and the shops. Pattie and Ron's Vacation 2010 - Part 4 When we arrived at Ft Bragg the skies were over cast. We quickly settled into our hotel and about two hours later decided to go to the Safeway store a few blocks down the street and pick up some T.V. dinners. We both were tired and decided to eat in the room instead of going out. To our surprise, when we opened the door, the fog had rolled in cutting visibility to about twenty feet. Ron had wanted to run in the morning. We feared the fog would put a damper on that. To our surprise, when we woke and looked outside the next morning, the fog had vanished. Clear skies greeted us and the sound of surf echoed in the distance.
After a quick two and a half mile run, Ron and I packed up the car. We decided to eat at the restaurant adjacent to the motel. The main street in Ft. Bragg turns back into US Highway-1 shortly after your leave the town. We drove along a scenic two lane road with pine trees and rolling pasture land to our left and the cliffs of the Pacific on our
Alcatraz Prison
A view of Alcatraz Prison in San Fracisco Bay. right. Getting to Ft. Bragg through the canyon was a series of sharp turns this stretch of road offered up miles of gentle but tummy rousing roller coaster like up and down driving. Passing through patches of fog which slowed the driving down it soon began its transformation from coastal road to the Oak tree lined road inland from the ocean.
The road once more became winding and the canyon narrowed again affording us a much slower and a more visually interesting route. Small farms here and there, some occupied, a good majority seemingly abandoned. Soon the valley widened and we found ourselves in Mendocino wine country. Vineyards lined both sides of the road. Many were small, family owned, some with labels I could recognize. Most beckoned the traveler to stop and partake of wine tasting. We had a deadline and decided to forego the wine for now and soon found ourselves on an upward spiraling route to the top of the canyon. Ahead was a small fog bank suggesting that our emergence from the canyon would be near Bodega Bay, best known for Alfred Hitchcock’s movie,
The Birds. Alas, it was here that we turned eastward to pick up the 101 leaving the Bodega Bay adventure for yet another time.
The interstate is just that, it takes you to your destination the fastest way but leaves you little to no scenery to view. The temperature outside was 88° and up ahead, over the tops of the rolling foothills, I could see what appeared to be a low cloud bank. In reality it was the fog bank which San Francisco is known for. I had mentioned to my son Ron that, “There it is, San Francisco.” He looked and said, “Really?” He was about to witness first hand summer fog in SF. As we steered left towards the bay, the temperature was down to 64°. We soon found ourselves on the Golden Gate Bridge. While Ron drove I manned the camera and filmed his first-time crossing of the bay. It costs $6.00 at the toll booth. After a quick passage, we were back on city streets passing San Francisco State. A mangle of traffic along the BART Line delayed us for around a half before we could catch the I-280 and head towards Highway 101-S and our South San Francisco hotel.
We quickly found our Holiday Inn Express destination on Airport Blvd., registered and found to our delight we had an upper room over the office. Vaulted ceilings, skylights and windows at both ends of the room afforded us a view of the hotel grounds as well as the street. With little deliberation we decided to head back to San Francisco and the pier on Embarcadero Street. On the way into town you pass Candlestick Park Stadium which sets on the right side and is nestled alongside a small hill and the bay. The traffic driving to the pier district was minimum and we quickly found Pier 39. Ah, but where to park? Parking is $6.00 for 20 minutes with a max of $35.00 here and a max of $25.00 there. Finally we spotted a sign that said $15.00. Lucky for us it was only a two block walk back to the pier and another two blocks up to our destination.
Pier 39 hosts an array of shops, boutiques, restaurants, wine shops, gift shops. You name it and you can find it there. On the walk outside the shops we stop and look at the sea lions who are happily lounging on the boat docks. The wind was rather strong and chilly. The wind also brought the aroma of sea lions abruptly up your nose. We walked to the end of the pier and watched a large cargo ship laden with containers for COSCO. It was making its way up the bay at a rather brisk pace. We were lucky to see Alcatraz and got a good shot of it. We continued to the other side of the pier and glanced at some moored boats and then started back up the steps to the shops. We heard a cry of alarm and when we turned a large wave caused by the COSCO ship slammed into the end of the pier and all those who were standing there were drenched by the chilly bay water. A few moments sooner and we too would have bathed in the bay.
We climbed up to the top level and watched a juggler who was quite good, a great performance in spite of the horrific winds. Since we had eaten a late lunch, we didn’t stop for the famous sourdough bread and clam chowder. Instead we roamed though shop after shop and then ventured out into the streets. The shops mostly catered to the tourist, some were definitely for the up-scale tourist. One such shop offered small porcelain figurines. The one I liked was $12,000.00! Yup, like I thought, the better off than most need only peruse that shop. After walking around we decided to walk up from the pier and look for a place to eat. We had walked and shopped for almost 3 hours at by this time had developed an appetite. We walked about 3 blocks and noticed a mall and decided to see what it had.
To our surprise it was a convenience mall for those who lived in the high rises nearby; barber-beauty shops, dog groomers, cleaners, shoe repair to mention a few and a Safeway Market. We decided to buy food and return to the hotel since it was around 6 PM. What we purchased was on special for card holders, so we filled out an application and are now proud Safeway Card Members. The only problem is we don’t have Safeway markets in my area of Idaho. San Francisco is very “Green” and gives you nice paper bags with handles (no plastic). Finishing our shopping, we were back on the street and trying to remember just where we left our car. We had walked about 5 blocks from the pier, then up and over, so as we wound back and around we soon found we magically arrived at the car lot but from the rear side.
A Peter Pan festival, a marathon and a rally for some other thing was going on so our progress from the pier back to the I-280, about ten blocks, took a never-ending one and a half hours. Once on the freeway it was 5 MPH until we reached the turnouts for Candle Stick Stadium. It is all in the timing. There was a game and people were stopping on the freeway. They were stopping not only in the lane to exit but the next two lanes over. At last, thankfully past the traffic snarl, we sailed back to the hotel and dined on a Southwestern Chipotle Salad and several gourmet delight entrees. Although it had been on our planning agenda, we passed on China Town. We plan to savor it on yet another trip.
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