Some Last Minute Sights

---

After another night spent battling Erika's fever, we were up and awake fairly early. We were able to get everything packed up and ready to go and out the door by 10:30am. We weren't headed home yet though, there was one more stop on this journey. We are heading farther south to Redwood City so José can visit with his old coworker Don Roberto. José wanted to stop in San Francisco and pick up some last minute souvenirs from Fisherman's Wharf. The rain was coming down so we weren't wanting to spend very much time out of the car if possible.

#19 Russian Hill/Lombard Street: During all this time driving around San Francisco, we spent miles driving up and down Lombard Street but I couldn't figure out where the one block section of road was that contained the numerous curves. It would have helped if I had taken the time to read the map where it told me that you had to enter the one way street from Hyde, duh. We had to creep up the hill towards the top and then there it was on my left. There were lots of people walking up and down the hundreds of stairs. I drove down slowly while José attempted to videotape it through the windshield and the falling rain. At the bottom of the incline, I parked in the street and we did the unspeakable. Mia needed to go pee and there wasn't a bathroom in sight. Well, there were hundreds of houses surrounding us but I don't think any of them were ready to open their doors and let us in to use their facilities. I put a towel on the floor of the car and she peed into a cup with no mess. Then I poured it down the street drain. A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do! After that, I grabbed the Cars umbrella and stood at the bottom of the street and took a couple pictures looking back up the hill. Photography isn't very easy with the rain coming down, umbrella in one hand, and trying to get a great picture with the other hand but I did my best.

#14 Fisherman's Wharf: This is right down the street from Pier 39 and the stores are jam packed with every possible SF trinket and souvenir that you could possibly want. One of Jose's family members had requested a couple things if we ran across someone who wrote names on rice and of course we found it at our favorite store. In 2000, I came to SF with AshLee and we had her name written in letter art and framed for her room. When we were here in 2009, we came back to the same store and had two more made for Erika and Mia. Now we came back and had rice necklaces made for his cousin Jose and Erika. While we were waiting for the gentleman to make them, we wandered off to find a drink for the girls and ended up in Burger King. When we were finished, we walked back to the store and picked up our items, $30.66 for two pieces of rice with two names on them in a little capsule with a tiny flower inside; one in a necklace and another in a keychain. Last item on the shopping list was cheap t-shirts so we found a store that sold them 3 for $10.99 and we picked up 6 different shirts for the four of us. I got each girl a SF patch to sew onto a jacket and a picture frame to put on the entertainment center at home. On the way back to the car, I stopped to buy a couple empanadas from a street vendor called Tanguitos.

#47 AT&T Park: Driving south on 101 took us right past the stadium where the San Francisco Giants play. Jose wants to return one of these days so he can see a Major League baseball game. I'm sure we'll be able to fit it into our travel plans one way or another. We're already planning on returning on March 26 to see the exhibition futbol game of Mexico vs Paraguay.

We met up with Don Roberto in Redwood City and then followed his family to an Asian restaurant in San Jose called Tatami. We got to the mall an hour and a half before the restaurant opened so we had to wander around and wait. I was quite shocked when we got into the restaurant. It is a buffet style place but the food selection stretched for miles. Now, I'm not a huge fan of asian food, I prefer the rice and noodles but not so much the seafood and sushi and such. I did try several different dishes and cold wraps that looked like sushi but it wasn't my cup of tea. The dessert bar was pretty yummy and I ordered a banana and whipped cream crepe with chocolate syrup drizzled over it. Then it was off to check in at the Best Western and relax before the long drive home tomorrow.

---

Photos

#19 Russian Hill/Lombard Street
After driving all over San Francisco on Lombard street, we finally found the one block of it that we had been wanting to see.

#14 Fisherman's Wharf
Time to visit the Wharf and pick up the last minute gifts and souvenirs that we needed.

#47 AT&T Park
Home of the San Francisco Giants