Sunday: Up at 4 AM for our flight...ugh. Flights went well and weren't even crowded. I have to tell you, we flew Frontier for the first time, and quite liked it. We got into SF at about 10 AM local time so we really had all day there. We got our rental car, which was interesting. We had reserved a full-size car because my 6-foot tall, built like a line-backer husband doesn't really fit well into what rental car companies consider mid-size or smaller. Apparently, with this particular company, full-size means old Lincoln Towncar or Mercury Grand Marquis. No offense here, but those vehicles aren't really age appropriate for us, so we ended up switching a few things around and getting a Ford Edge. It ended up being a great little car! We walked a lot more than we expected, but still used the car a good bit. Anyways...we had lunch at In N Out burgers and dinner at a local pizzeria. I wasn't terribly impressed with either. They were both good food and solid choices, but I'm not sure I'd particularly crave the food they served. While eating lunch, we were introduced to the street performers of SF by way of the man doing magic outside the window of In N Out...yikes, that was...peculiar. And of course, we HAD to visit Ghirardelli. Apparently, they make a dessert called "Hey Lauren, we made a dessert just for you," AKA a Mint Bliss. It's chocolate ice cream, mint chocolate chip ice cream, dark chocolate fudge, homemade whipped cream, and a dark chocolate Ghirardelli square atop it all...it was only missing a cherry on top, but that didn't stop me from just devouring it. And it was delicious. Every single last bite...YUM. Oh ya, I also tripped over a hobo. It was dark, I'm night-blind, and he (or she) was sleeping just around the corner covered in a tarp because it was raining. Sorry, there's just not a whole lot of hobo's where I live! I'm not used to this business!
Monday: We discovered that/got confused by Californians have like 5 different trash cans. There is regular trash, recycling, composting, etc. I wasn't keen on this. I like the idea, but it was just too much. Anyways, after breakfast and being confused by the ridiculous (literally 7) number of trashcans, we headed out for our tour of Alcatraz. It was pretty cool! Colder than we expected and WAY more walking than we anticipated, but we enjoyed getting to see everything. We required a nap after walking around there for 3 hours. I was upset by the crew on a small issue though...I approached the snack bar and requested a soft salted pretzel with a side of cheese. First, they don't have salted soft pretzels, only plain. OK then, can I please have a plain soft pretzel with a side of cheese. The guy asked me if I wanted a cheese pretzel...NO, you are not understanding the words coming out of my mouth. One plain soft pretzel and one side of nacho cheese...PLEASE. His response "I'm sorry, we can't do that." Excuse me, but don't you serve nachos? Yes. Then give me an order of nachos, hold the chips! It's called liquid cheese! And I want to dip my friggin soft pretzel in the liquid cheese! GEEZ! He said that they aren't allowed to do that. I about told him where to put the danged plain soft pretzel. Anyways, we had lunch at a local sports bar, which was surprisingly delicious! I was really impressed. Then we did some shopping and exploring Pier 39 and surrounding area...then we found it. We found the sourdough bread bakery, Boudin's. Boudin's + Ghirardelli = delicious, but bad for Lauren...very bad. All I got was a grilled cheese with tomato soup, but if it wasn't the absolute best grilled cheese and tomato soup I've EVER had...O.M.G. After that, there was no hope, goodnight all. Don't worry, we visited Ghirardelli today, too. We didn't eat anything (besides the samples), but we did go and buy stuff. Of course we did. What else do you expect?!
Tuesday: Tuesday was "explore the rest of SF" day. We spent the first 2 days around the pier and doing most anything within walking distance, so this day we actually left the area. We/I found the actual house used in the full-house episodes and visited the park where they filmed the show's intro. Full House was a large part of my growing-up (and even still when I can find it on TV...guilty pleasure), so this was a big part of my SF visit. We also found the infamous "painted ladies" houses. I feel mislead that I thought all of SF looked just like those houses and the one in Full House. Spoiler alert: it doesn't. Then we tried to follow the map for this "49-mile scenic drive." Problem being that the map didn't say where to start, so I started at one end of the trail on the map. Apparently we did the entire thing backwards, because we kept seeing signs for the trail in odd places, but it was never quite lining up with the way we were going. Oh well, we do things our own, unique way! We went through Golden Gate Park, got some pics of Golden Gate Bridge, drove on PCH, and I finally saw the ocean! Crazy that I'm 25 and hadn't seen either the Atlantic or Pacific ocean yet, but not anymore! We ended our own scenic drive by going down Lombard/Curvy street...now THAT was fun! lol We really had a great time out exploring. We went back to the hotel to drop the car off, then headed off to try out the Cable Cars and visit Union Square in continuing our "explore SF" day. We got lost in Chinatown. Yes, apparently I can get us lost in ANY city. We ended the day by riding the entire length of the cable car line while hanging off the car. I'm still not quite sure why this was so amusing, but it was ridiculously fun. Actually, we really ended the day with another round of dessert at Ghirardelli, but the riding hanging off the cable cars is what got us there.
Wednesday: We started off the day with breakfast at Boudin's. Great start. We walked around the pier and watched the Sea Lions. Those guys were so funny to watch! They act like dogs, and in particular, they reminded us of Maverick. Yup, I'm now convinced Mav is part Sea Lion. Then we had lunch at Boudin's. Then we bought bread at Boudin's. Did I mention that we visited Boudin's? Then it was back to the airport for us. We had a wonderful time, but it's always nice to come HOME. The last leg of our flight home was interesting. I actually got the call I've been worried about since I started PA school. Mid-flight, I hear the attendant come over the intercom and say "If there are any medical personnel on board, we need your assistance in the back of the air craft immediately, please." Well, that's me. Another girl had also gone back to help. It wasn't anything big or immediately life-threatening, so that's good. We took vital signs, then instructed the patient and flight crew on what to do until we landed and signs of deterioration to watch for. An ambulance was waiting when we landed, and everyone ended up being ok. As always, a little chaos. Never leave home without it.
It is SO good to be home now. How I missed all the fuzzy kids, Heather and Jason included :) Next stop: Christmas!!
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