We flew in late Thursday night and just stayed by the airport at a bargain hotel the first night. The bed was so uncomfortable - it was had really flat pillow, a hard mattress, and thin scratchy sheets. But they did have a free shuttle to and from the airport and a complimentary breakfast. Aside from the bed it was just fine (for one night).
Friday we headed to Union Sq on BART. It's so nice BART has been extended out to the San Francisco Airport, very convenient.
The weather Friday was beautiful, in the 60's and mostly sunny. NYC was in the 40's - being able to walk around in a light jacket was a treat. We checked in to our hotel and were able to get a room at 11am (way to go Union Sq Hilton). From there we headed to one of our favorite's - Swan's Oyster Bar. This hole in the wall luncheonette and seafood shop is fantastic. They have about 20 counter seats and a permanent line. The seafood is incredibly fresh, everything is simply prepared and the family run establishment offers great service. We feasted on fresh Blue Point oysters, seafood cocktail, and chowder.
Post lunch we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf so I could visit Ghirardelli Square. Just a small bag to take home (it's right next to Michael on the bench). They have an eggnog flavor chocolate - if you like the nog you'll love this! (And speaking of Nog - Silk brand Soy Milk has their Nog on the shelves already. Hello holidays!)
If you look in the background you can see the Golden Gate bridge. I kept calling it the San Francisco bridge (I don't know why) and it was driving Michael crazy. One would think the Golden Gate is pretty easy to remember.
We didn't hit the real touristy area of the wharf, but we did catch a ride on a cable car.
Look at the fancy tickets you get when you board down by the wharf. They just tear off a small section on the end and then it becomes a souvenir postcard.
We ended up in the middle of the car and really had no view, but we rode to the end of the line and I was right across the street from my favorite Nordstrom! I shopped for a few hours and Michael went somewhere - I'm not really sure, I was focused on one thing only.
We went to an early dinner at a really tasty Mexican food place that was part of a 'Best of' list on City Search. I never really know about these kind of lists, but we hit a home run. After table side guac with fresh house made mini corn tortillas, scallops, chile relleno, steak topped with chile and goat cheese and churros filled with caramel cream sitting on top of dulce de leche ice cream we headed back to the hotel.
The hotel had an awesome restaurant and bar on the 46th floor - what a view of the city. Some friends of Michael's drove in from Sacramento and we had a fun night drinking and dancing on top of the city.
Saturday the rain started. I had my rain hat, rain coat, and Crocs - I thought I was all weather girl. I was wrong. Eventually everything was soaked and we were pretty miserable. If we look shiny in the photo below it's because we're wet! We left at half time, and by the 4th quarter we were warm and dry in front of the t.v. in the hotel room.
Another one of Michael's friends from Sacramento invited us to a tail gate. It was a great tail gate! They even had someone preparing bananas foster - with the flambe! And right across from us was Adam Duritz (lead singer of the Counting Crows). While not all UCB fans are nice, this was a great crowd and they didn't mind letting a few USC fans get a good pre-game meal.
The Crocs were great in the rain. My feet were wet, but not soggy and the traction was solid. I didn't lose my footing at any point during the evening.
The rain stopped by Sunday morning, in time for us to head home and not get soaked on the way to the BART station.
See you in two years San Francisco!
