San Fran Marathon

No no we didn’t run a marathon silly! But we did a TON of stuff for our day in San Francisco. We woke up, Bri took the car for an oil change (since we’ve gone over 3,000 miles) and we all got ready to leave. When we got out the door, Aunt Paula called 511. What is 511 you ask? Oh yes it’s the most miraculous thing in the world. You call, say where you’re leaving from and where you’re going and it tells you the traffic!! NY NEEDS THIS!! So we got into San Francisco and parked the car and walked down to the pier to catch our ferry to Alcatraz! We did an audio tour so they give you a really cool necklace with headphones to wear.

The tour is really interesting! The narrator basically walks you through the place telling you where to go and where to stop then gives you some information about what you’re looking at. Also, there are some ex-inmates that are telling stories too so it’s really neat! After we finished the tour, we had some sandwiches and hopped back on the ferry. We walked over to Pier 39 and did a little shopping and Brian found another noodle!

Then we went over to look at the seals. They just hang out on the docks and lay all over each other, it looks soooo comfy! Sometimes they get nasty and start barking at each other but eventually just lay back down… what a life!

We kept on walking over to Fisherman’s Wharf where we stopped at this place that has this amazing sourdough bread. They make it into all these fun shapes and animals, I got a small turtle with raisins for the eyes.

I turned him on his back so I didn’t have to stare into his raisin eyes while I devoured him. Oh don’t worry I shared with everyone else too (a little)! We stopped at the cable car turnaround and saw the massive line of people waiting for a ride and then we just kept on walking. Why all the walking you ask? Oh well that brings me to our next stop… Ghirardelli. You can actually watch the chocolate being mixed and it is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen! I actually took a 10 second video of it on our flip and decided when I’m sad I will watch this. If anyone needs to see, let me know and I can arrange a viewing. So after watching the most beautiful thing in the world we ordered… I got the “cookie on the bottom”. So they take a half of their chocolate chip cookie, warm it up, 2 scoops of ice cream (I did cookie dough to complete the package), their ridiculously thick amazing chocolate sauce and whipped cream. When they brought it over to me, it almost brought a tear to my eye … but then it got better. I tried to get a spoonful of the ice cream and melted ice cream overflowed from the glass because of the heat from the cookie! Impressed? Wait… by the time I finished the ice cream, I was wondering how there was still so much cookie left, after all, it was only half a cookie. We went up to the front and that’s when I figured it out. This cookie was no ordinary chocolate chip cookie, it was like twice as thick as any cookie has ever tried to be! Awwwwwwesome!!

By now Aunt Susan had met up with us and we got to the car to finish our marathon San Francisco tour! Oh and I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet that Aunt Paula is an amazing tour guide! She seems to know everything about San Francisco there is to know… and then some. So we went around the city and saw Coit Tower (which is really cool because it was on Amazing Race!), Lombard St (crookedest street) and the Painted Ladies (aka the houses from the intro of Full House).
We drove through the park and got the abbreviated tour, saw a windmill, the buffalo – that’s right, they have Buffalo in San Francisco! Real ones, not like the painted ones! Then we headed down to the beach to catch a glimpse of the sunset through the fog.

All this running around can make you hungry! So we met up with Jeannine (Brian’s other cousin) and her boyfriend Dash for dinner at Kam’s. This is a reeeeeeally good Chinese restaurant and since we had a bunch of people we just ordered a ton of dishes and tried everything (yes even me). I know, I know you’re thinking this could be messy but no no, they thought of everything at this place! A lazy susan sits right smack in the middle of the table- brilliant!!

When there was no more room for anyone to eat anymore, we went over to the Beach Chalet which has a restaurant and bar… oh and all of these mosaics and murals “depicting everyday life in San Francisco”. If anyone can tell us what is going on in this “everyday” occurrence, please, please do tell. I tried everything…

So we had a drink at the Chalet, then headed over to Aunt Susan’s house so she could show off her party hosting skills. Not only did she have last week’s episode of Jersey Shore on DVR, but she served drinks with little fun things on the straws! Mine had a pineapple, I took it home for the scrapbook!  Oh and did I mention the yummy mojitos that Uncle John made, were made using fresh squeezed lime juice?!? I tried to help… tried being the operative word, I won’t be purchasing a juicer anytime soon. We hung out at Aunt Susan’s house for a while, watched JS (I think Uncle John & Aunt Paula are addicted), watched some interesting youtube videos and eventually I was lame and fell asleep. In my defense, my watch said 3 am and it was a very busy day! It really was a great day though, we’re so glad we were able to spend time with everyone since we don’t get to see them too often. We had so much fun, we were exhausted! So back home for the night!

This morning we woke up, packed the car and went out to breakfast with Uncle John & Aunt Paula before we hit the road. We went to this place called Brown Sugar which was a little hidden gem in this completely industrial area of Oakland. The décor was so cool and the food was amazing. Brian got the waffles & chicken and I stuck with just the waffle and of course breakfast potatoes (that were off the hoooook). Apparently I should’ve gotten the chicken though because he says it was awesome! I was happy with my decision though. The waffles are made with cornmeal and even though they’re in the shape of a Belgian waffle, they don’t taste like it at all. They have such a different texture, they’re crispy and lighter. AND they’re served with some crazy butter and apple cider syrup. You can order maple syrup for an extra $2.00 but you just shouldn’t for any reason, trust me! So we had a fabulous time in the San Francisco area, thanks so much to Uncle John & Aunt Paula for housing us for this leg of our amazing race!

And then it was back in the car. In the interest of time we decided against the coastal route and took the freeway all the way down. We hit a little traffic but nothing like NY and we made it by 8 which is about 8 ½ hours which is like nothing for us now! We stopped at a strategically placed view point to watch a gorgeous sunset. We’re staying inside the Padre’s stadium (thank you Kelly!) and they have a game tonight so hopefully we’ll get to see a little of that! Then we’re going to head to the gaslamp district to get some food and hopefully continue our streak of amazing meals!