Day 12: San Francisco (2)

San Fran is completely amazing. I'm sunburned. I don't care. We did so much today it's hard to even comprehend. One thing is for sure, when you are in a city for the first time, money seems to fly out the window, though so far everything has been worth it, just a tad overpriced.

The days started off with a wonderful breakfast at a diner around the corner from our hotel. Our first move may seem like a very silly thing - we took a double decker bus tour. Now I'm not generally a fan of screaming "tourist!" from atop of a ridiculously huge red bus, but it does a loop of all the places you want to see, which was perfect for us especially since Michaela had to cram it all into one day. First stop was the Painted Ladies.

Then the bus took us across the Golden Gate bridge. Now for those unfamiliar with San Fran's climate, here is a good way to look at it. All over the news last night was the huge heat wave coming into the area in and around San Fran. Temperatures were expected to reach triple digits throughout the weekend. San Francisco just barely got above 70 degrees, which in itself was unseasonably warm. The weather in the city is consistently around 60 year round. So, driving across the bridge on the top of a double decker bus was frightfully windy and down right freezing. What's crazy is that the minute we reached the other side you could feel the temperature instantly get warmer. The experience was actually really fun and I got to take a kick ass picture of the bridge.

I was glad for this gorgeous day because the infamous fog was so thick when Michaela and I arrived, we could barely see the bridge at all. We have been so friggin lucky this entire trip. The tour then brought us to the Presidio, then to Ghirardelli Square where, yes, we bought chocolate. Mary and I had some clam chowder in a bread bowl at Boulin, the original makers of sourdough bread. Fantastic.

We finished the day with going to Alcatraz. Now, I have to take responsibility for the odyssey we had to undertake in getting tickets. I foolishly assumed that going to Alcatraz would be like going to the statue of liberty - you just show up and get on a boat. Not at all the case. The day before we arrived in San Fran I looked in my guidebook to discover that not only do you need to buy tickets, you need to buy them in advance as they often sell out. Well guess what - they did. Luckily we were able to acquire three tickets second hand from a vendor for way too much money, but such is life. The three of us were able to see it - I found it totally fascinating.

I have many more pictures. The top is the main row of cells the prisoners referred to as Broadway. The lower is a solitary confinement cell - they would shut the big green door and turn the lights out. Yikes! One thing I found particularly striking is how Alcatraz provides the best views of San Francisco. It wasn't just the walls and the bars and the maximum security - everyday the inmates were reminded of the lives they were not permitted to live. Freedom, life, substance were all in view, but just out of their reach.

After such a huge day, we had to say farewell to Michaela. As much as she wanted to stay with us and see more of the city, she was glad to return home and stop living her life out of a car/suitcase. I am so so grateful for the company and support she provided me on this trip. We traveled 4449 miles and spent 96 hours in my car (80 of those were driving). I surely could not have done it without her. Thanks, Mich - look forward to our next adventure! :-)

Tomorrow Mary and I will be spending the entire day in the Castro - it's the pride parade and everything that goes with it!

Quote Clarification

Apparently my anecdote of the day that involved Michaela's concern for her flight implied that she is afraid of flying - this is not the case. Michaela was not worried about flying, but rather about being bored and cooped up on a plane for the 6 hour flight home. She tells me she gets impatient on the one hour flight she takes from Virginia to MA. I hope that with all we did on Fri & Sat in San Fran combined with the previous 10 days of travel she was able to sleep through her flight. Let us know, Mich!!