Days 11 and 12 June 17-18

Day 11 and 12 – San Francisco   June 17-18

We stopped in a quaint town (Oakdale) about an hour from where we had just stayed so we could gas up, get some groceries, and get a car wash. Boy, was our van filthy! From there it was only another 3 hours to San Francisco. I was expecting to see lush landscapes along the way, but that was only the case where we saw crops being grown. We were tempted to stop a few times when we saw fruit and vegetable stands along the way, but we were determined to get to our destination with enough daylight left to explore the city fully.

We were mesmerized by the city and the harbor as we crossed the Bay Bridge. The toll to cross was $15!  Welcome to San Francisco.  The GPS helped us locate our RV Park right across the street from Candlestick Park. Boy are the roads confusing though. There were a maze of freeway entrances, exits, and side roads every few hundred yards with very little warning ahead of time. At times we were zigzagging from the far right to the far left lanes trying to maneuver our way to follow the directions correctly. Stressful. The RV Park was the only one in San Fran. It was basically a big parking lot with a building in the center housing the office, showers, and laundry. $100 a night for a small space in the lot. I already knew that California was not going to be cheap, but oh my!

We unhitched our camper without even setting it up so we could head directly in to the city. Once again we were zipping around lanes and then getting stuck in our first traffic jam since leaving Georgia. We found a metered parking spot at the edge of China Town and asked a nice woman to direct us toward Fisherman’s Wharf. She said it was about a 10 block walk, but parking was free at this location after 6. So, we put $3 in the meter to last us until then and began to explore. Little Italy was just one block over and a restaurant I was very much interested in going to (The Stinking Rose) was just one block away. The kids were less than enthused at the menu, since everything was heavily fused with garlic, so we went searching elsewhere. Ed was enthralled with the Italian delis, cars, motorcycles, and people speaking the language. I think he was Italian in his former life. J We decided to stay and have a small bite to eat at Caffe Greco, especially since Ed was not ready to leave that ambience. We sat at a table on the sidewalk, so we could people-watch which ended up being quite windy and cool, but he Panninis that we shared were delicious and enough to tide us over until dinner.  

We hiked down to the wharf, taking many photos of the views along the way, of both the water, the city, and the homes crammed side-by-side on the hilly streets. Once we got down to the piers we were all pretty chilled. A few of us put our hoods on, the wind was blowing cold and pretty briskly, but thankfully the sun was at least shining. This is when my mom called and we wished each other a happy birthday. She also told me that she had fallen off of a ladder a couple of days before, trying to trim the fronds off her palm tree. She did not break any bones, thank goodness, but her ribs were bruised quite badly. She stayed in the hospital overnight for observation; they were not sure at the time if she had punctured her lungs. She had plans to fly out to Washington to join us for part of the time that we would be there, to see my brother, and friends left behind after moving away. She was in terrible pain and wasn’t sure if she was going to keep her plans or not. It was disturbing to hear that she was hurt and that I didn’t have contact with sooner her to know what had happened. I’m glad it wasn’t any worse.

We walked along the waterfront and then found a directory. When we saw that Bubba Gump was at the end of Pier 39, we headed that way. We love Forrest Gump! Many tourists were milling around the shops and the decks overlooking the water. We came across a sea lion observation area where they were lying about sunning themselves on docks not far from the pier. We only had to wait 15 minutes for a table, right beside the window and the magnificent vista. Everyone had a delicious dinner of shrimp and/or fish.  I had a fruity drink that came in a souvenir glass that lights up. Fun! The waiter quizzed us on trivia from the movie and arranged a birthday song/dessert. I’m glad we were in the far corner of the restaurant. I wasn’t embarrassed too badly. After dinner we explored the shops and bought some t-shirts as a remembrance.

We were full and tired, so we made our way back up the streets to where we had parked. We arrived at our RV park in the dark, but it was well lit. We had any problems setting up, not because of the lack of light, but because of the strong winds. Every time the security poles were set in place, another wind gust would hit and blow the canopy another direction and knock a pole out of position. They would clang to the cement and the noise reverberated around the campground. Each windy or unlevel place we had been before, had made the poles slightly bent and the lips on the top of each, which were supposed to grip onto the canopy edges, became bent as well and unable to grip well. While they weren’t necessary for our safety, it still made me uneasy knowing that they weren’t all working properly. It’s on the list to have checked when we get to Washington. But, what we couldn’t ignore was the squeaking brakes. If they were defective, it could put all of us in danger. That would be on tomorrow’s to-do list.

Along with the winds, as the sun disappeared the temperature dropped. We each wore long pants or jeans to bed. I even wore my sweatshirt and hoodie. Even with all of our blankets and comforters we had with us, it was still a little chilly in our camper. We decided to put the toaster oven on with the door open to warm the air. We would keep it on until I was done writing my blog for the night. It wouldn’t be wise to have it on while we were all sleeping. I woke a couple of times during the night. I thought it was a rain storm, but upon opening the camper door to run to the restroom, I discovered it was still just extremely windy. Brrr. Hard to believe that just days before we had 100+ degree weather!

Ed woke hours before the rest of us, worried about our brakes. He typed Goodyear into the GPS and arrived by 7am. The mechanic there said that they were too busy to have our van checked out, but he referred him to another repair shop that probably could take care of it. Ed had some coffee at the McDonald’s next door while waiting for them to open at 7:30. Turns out that the rotors were worn out (darn mountain roads!). They were replaced along with the pads, and the tires were rotated as well for good measure. A few hundred dollars and an hour later, the van drove like new again. Ed returned before any of us woke up. Since neither of us slept well, not sure if it was the wind, the cold, or the worry, and because we really loved this city, we decided to veer from our original plan and stay an extra day. We were also probably swayed by the fact that our next destination, the Redwoods State Park, was forecast to be cool and rainy.

We took our time getting ready for the day knowing that we did not have to leave. The kids were happy to just have down time for a while, so Ed and I headed into the city on our own. We slowly traveled to Union Square, traversing the one-way streets and navigating around the construction. We had difficulty finding a parking spot, and didn’t want to spend the $3 for every 15 minutes that the lots were  could feed the meters instead. $3.50 an hour isn’t cheap, but it beat the alternative. Ed and I walked around, looking at the shops, listening to the street musicians, and then grabbed some Starbucks and an outdoor table. It was fun to just sit back, sip on our coffees, and enjoy the street scenes, like people hopping on and off the cable cars in the road beside us.

We figured it was about time to go back to the kids; they probably would start getting restless soon. Once Ed and I got back to the Candlestick park area (mostly Chinese and Mexican establishments), we decided to stop and get a few grocery items. We passed by a Chinese café and the smell pulled us in. We had some Lo Mein and vegetables. Very authentic. Very good. We then went across the street to La Loma Market to pick up some black beans, rice, and shredded cheese for another meal. 

The kids were done watching their movie and were ready to join us once we got back. We circled around the city blocks several times and settled on a spot several blocks from the cable car, hoping that we could get on a get to Fisherman’s Wharf again from there. Only $4.25 for the parking meter, since that would get us to 6:00. We asked a few people to make sure that we were going the right direction (we were). It was just a longer walk than what we predicted from looking at the sightseeing map. We found the famous SF Cable Cars and discovered there was a long line. But because it’s so iconic, we decided to be typical tourists and ride it. It was neat to see how once the cable car came to the end of the track where we stood, the operators got out and rotated the circular track to allow the car to head back the direction it just came from. $6 for a one-way ticket got us just a couple of blocks from Ghiradelli Square, another place we wanted to visit. We stopped in the famous store and sampled their chocolate (caramel flavored, yum!) and indulged in a Cable Car Rocky Road Sundae for all of us to share. Dessert before dinner. This is what happens on vacation, I guess.

Ed volunteered to go get our van, since we had parked quite a distance away and we weren’t planning on taking the cable car back. He left us at the entrance to the Holiday Inn. There was an outdoor shopping mart around the corner, so the kids and I browsed the shops as we knew it would take some time for Ed to return. About a half hour later we were standing back at the Holiday Inn without Ed in sight. I tried calling him a couple of times, but it went directly to voicemail. Oh, dear. I remember hearing his phone battery making noise earlier. About 10 minutes later, I got a call from him. He had turned his phone off to conserve his battery. He had gotten completely turned around (typical!) and had headed the total opposite direction from where we had parked. He finally stopped to ask for directions (not easy for him to do), and was now only a few blocks away from our parking spot. The kids and I had gone into the lobby of the hotel since it had gotten cooler and windier, again.  Another 15 minutes or so went by, and still no Ed. He called a few minutes later and said that there were too many Holiday Inns in the area and couldn’t find ours. He found a place to park by Ghirardelli Square, just two blocks from where we were. The kids and I quickly made our way to him. He was frustrated with his delay and worried that we were cold and hungry. As we started driving away, we noticed that it was already past 8:30. By the time we would get back to the camper and cook dinner it would probably be 9:30 before we sat down to eat. At this same time, we passed the Little Italy district and new plans were made. We drove a few blocks and found a spot to park. We looked at the menus posted outside each of the restaurants and chose Calzone’s. We ordered three Italian (very thin crust) pizzas (four cheese, margherita, bbq chicken). They were delicious, albeit pricey. Even though we just had ice water and nothing else, I think the bill came close to $60. To be expected here.

No one but me knew how to find the van. Our walk back through China Town was not the same circuitous route we took to get there. Once we returned to our camper, we didn’t stay up too late. We have been on a pretty busy pace and we were feeling it.