3. Transportation – walk, bike, bus, trolley, muni metro, BA metro, and airplanes. Lots of ways to get around and we did it all! I had fun being in walking distance to many fun places to shop! We were by some awesome malls and stores I don't get to very often so that was a fun bonus! On Sunday we walked to church – I think I saw more homeless people in San Francisco than I ever saw in NYC. We walked down a rough street about 2 miles to get there and I was happy when we made it for many reasons. Biking along all of the Piers, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and into Sausalito was probably my all time favorite thing we did! I LOVED it very much – it was a beautiful day, a challenging ride for me with all of those hills and 30 miles, and gorgeous ocean views! The trolley was a bit anti climatic because it was broken down for half of the ride and it was pricey. I'm glad we did it to say we rode on a trolley, but other than than – eh?! The bus was nice to hop on and off of for $2 – saved my legs a few times. 🙂 I sat by a cute little Chinese boy on one stop who made my day. He was a friendly, whistling, singing six year old. I was on my own to get back to the airport from the city and I had quite an adventure. Stephen walked me to the metro and advised me to get on the yellow line and stay on it all the way to SFO (the airport). Well I wasn't aware that there are two different trains- a muni train for around San Fran, and BART, a train that runs to Oakland and other larger cities near San Francisco. I was suppose to get on BART, but ended up on the yellow line of the muni. I realized my mistake half way through the ride and made friends with a nice guy who helped me know where to get off and transfer to BART. I did so and got on BART – the yellow line. BUT apparently there is a yellow line train that bi-passes the SFO stop – that would have been nice to know! So I got to ride to the end of that line and make another friend who helped me get to the final yellow line train that eventually got me to the airport. Phew! That was a long & interesting morning. The airport was easy to navigate through and I luckily made my flight on time. Let's just say it was an educational adventure, that I'm glad I gave myself plenty of time to go on.
4. Food – Let me just say here, that having been married for close to 19 years, we totally get each other's eating habits and desires. Neither of us are adventurous – strike off all of that cuisine first off! I'm a little leery of fishy tastes or dirty floors & tables, Stephen is a little worried about pricey and fancy. So we stay out of those areas and generally have good luck and we ate well! Fist night it was at Chipotle – a great fast food mexican restaurant. 10 stars from Stephen. Next night we ate at In-and-Out Burger. We loved it and don't care that we will most likely be judged for not eating clam chowder at fisherman's wharf. My only complaint is there were way too many people, which lends itself to dirty. haha 😉 We also topped the night off sharing a yummy ice cream waffle bowl at Ghirardell on the Pier, very chocolately = good. Next on our hit list was the roof top Cheesecake factory at Union Square. So delicious, classsy, and filling = home run! Again lots and lots of people. We snuck over to chipotle for chips and gaucomole for an evening snack. Last night I was there we headed back down to the Pier on the trolley for Boudin. The sourdough factory. We learned about why San Francisco has a special "sour" to their sour dough and why it is so famous. We saw them making and baking bread, and we smelled it too! After that we endulged in a San Francisco tomato, basil, and garlic sour dough pizza and also shared chili in a sourdough bread bowl. Woah – its a good thing we walked a lot and went on a bike ride to work a little of all of that good stuff off!
5. VM World – Stephen was so funny and every day he came home from the convention he would produce his "spoils" from the day and take a photo. He is definitely addicted to getting free stuff – especially t shirts. He beat his record from last year and is well past 50 shirts. I told him that if he gets the same exact tshirt it doesn't count to make it more of a challenge for him. I think that we may have to give shirts out to trick or treaters this year.
Well, it was a great few days and I am grateful I had the opportunity to go and have some great moments with Stephen! Until next time…I'll tuck these thoughts away and have fond memories.