Day 2 - Exploring San Francisco
We woke up in our lovely Best Western hotel at like 6:30am because it felt like 9:30 to us! While the hotel was absolutely gorgeous, and completely free (thanks to discover card points we've been saving for a long time that we turned in for gift cards), it did not serve breakfast. So we headed out to IHOP down the street.
Good prices, good coffee, great food. And then it was time to explore the city!
It was cooooold. And rainy.
Look how low the clouds are - you can't see the top of the city buildings.
Next was Pier 39 and the lovely sea lions! They were hilarious. They were so loud, pushing each other off the docks, basking in the sun, raising their heads like they were kings of the castle, and super cute.
While my animal lover thought the sea lions were so cool, she was equally enthralled with a pigeon. Yes, a pigeon. It's a good thing we flew 2,817 miles so she could play with a rat with wings. Fortunately she didn't touch it, but she did manage to get LOADS of pigeon poop on her sweater. A sweater that she had to re-wear the whole rest of the trip. Yeah. She's a normal kid. :-)
Can you see the Golden Gate bridge in the distance behind the clouds and fog?
Time to round the corner and ride the two story merry go round. My big kid is so old now that this visit she could ride by herself and we didn't have to pay for two, only one! She rode FOUR times and needed to switch animals each time. It was the highlight of her day. :-)
On Pier 39, we sat and chilled on some benches. The whole pier is gorgeous, but we had to take a picture with these flowers. So lovely.
Okay, I have to admit that I've never had a churro. Mostly because I had a donut-vomitting-incident when I was younger and the smell of them makes me nauseated. As I get older, the powdered sugar outweighs the bad memories, but I'm trying NOT to make myself like them since my love of Dr. Pepper keeps me in my size 14 jeans. So, I haven't tried a churro before because it's basically a donut from another country. Man. It was good - the cinnamon and sugar were so delightful - I will definitely be making these myself one day. You're all invited!
My mom and I were heading to lunch (yes, there are a lot of pictures/memories around food, a girl's gotta eat!), and we knew Kara wouldn't be up for the restaurant we wanted to go to, so we took her to subway. Eat fresh! She ate and ate and ate. Then finished the rest for dinner later that night! When she had her fill, we went to our restaurant....
We were headed to Boudin bread factory! Here's the working silo that is filled with flour daily.
Here's the display window where they're making little turtles out of bread.
These baskets carried the bread straight from the oven to the restaurant next door (where we had lunch) where they make the sandwiches.
Look. At all. The bread. Yum. You know that sourdough bread smells amazing. And, it's my mom's favorite. Partially because it was her mom's favorite.
Soup in a bread bowl! My mom and I discussed the people who eat the soup then throw away the bowl without eating any bread. We don't understand those people. We compared it to the people who get a taco salad in a giant tortilla, then don't eat the tortilla. Baffling.
Here we are! The factory is right behind me - we watched them bake while we ate.
Kara already ate, so she was just entertaining us while we ate. :-)
As we walked through the city, we discussed riding the cable cars again, but this time we were just going to see Lombard Street and come right back. When we got there, the line was very long. The sun came out and the day was very pretty and we decided not to waste the day standing in line for something we just did/saw 3 years ago. So, we snapped this picture:
Then we headed out to Ghirardelli Square.
This time we ate a cupcake from Kara's cupcakes. I'm telling you, we know how to live. When we got inside, I told the lady behind the counter, my daughter's name is Kara, SPELLED WITH A K! We were so excited to eat here. But she was not super excited. She wanted us to pick a cupcake and get out of her face. Oh well. :-)
Kara licked the frosting, and I ate the cupcake. It's a beautiful relationship, if you ask me.
Mom's cupcake was insanely rich with a sprinkle of sea salt on top. I didn't have a bite - she may have offered, but I've known her my whole life and know better than to take chocolate away from her. ;-)
Souvenirs! So cute!
Do you think Kara enjoyed the frosting?
Then we sat and watched Kara play around the fountain. The sun was warm, the day was lovely, the guitar player was playing the most beautiful music. Between all of that, the shops nearby for snacks, the delicious smells of food, the shopping, the fountain, etc, it reminded me so much of a piazza in Rome. They're all over and just like that. Absolutely delightful. We sat there and time stood still. I think we were there over an hour, I don't know and don't really care. It was the best part of the day. :-)
Kara checked back in with us, giving us kisses. Of course she does this because she loves us, but when she's really happy/excited, she gets super affectionate. So, we could tell she was enjoying the bliss that was our Ghirardelli Piazza as much as we were.
Next, it was dinner time. We haven't eaten in like, 2 hours, so it was certainly time! (Don't worry, we walked a TON and were nice and tired at night - and slept super well too.) 3 years ago we randomly selected this restaurant and loved it, so we went again this year on purpose. Kara played with her new toys we spent a fortune on while we ate.
Here's a picture of the bread delivered fresh from Boudin down the street. All restaurants serve it. Did I mention I like bread? I do. Bread. Yum.
Oh, the name of the restaurant is Cioppino's. I think it's pronounced choh-PEE-nohs. My sister's married name is Bracci, pronounced BRAH-chee, so I know these things. ;-)
After that, we were spent, had full bellies, and it felt like 10pm, so I headed back to the room to pack for the next day while the party animals I traveled with went back to look at the sea lions again.
We slept good and hard, but the construction next door woke us several times! Who does construction at midnight? And 3am? San Francisco does! Those tractors were right outside our window and dropped heavy things over and over. Disappointing. But the rooms were beautiful! And did I mention free?
Good prices, good coffee, great food. And then it was time to explore the city!
It was cooooold. And rainy.
Look how low the clouds are - you can't see the top of the city buildings.
Next was Pier 39 and the lovely sea lions! They were hilarious. They were so loud, pushing each other off the docks, basking in the sun, raising their heads like they were kings of the castle, and super cute.
2009:
2013:
While my animal lover thought the sea lions were so cool, she was equally enthralled with a pigeon. Yes, a pigeon. It's a good thing we flew 2,817 miles so she could play with a rat with wings. Fortunately she didn't touch it, but she did manage to get LOADS of pigeon poop on her sweater. A sweater that she had to re-wear the whole rest of the trip. Yeah. She's a normal kid. :-)
Can you see the Golden Gate bridge in the distance behind the clouds and fog?
Time to round the corner and ride the two story merry go round. My big kid is so old now that this visit she could ride by herself and we didn't have to pay for two, only one! She rode FOUR times and needed to switch animals each time. It was the highlight of her day. :-)
On Pier 39, we sat and chilled on some benches. The whole pier is gorgeous, but we had to take a picture with these flowers. So lovely.
Okay, I have to admit that I've never had a churro. Mostly because I had a donut-vomitting-incident when I was younger and the smell of them makes me nauseated. As I get older, the powdered sugar outweighs the bad memories, but I'm trying NOT to make myself like them since my love of Dr. Pepper keeps me in my size 14 jeans. So, I haven't tried a churro before because it's basically a donut from another country. Man. It was good - the cinnamon and sugar were so delightful - I will definitely be making these myself one day. You're all invited!
My mom and I were heading to lunch (yes, there are a lot of pictures/memories around food, a girl's gotta eat!), and we knew Kara wouldn't be up for the restaurant we wanted to go to, so we took her to subway. Eat fresh! She ate and ate and ate. Then finished the rest for dinner later that night! When she had her fill, we went to our restaurant....
( Is it me, or does she look strikingly like Michael?)
We were headed to Boudin bread factory! Here's the working silo that is filled with flour daily.
Here's the display window where they're making little turtles out of bread.
These baskets carried the bread straight from the oven to the restaurant next door (where we had lunch) where they make the sandwiches.
Look. At all. The bread. Yum. You know that sourdough bread smells amazing. And, it's my mom's favorite. Partially because it was her mom's favorite.
Soup in a bread bowl! My mom and I discussed the people who eat the soup then throw away the bowl without eating any bread. We don't understand those people. We compared it to the people who get a taco salad in a giant tortilla, then don't eat the tortilla. Baffling.
Here we are! The factory is right behind me - we watched them bake while we ate.
Kara already ate, so she was just entertaining us while we ate. :-)
As we walked through the city, we discussed riding the cable cars again, but this time we were just going to see Lombard Street and come right back. When we got there, the line was very long. The sun came out and the day was very pretty and we decided not to waste the day standing in line for something we just did/saw 3 years ago. So, we snapped this picture:
Then we headed out to Ghirardelli Square.
2009:
2013:
This time we ate a cupcake from Kara's cupcakes. I'm telling you, we know how to live. When we got inside, I told the lady behind the counter, my daughter's name is Kara, SPELLED WITH A K! We were so excited to eat here. But she was not super excited. She wanted us to pick a cupcake and get out of her face. Oh well. :-)
Kara licked the frosting, and I ate the cupcake. It's a beautiful relationship, if you ask me.
Mom's cupcake was insanely rich with a sprinkle of sea salt on top. I didn't have a bite - she may have offered, but I've known her my whole life and know better than to take chocolate away from her. ;-)
Souvenirs! So cute!
Do you think Kara enjoyed the frosting?
Then we sat and watched Kara play around the fountain. The sun was warm, the day was lovely, the guitar player was playing the most beautiful music. Between all of that, the shops nearby for snacks, the delicious smells of food, the shopping, the fountain, etc, it reminded me so much of a piazza in Rome. They're all over and just like that. Absolutely delightful. We sat there and time stood still. I think we were there over an hour, I don't know and don't really care. It was the best part of the day. :-)
Kara checked back in with us, giving us kisses. Of course she does this because she loves us, but when she's really happy/excited, she gets super affectionate. So, we could tell she was enjoying the bliss that was our Ghirardelli Piazza as much as we were.
Next, it was dinner time. We haven't eaten in like, 2 hours, so it was certainly time! (Don't worry, we walked a TON and were nice and tired at night - and slept super well too.) 3 years ago we randomly selected this restaurant and loved it, so we went again this year on purpose. Kara played with her new toys we spent a fortune on while we ate.
Here's a picture of the bread delivered fresh from Boudin down the street. All restaurants serve it. Did I mention I like bread? I do. Bread. Yum.
Oh, the name of the restaurant is Cioppino's. I think it's pronounced choh-PEE-nohs. My sister's married name is Bracci, pronounced BRAH-chee, so I know these things. ;-)
After that, we were spent, had full bellies, and it felt like 10pm, so I headed back to the room to pack for the next day while the party animals I traveled with went back to look at the sea lions again.
We slept good and hard, but the construction next door woke us several times! Who does construction at midnight? And 3am? San Francisco does! Those tractors were right outside our window and dropped heavy things over and over. Disappointing. But the rooms were beautiful! And did I mention free?
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