Today we got to see some of the natural beauty of San Francisco!
We began the morning with a delight full breakfast at the Waterfront Bakery... where we both got a ham & cheese croissant and cappuccino... Wicked good!!!
Our first adventure began, once again, on the double decker buses, riding down to union square to catch the Park bus. Our first tour guide today was a young girl... a 4th generation San Franciscan and really knew her stuff. She lived thru the '89 earthquake and told us that we actually lived thru a 3.2 quake yesterday morning at 730am... COOL!! She also told us that, back during the 1906 quake that burnt down the city, one of the only buildings to survive was the whiskey speak easy & distillery... all the churches and schools burned and 250,000 people made homeless... but the fire department willingly accepted a bribe from the whiskey house owners... 3 quarts of whiskey who helped save the distillery... hense why its one of the only building to make it thru that devastating earthquake.
Once we got onto the Park loop bus, we had a guide that was a younger version of Rachael Ray... sound effects and everything! This bus brought us down to the Golden Gate Park... one of the most beautiful parks we have ever seen! We began in the Japanese Tea Gardens. It was exquisite! In addition to the beautiful architecture, the landscaping was breathtaking! We finished our tea garden visit with a delightful cup of sancha and oolong teas... freshly brewed!
The Botanical Gardens were next... where you can walk thru various landscapes and vegetation from around the world... We went thru New Zealand and Australia first, in honor of our Kiwi friends we made at the airport!
We finished our visit to the Golden Gate Park with a ride up to the top of the observation deck... where we got panoramic views of San Fran and the gardens... it was beautiful! However, despite the stunning natural beauty of the city, I think I'm terribly allergic to something here! Its kinda crazy...
We had to leave the beautiful gardens in time to make it back to the double decker in time to catch the Sausalito bus... but not before we gr abed some fantastic... and cheap... King Of Thai food over in the Italian section of the city, North Beach (no beach here, though). Our great guide from yesterday, Nathan, had said it was a must! All meals, $5... all beers, $2... we walked in and Jocko got some chicken satay, and I had a pad thai... both prepared fresh and were absolutely amazing!! We got the food to go... and yes... I ate my pad thai (power walking down Columbus Ave so that we wouldn't miss the Sausalit bus) with chopsticks!! We ate and burned off the calories simultaneously! One of many great walks we had today!
Once onboard our next tour, we headed off for the Golden Gate bridge... Jocko got some awesome pics from the bus, then we got to stop at the park and take some more. This area is where The Babe was stationed when he was serving in the US Army back in '62-63. It was pretty cool to know where "the legend" of Carver spent time in his hay day!! It really is breath taking. Now, although the Golden Gate is the most photographed monument in San Fran, she is the pretty sister to the work horse bridge down further... the Bay Bridge... which more than quadruple the amount of people go over each day... and is 8 miles long... vs the 1.7 of the Golden Gate. The Bay Bridge has 4 of those beautiful towers, not just two... and in fees... the Bay Bridge Bridge brings in over a million dollars in tolls each day (200,000 car use it every day!!) vs only about a 1/2 million dollars taken in from the Golden Gate each day (with double the fee to travel!!)
Sausalito was sleepy and beautiful!! Marin County (this region we're in) is the richest county, per capita, in the US... and Sausalito is no exception. This is where the song "sitting on the dock of the bay" was written... got to see the dock! The downtown area actually reminded us of downtown Plymouth at mid-summer. There was a friendly hustle of tourists and tour buses, but still quaint and beautiful! One of the coolest things... or should I say warmest things... is that the temp was about 15-20 degrees warmer... just right across the bay!!! You could actually feel the air change as you go over the bridge! A lot warmer, and a bit more humid too!
Back in San Francisco, we decided to take the long, steep climb to the top of Coit Tower. The tower actually intercepts Lombard St (curviest street in the world) because it is a thick quarry that they couldn't blast thru... thus, build homes into the rock and put a lookout tower at the top. It was a tough climb... literally "breath taking!" But, a great sense of accomplishment!We go amazing views from Coit Tower atop the hill. The craziest part is that the homes along the staircase do not have driveways... they have to climb this steep staircase to get home each day... wow!
After our climb, Pier 23 was our next stop!! We were soooooooo excited about this place!! It was on Diners, Drive-ins & Dive's... and all the tour guides mentioned it too... but it was a bit of a disappointment :( it wasn't bad at all... I had the fish taco that Guy had on the show... and Jocko had a cheeseburger (the bacon wrapped duck was taken off the menu after the show aired)... Neither one was fantastic though... just ok... but thats OK... we would have been really sad if we missed it.
Our final destination for the day was a MUST!!! It was the reason we decided to take this roadtrip in the first place... While watching "best thing I ever ate" on the Food Network, one of the places they talked about was this place called Humphrey Slocombs Ice Cream... where they made Prosciutto Ice Cream!! We saw that and decided that we NEEDED to take a roadtrip based on food... and here we are!! Well, Humphrey Slocombs is in the Mission Districk, which is known for its violence and tough neighborhoods... great...
We tried to figure out a public transit way to get there... nothing safe... at least not for a tourist... then we were going to get a taxi... couldn't find an empty one... thats when our last power walk of the day happened... power walked all the way down the Embarcadero, back to the hotel... to grab the car!! Thank goodness for GPS!!! We made it there in plenty of time and got ourselves some crazy ice cream!! Check out their crazy menu on their website!! They only have select flavors for each week... and we were able to taste all the weekly flavors... finally settling on Banana Pecan for Jocko... and a scoop each of Malted dulce de leche and Schezwan Strawberry for me! It was AMAZING!!! Made up for Pier 23's disappointing dinner...
On our way home, we HAD to drive down Lombard St (remember... curviest street in the world!!!) It was awesome!!! Got it on video... gotta love the iPhone 4!! Jocko did a fabulous job driving down... turn... after turn... after turn...
What a fun day!! We got so much done!! Gonna miss San Fran, but excited to set off on our trip down rt 1 early tomorrow morning! Make sure to check out our pics on FlickR... Jocko's taken some really, really great shots!!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
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Tuesday, June 29, 2010
First Day in San Francisco
Wow!! What a day!! We certainly made up for missing our first day in the city by become the quintacential tourists today!
After a short, yet refreshing, night's sleep, we were up and at 'em... having our first Californian meal at Joanie's Diner... which is across the street from our hotel. We each had AMAZING breakfast burritos... Jocko had a charizo burrito, and I had a veggitarian one - which had avocado... they were absolutely delish!!!
After breakfast, we made our way down to tourist office and got a sweet deal on a 3 day, unlimited riding pass for the double decker tour busses, and tickets to Alcatrez. Our city tour on the double decker followed... Nathan was our tour guide... a young, punky, wize-ass kid... hilariously funny & bruttally honest... GREAT GUIDE!! What a beautiful city! From the architecture to the cultural diversity, to the opulance... we learned soooo much!!! For example, although the city is only 45 miles square, it had eighty-some-odd Starbucks, and a houndred and some-odd Walgreens... they are literaly on every corner! We also learned that the world famous sea lions of San Francisco arrived unexpectedly and unwelcomed into the piers just after the 1989 earthquake... and they haven't been able to get rid of them since! Theres roughly 300 at any given time, sunning themselves on the rafts... and about 600 that make San Fran's Pier 39 their home... CRAZY!!!
After our great city tour, we strolled down to the piers to check out Fisherman's Wharf... had a nice bowl of clam chowder in bread bowls for lunch at #9 FW... saw the antique arcade... then continued on to Pier 39 to see the shops & sea lions. Finally, we made our way to pier 31, which is where the ONLY Alcatrez tour of the rock leaves from. It was absolutly, possitively AMAZING!! What a cold, sad, historic place!! If you ever come out, you NEED to do this! The tour is given by listening to an audio tour from an old guard, heard through ear phones. It was phenominal! Very moving, very sad... very real!!
Our afternoon ended with another ride on the double decker... this time it was for the evening view of the city, and followed a different route. Our tour guide wasn't very good this time... and some ass who was a know-it-all, and apparently interviewing for a guide possition soon, sat behind us and RE-narrated most of the tour... very abnoxious... but he didn't say the whole tour... thank the lord! One of the coolest things we saw on this tour was the opening scene from Full House - the street they lived on, its called the seven sisters... with a breath taking view of the city behind it. We also drove thru Chinatown as well as Japantown, and got to see Nob Hill... very cool!
One thing we didn't realize about the city was how cold it gets at night. Although the tour was great and we got to see and learn about some really interesting parts of the city... we FROZE!!! The weather during the day today was cool and dry and absolutley BEAUTIFUL!!!!(A welcomed change from the sweaty weather we had yesterday in Boston...) it felt like a New England mid-Ocotber day... but tonight... FREEZING!!! haha!!
To warm up, we took advise from our first tour guide, and ate at an amazing place called Scoma's... unbelievable sea food!! Great wine!! Kind of reminded me of the No Name restaruant in Boston... pictures of all the famous people who have come to eat there since it opened in 1965. Jocko got a lamb dish and went with a scampi type dish... both excellent!
Well, after this novel I just wrote... you can see, we had great day in our new favorite city... the city by the Bay!! Looking forward to Sausalito, Golden Gate & Chinatown tomorrow...
After a short, yet refreshing, night's sleep, we were up and at 'em... having our first Californian meal at Joanie's Diner... which is across the street from our hotel. We each had AMAZING breakfast burritos... Jocko had a charizo burrito, and I had a veggitarian one - which had avocado... they were absolutely delish!!!
After breakfast, we made our way down to tourist office and got a sweet deal on a 3 day, unlimited riding pass for the double decker tour busses, and tickets to Alcatrez. Our city tour on the double decker followed... Nathan was our tour guide... a young, punky, wize-ass kid... hilariously funny & bruttally honest... GREAT GUIDE!! What a beautiful city! From the architecture to the cultural diversity, to the opulance... we learned soooo much!!! For example, although the city is only 45 miles square, it had eighty-some-odd Starbucks, and a houndred and some-odd Walgreens... they are literaly on every corner! We also learned that the world famous sea lions of San Francisco arrived unexpectedly and unwelcomed into the piers just after the 1989 earthquake... and they haven't been able to get rid of them since! Theres roughly 300 at any given time, sunning themselves on the rafts... and about 600 that make San Fran's Pier 39 their home... CRAZY!!!
After our great city tour, we strolled down to the piers to check out Fisherman's Wharf... had a nice bowl of clam chowder in bread bowls for lunch at #9 FW... saw the antique arcade... then continued on to Pier 39 to see the shops & sea lions. Finally, we made our way to pier 31, which is where the ONLY Alcatrez tour of the rock leaves from. It was absolutly, possitively AMAZING!! What a cold, sad, historic place!! If you ever come out, you NEED to do this! The tour is given by listening to an audio tour from an old guard, heard through ear phones. It was phenominal! Very moving, very sad... very real!!
Our afternoon ended with another ride on the double decker... this time it was for the evening view of the city, and followed a different route. Our tour guide wasn't very good this time... and some ass who was a know-it-all, and apparently interviewing for a guide possition soon, sat behind us and RE-narrated most of the tour... very abnoxious... but he didn't say the whole tour... thank the lord! One of the coolest things we saw on this tour was the opening scene from Full House - the street they lived on, its called the seven sisters... with a breath taking view of the city behind it. We also drove thru Chinatown as well as Japantown, and got to see Nob Hill... very cool!
One thing we didn't realize about the city was how cold it gets at night. Although the tour was great and we got to see and learn about some really interesting parts of the city... we FROZE!!! The weather during the day today was cool and dry and absolutley BEAUTIFUL!!!!(A welcomed change from the sweaty weather we had yesterday in Boston...) it felt like a New England mid-Ocotber day... but tonight... FREEZING!!! haha!!
To warm up, we took advise from our first tour guide, and ate at an amazing place called Scoma's... unbelievable sea food!! Great wine!! Kind of reminded me of the No Name restaruant in Boston... pictures of all the famous people who have come to eat there since it opened in 1965. Jocko got a lamb dish and went with a scampi type dish... both excellent!
Well, after this novel I just wrote... you can see, we had great day in our new favorite city... the city by the Bay!! Looking forward to Sausalito, Golden Gate & Chinatown tomorrow...
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Made it to SF!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jocko/
It was a long flight but we made it and checked into our hotel. Andre upgraded us to the executive level and gave us a 3 day parking pass for the one day price. We have a great view of Alcatraz from our room. Off to explore the city.
Pictures don't seem to be uploading well. I'll try and post to Flickr instead.
It was a long flight but we made it and checked into our hotel. Andre upgraded us to the executive level and gave us a 3 day parking pass for the one day price. We have a great view of Alcatraz from our room. Off to explore the city.
Pictures don't seem to be uploading well. I'll try and post to Flickr instead.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Day in Boston
So after getting "bumped" from our early flight, we met James from JetBlue (aka the nicest guy ever) and he got our bags stored till tonight so we could go your the city. So we took the T into town and had lunch with Jeanne Marie @ HARU. The we had a great Boston Duck Boat Tour, saw all the sights and had some great laughs. Then we took a stroll down Newbury St and through the Boston common and gardens into Quincy market. When we got back to the airport James once again hooked us up with an upgraded seat for more leg room. 
Strike one!
The road trip will start in Boston. We got bumped off the first flight, next flight is 8pm. So we will spend the day in Boston.
We have checked into Logan
Flying standby so we are hoping to get on the AM flight, if not there are a couple more flights today. Should be able to get out today. We are very excited. Natalie and Jocko
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Welcome
This blog will serve as a picture and video memory of Natalie and I's honeymoon road trip down the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to Los Angeles. We will try to update this blog everyday with new pictures and stories.
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