San Francisco Trip Best Of...

Before my summer trip to San Francisco becomes a complete and utter haze, I present the best of the trip. I've chosen the Top 10 memories from my visit with Mom and Sister in the land of sunshine...

Ten Best San Fran 2009 Memories

1. Sister's New Apartment - it looks like a super modern, stylish hotel. They're on the 14th floor, they finally have cabinet storage in their kitchen, a small office inlet that's perfect for Brother-in-Law to toil away in, and a red accent wall in the livingroom. What more could Sister possibly want? ;)

2. Touring "the Rock" - Mom, Sister, and I toured Alcatraz, which is awesome. I'll hold back on the history geek stuff, but did you know it was a famous fort before it became a prison!?!? I know - cool!! Anyway, the audio tour is fabulous; you get headphones and it leads you through the prison. There are great explanations of the history of the prison, and I would highly recommend the tour if you make it to the Bay Area.

3. Watching "the Rock" - Mom was terribly slightly disappointed to not find Sean Connery waiting for her as we entered Alcatraz, but she did get her photo taken next to the movie poster, AND the movie was on cable twice while we were there! Score.

4. Muir Woods - ahhh, nature. Despite my general aversion to all this natural, I couldn't help but love this place. So peaceful, and even quiet, despite the throngs of tourists. We wandered through the huge trees and tried to soak up as much American beauty as we could.


5. Golden Gate Bridge - umm... so apparently San Francisco is foggy...? ;) Who knew. We drove over the bridge, but our only real glimpse of it came when we were taking the ferry to and from Alcatraz. So, we'll need to keep this one on our list for a future trip to visit Sister; Mom and I would both still like to cross off "walk across the Golden Gate Bridge" on our life accomplishments list.

6. Beef Jerky on a Plane - somehow, both Mom and I had seat companions on our flights to San Fran who were a) overnourished and b) eating beef jerky. Smelly beef jerky. Rah.

7. Farmer's Markets - Sister has become a hippie when it comes to food. I was paraded through not one, but TWO, separate farmer's markets, and a Whole Foods store (where I made my own trail mix!). On the plus side, farmers like to give away samples, so I definitely ate my weight in fresh fruit and vegetables; clearly they know the way to my heart is through free bread and fudge. Also, I discovered pluots - a sort of yuppie hybrid plum and apricot - which are quite tasty!

8. Sourdough - manna from heaven. Especially when it's in the form of a bread bowl and it's soaked in clam chowder. Thank you Boudin, thank you.

9. "The bus driver flipped me off!" and other transportation debacles... - seriously, a random San Fran bus driver flipped me off as he whizzed by Sister, Mom, and I desperately waiting to be picked up (at a poorly marked bus stop). Then a crazy Korean lady sat next to me on the bus that finally picked us up, and I think she was mad at me for some reason. Then, Mom and Sister almost left me on the BART (rapid transit) when I started to doze on the final ride home!!! Yes, that's my family.

10. Pooping - yup. Mom definitely took Lucy the puppy for a walk around Oakland and saw a man pooping in the street. And the part of the story she kept repeating was "and he didn't even pull his pants up when he was finished!". Cuz, clearly, that aspect of the incident was the most upsetting part...

Hooray for travel with family :)