Excellent weather and so many places to see and things to do. We'll have to go back.

Thursday

Left Minneapolis at 9:00 AM and arrived in San Francisco at 11:00 AM, a four hour flight. Took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from airport to Market Street, downtown, then took a cab to our hotel near Fisherman's Wharf.

After checking in, we walked to Fisherman's Wharf and explored the area, eating seafood from small shops. We tried prawn (shrimp), cod and calamari (squid). It was all breaded and deep fried, otherwise I don't think I would have done the calamari. It looked like chicken nuggets and was kind of chewy.

We checked out the Pier 39 shops and watched the sea lions sunbathing. Then ate at Joe's Crab Shack. Sheila had red snapper and I had a steamed plate that included two kinds of crab (still in their shell), shrimp and sausage. The waitress put a bib on me and showed me how to get the crab meat out of the shell.

Friday

This was a big day. Got up early, had breakfast on Pier 39 and caught the boat ride to Alcatraz for the tour. Very interesting.

After lunch we took another boat tour that went under the Golden Gate Bridge, then back into the Bay past the far side of Alcatraz and back to shore. This tour also had an audio tour that was quite interesting.

While waiting for a streetcar to take us to Union Square and the Market Street area of downtown, a long black stretch limosine pulled up to the streetcar stop. A well dressed Italian driver jumped out and said "Where are you going? I'll take you anywhere, no charge, just tip me!" Another couple that was also waiting got in, so we did too. As we sped away, the driver started his fast talking "shtick" and comic routine. Along the way he saw another couple waiting for a cab, so he pulled over in the bike lane, backed up and talked them into getting in with us. Away we went again.We were each going to different areas of downtown, but we did get delivered as promised. Our ride lasted about 30 minutes.

We found the Go Car place downtown and signed up for a 1/2 hour ride. This is a motorcycle-like ride with two wheels in the front and one in the rear. Two people sit low to the ground. They go wherever cars go (streets, not highways).

After the exhilerating Go Car ride, we watched the cable car turn-around and then rode the cable car back to the Wharf. We had lobster at a nice restaraunt called Fog Harbor looking out over the bay.

Saturday

Today we took a Grayline trolley tour that showed us some of the interesting sites of San Francisco on the way to Union Square. We got off and looked around the area again, this time walking up the steep hills. We saw the Fairmont Hotel, famous for it's flags at the entrance. If you remember the TV show "Hotel" from several years ago, this is where it was filmed. We walked inside. Very fancy.

Since we started the day with crepes for breakfast, we continued that reasoning with desert for lunch at the Cheescake Factory located on the top floor of Macy's in Union Square. We ate on the outdoor terrace, overlooking the square from eight floors up.

We continued our Grayline tour by jumping back on the tour when the next trolley came by. This took us back to Pier 39 via Chinatown, North Beach (Italian neighborhood) and past several San Francisco landmarks.

We got back in time to rent some bicycles and we rode off into the west towards the Golden Gate Bridge. We took our time, and had a nice chat with a local who took our picture, and even invited us to his apartment when we got back. I invited him to Iowa, too. It took a couple of hours of riding and stopping for the view and pictures. One side of the bridge is for pedestrians and the other for bicycles. Both sides were full. And five lanes of traffic just outside the fence that protected us from getting into the automobile lanes.

On the north side of the bridge is Sausalito. We biked into town (another couple of miles, making the bike ride a total of eight miles) and waited in line for the ferry to return us to San Francisco. It was dark by the time we got on the ferry.

After returning our bikes we continued the day's junk food theme and shared a bowl of clam chowder in a sourdough bowl, then had ice cream in a chocolate waffle cone before retiring. What a day!

Sunday

We rode the F-Line street car for a short ride and switched to the bus going to Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. Coit Tower is shaped like a fire hose nozzle and is on the tallest hill in the city. Quite a view.

After leaving the hill, we switched busses and rode directley west of Coit Tower, where we walked three blocks up hill to the top of Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the city. After walking down the steep street, we continued on to North Beach, the Italian district. We walked around a bit while waiting for the theatre to open to see Beach Blanket Babylon, a musical comedy stage show recommended by some people we met in the ferry line yesterday. It was full of current events and political sattire and was very funny.

By the way, the people we met in the ferry line yesterday had a great aunt from Decorah!

After the play, we walked some more. This time exploring Chinatown on foot. What a sight to see! Even on Sunday the open air markets and fresh fish and poultry shops were filled with Chinese getting their groceries. Chinatown and North Beach are separated by a single street. Go around the block and its back to little Italy again. We ate at Joe Damagio's, a great place for Lasagna and Rigitoni. On the bus back to our hotel we met a cheesmaker from Pennsylvania.

Monday

Today we got an early start and met the rent-a-car lady as she opened her office. We drove north of the city, over the Bridge and into Marin County. A short drive through some of the curviest hills on earth and we were in the Muir Woods, a national monument operated by the Park Service. We walked into the redwood forest and were awe struck by the giant trees and the calm quietness of the forest. We had arrived early before there were many other hikers on the trail. So peaceful and calm. This would be a nice place to come back to sometime and hike further into the park.

We continued Monday's journey into Sonoma Valley and on to Napa Valley's wine country. Part of the drive looked like we were in rural Wisconsin, complete with small towns, holstein cows and milk trucks. As we neared wine country we started to see the vineyards. We stopped at the Napa Visitor Center to get a map and suggestions on where to go. The next thirty miles north of Napa is filled with large and small wineries on both sides of the road. Corporate giants like Mondavi are right next to small garge type bottlers. V Sattui has a great deli with good food, cheese, everything. Sheila tasted some new wines here and choose one she liked. The next stop was Sutter Home, then the Beringer Winery for a tour and tasting.

As we finished the Beringer tour we realized we should return again with more time. We had to hurry to return our rental car to the Fisherman's Wharf office by 5:00 PM or we would have to pay overnight parking and be at the rental office in the morning. Since we were flying out in the morning, we didn't have time for this, so we hurried back to the Bay, arriving with a minute to spare.

But we did have time to take in the Aquarium By the Bay which included an underwater tunnel to view the sea creatures from below. After another fine dinner at Fog Harbor on the Pier (Sheila had swordfish, I had salmon) we returned to our room to pack.

Tuesday

We retraced our trip from the airport. There weren't many travelers so the BART and the ariport checkin weren't crowded. Today was inauguration day. We stopped in Salt Lake City, Utah before returning to Minneapolis. We landed at 6:00 PM. After leaving 70 degree weather we were met with 10 degrees. We stopped in Rochester for a bite at Famous Dave's and arrived home at 10:00 PM. Just twenty four hours earlier we were sitting on the dock of the bay, having dinner and watching the lights on the Golden Gate Bridge.

So many things to see and do in San Francisco. We didn't get to everything on our list. Guess we'll have to go back!

What a great trip.

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