Our West Coast Adventure - July 2009 - Day 3

[DisneyMadAng]

Day 3 - Golden Gate Bridge
Friday 10th July

Day 2

Us lot…

DH (48) – Enzo – puts up with us and is happy as long as we’re happy

Me (39) – Angelina – the planner and tour guide

DD (16) – Gabriella – my shopping buddy…if there’s a Sephora…we’re in it

DS (13) – Gianni – likes to eat and always has a smile ready when he sees me point the camera at him

Our last day in San Francisco

Following a late night after the drama of the doctor’s visit and then re-applying ointments to Gianni’s spots this morning, we didn’t leave the hotel until about 10 this morning.

We nipped into the Starbucks across from the hotel for a quick brekkie then made our way down to the cable car turnaround again. We’d noticed a H & M there yesterday so decided to head there first to see if we could find any long sleeved tops for Gianni….we found 1! I couldn’t leave without buying something for myself. I hadn’t been able to find my small bag that I was sure I’d packed so was lumbering a huge handbag around with me so I bought a diddy bag.

We then nipped into Walgreens to get some medical supplies for the patient. We’d decided that the best way to stop the virus spreading was to dab each spot with the antibiotic cream then cover each one with a plaster. OMG there is such a choice of plasters lol
You’ll start to notice Gianni’s arm in a bandage after today as there were so many plasters on his arm he thought it would draw less attention if he had a white bandage on it

By the time we’d finished we were a bit loaded down with shopping so I swapped the contents of my Mary Poppins bag into my new purchase and Enz said he’d take everything we didn’t need back to the room, hop on a cable car in Union Square and meet us up at the Hyde turnaround.

The children and I joined the very, very long queue for the cable car at the turnaround. After a couple of minutes a chap walking by told a few of us to leave that queue and make our way up towards the next stop because they don’t fill the cable car at the turnaround. A few people ignored him but we thought ‘what the hell, maybe he knows what he’s talking about’. What a brilliant tip! We waited a few minutes and hopped on the first cable car. I’m sure it would have taken us close to an hour if we’d waited in the original queue.

We met up with Enz then made our way to Blazing Saddles to hire bikes for our ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and into Sausalito.

First thing, our credit card was swiped (at 11.42…kept that receipt ) as a deposit for the bikes. Whatever you do, do not lose your bikes…..if you don’t return them it’s $175 per bike. We were given a map which made the route look pretty easy, a ticket each for the ferry back from Sausalito (you only pay for these if you use the ferry, if you decided to bike back then just hand the tickets back) and measured up for bikes. Helmets for the teens and bags and water stashed, we set off for a lovely leisurely ride.

You know how the bridge is higher than you are on the road….I didn’t really think about how steep some of the ride might get. I obviously block out anything unpleasant about steepness, what with Lombard Street and now this blooming bike ride. OMG there are some unbelievably steep parts and I did get off and push the bike up a couple of times which Enz delighted in videoing :angry:









To be fair it was so worth it – the scenery is beautiful and because it was windy and that’s all you can hear, it’s like being in your own world. We stopped so I could take a few photos then it was upwards and onwards.

We made it safely across the bridge although I’m not quite sure how. They only open up one side of the bridge and that has to do pedestrians and cyclists going both ways. You can imagine what that’s like when you get people walking or cycling next to each other so that they can chat! Chat? Chat! What’s that about then?! lol

Our wonderful teenagers just put their heads down and carried on riding so I didn’t manage to get any photos of them on the blessed bridge

As we made our way down into Sausalito it started to get warmer which was really welcome. We parked our bikes and went in search of some lunch. There was a fast food place on the main road called Sausalito Fish and Chips and the menu looked like it would do the job so we planted ourselves at a couple of tables after ordering:- calamari, chicken strip and 2 maple salmon sandwiches & 4 cokes. All came with fries and coleslaw and oh my word the salmon sandwich was delicious! The total came to $43.00 and the receipts tells me it was 13.09 so it took us about and hour and a half to get here then.

We had a bit of a mooch around Sausalito – I swear if I win the lottery I’m going to stay there! – before making our way, with the bikes, over to the ferry for the next departure.

Now getting on the ferry is fine. You just wheel your bikes on, wedge them in a bike rack and make your way upstairs to rest your weary body in the seating area. So far, so good.

Getting off the ferry is another story altogether. You make your way downstairs and then you have to haul your bike up to the next level to get out. It’s all a bit hectic because the staff obviously want to unload quickly so they can start loading again as soon as possible. There was one chap at the bottom of the stairs showing everyone how to grab the bike so it made it easier to push it up the stairs and a chap at the top of the stairs who helped by pulling the bike up for you.

Once off the ferry we decided to make our way back to Blazing Saddles to drop the bikes off. We hadn’t realised that the ferry landing wasn’t near Pier 39 where we were yesterday. It was at the Ferry Building….quite a distance from where we needed to go. I swear those saddles are not comfy and I couldn’t believe we still had a longish ride ahead of us



Once we finally arrived back at Operation Dump the Bikes, we settled the bill ($92 including bike hire and ferry) and headed next door for a Ben & Jerry’s each. Virtually fat-free vanilla yogurt for me

Whilst we were here we went in search of the Musee Mecanique that I’d read about which is full of lots of old fashioned arcade games where we whiled away an hour or so before making our way into a gift shop in search of magnets and postcards. At the back of the shop The Teens spotted clothes so they duly spent some money on a lovely Billabong hoody for Gabriella and 2 pairs of Levi jeans for Gianni. Two days into the holiday and Gianni is down to $12….hmmm that’s going to go a long way over the next 2 weeks….not.

We had a bit of a discussion about where we wanted to eat that night and agreed on the Cheesecake factory in Macy’s in Union Square so decided we’d head back to the hotel to freshen up and get changed.

As we hadn’t had enough exercise we decided, well I suggested and they family were that tired they just blindly agreed, to walk down Columbus Avenue and get onto the Powell and Mason cable car to take us back.

The children headed straight back to the hotel and Enz and I nipped into Macy’s to see if we could book a table for that evening. Unfortunately, they don’t make reservations but the lady at the Cheesecake Factory told us to get the hotel’s concierge to call and make a priority booking for us and this would get us seated sooner.

Well….that was a success! We turned up at 6.30ish and having heard people being told it was a 70 minute wait for a table the boys went to the room of rest and I was given one of those flashing buzzer thingies. No sooner did I have it in my hands than it started to flash and buzz! A nice young man came to show Gabriella and me to a table…..Enz and Gianni would just have to find us We’d just sat down when the nice young man said that if we wanted to sit next to the window he’d move us as soon as one of the other tables was empty! So he did and it was lovely looking out of the window at the people sitting under the patio heaters outside



Now this was the first, and certainly not the last, place in California where we were handed an extra little booklet to go with the menu. What was in the booklet? Alcohol? Oh no no no! It was a full list of the menu’s nutritional information! I had to go and open it didn’t I !?! I swear if that doesn’t keep a diet on the straight and narrow, nothing will! We had a really lovely meal here for a total of $105. Yep, I have the receipt:-

2 Beers
1 Coke
1 Fresh lemonade
1 Margarita
We shared the quesadilla appetizer then came the mains…..Jamaican pepper shrimp, four cheese pasta, pasta carbonara with chicken and remembering that nutritional info, I had the ‘Weight Management Asian Chicken Salad’. My delightful family thought it was hilarious when our server brought my salad out….it was flipping HUGE lol





None of us could fit in a cheesecake….one day I’m going to leave room for one lol

It was 8 o’clock by the time we settled the bill and Gianni and Enz made their way back to the room and Gabriella and I had a look around the ladies clothing as there was a sale on. No joy though. TBH I think we were just pooped and needed to go to bed….last of the ravers, us lot.

We made our way back to the hotel and packed our cases ready for our check-out tomorrow morning.

Would I go back to San Francisco? Absolutely. There was so much that we didn’t get around to doing or seeing. We didn’t manage to get to Chinatown which was just around the corner from the hotel. I’d really hoped to go into Coit Tower and to the Golden Gate Park but we never made it there either. I’d also like to have a tour to the vineyards in the Napa Valley….never mind….next time

Day 4 - Journey to Yosemite

[Guest]

Great report & amazing photos!

[DisneyMadAng]

Thanks Kerry. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[travelmam]

Very interesting trip report, can`t wait for the next installment.
We go in 3wks, and hopefully going to attempt our first trippie report, between DW and myself. Interested in the part about using blazing saddles to hire bikes, as hopefully going to do this in santa monica to ride the boardwalk and vist venice beach.
( Just in case your wondering this is travelmam`s DH having a Dibb lol)

[Guest]

Another great report with lovely photos.

[ali-s]

Well done at cycling over the bridge- those hills are killers aren't they ? at the sore bum - I swear I had bruises for days.

[DisneyMadAng]

Mr Travelmam thanks. We also wanted to do the bike ride in Santa Monica but wasn't feeling well so that didn't happen. Hope you do get round to writing a trip report as I'd like to see what we missed We thought the service was really good from Blazing Saddles and the bikes were in a very good condition. They didn't have a billion gears on them which always flumoxes me. lol We had vouchers in the CityPasses for $5 off per person. I'd also spotted vouchers for the same amount attached to a map that the taxi driver from San Francisco airport gave to us.
Oh and I notice that you're staying in the Sheraton Park hotel - that's where we stayed too. The rooms were LOVELY and the beds...omg...so comfy.


Thanks Florence. Glad you're enjoying

Ali - yes. The hills the hills the hills lol The bridge is ok to ride over it's the ruddy hills lol and after the beautiful downward hill from the end of the bridge into Sausalito, trust me, there was no way on earth that I was going to cycle back. lol And thanks to the bruises there was no way DD and I were up to riding bikes in Yosemite so that had to be walked lol I don't understand why the boys didn't get bruises

[purple myra]

Fantastic report...what a busy day...can't believe I've jsut found this...msut find the rest

[Jools]

Another busy day. Respect to you for cycling over the bridge

We went to Saulsalito last year and it was just so picturesque. I would like to stay a night or two there next time.

I'm really enjoying your reports

[Sarah84]

Another great day and lovely photos