San Francisco > Columbus

December 13th – 14th
This morning Jeanne and I headed out for a little shopping and site seeing. We stopped for coffee at a cute little French bakery. Oh my – the pastries looked delightful! (and I don’t even like sweets!)

I don’t remember the name of the neighborhood we were in – but there were some quaint shops and I really enjoyed it.













As we drove around, I was again intrigued by the landscape.

Just so different from flat Florida and Ohio.





Since I had arrived, I had yet to see a cable car. Finally, we were behind one!

We ventured over to Treasure Island.

Which is an artificial island in the San Francisco bay created for the 1939-40 World’s Fair. It was intended to then be used as Pan Am airlines hub, however, it was taken over as a naval base.




For the most part it’s just abandoned military buildings. There are some homes – but the island is toxic. So plans to re-develop it into a self sustained city have never happened. (Plutonium, asbestos and radium just to name a few)

Some nice views of the city though!

Next we went back to Filbert Street so I could see it in daylight.

From the bottom looking up                                                       

Houses on Filbert

Look at that angle!

And back to Lombard Street

    

I thought my garage was hard to get into since my drive way is kind of steep.

I would never be able to get in/out of this one – and believe me – this was nothing compared to most!

Almost all of them had an entrance with an extreme slope and at an angle.




We drove around for a while longer and then headed home to meet up with John.
Home Sweet Home

This is their backyard

This is the view from their deck

 

 

That evening, we had a yummy Italian dinner at a little mom & pop place near where they once lived. Very tasty!

Then we headed up to Twin Peaks and the Sutro Tower.





It’s a 977 foot tall tower that transmits all the local tv & radio station’s signals. This was needed prior to cable TV because of all the hills.






We had an excellent view of the city!




Kinda foggy – so the photos didn’t come out too good.





We capped of the evening with some dessert at the Ghirardelli factory. Sinful!

On our drive back home, I got one more shot of the Golden Gate bridge.

Jeanne and I were convinced we saw a fox while driving thru the Presidio one last time – but John claims it was just a really big raccoon.
(ok, he was right)

We hung out back at home for a bit and then I headed to the airport.

By the way – the Delta SkyClub at SFO – what a waste! What good is a club outside of security? Ugh!

But I got my first class upgrade for the ride home – which was HUGE since I was taking a red eye home.

Slept most of the way. Got back to Columbus around 9am.

San Francisco > Palo Alto

NCAA Women’s Volleyball Regional Final – Stanford Region – ESPNU – 11:30p ET - Michigan vs Hawai'i


Before heading to work today, John, Jeanne and I went for a late breakfast at Il Fornaio. It was an Italian restaurant & bakery. Fantastic!


Afterwards, I headed to Palo Alto to find the Stanford campus.

I arrived about 30 minutes early so I hit the campus store to get Dave a t-shirt.

Then headed over to Maples Pavilion for a day of volleyball!

On my dinner break, I got my usual California dinner – In-n-Out Burger !

I may have been on west coast time for 2 days now – but yowza – going on the air at 11:30 eastern time is rough!

Drove back to San Fran after the game and watched TV with Jeanne for a while.

San Francisco

This morning, John, Jeanne and I headed to Mama’s Kitchen on Washington Square.

It is a VERY small place that apparently always had quite the wait – outside.
If you are ever in the area – believe me – worth the wait!














Beware if you go to the bathroom though. You go thru the kitchen and out a back door. You are now in a garden like area between old buildings. I walked around looking… hmmm… Then I realized that down these couple of steps there was this closet on the outside of the restaurant. Then as someone came out, I saw that there was sink inside, so I went in. I could not believe this was allowable or up to code.

Anyway, the previous person had clogged the toilet, so when I flushed, disaster insued.

I wandered back out to John & Jeanne laughing because I had been gone for about 10 minutes. Jeanne headed towards the back door and I warned her not to.

Food – amazing!
Bathroom – not so much!

We walked around the corner to Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Mass was being said so we only stayed a few minutes.

We watched a few dogs play on Washington Square and then piled back into the Mini Cooper. Which by the way is not an easy task when your butt is as big as mine!

Next, they took me to Coit Tower.

Which was built in 1933 atop Telegraph Hill as a gift to the city of San Franciso by a female volunteer firefighter.

Once at the top of the tower, the views are amazing! Granted, today it was very foggy, drizzly and overcast – so I can only image what they are on a clear day.




You can see: Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Treasure Island and pretty much any of the sites around the city.
Alcatraz

View towards Washington Square (you can see the Cathedral in the foreground)






Outside, in the parking lot, was a public restroom. Now this is something new.

You pay for its use and then it self cleans.







(see the bubbles under the toilet)







It basically showers & suds itself down after you exit.









Next we drove thru the Presidio towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Predidio has severed as military base for the Spanish, Mexican and U.S. Army’s dating back to 1776 thru 1994 when it became a National Park. It is enormous! Visiting all of it would take a day or so in itself. So many beautiful sites to see.

Doesn’t seem like a big deal, until you are about to walk on it.









And then the reality of one reason why people do walk on it.

We walked to about the halfway point and turned around. The weather was getting worse and worse.

Now we drove over it to visit the Marin Headlands.








The Marin Headlands are just north of San Fran. This area is very hilly and served as military installations beginning in 1890. There are still numerous bunkers, batteries and bomb shelters there.


The views from here were also amazing. And again, can only imagine what they are like on a nice day.

Like I said, very hilly and the roads can be scary at times.

Next they showed me some very exclusive neighborhoods – yowza! What those prices could get ya in Ohio! Including Seacliff… here is what Wikipedia says about it…
Homes in the Sea Cliff neighborhood are large, and many offer impressive views of the Pacific Ocean, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands.


A small public beach named China Beach is located in the neighborhood.


Some of the neighborhood's more famous current and past residents include Jefferson Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner, actor Robin Williams, actress Sharon Stone, actor Cheech Marin, Gap founder Donald Fisher, and Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett.


Then on to the Sutro Baths…(thanks Wikipedia)
Sutro Baths opened March 14, 1896 with a $1 million pricetag — an extravagant public bathhouse envisioned and developed by the eccentric one-time mayor of San Francisco, Adolph Sutro. After working its way through its many lives (Playland, 1960s ice rink, etc..)— burned down while being demolished on June 26, 1966. In 1980 the Golden Gate National Recreation Area bought the land for $5,500,000.
1894 Photo

TODAY PHOTO

As we drove home, we went by Ocean Beach. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it….
Ocean Beach is a beach that runs along the west coast of San Francisco at the Pacific Ocean. It is adjacent to Golden Gate Park, the Richmond District and the Sunset District. The Great Highway runs alongside of the beach, and the Cliff House and the site of the former Sutro Baths sits at the northern end. The beach is a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and operated by the National Park Service.


We went home for a while to rest from out busy day of sightseeing.

That evening, we headed to E&O Trading Company for dinner.

 Very, very good!!