san francisco
Biking the San Francisco Bay
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It was a fun weekend with a lot of belly laughs and good memories. I love weekends with family and friends. We got back home pretty late, so I was so tired at work on Monday, but it was worth it.
Don’t you love this photo bomb? I bet he does that all day.
Oh goodness, I can’t remember the last time I rode a bike. We all rented tandems, and I’m glad we did. Some of the hills were steep and I probably would have chickened out and walked my bike up them. Instead, I had my sweetheart in front of me yelling “c’mon baby!”
It was a fun little ride, with beautiful views of the city and the bay. You bike by the water the entire time. And Sausalito is a town worth seeing. It is quaint in every definition of the word. I’m sure that definition means that all of the homes cost millions of dollars, but we stopped at a deli and got a huge sandwich and ate right on the water. Perfection.
We rented our bikes from Blazing Saddles — we didn’t reserve online, but if you do, you get 10 percent off. I called ahead to make sure they had bikes and they said that they never run out. The bikes are definitely used, and my parents ended up going back to switch, but husband and I aren’t very techy on the bike know-how, so we couldn’t tell a difference.
Seattle Day Three… and the bonus day
Posted by: | CommentsThis was supposed to be the last day of our vacation. It wasn’t, thanks to Southwest Airlines. But for the last day in Seattle, we devoted time to the great outdoors.
First, a walk along the beach. Where kids were playing and building sandcastles in coats and boots. If I think the sailing in San Diego is cold, I’m sure I’d be in for a real treat in Seattle.
I couldn’t stop exclaiming “the air is so fresh!”
Hello California, the CARB regulations are crap and not working.
The Ballard or Chittenden Locks were next. I had heard of locks, like on the Erie Canal, but never seen them. They help boats change water levels. I wish we’d been able to see a big boat – but the little ones were cool. We will have to come back when there are salmon in the fishery thing.
Side note: when I said “oh, well we’ll have something to come back for” when there were no fish swimming upstream, I so felt like my mom. She always says that on vacations.
Then it was off for a drive through Capitol Hill and to the Asian market, Uwajimaya for gifts for friends and such.
We kind of ran out of things to do, not because there wasn’t plenty to do, but because everything we’d think of doing, we’d be all — “oh, there’s no time to do that and make it back to the airport.”
Thank you Layla for putting up with our indecisiveness. Really, thank you Layla for everything.
We got to the airport to discover that our flight was delayed. And delayed. And then we took off. Then we had a stopover in Oakland. Then we flew to San Diego.
We circled San Diego. We could see the lights. We were almost home. I was excited to see the puppy.
Then the pilot got on the intercom and told us that fog was preventing the flight’s landing and we were going to have to go back to Oakland.
Seriously.
Some people got upset. Some people got angry. One little boy, flying all by himself to see his dad who had just returned from deployment broke out sobbing. I felt bad for him.
In Oakland we waited for a bit and then they canceled our flight. We were told to pick up our luggage and Southwest had hotel vouchers waiting. We were instructed to be at the airport at 5:30 a.m. the next morning (Sunday) to fly out at 7:30.
Except husband and I got an idea. Wait, we’re traveling. We are so close to San Francisco.
“Can we book a later flight?”
“Sure, just choose from this list,” said the kind Southwest man.
We picked a 5:30 p.m. flight and got ready to sleep in and see the sites.
I’ve never had such a reminder that life is all about which attitude you choose. We were stuck. There was nothing we could do to avoid the reroute. I can’t control fog and neither can the pilot.
But some people were causing such a scene that the police boarded our flight after it landed — just to give a presence. They followed us to baggage claim and to pick up our vouchers. The armed guard wasn’t just because they loved us and wanted us to be safe in the airport.
Some people were bitter, some people were chill. Some demanded to be “taken care of, with upgrades, whatever and were disappointed when they were treated the same as everyone else.”
The situation – the same for all people, went so many ways.
I was happy we chose to take a deep breath and enjoy the bonus trip! When we were originally debating where to go, it was either Seattle or San Francisco, so this was a two-in-one. Though I do want to take husband back to really see the city beyond Fisherman’s Wharf.
All day long I was skipping down the Embarcadero saying “It’s our bonus day! Our bonus day!”
Seattle Day One
Posted by: | CommentsThis day was perfect. Exactly what I wanted. We started at the waterfront and took a ferry to Bainbridge Island.
The ferry proved to be a nice way to see the skyline and we loved snapping pictures. By the way, the Space Needle? Totally disappointing. I don’t know why, but I thought it was a planetarium, or observatory, or something to do with space. But it is not. I guess it adds some spice to the skyline.
For transit, I mostly just used Google Transit, but I also tried One Bus Away, which was developed by a third-party for King County Metro. Third party apps are interesting to me, and this one worked OK — when Google wasn’t working right (told us to get on a bus stop that wasn’t served by the route we needed), neither was this app.
To get around town, we plugged into where we wanted to go into Google and set it to “walking.” Basically all that seems to do is make sure we don’t walk down a highway, and cross when there are crosswalks, but I appreciate that.
We downloaded Seattle Walking Tours to give us ideas of what to see and where to go, in the right order. It worked for the most part. Cost was $4.99 and it was our first paid app EVER. We used it a few times though and it was better than trying to use a book. The map is kind of difficult to use though.
The downtown walking tour sent us to this random United Postal Service memorial, which we obediently took photos of. It looks like a real waterfall, but really it is mostly indoors. Still, it is set up like a park, with tables and such. I’m guessing it is covered because it rains so much there.
We explored the public library, which I loved. This inspired an impromptu photo shoot as well.
Then it was off to Pike Place Market. Except that the market was closing, so we decided to come back the next day.
I was excited to see the original Starbucks logo. I don’t know why, but it was cool. I really love my hot cocoa and biscotti.
This isn’t the original Starbucks location, but it was the one with the shortest line.
The day ended with us walking from the waterfront to the Space Needle. It was a long walk, but nice. Husband and I got a lot of talking in, which was exactly why I wanted to get away somewhere! To be able to look at my husby and say “oh yes, that’s why I love you.”
Seattle first night
Posted by: | CommentsWe’re back from our little weekend trip to Seattle! I definitely needed a vacation. I didn’t bring my laptop, and I only brought a textbook to look at on the flight home. I just wanted some time off from life and some quality time with my favorite person on the planet, husby. I needed a to push aside the “to do” list and just focus on plugging back into the world of fresh air. It was nice.
We were on the bus to the airport and husband checks his wallet.
“I don’t have my drivers license!”
I saw my perfect vacation flash before my eyes and for a moment had to remind myself that I loved the man sitting next to me.
If only we’d known that wouldn’t be the last of our airport drama. In a series of maneuvers which involved asking our landlords to break into our apartment and a friend to scrummage through hubs’ gym bag and then drive to the airport for a outdoor pass-off, we made it to our flight with about 10 minutes to spare.
I promise to adopt the two hour rule from now on. Also to remember that Wednesdays are super busy at airports.
We landed and met up with our ever-so-gracious hosts for the weekend, and yet another reason why I love the Internet, Layla and Brock.
Layla worked at the courthouse while I was “courting” Adam, meaning flirting with him at the courthouse. Then Layla asked to be my facebook friend, then we connected through blogging. And email. She even guest posted once about her fabulous town.
Which may have been a problem because then I wanted to go there. When I asked her if she knew of a good place to stay, she volunteered her spare bedroom, and we booked the flight that same day. I wasn’t even expecting her out-of-the-way hospitality but seriously thanks much to the Judkins for helping us explore the Puget Sound and beyond.
I just wanted to use Puget Sound in a sentence there.
Do you remember that movie Gremlins? Seriously messed up.
Then it was off to the best viewpoint we saw of the city during the whole trip (Layla, where were we?), where I took the top picture. I was so proud of myself for that picture, I don’t even know if it is a good picture, but if it isn’t, don’t tell me, because in my mind, I’m thinking that I’m awesome because I figured out to have the buildings look layered and not just a blur of lights. Progress.
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