November 8, 2012
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San Francisco 2012
JUNE 15 - WALKING AROUND SAN FRANCISCO
My friend Peter Dolch (I still call him Prapan) picked me up in our rented Ford Focus at around 8 am. This is a trip I really looked forward to. This is the first road trip with Prapan in a really long time. Also I wanted redemption for the disappointing trip to San Francisco that I documented in my "Presidents Day 2012" blog. We headed up the 101 en route to San Francisco. His cousin Araya is getting married tomorrow. It was a relaxing and cool drive up north. We weren't in any rush. We planned on having brunch in Santa Barbara. In the course of our chatter we passed Santa Barbara. Instead we stopped for brunch at Alphie's in Goleta. Food was decent and I had my first linguica. Service was a tad slow for our liking.
Our ride
I'm now at the wheel. We are around Palo Alto when Prapan said we're stopping at a place beforehand and it's a surprise. He navigated us somewhere when lo and behold we were at Google! That's right, the Google headquarter! We walked around Google and saw employees playing beach volleyball and some others with boxing gloves and sparring headgear on. There was also a pool. I basically followed Prapan wherever he wanted to go. We didn't tour Google in depth but just walked around the general campus. There are colorful bicycles all over the place. Employees can use them to get around. There are others running and getting exercise. It'd be so cool to work in a place with this kind of environment.
Left: The Driver Right: The Navigator
Left: Employees hard at work Right: Bicycles for getting around
Google!
Onward we ventured towards San Francisco. We got there around 5 pm. Through the advice of a fellow Yelper, Prapan directed us to Pizzeria Delfina. It was pretty good. The ingredients were fresh atop a thin crispy crust. You could tell the sausage was homemade. It was a downer when some sort of additional fee was added to our bill. I don't recall what it was for.
Yummy goodness
Back in the car I asked Prapan if there was something he wanted to see here. He mentioned The Embarcadero so that's where we went. I managed to find parking not far from it. We walked over there and check out Alcatraz Landing. There we saw boats ready to lead tours to and around Alcatraz Island. There was also a model of the island and its structures.
Left: The Embarcadero Right: Alcatraz Landing
Model of Alcatraz Island
Left: Prapan with the model Right: Me with the real one in the background
We then left the Embarcadero and walked all of Fisherman's Wharf. We passed by one of my favorite places - Boudin. It's a place I usually stop for clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Not this time though as we already had pizza. It was neat how they showcased some of their sourdough in the shape of things like an alligator.
At Fisherman's Wharf
Somebody's been here a bit too long
From there we headed to Ghirardelli Square. We perused the renowned chocolate shop for a bit. Prapan then suggested getting ice cream from Swensen's. I exclaimed,"Swensen's?" Prapan replied,"Yeah. You heard of it?" I said,"Yeah. I had it in Bangkok". He was like "Bangkok?"
Ghirardelli Square
Swensen's is a widespread ice cream chain in Bangkok. However it originated here in San Francisco. Getting ice cream from the original Swensen's sounded great so I agreed. Prapan saw that on his phone Swensen's was only a mile or so away. However it was towards the top of Russian Hill via Hyde Street which is a steep climb. I suggested taking a streetcar which would fulfill another traditional San Francisco visitor item. However he was more into hoofing it so here we went. I slowly scaled Hyde Street while Prapan jogged ahead. When I wasn't too far from getting there I did notice famed Lombard Street to my left. At the top we made it to Swensen's. The original Swensen's as it turned out is a little corner ice cream shop. The ones in Bangkok are large sit-down parlors. We both enjoyed what we ordered.
Must...get...ice cream!
Original Swensen's Ice Cream
Now it's time to get back to our car. Remembering passing Lombard Street, I suggested to Prapan to walk down that street because it's also an attraction. It advertises itself as the crookedest street in the world. It is also gorgeously adorned with flowers and other flora.
Lombard Street
We then continued in the same direction since it should take us straight to the car. The street took us to another climb. This climb however ended at the Coit Tower atop Telegraph Hill. This landmark was erected for the beautification of the city.
View from Telegraph Hill
The Coit Tower
After descending from Telegraph Hill, we kept hitting dead ends from several streets. We kept trying different ones until we found one with a stairway that allowed us to descend to the ground. From there it was not too long a walk until we got to our car.
We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge en route to our motel in Rohnert Park. At the motel we watched Nik Wallenda traverse Niagara Falls via high wire on TV.
The Golden Gate Bridge
JUNE 16 - THE WEDDING
Prapan couldn't sleep due to my snoring. We still had a lot of time before having to take off for the wedding so he slept some more while he could since I'm now awake. We grabbed breakfast at Black Bear Restaurant. Food was all right and their portions were very, very generous. It's enough to where you wouldn't need to eat your next meal.
I drove giving Prapan a chance to catch some Z's. It's about an hour and a half drive to the wedding. We drove past some lakes. When we got there around noon, we were early by over two hours. It was 95 degrees F. We got to chat a bit with Araya, the bride-to-be. Being so early we decided to go elsewhere to kill time as there was nothing for us to do here. First, we used the designated men's room which was a long walk on this farm from the wedding area. Prapan faced a quandary as there was a frog on the toilet which caused considerable distress.
Lakes en route to wedding
We drove to nearby Lakeport. We went to the banks of Clear Lake hoping for some relief from this heat but no can do. It was still hot. We snapped some photos of the lake and a nearby gazebo to kill time.
Lakeport
It's now time for the wedding. Guests have arrived. It's 100 degrees. When it was time to begin, the bride arrived to some country song as opposed to "Here Comes the Bride". The ceremony was short and sweet. The food was excellent especially the tri-tip. There wasn't any dancing but lots of healthy conversation. Prapan's cousin Tabitha Uy was having a heck of a lot of fun emceeing some games and stuff.
Nice outdoor setting
Great grub
Yours truly
Left: Prapan and cousin Tiffany Right: Prapan and cousin Tabitha
Left: Prapan and cousin Alisa Right: Prapan and cousin Araya (the bride)
We then headed back to Rohnert Park. We arrived at CVS pharmacy but it was closed. We were hoping to get some ear plugs for Prapan so he could sleep. Oh well. It's going to be another one of those nights.
JUNE 17 - MORE SAN FRANCISCO AND THE JOURNEY HOME
Once again Prapan couldn't get any sleep due to my sawing wood. We checked out of our motel and headed for San Francisco. Yelp! recommended a dim sum place called Good Luck Dim Sum. It's a small place with a line that was continuously growing. While in line Prapan got increasingly excited due to the rave reviews on Yelp! Once we got our food we looked for a place to eat. We wound up at a dog park at the top of a hill which overlooked the bay. We sat on benches and feasted. The har gow was excellent. No soy sauce needed. They also gave Prapan a hearty amount of porridge. We also tried some shark fin dumplings. It was all right.
Left: Dim sum menu at Good Luck Dim Sum Right: Some of Prapan's order
Left: The staff and full menu Right: New siu mai ready to sell
The line at this place
View from where we ate
Next we visited my favorite place in San Francisco - The Palace of Fine Arts. I always enjoyed its beauty and size. Prapan took lots of photos and tried out his phone's panorama picture feature. I think it turned out well.
The Palace of Fine Arts
During the time we had dim sum and were checking out the Palace of Fine Arts, I was hoping that the fog that engulfed the Golden Gate Bridge would die down. We weren't so lucky. We crossed the bridge after I missed the exit to the first viewing area. I then parked in the next one on the other end of the bridge. We waited and waited for about 20 minutes but the fog was unrelenting. We snapped what we could.
Golden Gate Bridge and surrounding area
Next we ventured to Twin Peaks for what normally is one of if not the best view of San Francisco you can get. There, the fog still continued to hinder what would have been that great view. It was so damp that we threw on our jackets and hoods. We gave it a chance but the fog kept rolling in like a machine was pumping it in. On the way down was a bridge. We stopped on it for a hope of a glimmer. The fog sort of gave way for a very brief moment. I told him to snap the photo because we may not get another chance.
Best photo we could manage from below Twin Peaks
It was a little after 1 pm. After a brief discussion, we decided to head back. During the drive, I decided to stop at Treasure Island. From there we got some good pictures of San Francisco from across the bay. At least we distanced ourselves from the fog. Normally one could see the Golden Gate Bridge from there but that ominous fog wouldn't have any of that.
View from Treasure Island
We took the I-5 back. It was going good for awhile. I don't recall where we stopped for Carl's Jr. but was probably not too far south from the 46. Once we continued, traffic hardly moved. It was a torturous crawl as the I-5 was reduced to one lane for a 9-mile stretch (or if it's shorter, it sure felt that long). When Prapan woke up, I told him we haven't really gone anywhere. Stopping for Carl's Jr. turned out to be a most excellent decision.
Finally we were past that point. Leaving San Francisco at 2 pm I thought we had plenty of time to drive back to LA and beat the 10 pm deadline to return our rented Ford Focus. I even thought we could perhaps grab a bite back in LA and then return the car. Due to this delay we got to Thrifty Car Rental at 9:40 pm.
This was a terrific trip. I definitely got my redemption from the prior time in San Francisco. We both had a real good time checking out the city.
