Day 3 San Francisco Adventure

Lincoln Blvd

Monday August 6th, I don't recall at what time I fell asleep last night, the only thing I can remember is hearing my alarm go off at 5:45 am. I jumped out of bed to get ready and head over to the hotel's delicious breakfast buffet and wash it all down their amazingly delicious vanilla latte at full strength. I don't know why but for some reason I have lost track of the days. All day today and yesterday I had to keep reminding myself which day of the week it is. I feel like we have done and seen so many different things the past few days. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, I am enjoying our Mini Adventure. Today's mission is to see as much as we can of San Francisco in one day. We decided that we are heading back home tonight after our San Francisco tour. Our first stop was to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Anyway, we left the Best Western at around 9 am or so, we weren't in any kind of hurry because, we kept checking the traffic reports to see when it wouldn't be too busy. We were right, by the time we left the traffic wasn't so bad. Just a bit of a jam before paying the toll to get onto the bridge, but once you got past that, it was smooth sailing until we got into the city. The slowness isn't caused so much by the traffic as it is more of the stop lights but, again, it wasn't that bad. Not as bad as trying to get from OC to Corona using the 91. The 91 is always seems to be nothing more than just one long parking lot. Even, the I-15 North or South, depending on the time of day can be frustrating. Especially when heading North I-115 on a Friday evening at 5 pm. Sorry, I got sidetracked for a while there.

Foggy Golden Gate

Lets see, where was I? Oh yes... We were on our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. We parked Little Red at the Battery East parking lot off of Lincoln Blvd, I mentioned the street name because, I was really fascinated by the little houses along Lincoln. They just looked so cool. I won't want to live here but, I was just in awe of the whole atmosphere. So, we paid for our parking spot and trekked up the walking path to the Visitor Center/Gift Shop. The Visitor Center/Gift Shop, I don't think that is its actual name but, that is what I call it... Anyway, this place was pretty cool because, not only was there merchandise but, it had information on the how the bridge was build and etc... Very cool. I really enjoyed that. After doing some browsing around the Visitor Center/Gift Shop, we decided to walk on the bridge and we walked up to or just past Fort Point, I wanted to get some good pics but, this morning it was too foggy. We were not able to see the bridge at all. We did hear the fog horn(s) go off though. I really wanted to keep walking to cross the bridge but, the Family weren't having it. Oh, beware of bicyclists. They rule the walkway on the bridge, they will run you down without warning.

After spending some time at the bridge, we took off in Little Red and arrived at Fisherman's Wharf at around Noon or so. Just in time for lunch, we were craving some clam chowder. We discovered this cool little place called Tarantino's Restaurant. I recommend their calm chowder in a bread bowl. I swear just about every eatery or restaurant here has the calm chowder in a bread bowl. After our tummies were full, we browsed through a few gift shops and took some pretty cool pictures of the area. Before heading out onto our next stop, we treated the Kids to some ice cream from Norman's Ice Cream & Freezes , the one right next to Jack's Bar . While Kids enjoyed their ice cream the Queen (Wife) and I went into Jack's for a beer. I am writing this blog entry hours after the fact and for some reason I can't recall the names of the beers we had. I wish I could remember because, they were good. All along the back wall of the bar was many different taps of beer. It was awesome! I love Jack's and I want to go back. If you looked up at the ceiling it is lined with many of the draft handles of different beers and the place was filled with Studebaker memorabilia and pictures. Way cool! Once the beer glasses were dried out and the ice creams were consumed we went to check out the Ghirardelli Square. I love Ghirardelli Square. There was a guy playing a violin and he was amazing. But, the coolest thing is every time I walked into the Ghirardelli store I was offered free samples of their chocolate. I love chocolate.

Once our bellies were filled up with food, beer and ice cream, we slid back into Little Red to check

out the Crooked Street of San Francisco. The real name of the street is Lombard Street. Very COOL! At first I thought, why not just walk down the street to really experience it but, about halfway down the street I thought, it would be best to take Little Red down the street. I mean isn't this the type of streets the Mini Coopers were built for? I relayed the idea to the Queen (Wife) who volunteered to wait at about the half way point to film Little Red coming down Crooked Street. It was very slow moving through the street due to the fact there are a bunch of tourists who are also driving down the street, as well as pedestrians who are attempting to cross the street at the top of Crooked Street. Cruising down the street, I start to wonder who lives in the homes along this street and if they are used to the chaos of tourists that come to gawk and take photos of their local landmark.

Our next and final stop was to see the Painted Ladies. I love the Victorian architecture and the color of paint that were used on these houses. So, we parked Little Red right across the street of the "Ladies" and sat on the grassy lawn of Alamo Square park. I always thought one of these houses were used in the old TV show, Full House but, after researching it kind of sorta were. The opening sequence for most of the seasons of Full House ended with the family picnicking in Alamo Square Park, with the Painted Ladies in the background. According to what I discovered on Google, the "Tanner" house was the one located on Broderick Street in San Francisco. Now, I wish we would have driven by that house. Anyway, after admiring the scenery surrounding the Painted Ladies, we jumped back into Little Red, set the navigator to guide us back to our home address. It informed us, it will take us approximately 8 hours. I didn't care, I was determined to get us home before Tuesday morning.

Leaving San Francisco wasn't too bad, the traffic was jammed up until we got onto the bridge and didn't run into another traffic jam until a few miles out of the city, I can't remember exactly where. Then again, it was smooth sailing until we decided to put more fuel into Little Red, fill up our bellies and use the restroom at a Carl JR's that was just off Hwy 5. Again, I don't recall exactly where we stopped but, I do recall we were just a few miles North of Pleasanton. Leaving this area, traffic again was smooth sailing for another 175 miles South or so, near Kettleman there was another traffic jam. This time the right lane was closed due to a fire. We could see the fire blazing in the distance to the West; however, right up against the Hwy 5, even in the dark you could tell the ground was black from being burnt, very small sparks or fires were still blazing and smokey. You could see the think smoke drifting from the burnt ground coming from the West and engulfing Little Red. It was slow moving for what seemed like an eternity but, we made it through in one piece. The Kids loved the excitement.

By the time we got to the Grapevine, I was too tired to drive any longer. We stopped at a local gas station to fuel up Little Red, take a quick restroom break and the Queen (Wife) to get a cup of coffee. She was going to drive the last remaining 158 miles to our homestead. I passed out in the passenger side of Little Red until we got to the Corona area. We could see the Holy Fire from the I-15 to the West of us. We weren't affected by any flames or smoke and the rest of way home was uneventful. We arrived home around 2 am and all I remember doing is falling down into my bed to pass out.

Until next time... Smoke'em if you got'em. Cigars not wildfires. Stay Safe!