Days before Chris and I close on our home due to our home being completed 6 weeks early, we took a nice little vacation for four days to San Francisco with Chris' parents! This is a very memorable spot to vacation for the Whitchurch family due to many trips taken in the past so they have wanted to take me for some time!James had already been in California due to work so Fran flew with us early Thursday morning while James picked us up at the Oakland Airport which immediately reminded me of good old memories from our flight to Hawaii from our honeymoon 2 years ago! We had a good chuckle when Chris and I could point out the very same chairs that we slept on the night we decided to save money before our flight took off early morning ha ha. It was the worst decision ever made on my part but even then I probably would not have changed a thing because I saved a ton of money and we made up the lost sleep on the plane ;) It really is quit the story and was quit the adventure lol :)
Anyway... James took us over to San Fran to check in our baggage at the Hyatt Hotel. It was fun to see all the barges on the way and seeing them load up all the crates of who knows what from China. Since our hotel was along Union Square, that was where we started! All the art was displayed and they even had a movie being filmed which explained the yellow guys with signs protesting against food storage!?! It was so odd for me to hear since I was taught the total opposite all my life. We continued walking the streets and came across one of my favorites!!! H&M baby :) I discovered this store on our New York trip. I think that was when I fell in love with good shopping! I purchased a new red coat and they had more of my favorite turtlenecks and in more colors so Fran and I stocked up on those again he he! Chris found a very stylish European sweater that I love and a hat...if you know me my fetish is over boots and hats, I LOVE THEM!!! Afterwords we stopped at Lori's for lunch which was very fun and then to the Westgate mall. I loved watching the performers on the streets, they were most entertaining and then off we went on the Cable Cars to Lombard Street which was an adventure in itself! For dinner we went to Fino's and then slept oh so well ha ha!
Day two, we started out at the Warf at Pier 39 and 41 I believe and checked out the seals :) We did a little bit of window shopping until I found a hat store! I found many but limited to one lol. We had fish and chips for lunch and then we went on the Blue and Gold Bay cruise out to Golden Gate Bridge!!! We then went to Coit's Tower, walked down the stairs to the Cathedral. James and Chris went back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner while Fran and I walked around the corner from our hotel to another favorite....ZARA'S! For dinner, we went to Ton Kiang which had the best vegetables ever tasted yummm!
Day three we finished up any shopping and met up to go back to the Warf. We walked down the other end to Ghirardelli's to purchase some chocolate :) and checked out the pirate ship! By the time we made our way around the crowds we ate lunch at the Boudin Bakery which was much needed! It was the coldest day on the trip so we had clam chowder soup bowls to warm us up! This to was a very fun place! The bakery smelled SO good and it was fun to see them make all the different animals out of the bread! The airshow started at noon before the Blue Angels came out from 3-4pm. The fog did not allow them to stay out long, around 15-20 min. and they were not able to leave formation much due to the weather coming in but flying over head was fun!!! The airshow before them made up for it and Chris got a few good pictures! Now here was the not so fun part! Trying to get a ride back to the hotel....the bitter cold made us hurt. After a couple hours trying to catch a taxi because we did not want to stay in the line for several hours for the cable cars...we finally took up an offer from a limo driver who was yelling out $10 a person to down town! James accepted the offer as another guy also offered the driver $200 to the airport if he picked up his luggage as well! We were then wondering if we were in for a trip to the airport? Seconds later the driver was convincing another couple that we were just humans and we did not bite as he shoved them into the limo. We quickly discovered that he was trying to fit ten different people at once to make quick money! From the moment we got in and discovered what the driver was doing we all did not feel good about the situation we were in. Not to mention that he had his Iranian mother in the passenger seat who spoke little English. The couple in the back with us were very nice and they were just as nervous as we were. The limo driver was not the nicest guy but tried to cover it up by telling us he loved us afterwords!?!? When the gentlemen who was desperately trying to get the driver to pick up his luggage and quickly take him to the airport since he was still trying to find more people on the streets, we panicked thinking we would be taking a trip to the airport. The couple spoke out first and backed out saying they were not going to the airport and wanted out of the deal. When the gentlemen trying to get to the airport heard that he told us he would drop all of us off first he got out. There was all kinds of bickering but nearly forced the couple back in the limo with us so they said they would just get dropped off at our hotel since they were close. When the driver got back in and bickered back in forth with his mother a short while before he got back out and requested that he charge the couple the $200 if they still want the ride since it was their fault that he lost it, ha!!! He was so rude and then kicked her out because he claimed he did not want her business anymore which I think ended up being okay for them since anyone knows that you can get a $10 taxi ride! We were shocked at how rude he was to the couple and here we were back to the four of us! He began to drive and we felt so trapped! The driver continued bickering with his mother (not in English) clearly upset that he lost the potential money he "had" every now and again jumping in to English convincing us that the people are the stupid ones while still honking and yelling out different prices to people for a ride. He was not going under $100 and then continued getting more upset as people denied is ridiculous price. We were now concerned that he would change the price on us...he then turned towards the Warf obviously seeking out for more people to take downtown. James mentioned that we were the opposite direction and then we heard never ending comments of him avoiding traffic etc. He new we were not convinced clearly as he continued honking and throwing out offers to people while going in circles. He then said that if we don't want his business, we could just get out then, we without thinking twice took it as our window out and said "Lets Get Out Of Here!!!! I can't even remember if Chris waited for the limo to stop completely before opening the door for our escape! We were SO relieved to have escaped not knowing when we would have ever made it home and yet it took the entire night to feel safe! We all felt scared and our bodies felt it and then we realized we were back at square one, the Warf! We walked back up to the taxi line in the freezing cold to discover a massive line and only one taxi coming by every 20 min. We decided that we should probably try and change our dinner plans so Fran and I waited inside Hard Rock. Our table was ready for us before a taxi came along so we all ate slow and tried warming up hoping the crowds would disappear a little in the meantime. When we finished, Chris checked the taxi line to discover that there were 20 or so people in line with another 1-2 hour wait!!! I wanted to cry but James called the taxi service to inform them of the need. I wish we thought of that earlier because 5 min. later when everyone was out of the restrooms the line cut in half and then maybe 10 min later four more taxi cabs pulled in and we made the fourth one!!! As we revealed our horrible night he informed us that the limo driver was illegally driving for the City, that there is a limo driver picking up several girls at a time at bars and then harassing the last one he drops off, that our hotel is black listed plus little misc facts that are good to know if you don't want to ever be black listed ha ha! We also learned that the breaks have to be changed out every week in San Fran because of the hills!!! It was a fun and educational ride that I will never forget and we were all so very happy to be back at our hotel even though it was before 8pm lol! We did not care that our night ended so early because it felt like 11pm!
The last day we were in California went a ton better! We were checked out before 10am taking the rental to Cliff House along the beach for brunch :) I loved it! The restaurant had the walls covered with pictures of all the famous people who ever ate there which had been a ton because it was 99 years old! What I loved about San Fran was how old everything was. I forgot about the old wind mills and building because I love in a newly developed area. The coast felt just as cloudy and cold as the Oregon coast which reminded me of my childhood memories. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and then spent the remaining time at the San Fransisco Museum of Arts before are flight back home!
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