San Francisco is a great city, and wine country is gorgeous (not to mention overloaded with fabulous wines). We got in on Saturday and managed to see and do so much over the course of the week that it felt like a longer vacation than it was… except that it was too short, like all vacations, in the end.
Since the time change gave us three extra hours in our day, we wanted to take a drive through the city, just to see it. The plan was to leave for Sonoma in the morning, and not be back in SF until Thursday afternoon, but when we realized how much time we had left on Saturday, it seemed silly to spend it at the hotel near the airport. We only planned on a drive-by, because we were warned about exorbitant parking rates in the touristy areas, and we didn’t want to spend a ton of money just to get an hour or so in town. Well, the parking gods were smiling on us and we found street parking right near Fisherman’s Wharf, so instead of a drive, we went for a walk. I know that area is designed for tourists and isn’t “authentic”, but I’d have felt silly about going to SF and not at least seeing it.
It was cold and cloudy and very windy, but the rain stayed away and we had a great first afternoon, walking around for an hour or two and having a snack at Boudin Bakery. SF is famous for sourdough bread, and while this particular place is a bit of a tourist trap, I think they make some damn good bread. I almost bought a little sourdough turtle, but he wouldn’t have made it home uneaten. Bread is my weakness. I never net a carb I didn’t love.
All we really did that afternoon was sit around for a while enjoying the view and the air. We could see Alcatraz across the water, then turn around and see the city, with the Coit tower and Transamerica pyramid poking up, with a soundtrack provided by the wind, the gulls, and the sea lions barking over at Pier 39.
Stay tuned for the wine country portion of the trip!