don't call it frisco 1
january 19, 2007
i'm not having a very productive journaling month am i? it's the 19th and this is only my second entry. certainly not the right foot to start off the blogging year that's for sure. but i have good reasons and also not so good reasons. but i'd like to focus on the good reasons first.....i was in san francisco for 4-5 days. it was a somewhat last minute trip that was pulled together and i have to apologize for not letting a lot of you know that i was coming. but it was a trip to see my sister really and to spend some quality time with her. afterall, it's been nearly 3.5 years since i've seen her and nearly the same amount of time since i've been up to the norcal area.
i've been away much too long really. much too long.
luckily for me, i got a chance to visit the bay area during one of the coldest days in history. that lovely arctic storm came lashing down california and it all happened during my wonderful visit where i wouldn't have a car and i would resort to walking in downright icy weather. being the LA girl that i am, i'm not quite used to it. but that doesn't mean that i don't love it either.
i arrived last saturday morning on some godforsaken early flight that i will obviously need to remind myself to never book again. my brother and niece were already in the bay area and we were picked up by them in their rental. shortly afterwards, we crossed the bay bridge into the city and headed to my hotel. not surprisingly, my room wasn't ready at 10am. :p but we did stow away our bags and parked nearby so we could stroll down to powell and hop onto the cable car. being that it's my niece first time flying and in san francisco, we had to get her onto the san francisco treat. it's been YEARS since i've been on one of these cars and damn, they sure raised the prices haven't they?
as blue skied and clear as the day was, the bitter chill of the hard freeze in the bay area was most definitely apparent. and it was one of those days that i do not wish to be hanging off the side of the cable car lapping in the frosty chill. brrrr....
we took the powell mason line over to the fisherman's wharf area bypassing all the different neighborhoods of the city. it's on the cable car that i really begin to kick myself for not coming back sooner in these 3 years. it's odd how i can make the 2500 mile trip to hawaii so often but i can barely eek out a 1 hour flight to the bay area annually. guilty as charged. but after this trip, i'm a changed woman. just wait and see.
the cable car, being as packed as it ever was, made its way over to the fisherman's wharf area where we strolled around in the cold until we (about 1/4 mile into our walk) couldn't take the cold much anymore and had to eat. we stopped into the boudin bakery....home of the world famous san francisco sourdough bread. since i've been up since 4am and only got 3 hours of sleep, i was really famished and exhausted. it felt so good to sit down somewhere where i could warm myself up and also fill my tummy. i couldn't believe that it was only 11:30am by that time. :p
after lunch, we strolled around pier 39 and parts of fisherman's wharf before calling it a day and then cable car-ing it back to downtown/union square area. i wished i would have gotten a chance to go to the cannery or ghiradelli square. all of these places were places i used to go to every time i visited my sister. they bring back a lot of memories. but the weather was really too chilly by this point and we really needed the safe haven of le mini van to take us over the bay bridge and into oakland to visit my sister for dinner.
the skies were extremely blue weren't they? amazing how beautiful and clear the skies are up in SF.
more photos on my SF trip soon.
currently listening to: vienna teng, cannonball
