summer baseball trip- san francisco (bus tour & city sights)

So I think pretty much everyone already knows that we went on a big trip this summer to California and Arizona. John wants to take the boys to every major league baseball park (so the trips are centered around the games, and the sights are just an extra.) and they are now up to 26 out of the 30 parks at the conclusion of this trip. Timmy is a little behind so they’re going to have to go back and do a few twice, but I’m pretty sure they’re not too terribly upset about that. It was a GREAT trip, so much fun (well, except for the baseball for me. You all know how I feel about that.). Big thanks to John for setting it all up and funding the trip for all of us, and to Erin at Top Shelf Travel for all the arranging of flights, rental cars & hotels in accordance with the game schedule. And here comes total picture overload for the next few days until I finish up the trip.

We flew into San Francisco from JFK on 8/2. Those of you who know me, know that I am not a fan of flying. I did manage to do it drug free, however but man that was a loooooong ass flight. Read a lot and watched a lot of JetBlue TV. And flying into the SFO airport so soon after that big crash didn’t help much either. But we made it. A little (disclaimer: a mix of iPhone, fujix100 and the canon 5d mark ii pictures all mixed in here.)

Went to Lori’s diner our first night for dinner (at like 5pm sf time, so 8pm ny time.) Took some getting used to for the time change but by the following day, we were doing much better. 
We waited 1.5hours (yes, hours!!!) for a rental car in the sfo airport. And then when we got to the counter they said they had no more minivans left. Yeah, the NY came out just about then. We ended up getting a minivan but the brakes were metal on metal grinding at every stop and the change oil light came on immediately. The rental car line from across the street from the hotel wasn’t any better. And it looked like that through our entire stay in SF. We did eventually get a new car the following day which the company delivered, but I never understood the last rice truck in the world long lines during the trip. While the boys went to the A’s game on Saturday 8/3, I took a cab to Japantown for some sightseeing and lunch. Sushi of course. (hey, they can visit every park. I can visit every sushi restaurant.)Selfiies and sushi. Grandpa Ken (aka Hakka) snapped a few on his cell. The boys in their “natural habitat” (the stadium store).
It was a Zuba’s giveaway. There are no words.More from Japantown.Ah, the elusive Queen of Pakiscandinavia.I walked back to the hotel from Japantown after a little walking tour around the area. Met a nice mailman who showed me Janis Joplin’s first house (not pictured). After a few hills, I called it a day and headed back to the hotel to meet up with the boys. Do you notice that everyone is dressed super warm? It was freaking freezing in San Francisco. In August. Whatever.Waiting on line for Sears Fine Food for breakfast the next day. Totally worth it- best waffles ever. Good call, Hakka. Then Sunday 8/4 it was the double decker bus tour all around San Francisco. The first “sight” on the tour. Yup. When we checked into our hotel, John upgraded us to a suite. As it turns out, the suite was on the smoking floor (seriously? I had no idea that there even WAS a smoking floor anywhere anymore!) and the whole floor and our room reeeeeeeeeeked like cigarette smoke. Not to mention the pot smoke that filled the hallway. We “graded” right back to a regular room that was non smoking (pot or otherwise). However, you can get a good contact high pretty much anywhere in the whole city. The building on the right is the Coppola’s studio, both father and daughter. Sophia Coppola directed one of my favorite movies- Marie Antoinette. Is it just me or does anyone else think of Jan Brady ” F-F-FIL-L-L-LMO-O-O-ORE. Fillmore Junior High!Chinatown- one of the things we didn’t have time to do. Heading across and back the Golden Gate bridge. The fog/mist was so cool and ever-changing. Patrick is NOT a fan of bridges. One side of the city is all cloudy/foggy/misty and the other is all bright and sunny. Looks like a toy out of the 50’s. Love it. Alcatraz. That’s the next blog post. Coit tower. People kept telling us we could go up. Too many stairs. Dinner at Tadich Grill was amazing. Another win by Hakka. Next up: Alcatraz, Giants & CableCars. Ohmy.