Honeymoon Review Part 1: Arriving to San Francisco

Good morning!  I was supposed to have this posting up last night, but due to a slow internet connection & the fact that I was exhausted from Bar Method, my 8 mile bike ride & volleyball, I decided to wait until my brain didn't feel like mush. So here it is.  Part one of our honeymoon.

We took the earliest flight out from O'Hare to SFO (6am, Yikes!).  I wanted to have enough time to spend at least an afternoon in San Francisco, since neither of us had ever been there.  After we arrived, we took the tram over to the car rental terminal and picked up this hot little number. 

Our ride for the week was a convertible Mustang in cherry red.  Hotness! The driver's not too bad either ;-)  After we left the airport we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf.  The one thing I wanted to do while in San Francisco was see the seals, but I received some terrible news once we got there; they're not likely to be there during the summer months!  With all the research that I did for this trip, you think that would've come up? Nope.  Travel research fail.  But I did luck out with these two lazy seals who looked pretty content with where they were.    

We walked around Fisherman's Wharf and ate at a Crepes restaurant.  FW is a complete tourist trap, but it was definitely on our "must do" list.  It reminded me of Chicago's Navy Pier but on a much bigger scale.  

The ONE thing that LC wanted to do on this trip was visit Alcatraz.  A few weeks before we left for SF, I started booking the things we wanted for sure wanted to do.  (Alcatraz, Robert Mondavi tour, restaurants were all reserved before we left).  I'm so glad that I did reserve our Alcatraz tour when I did because a week and a 1/2 before the date, the two earlier time slots were already booked, so we went with the 12pm tour.  We booked our tix through Alcatraz Cruises.  

The Ferry ride over to Alcatraz was a windy one.  If you go, I suggest bringing a jacket and judging by this picture...maybe some hairspray.  It took us about 15 minutes to get over to Alcatraz Island.  Once you're on the Island, ferrys come back about every 15 minutes or so to get people, so you can leave whenever you want to.  There's also a ferry schedule posted on the island.  When I read the website, I was under the impression that the whole tour lasted about 3 hours.  We were only there for about 2-2 1/2 hours including the ferry ride to and from.   

I was actually very surprised at how beautiful Alcatraz Island was.  From the outside, it's hard to imagine that it was a "super" prison.

Once we got inside & started our audio tour, it was a different story...

After our tour on Alcatraz, we got back in our little car, and explored the rest of San Francicsco...by car.  We didn't want to spend our time walking everywhere.  One, San Fran is extremely hilly and two, we had an hour drive to Napa.

Here are some pics of San Francisco...by car.  I would really like to go back there and explore the city a bit more, but that would have to be a separate vacation because SF seems to have a lot to offer. 

Like street cars...

and Chinatown...

And the most "crookedest" street.  We drove down Lombard St. and I terrified.  That might be an overstatement, BUT I don't think I could ever live in SF because I hate driving on hills, so I would end up walking everywhere which in return might give me legs like Carrie Underwood's...so maybe relocating wouldn't be a bad idea ;-)

After we survived all those twists and turns, we looked at each other decided it was time to head to wine country.  But not without seeing the Golden Gate Bridge (which you actually take to get to Napa).  We got there just in time to see the fog roll in.  I've never seen fog so thick!  We went to the observation area and could not see anything.  It was hard to believe that there was even a bridge there.  So, we got back in the car and drove over it.   

*one of my fave shots :-) Definitely happy with the convertible!

And there it is!!! The best picture I got on the other side of the bridge.  Just another reason to go back for a visit.  Next stop? Napa! I'll be back tomorrow with a recap of lodging and most importantly, VINEYARDS!