I was appreciative of his recommendation to go to Alcatraz, though. I didn't expect to enjoy it so much--the historical value of certain things and places can be lost on me. You don't have to be a big history buff to enjoy your visit here though, although the history is much more interesting than you'd think, as my coworker had told me. There is also a surprising amount of greenery and plant life here--a garden that was tended by families of the prison guards who lived on the island, maybe even tended by prisoners themselves (I don't remember if that was the case or not). Beautiful and enormous white calla lilies could be found all over (I'll be honest, that was the only flower I really recognized). Of course, it was overcast/foggy that day, so my pictures of San Francisco from the island didn't really turn out well, but I can only imagine seeing the city from Alcatraz at night. They say in the audio tour of the island (which is a national park) that that was one of the things about Alcatraz--it was so close you could hear the sounds of the city coming from across the bay. I can imagine what torture that would be--so close to civilization, and yet so far. My coworker also told me about a walking path around the island, but my mom and I opted not to go that route. We got enough exercise wandering up and down the island.
That was the same day we traversed several blocks and large hills to climb up to Coit Tower in Pioneer Park. It also affords decent views of the city, although again it was a bit cloudy when we were up there. I was almost disappointed that we didn't have to climb the stairs up the tower--we had climbed up hills already, so I was primed to do more climbing.
We made our way over to the Ferry building to check out what was more or less an indoor farmer's market. I love farmer's markets, so this was a great experience. I definitely recommend the chocolate sorbet from Ciao Bella (very rich and deliciously dark) and the fish taco at Mijita. Best fish taco I've ever had. Granted, I haven't had that many, but this one blew the others out of the park. We also had cupcakes from the Kara's Cupcakes Kara-van stationed at another market-type place outside across the street. My mother raved about the carrot cake one. My coconut cupcake was pretty good. Kara's Cupcakes is located in Ghirardelli Square (where we had been the previous day) next to Wattle Creek Winery's tasting room.
While on that subject of wine, I will say that I found the red wines I tasted at Wattle Creek's tasting room to be difficult to distinguish from one another. They were also so dry that I felt the moisture being sucked out of my mouth and so strong that I had to drink water between each sip to cleanse my palate. I did enjoy the sparkling wine and of the reds, I found the petite syrah to be enjoyable, so I bought two bottles. The muscat was also good.
While in San Francisco, Mom and I stayed literally across the street from Fisherman's Wharf. I had been pressing to stay somewhere not touristy or a slightly niceish hotel chain if possible (my mom made fun of me, saying I wanted to stay at the Ritz-Carlton--not true. I would have settled for Sofitel, although that is a bit out of our price range, maybe Hyatt or Hilton), but the hotel we stayed at was decent and there were a lot of restaurants within close walking distance. We had a tasty chicken salad sandwich for dinner at Boudin and breakfast there the next morning--sourdough French toast and a ham and gruyere croissant, both delicious. We of course did a bit of souvenir shopping in the area, and the Wharf is not a far drive from any of the places we went in SF. From that standpoint, I was sad to not see any of the funkier neighborhoods of SF, and I felt maybe we had deprived ourselves of seeing some of the real character of the city because we didn't really venture out beyond the touristy stuff. I did thoroughly enjoy what we did see though.
Saturday we drove up to Santa Rosa, about an hour north of San Francisco. It was a much bigger "town" than I realized. It was the adopted home of Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip, for much of his adult life, which was why I wanted to visit. I found the Schulz Museum to be just that--a museum about his life, so if you are anticipating a Peanuts Museum, you'll be disappointed. For those of you not familiar with his life and background, I would recommend it. He wasn't perhaps the happiest of people, but it's interesting to know the story behind him and the influences on the comic. I think my mom and I walked through it in about an hour, to our surprise. We wandered over to the Redwood Empire Ice Arena across the street, which was owned by Schulz. They still had the Christmas decorations up, which was nice--it was neat to see the ice rink surrounded by the lights and decorations. We ordered chili dogs at the Warm Puppy, the on-site cafe where Schulz would get breakfast and lunch--I didn't realize that they were $6.50 until I paid, but when we got them, we understood why. These aren't some wimpy hot dogs with a scant amount of chili on top served on styrofoam plates. These were served in actual dishes with knives and forks (very useful), the hot dogs themselves served in a bowl, covered in so much chili you could barely see the bun. Very good. I would also recommend the Peppermint Patty (peppermint hot chocolate).
My mother isn't a wine drinker, but I dragged her to Rosso Pizzeria and Wine Bar in Santa Rosa anyway. She seemed less than thrilled about the idea, but I was pretty keen on it so she acquiesced. I had read about it in Budget Travel magazine a couple of months ago and thought, "Hey, if I ever actually get to Santa Rosa, this could come in handy." We waited about 30 or 40 minutes for a table. This place seems pretty popular with the locals--Mom noted that a number of the people there seemed to be familiar with the managers and staff. I was surprised to see the number of families there with children--this is not a typical pizza joint. They were pouring syrahs at the bar (I have a particular weakness for syrah, but I didn't give in this time), so the hostess recommended that we try them while we waited. There was no room to sit at the bar, so Mom and I stood and looked at the menu. She didn't seem too enthused about any of the choices, but said that whatever I chose she could probably deal with. We decided to split a salad and a pizza, which turned out to be a good decision. We got a Tuscan wedge salad with bleu cheese, gorgonzola dressing, pancetta and roasted tomatoes and a Beppo pizza with red sauce, housemade mozzarella (!), black olives, pepperoni and red onion on it. I asked the waiter what a good wine would be to go with this odd pairing of salad and pizza, and he suggested a tempranillo, which turned out to be a good choice, and at $6 a glass, I was pleased with the price as well. Dinner came down to about $16 each, not including tip (I paid since I dragged Mom there). The pizza was really good--the crust is really thin, not really thick enough to support the toppings, but it still has a crackle and crisp to it. My mom and I aren't really thin crust devotees but we both enjoyed this.
We flew jetBlue in and out of Oakland from Dulles because my mother found it to be less expensive than flying in and out of SFO. JetBlue gets major points for having DirecTV and Sirius XM satellite radio on board, although movies are $6 and they don't serve real food (you do get a selection of free snacks). They scored even bigger by getting us to Oakland 40 minutes early and leaving Oakland for Dulles 10 minutes early. The flight attendants are also super cool. I was personally a bit scared of the idea of being in Oakland, much less staying a night there as we did (our flight in got in around 10 pm), but the airport was pretty nice and had an interesting exhibit on ukeleles and guitars and how they're made. I wish I'd been more attentive to that and taken some pictures. The part of Oakland we stayed in seemed nice enough and the hotel we stayed in was decent as well.
All that being said, I definitely enjoyed my trip but I intend to go back to San Francisco one day to see and experience more of the city.
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