Dec. 1: SF Trip Report, Day 3

Day 1 of the trip report is here
Day 2 of the trip report is here

Day 3, Wednesday, November 26:

We had breakfast in our room again, and then walked two blocks down to the cable car turnaround. There was no line, probably because it was early and raining. We hopped right on a cable car and rode down to Union Square. Jack wanted to stand and hang off the side—of course, we wouldn’t let him, but I’m pretty sure he would’ve scared the crap out of himself if he had. I was surprised that the kids liked the cable cars as much as they did—I thought Jack would be scared of the hills, and I expected Katie to complain about the noise, but they both did very well. It was raining hard by the time we got to Union Square.




One of the things that sorta made me laugh and sorta drove me crazy was how Katie and Jack both pointed out every dog or pigeon they saw. I mean, first of all—it’s a dog (or pigeon). And, y’know, we’re in San Francisco, a city with so many fascinating sights, and they’re excited about dogs (or pigeons)??? Sigh.

We went into a couple boutique-type stores on Powell. One was World of Charms, where I wanted Katie to pick out something for the charm bracelet I’ve been making for her since right after she was born. She’s just recently been choosing her own charms, which is exciting and also frustrating when she wants something that (in my opinion) is huge and/or hideous. This time she chose a delicate little Golden Gate Bridge charm. She was very proud and stood with me while I paid for it. The clerk dropped the charm into a velvet pull-string pouch, and Katie looked up at me with excited eyes. Then he put the pouch into a gift box and she got a big smile on her face. Then he put the box into a gift bag filled with tissue paper. I thought she would pee her pants when he handed it to her; she was so excited. It reminded me of that gift-wrapping scene in Love Actually, except that it didn’t drive me nuts. I think that was my favorite souvenir purchasing experience on the trip. Yes, I realize that says very little.

We went around the corner to Macy’s and had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Mom had never eaten there before. The food was delicious, as always, and we shared two cheesecake slices for dessert. Afterward we shopped in Macy’s Christmas department and got several souvenir ornaments. It was a lot more exciting to shop at Macy’s before all our Meier & Franks turned into them.



We found some Star Wars Lego shirts for Jack in the kids’ department and he assured us he could not live without them. While waiting to pay we saw G-list celebrity Susan Powter. Ooh. Aah. Meh.

It did not matter that we kept hoping the rain would stop; it continued steadily. (I have a real problem with people that use umbrellas while walking down crowded streets—they hit people with them and it doesn’t seem worth it that I have to lose an eye just so some wench can preserve her ‘do. Grrr…) Some of us had hoods and used those. Some of us did not have hoods and just got uglier as the day went on.

There was an ice rink set up in Union Square but I was able to convince the kids that all the rain would make it extra slippery. I was disappointed though; it was totally like the poor man’s Rockefeller Center and I would have loved to go skating there. Between spending time in Macy’s Christmas department and seeing Union Square all decorated and semi-icy, I definitely got into a Christmas mood—I do love this time of year.

We walked over to Grant and into Chinatown until we found the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, where we were given samples of fresh unfolded, un-fortuned cookies. That’s their specialty, and I gotta tell ya, they’re not that special. I mean, they taste like fortune cookies, so there ya go. We bought a couple bags for the kids to take back to their classmates, though, because they’re cheap souvenirs for entire classes of fortune cookie-loving kids. We did not buy the “sexy cookies,” which they say contain x-rated fortunes. Vic and I got them for Daryl and Sally a few years ago and they’re not so much x-rated as they are really, really confusing. The naughtiness must have gotten lost in translation.

From the depths of Chinatown we walked back to the cable car line and hopped off again when we got to the Crookedest Street. We took our time walking down it and the kids had a ball. Katie got some great pictures—she’s really getting to be a shutterbug. There have been times I’ve been on Lombard when all the flowers are brightly blooming, but this time they were much less colorful and fresh-looking… and yet, it was still beautiful.




We walked through the Fisherman’s Wharf area again before heading back to the hotel for the evening. Vic got pasta at Trader Joes for dinner and we ate in our suite. It was kind of a quiet evening, and we all retreated to our own areas and watched TV, read books, and napped. Quite lovely on a vacation where it’s go-go-go all the time.

The only thing we had hoped to do that we didn’t was go on a bay tour. Between the fog and rain and cold, it just wouldn’t have been worth it. If we go back in a few years I think the kids would enjoy Alcatraz so we might just wait until then.