San Francisco Vacation- Day 6

Happy Thanksgiving! And Happy Birthday to me!
That's right. This year the two days coincide. We had decided to go down to Pier 39 today and maybe stop in at the aquarium. We got very distracted by the fact that NOTHING shuts down here on the holiday!! We passed an Old Navy on our way down to the water and couldn't pass up seeing what the deals were!! We left with huge bagfuls of stuff!!! The deals were AMAZING! We got almost all our Christmas Shopping done! We weren't expecting to be lugging around shopping bags all day though, so the aquarium got cut out. We did go to Pier 39 and have my birthday lunch there and then wandered around taking in the sights of the sea lions and of course, I bought a magnet from the biggest magnet store I've ever seen!! We tried to go visit the Dutch section of some memorial my aunt had told us about on our way back but we couldn't seem to find it... We wandered around for about an hour and a half. Then we decided to see a movie- Puss in Boots. (Pretty sure it was one of the only things playing!) It wasn't  half bad though. Shouldn't seem like it, but it was getting dark by this point and we got lost our first two nights there trying to get back to the train station!! Seriously! We were walking through some seedy neighborhoods. Bunch of thugs hanging outside against a wall up to no good. I just gave 'em a hello! Soni kept telling me not to talk to anyone. Then we ran into a drunk guy on his way home from work. He put his hand on my shoulder to turn me in the direction we should be going and Soni and I both tensed for action!!! He would have been REALLY sorry of he tried anything!!
I think this night we found our way relatively easily... I think the problem was it's called the 3rd street station but I don't think it's technically on 3rd street. Or something like that. The map we had was obviously not helping us either!!

Here is my pics when we finally got on the train that night:

Oh yeah, did I mention we stopped at Ghirardelli also?! We got off the bus there b/c that's where the waterfront/Piers start... Not realizing Pier 39 was a far piece down!! We were exhausted! But it was so much fun!!

VACATION!! Day 4

I have left you all hanging... and I didn't really care!

Day 4...
    Today we rode the bus back to downtown SF.  We decided to go back down to the Pier area so we could really see all the shops.  This time we stopped at Ghiradelli and bought a bunch of chocolates to take home as gifts and goodies for co-workers!  It was hard to resist opening the bags and eating it all!!
We basically just did a lot of sightseeing this day... without looking like total tourists!  It's a LOT of walking!!

    We decided to see Chinatown... There are a lot of people!  Kinda like being in China I imagine!  Lots of dead things, fish, chicken & ducks hanging in windows too... and then little tubs of water with fish swimming around in them. Fresh is best!
I think the lamp posts were the CUTEST things there! I wish lamp posts everywhere looked like these!

Isn't it the CUTEST?!  I love the little dragons!  I think all lamp posts should look like this!

We shopped and walked the rest of the day and at the end this is what that looks like...

Old Navy was having a KILLER sale!!!

 

VACATION!! Day 3

I know you have all been dying to hear the continuing story of our fabulous vacation, so on to Day 3! The first day in San Francisco!! Whoo-Hoo!

We didn't have to get up too early this day since San Jose isn't terribly far from SF. We checked in to our hotel, armed ourselves with maps, info and plans and took off to see the sights!!

We rode the Cal-train for the first time... we felt like tourists trying to get tickets from the machine! :/ We got into Downtown and then caught a bus to go down toward the pier! (We bought tickets online for Alcatraz, so we wanted to kinda check out where it was so we wouldn't miss it!) Here's when we REALLY felt like tourists since we were asking the bus driver where we get off to get there! They all were really helpful and nice though, and it wasn't all that bad.

We got off at Ghiradelli... MMmmm! We thought about having ice cream, but never got around to it... it was pretty chilly! (52 degrees... which isn't bad normally, but next to the water made it colder and that was at noon!) Anyway, we headed down along the waterfront and, of course, had to stop at Boudin for some AWESOME sourdough bread bowl chili! YUM! I just wasn't used to seeing so many darn birds! And they are brave too! Some dork left his bowl unattended and the birds went for it!! He managed to salvage it, but just barely.

We walked the rest of the way down the pier, past Pier 39 and all the shops (that was for another day!) And then, TA-DA! There was Pier 33! We got here early so we hung out in the souvenir shop for a bit checking out all the stuff. (I'm not gonna lie, I usually get sucked in to buying something!) We started a habit of collecting magnets of places we travel to. It's cheaper than clothing, and lasts longer too! After getting our souvenirs safely ensconced we headed out to board the ship!! I won't really say much more except to label the photos!!!

Soni on our ferry ride over

Leaving SF behind!!

Caught a bird in flight... it was following our boat and yes, it was WINDY!

View from behind

First close up view from the ferry

View of The Golden Gate Bridge from our Ferry over to the Rock!

These are the showers... where a convict was first taken... Wonder what missionaries would have thought if it was like this at the MTC!

Just an empty cell.

You know me... I gotta be different! I would hate to have to really use a toilet in a cell like this!

Soni chilling in a cell... she was reluctant to lay on the bed! HAHA!

A cell someone tried to escape from.

Cell Block D.. I just wanted this picture b/c that's where the hardened criminals stay (& where Sean Connery's character supposedly was when they filmed The Rock). The guards told us they actually filmed it in Cell Block A which was dark, gated and kinda off-limits. Oh well.

Me in solitary... it smelled musty and was DARK! *shiver*

View of the outside tower

The view as we were sailing away... Goodbye Alcatraz!

After Alcatraz (no we weren't scared after seeing it... we don't believe in ghosts!) came the daunting task of getting back to the Cal-train station and making our way back to our hotel! Let's just say, easier said than done! We got miserably lost, saw a rat, walked past a crazy lady having a fight with some girl that wasn't there (she kept saying the B word and making threats), walked past some tough looking guys having a fight, and finally got directions from a drunk, that turned out to be okay, to Cal-train. It was a different station, but it got us where we wanted to go!! HOME!

VACATION!! Day 2

We stayed the night in San Simeon. Meh... that hotel placed every guest right next to each other & the walls were paper thin so we got to hear everyone most of the night! (That's why I never leave home without earplugs! Greatest invention EVER!!)

Anyway, we had already decided to drive up the 1 to San Jose with a short stop to see Hearst Castle, only once we got there we decided we didn't really want to do it. It was rainy & we had a lot of miles to cover & sometimes you just wanna get there, ya know?! Here's the funny thing... We only had like 2 gallons of gas which I noticed and said aloud, and we were wondering if we should backtrack or just hope we would run into a gas station. Long story short... The gas light came on, we FINALLY found a station, the gas was $5 something/gallon!!! I guess out in the middle of nowhere they can charge whatever they want!!

We finally got to San Jose and headed over to the Winchester Mystery House. I had been here previously in the mid 90's with my BFF Katy & you were allowed to take pictures back then. I guess someone took video and then made a not-so-nice movie with that footage, and now they have a no photos rule. (I still took them with my phone camera when our tour guide wasn't paying attention.- Shameful, I know.)

Here are all the pictures:

Outside views of the house:

This one is my FAVE... It's the bell tower. I took it from inside the house.

Inside the house views:

Soni by the pantry and some statue thingie.

The super cute daisy windows!

Outside/garden tour views:

Sad, I can't remember how this tree was split, but that's how it grows now.

Mrs. Winchester loved horses so the weather vane had a horse instead of a rooster.

A replica of the Winchester tombstone. Meh.

We also went on the tour of under the house... the basement and such, but the tour guide was Boom! right there wherever we were so I couldn't get any pictures. Oh well... it was dark anyway.

After this we checked into our hotel and then found a Target and a Trader Joe's (Soni said she could live in San Jose b/c it has those 2 stores!)

Then we watched a Christmas movie and drank hot chocolate...

NEXT STOP... SAN FRANCISCO!!

VACATION!!

I know! I should have blogged this vacation as soon as we got home, while it was fresh in my mind, but did I? No. Of course not!! I am now. So, here goes:

We left Saturday and drove to Solvang, CA... Whoo-Hoo! I've never been here before. Seriously? I didn't even know it existed. My family IS Danish (along with a lot of other stuff), so how could I be so in-the-dark? Anyway, it was a totally cute town and I would die to go back and stay longer (any takers? Probably when one of the festivals is going on!)

We parked here... and there was a mural on the wall with lots of Danish people...

This is the bakery our Aunt told us about... She said the pastries are TO DIE FOR! She was right!! They were so unbelievably good! The sunlight hit it just right.. it's like heaven was shining the sun on it.. "ahhhhhhh" (heavenly music)

I just liked the street name...

Cute windmills all over! I especially loved the Days Inn as you drive in.. So adorable. I'll have to get a picture next time.

There was a little shop where you could look up your name... this is The Christensen Coat of Arms. I thought that was pretty freakin' Awesome!

Anyway, after getting some aebleskivers (that were AMAZING!!!!) we hit the road heading for San Jose. (Follow the aeblskivers link to see how these SUPER DELISH BEAUTIES are made!)

This is all along the 1. We stopped along the coast... we only had like 2 gallons of gas and a LOT of highway! We were sooo nervous we would run out. Finally we found a place that had gas for over $5/gallon!!!! Crazy! But, we had to pay! Or else push the car the rest of the way!!

To be continued...

San Jose, Winchester Mystery House! Ooooo!!