Driving to San Francisco was a breeze. We took the PCH all the way back north only hitting spots of traffic here and there. We saw this cop who was obviously taking his job very seriously. Even though we were in pretty much a dead stop and he was trying to catch speeders?
We arrived in San Francisco with enough daylight to go to the Golden Gate bridge before checking into our hotel room. In classic San Francisco style, the weather was crisp and foggy but that gave a beautiful backdrop for pictures of the bridge.
The hotel we stayed in, The Marina Inn, was within walking distance of Pier 39 and Golden Gate park. It came recommended from a work friend back in Cincinnati. The rate was super cheap ($59), and the room was super cute (even with a Bay window!). It says budget bed and breakfast even though the breakfast was something to be desired but hey $59 downtown for a room and you can't really complain.
We then decided to go have some Cioppino at Ceasar's, this Italian restaurant downtown. It was delicious and the service was great, I would highly recommend it to anyone. It was so good you had to have bibs to eat it. Even though we had the bibs, Rob managed to still get it on himself :). Our appetizer was proschutto and melon, I would not have thought the combination would have been so good but it was delicious!
After our very filling dinner we walked along Pier 39, the typical tourist thing to do. I tried showing rob the Sea Lions but it was dark, you could hear them but Rob couldn't see them even though i was telling him to look at the lumpy things on the docks but again, it was dark. After walking along Ghirardelli Square - Rob and I stopped at this bar after walking around to try to find out if anyone could point us in the direction of any funk music (this seemed to be our thing the entire trip, I swear). We wound up staying for a beer and having the SPICIEST shot of vodka ever as it was infused with jalepeno peppers. I think it took two beers to get the spice out of my mouth, incredible.
We walk home, semi-tipsy and find this guy parked SO CLOSE to my car I was amazed he did not hit it. We then turned in for the night, ready for the next leg of our journey to Seattle. The car closest to the camera strap is mine, I do have a white car by the way, it was just incredibly filthy after our trip.
We woke up on Day 7 ready to tackle the rest of San Francisco that we could see in a few hours. We walked a little bit of the Golden Gate Bridge and drove over to Haight/Ashbury. Rob bought a little Tibetan singing bowl and I was browsing just to browse.
Unfortunately, our time here came to an abrupt end when I received a phone call that my contract in Fresno, California had been canceled due to "low census", meaning, no more of a demand for traveling nurses at that facility. I was devastated, crying on Haight street if you can imagine that scene. Oh, and it also started raining, the first time it has rained on us since our trip started... coincidence?
After several frantic phone calls later we decided to cut our time there short and head to the airport for bloody marys and airport internet while awaiting our flight to Seattle. Needless to say I was very upset due to the fact that we had driven all the way out to California, I was on my last dime, AND it was the Friday before I was to start working. Leaving me the entire weekend to not only think/stress about it but also not have the time to find another job. Maybe it worked out that way so I would have an excuse not to think about it until I got back to San Francisco on Sunday.... anyway.
We land in Seattle, it is pouring down rain but it was nice to be able to forget a while about what had happened. We met up with Rob's best friend Ryan and took the light rail downtown. Apparently the light rail is a new thing in Seattle as it only goes in one straight line. We checked into our hotel, The Warwick, which turned out to be our most expensive hotel at $89 for a night. But with a view like this, it was totally worth it.
After getting settled we walked to Ryan's apartment, right in the heart of downtown Seattle. It was such a cool place! We hit up an amazing sushi restaurant before we decided to go bar hopping. The sushi was amazing - we had been saving our money for that dinner all trip and it was so worth it to have such fresh fish. We decided our bar would be Shorty's - a pinball bar. I could have probably stayed there all night it was so much fun and they had great beer on tap.
After Shorty's we went to this bar that Ryan swore had the best margaritas we would ever have. I come from the background that a margarita is supposed to be incredibly sweet-these margaritas were incredibly spicy from the jalepeno infused tequilla. Wow they were good, but different.
After there we walked around the area, stopped back at Ryan's place and headed to a couple more bars.
We wound up going to the White Horse, a British Pub that was located in an alley and met up with a friend from back home, John! It was so fun. The White Horse is a very cool bar. They had a drink special on "Pim's cup" which I am still not sure what it is but it was delicious.
After that we decided to turn in and walk home to get some rest.
The next morning we woke up and it was a beautiful day in Seattle. Ryan, John, Rob, and I all met at CJ's Eatery downtown and had some grub. We seized the dry, beautiful day and decided to take the bus to Discovery Park and go discovering.
We walked along the trail and then decided to go off the paved track. We wound up having only one way to go, up a very very muddy hill. Once we were at the top we had to go down another muddy hill to get back to the paved trail. I was not happy about this but you know what, I made it up and down and lived to tell about it. I just wasn't wearing the right clothes for it. Which, is probably why I was not happy about it.
By the way - the bullwhip Rob has in his hand is an extremely long piece of Kelp, this was probably the funniest thing all week that happened - I wish I would have gotten video.
We saw the most pointless gate ever on this trail.
Anyway, we eventually got to the beach, mud and all and hung out there a while. We started walking back and realized that no one knew where we were going, we were losing daylight and patience (or at least I was losing mine). Thank goodness for cell phones and GPS - we eventually found our way back to the bus stop. Our once friendly bus driver turned into a total hag though when I didn't have the right change and refused to eat $18 since I didn't have exact change for the fair. Buses in Seattle don't give change AND they cannot deny you riding because you can't pay - they just threaten you that they have cameras on board, blah blah blah. Anyway we stopped at this gas station because the driver said she had to use the restroom and told me bluntly that I could get change inside - so I did and also got a much needed Snikers bar and bottled water.
After that whole trip we went back to Ryan's house and I decided to get some sleep before our flights in the morning and Rob decided to go out with Ryan. I got about 4 hours of sleep and then it was time to go to the airport. We took a town car service to the airport - which was the end of our great 10 day adventure.
What a long, unforgettable trip!
Love
L
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