San Francisco continued…

The Weekend – Sept 9th and 10th

We rented a car for the weekend to see some things we couldn’t get to easily by walking or public transportation. Saturday we went north and crossed the Golden Gate bridge into Sausasilto before heading south to check out west San Francisco. On the way over to the bridge we drove by Ghiradelli square where the annual chocolate festival was going on but had to miss out on the party. Oh rats!
Going over the bridge and thru the rainbow tunnel into Sausalito made it apparent just how many micro-climates there are in this area. Foggy and cold on one side, sunny and warm on the other. Freaky. While we were over there we stopped at In-and-Out Burger because it was the easiest lunch. I wonder if every one of them is crazy-busy for lunch time. The 2 we’ve been to so far have been nuts at lunch.
After lunch we headed south again back over the bridge to west San Francisco where I wanted to check out a story called Citikids. I had 2 specific purchases in mind. A Halo Sleepsack – like a sleeping bag with arm holes for babies so they don’t kick the blankets off and a wind up mobile because we had to leave our mobile at home. Found and purchased both (yay!) By that time Hazel was getting to Miss Fussy-pants stage and we had to find a place to hang out while she fed. After walking around a bit we came to Grain D’Or a quiet little bakery with reasonable pastries and coffee drinks. While they didn’t have a public restroom the lady that runs the place was just fine with us changing Hazel’s diaper on a chair there. While we hung out waiting for Hazel to finish ‘lunch’ quite a few folks came in to get loaves of fresh bread.
We continued south and drove thru Haight-Ashbury and the Golden Gate park – which Rob insists we walked around the last time we were here (shortly after we got married). I -have- to find that roll of film because I don’ t remember much of that trip – must be getting OLD!
Soon it was time to find another place to camp and feed. We were originally targeting Starbucks and bookstores but I had a brainstorm and thought the Women’s Lounge in Nordstroms would be a great place for me to be with the baby and Rob would have a mall to wander around in. Aside from the teenage girlz doing each other’s makeup (“ohmygawd – I can’t believe my eyelashes! I can’t go out like this”) the lounge/mall was a good place to hang out and Rob got some new clothes for work. After a quick dinner for the parents at the mall foodcourt we headed back to the condo.
Sunday we traded cars (expensive Avis ‘tincan’ for cheaper Hertz ‘boat’) and headed south for Santa Cruz. We stopped along the way in at Straw Hat Pizza in Pacifica and had a nice quick lunch. The drive down on Hwy 1 was not quite what either of us expected. Rob expected more trees and I expected more cliffs and twisty roads. What we got was something a lot like Hawaii – including farmland, wind and surfers. Just need a few pinapple farms…
Hazel asked us to stop at Pidgeon Point so everyone could take a rest. We took a few pictures then found a quiet spot down the road just south of the lighthouse. Dad took a nap while Hazel and I dealt with her lunch.
We made it down to Santa Cruz quickly after that, found a place to park and went out to explore the Boardwalk. We found it’s a lot like the Seattle Center arcade/funzone only more. And where are the boards? You go to a boardwalk you expect boards… Nope, those are over on the Municipal Wharf which we didn’t get to.
We experienced Boardwalk Food (yum?) for lunch and decided we’d done enough. A check goes on the list.
On the way back Rob wanted to drive thru the Valley to show me some places he’d been to. We ended up stopping pretty close to the Seagate headquarters on Disc Drive (har har) in Scotts Valley to feed the starving baby.
It was pretty dark by the time we made it thru the Valley so while we couldn’t see the buildings we could see the corporate logo signs lit up on the buildings. Now I know where Oracle is. Ta dah.

Monday Sept 11th thru Friday Sept 15th

This week has been a bit less eventful. I dropped the car of at Hertz on Monday then spent the early afternoon walking around the area near Ghiradelli Square.
Hazel and I had lunch at Las Margaritas in the Cannery building then walked over to the Hyde St. Pier to see all the big and historic boats. The Maritime Museum is closed for renovations until 2009 but the Sr. Center on the east end of the building is going strong. They had a big-band dance/luncheon going on as we walked by.
Ghiradelli Square is also going thru some renovation so many of the storefronts were closed – tho’ the cafes and ice cream shoppes were still open.
Tuesday we spent the day in our jammies until Rob came home and wanted to go out for dinner. We found a place called Chow in the Mission District. It was easy to get to on the F Train. There also was no wait to get a table despite it being very busy (fast turnover) and had good food and fresh deserts.
Wednesday my goal was to get the zipper on Rob’s leather jacket repaired. Unfortunately the tailor/shoe shops I found said it’d be a week to get it done. I guess they have to order the zipper. So to console myself about a task undone I went over to a french pastry shop and bought a chocolate croisannt. The guy in front of me in line noticed Hazel and gave her much praise about being such a little cutie! He has a little baby nearly 6 months old and couldn’t wait to get back home. Hazel got much attention from folks walking by “Such a cute baby! What pretty blue eyes!” Yes indeedy – just like Grandpa Bob says – the perfect little baby.
While we were wandering around the Financial District I spotted a newspaper rack for The Onion. Now while I don’t particularly like The Onion or find it terribly amusing I thought having a newspaper rack for it in the Financial District was pretty darn funny. Kinda like the Wall Street Journal around Haight-Ashbury.
I stopped by the bakery in the Ferry building for another loaf of sourdough – mmmm crunchy – and was going to ride the F Train down to Pier 45 to see Musee Mechanique. Unfortunately all the trains going by were full so the drivers just blew by my stop seeing me with an SUV sized stroller. We may need to investigate getting a slightly smaller stroller so I can use public transportation around here. Tho’ the large stroller is excellent for hauling Hazel and a ton of groceries home from Trader Joes.
Thursday was another laundry day and we ordered Chinese in for dinner. Being so close to Chinatown it’s hard to find a place that -doesn’t- deliver.
Hazel has been giving herself lots more tummy time than I would give her myself. While this has been great for learning to look around and tiring her out for naps its downside is she does a lot more Elvis impersonations. Not the lip thing…the spitting up and doing a faceplant in it thing. Thanhkya, thahnkya verruh muhtch. She also ended up sleeping on her tummy the other nite. I didn’t even know she had rolled over and fell asleep until I went in to go to sleep myself. She didn’t make a fuss about it on the baby monitor. Mobility is right around the corner. Time to start babyproofing the house. (Yes, you can all stop laughing and get up off the floor now.)
Today, Friday, we’re spending time packing up stuff to head back to Seattle. I’ll be home with the baby while Rob goes back to San Fran on Tuesday. We’ll have to figure out video conferencing so he can get his daily ‘baby fix’ over the intarweb.