The Bay City

After getting up so early yesterday for the wine tour, we decided to sleep in a little bit this morning. We were still up around 8:30 a.m., but it was nice to get some good rest.

Once we were showered and ready, we walked down Powell to hit up Sears for breakfast. We had heard from multiple people that they have the BEST pancakes, so we figured we had to judge for ourselves (I am a big pancake enthusiast).

When we arrived, there was a pretty long line waiting outside, but it was moving quickly and we didn’t mind waiting.

Once we were seated, we made our decision on what to get pretty quickly. We were going to go with the “World Famous” mini pancakes… a whopping 18 of them.

But I am going to be brutally honest. When this was set in front of me, I was sort of disappointed. I’ve had short stacks more substantial than this. I have *never* had a pancake breakfast, at any restaurant, EVER, in ALL my years of pancake eating, that didn’t leave me feeling full all day long. Nor have I ever had a pancake breakfast that I could actually finish. Not only did I finish these, but I was only marginally full after eating my entire meal. And for $10 pancakes, I expected more.

Sure, they were pretty good pancakes, but the best? World famous? Not really. And I love me some pancakes. It was fine, and we were glad we ate there to see what it was all about, but we wouldn’t necessarily ever go back. I’m just sayin’.

After breakfast, we decided to walk to Lombard Street. We certainly worked off the vast majority of our pancakes by walking up and down many hills on the way.

We eventually arrived at the world’s most crooked street! (If you’re keeping score, we hit up the world’s most narrow street AND the world’s most crooked street… all in the same trip. Go us!)

It was pretty funny watching all of the cars make their way down it. I have to assume that most of them were driven by tourists, because I can’t imagine many locals having the patience for that on a regular basis, like, EVER.

From there, we walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf.

We wandered in and out of many of the shops down there, and fought through the crowds. We checked out menus for restaurants, and even picked up some salt water taffy (yum).

We eventually got down toward Pier 39. Here was our view of Alcatraz.

Sooo many people. We took one lap around Pier 39 and then left because we couldn’t handle the crowds. Considering it’s Saturday, I’m guessing it was a little busier than it may be on weekdays. We’ll try again before we leave.

We walked back down to try to catch a trolley, but the line was so enormous that we gave up on it quickly. I can’t believe how long people wait to ride. Insanity. We ended up walking up towards another “end of the line” stop (different trolley line) and we were lucky and got right on.

If I haven’t mentioned it already… we bought a Muni pass that allows us to ride all public transportation in the city–buses, trolleys, and trains–an unlimited number of times. Even though we’re only here for four days, we bought a 7-day pass (instead of a 3-day + additional 1-day pass) because it was the most economical at $24. A trolley ride (ONE WAY!) costs $5, so we figured all we have to do is ride at least once a day. We’ve definitely taken advantage so far, so the pass has been completely worth it.

A pic of me riding on the trolley. The outside/standing positions are the best! It’s fun to stand on the outside and get the full experience.

Back at the hotel, we rested for a few minutes before heading out again. This time, we were headed for AT&T Park for a Giants game. We purchased tickets online last night.

After talking to our concierge this morning, we decided to head down toward the Park early and get dinner down there before the game. We ended up eating at a Mexican place called Tres Agaves. It was really good, but slow. We were glad we had allowed ourselves some extra time, because otherwise we probably would’ve been really late to the game.

This is a view of the Bay Bridge as we were walking up the ramps at the Park to get to our seats on the top level.

It was pretty funny, because we were in the last possible row. We couldn’t have been any higher up in the stadium, or any further away from the field, for that matter. I guess that’s what you get when you buy $15 tickets? ;) Good thing we don’t really care all that much about baseball.

One good thing about being up in the nosebleeds: This was our view. We couldn’t complain.

We also could barely see the players. But that’s OK.

There was one really bad thing about being in the last row. The wind. It was already cold out, and having the wind blow on us relentlessly was too much to handle. We noticed that there were empty seats a few rows down from the top in the section next to us, so we eventually moved there. It was still cold, but it was 10x better with no wind.

From there, we sat back and enjoyed the game.

After the 9th inning, the Giants and Rangers were tied up, and we aren’t enthusiastic enough about baseball to stay for extra innings. Instead, we decided to try to beat the crowds and leave to catch our train.

After the train and yet another trolley ride, we are safely back in the hotel, and finally getting warm again. We have cool summer nights back home, but this is incredible! Once the sun goes down, it is f-ing COLD! So pardon me while I go thaw out my toes.