Day 14–The San Francisco Trick

I knew it was coming, looming like a storm cloud, but I just couldn’t bear to deal think about it.  Parking a car in San Francisco costs a fortune.  Last time I was here with a car, it was $35 / day at the hotel.  Now it’s $48 here and $65 at the downtown hotels.  I had two cheaper options – park in a city lot and get up to move the car before 7:00 AM every day or park in a cheap lot in the Tenderloin for $17 a day, which would put the car on the other side of town if we needed it. 

Since Aryn wanted to dance tonight and we’re going to the bridge and the Legion of Honor museum tomorrow, we’d need to get it out both days, so not much choice. 

We had a short drive with lots of traffic to get here from Scotts Valley.  The hotel had a room for us even though it was early, so we checked in and then walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf – 66-degrees and sunny today, with a low of 55 tonight.  Twenty miles north or inland and it’s over 100-degrees.

First we walked down to Pier 39 to see the sea lions.

I’d heard there were starting to be fewer of them than in the past and it’s summer, so they migrate, but I expected at least a couple to be around still.

But Alcatraz is still there, at least.

On the walk to Pier 39, I’d been looking for the store where I’ve bought leather jackets in the past.  Aryn’s windbreaker really wasn’t enough for cold and wind here.  I didn’t see it on the way to Pier 39, so I kept looking as we walked back down the wharf … at which point, Aryn holds up her phone and says: “There’re lots of leather stores here.”

Exercise for the adventurous: Go to San Francisco. Search Google maps for “leather”.

I got some directions from a different shop and found what may or may not be the store I’ve purchased from before.  Regardless, Aryn now has a new leather jacket.  Much as she would like to, she does not have a new penguin hat.

Why the penguin has paws … I don’t know.

Then we walked down to the other end of the wharf where the maritime museum is and I got to go on a tall-ship.  I like tall-ships.

They’ve done a lot of work on the exhibit since the last time I was here and the inside of the ship is nicely laid out with areas describing the different cargoes it carried.

We stopped for lunch at Cippolino’s and I had a Dungeness crab salad sandwich.

It was this good:

Then we headed for Ghirardelli where they were sampling a hazelnut-crisp filling and Aryn got a dark chocolate with caramel and sea salt bar.

We went through a couple art galleries on the way back and I found a new artist I like.  Andrew Baird.  He does the drippy-paint thing like Pollock.  Now … I hate Pollock and I despise the drippy-paint thing, but Baird takes a new tack on it … he actually paints things with drippy paint.

We took a break at the room before heading for Market Street and the United Nations Plaza.  There were two swing-dancing events in town today and Aryn wanted to go, so we took the cable car over the hill to Market Street.

The cable car station was busy and we had to wait through two cars before getting on.  I much prefer the city when no one’s here and I can use the cable cars as reasonable transportation, instead of waiting in line with the tourists.

At UN Plaza, they had a live band and set up a dance floor for a couple hours of swing-dancing. 

While we waited, a bird shit on me.

Then Aryn did some dancing and we left to head to the other venue – even though the dancing there didn’t start until 9:20, I wanted to check and make sure it wasn’t an over-21 club like the swing-dancing in Vegas was.

Unfortunately, it was some distance away (Sutter and Diversadero).  As we walked, I looked vainly for a cab, but they were all taken.  I hate medallion-cities.  Just let the damn market decide how many cabs are right for the city.

We walked up Van Ness to Sutter and finally caught a cab a couple blocks down Sutter. 

The dance event turns out to be in a community center, so that’s okay.  We caught a cab back to the hotel for an hour or so before it starts, then I got the car and drove Aryn over there and will have to pick her up at 12:30.  She’s afraid of taking cabs alone … how the girl expects to survive in a New York with that hang-up, I don’t know.  Sometimes, you just have to take a cab.