San Francisco

See You Again… San Francisco

Day 18.  The last leg of our California road trip was from Sacramento back to San Francisco. A few days before that, we spent a wonderful snow adventure at Squaw, Olympic Village in Tahoe.  Our holiday was coming to an end and on the 18^th day of our road trip, we were returning to San Francisco to catch our flight back home to Singapore the following day.

Our time in San Francisco was limited and we managed to do only three things that day – lunch in Sausalito, photo stop at the Golden Gate Bridge and buying a luggage for the souvenirs that we had collected along the way.

Euben was already well from stomach flu, but he seemed to have passed on the virus to Benjamin and me.  Like I always say, there are things that, even on the most wonderful holidays, are somehow beyond our control, like stomach flu or the rain.  We just have to make the most of what was available during those days.

After an hour and a half of driving from Sacramento, we had reached the beautiful Sausalito in the County of Marin.  It is a quaint town located on one end of the Golden Gate Bridge.  It’s at the other side of the bridge if you’re coming from the City of San Francisco.  Based on my research people come here to escape the mad rush of the city and to have good food in a relaxed, unhurried pace.  I loved that many of the houses cling to the steep hills overlooking Richardson Bay and the greater San Francisco Bay.

Sausalito was our stop for lunch.  I heard good reviews about their restaurants and we were pleased by our choice too.  We had ours at Salito’s Crab House & Prime Ribs.  I looked this restaurant up when I prepared our itinerary; it could serve crabs, shrimps and mussels for Euben and me, and Angus steak for Benjamin and Joaquin.

Euben was still cautious because of his stomach flu the other day but he managed to eat some seafood anyway.  He said they were delicious. Benjamin and I had to share the steak with our fingers crossed that we won’t vomit out the good food.  Joaquin wanted to stick to his rice and bacon.

The restaurant’s location was perfect for lunch on a sunny day like the day we were there. The sailboats and the houses on the hills made good topics of conversation, in our case, it was the classic ‘I Spy’.

http://www.salitoscrabhouse.com/

By mid-afternoon we arrived at Battery Spencer, also at Sausalito.  They say it’s one of the good locations for taking good photos of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.  But it was a bit foggy that day and our pics were blurry.

Some trivia I got from the bridge’s official website http://goldengatebridge.org/visitors/:  The bridge connects the City of San Francisco to County of Marin. It used to be the longest suspension bridge at 4,200 ft when it was opened to traffic in 1937.  It took 3 years for the bridge’s construction to be complete.  It was painted a warm orange colour to be distinct from the colours of the sky above it and water below it.

Because of Benjamin’s and my stomach flu, we could only last for about 30 minutes to admire the stunning view.  Pedestrians and cyclists can actually access the bridge on the East side.  It would probably be nice to do that during sunset, but for us that day, it was good enough to see it from afar.

My kids could relate to the Golden Gate Bridge because it was featured in the X-Men: The Last Stand movie.

We drove around the city that afternoon to get a glimpse of the things we can do if we would have a chance to go back to San Francisco someday.  The city seemed compact but pretty and romantic.  The cable cars on the hilly streets, the poetic views of the harbour, the diverse restaurants and interesting shops in the alleys, it was not difficult for me to imagine why Tony Bennett and many others said they left their hearts in San Francisco.

But before I end my blog entries on our US holiday, let me share with you the little survey I conducted on our favourites during that road trip. 🙂

Dad’s Favourites

Top 3 stops/activities:
1.Skiing on Christmas Day
2.Disney
3.Watching Star Wars movie and NBA
Prettiest Place: Squaw
Hotel: Resort at Squaw Creek
Scariest activity: Driving thru LA inner city traffic
Disney ride: Radiator Springs Cars
Universal Studios ride: Transformers
Car at Petersen Museum: Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport
Footwear: Red Salomon trekking shoes
Cars on the road: Muscle cars

 Mom’s Favourites

Top 3 stops/activities:
1.Sledding on Christmas Day
2.Disney forever
3. Road trip on Pacific Coast Highway and on i-80
Prettiest Place: Squaw
Hotel: Resort at Squaw Creek
Scariest activity: Driving on PCH and skiing
Disney ride: Radiator Springs Cars
Universal Studios ride: Studio Tours
Car at Petersen Museum: Hmm no clue, can’t remember
Footwear: Brown boots with fur
Cars on the road: Our rented 4Runner? Don’t know any other cars (yeah that’ sounds like mom)

Benjamin’s Favourites

Top 3 stops/activities:
1. Everything at Squaw Valley
2. Petersen Automobile Museum
3. Star Wars movie premier at Hollywood
Prettiest Place: Walk of Fame (why?)
Hotel: Resort at Squaw Creek
Scariest activity: Radiator Springs Cars (really?)
Disney ride: Mickey’s Ferris Wheel
Universal Studios ride: Studio Tours
Car at Petersen Museum: Jaguar CX-75
Footwear: Under Armour Speedform Apollo
Cars on the road: Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z06

Joaquin’s Favourites

Top 3 stops/activities:
1. Everything at Squaw Valley
2. Petersen Automobile Museum
3. Disney
Prettiest Place: Hollywood (seriously?!)
Hotel: Resort at Squaw Creek
Scariest activity: Nothing (wow!)
Disney ride: Matterhorn Bobsled (brave)
Universal Studios ride: Studio Tours
Car at Petersen Museum: Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport
Footwear: Red Converse
Cars on the road: Dodge Challenger SRT

That’s all for now, folks!

But I wonder where the road and our itchy feet will take us next…