As soon as I woke up in the morning I felt like I knew everything because I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. We had a pretty sweet complimentary breakfast, which we hadn’t really had in quite a while. I think breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and as much as I love Pro-Bars, they don’t really make me as happy as scrambled eggs with bacon. Mmm, bacon. Anyway, we were going to be meeting up with Mom in San Francisco today. I knew she was really looking forward to joining in and it was a great part of the trip to do so. Now that I think about it, I feel used. Nick and I had to go through the agonizing drive from Philadelphia to Colorado, and then JJ joins in for an incredible part of the trip. And then he is just using us and leaving us like we are common trash. Now my mom is joining in for the Pacific NW section after a couple days in beautiful San Diego. I think I’m going to send Nick on a trip and just join in for the best parts; I deserve it.
Ok, enough with the rant. We were making great time getting into San Francisco and the weather was perfect. Not a cloud in the perfectly blue sky over the golden hills of Central California. It was very picturesque, and at the rate we were going, we would be in San Fran by 12:30. Then we actually tried to get into San Francisco via the Bay Bridge. We ran into ~1.5 hour traffic delay and pretty much as soon as we pushed through that, the temperature dropped 20 degrees and the sun disappeared behind the Marine Layer. If I end up on the west coast, it is going to be tough to deal with this Marine Layer. This is now the second time it has attempted to thwart my vacation. Once we got into the city, we were able to check in early to our hotel. 20 minutes after we got into the room, Mom was at the door ready to start the adventure. We immediately made a dinner reservation at Fisherman’s Wharf, which was on the other side of the city. This worked out perfectly because now we had several hours to make our way across the city. Because of the unexpected fall-like weather, we made a quick stop at the local H&M to pick up some more layers. I got a simple sweater, Nick got a zip-up hoody (after being a brat about it), and classic JJ bought 3 different shirts. Mom even got a scarf, so it was a good stop. We then made our way around Union Square, and it felt very much like NYC in October. People were very fashionable, but unlike NYC, San Fran was very clean. We then headed on to tackle the streets of San Francisco.
If you have never been to San Francisco, bring some comfortable shoes if you are going to be walking around. The hills are ridiculous. In some places they gave up on sidewalks and just put stairs in. Yes, stairs to walk along the streets. It does make for some awesome views of the Bay including Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. The other thing about downtown San Fran is that every residential area is nicer than the next. All of the houses very impressive and maintained in amazing condition, given the environment of water, wind, and cold. After we peaked out on Russian Hill, we made our way to Ghiradelli Square, which was a nice area with a park looking out over the water. Then it was onto Fisherman’s Wharf. Now most of the city was pretty crowded, but this was the busiest by far. It was a little annoying at first, but then it was straight-up irritating. We finally made it to the restaurant, Franciscan Crab House. It was a very good dinner, and the perfect send off dinner for JJ. We all ate ourselves into almost a food coma before setting off for a nice walk back to the hotel. On the walk back, we passed a few places that I had been to with Steve and Joe, and it brought back some good memories. Once back at the hotel, JJ and I planned to go out, but once he fell asleep on the floor watching TV I assumed that wasn’t going to happen. If you can’t beat them, join them. Time to sleep after a fun day back in civilization. ULTRA day 14/39: COMPLETE
JM
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