The San Francisco Treat or did I leave my Heart?

Father in Law turns 70.......

So it seemed like a good idea to celebrate such a milestone with our presence in California. Both DH and I are believers that we should share such milestones with family (and friends if lucky!). Especially as parents/grandparents get older we know that such birthdays/events don't last forever. But........... traveling to California isn't always the easiest or most convenient...or... the most comfortable for my asthma/allergies, so it's been a "challenge" to enjoy these visits at times.

NOT THIS ONE! Woo hoo...... IT. WAS. PERFECT. Yes..... read that one again : It. was. perfect!

We flew out on Thursday -- a perfect time of the day too! Not too early, not too late. Had to leave the house around 9-9:15 am to make it for a noon flight. We landed in SF around 4:30 and grabbed a cab into the City by the Bay. I LOVE THAT CITY. We decided to carry on our luggage, instead of paying the baggage fee/aka ransom. It took some pre-planning on my part (ok, make that eliminating on my part) but it worked. We did have a screaming baby for the entire 4 hr portion of the trip though. BUT... it was hard to get too mad because the kid was cute and the Mom was "trying". Kids scream, I get that! Sorry... I digress.

The drive from SFO into the City was so much fun for this adrenaline junkie. Something about cabbies in that City take on a whole new meaning of the phrase "hold on for dear life". Speed limits.... that's for sissies. 90 degree sloping hills? Better for speed and bottoming out. Remember that old-time tv show "Streets of San Francisco"? Remember the car chases? Yeah well... that is EXACTLY how the cabbies drive. God it was fun :) We pull up to the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental and I swear I was glowing! Ok... so this was going to be a great trip!

The hotel is one of SF's oldest grand dames and that usually translates to old, dingy, tiny rooms and rattling radiators. Nope... not this time. It was gorgeous. Perched and perfectly situated on top of Nob Hill -- great views from our perfectly appointed room. The bathroom was awesome, the bed comfortable (can you say nap time?!) and they even had the Coffee Mate loaded to the gills. I get so damn excited (cheap thrills?) when this happens. I know, silly.... huh? The room was.... perfect. Oh yeah... upon walking in the front doors we were greeted with a pianist playing "the song" from Phantom of the Opera. Frankly it freaked us out. Why? Many years ago my in-laws rented a limo and brought all of us to San Francisco for dinner and to see Phantom. It simply was my MIL's favorite musical of all time. It was an incredibly special night to all of us, and makes us think/miss her every time we hear it. Well... guess what was playing? Yup... so when I was checking us in, the big old crocodile tears were streaming down my face. C'est la vie. Hey.... it must have done something because we had the most awesome room and view of the City by the Bay. So.... if the tears had any part in that, well.... it worked!

Later on we decided to head up to the top floor (19th?) to the "Top of the Mark" for cocktails and view idolizing. Over 100 choices of martinis? Holy moly. Mike was bummed because they were out of blue cheese for his olives, but the poor baby survived it! We decided to head out to have dinner elsewhere vs. the hotel. We stopped by the Concierge desk and spoke to our soon-to-be-best-buddy George who was able to hook us up w/ reservations at the Cliff House. Just in time for an amazing sunset. Awesome :)

The Cliff House restaurant used to be a public bath house wayyyy back when. It's built on stilts literally over the Pacific Ocean. Here's a view right outside our dining window. Amazing huh?

So... here we are... awesome view... ALONE... and enjoying an incredible dinner. No one tried to turn the table or race us out of there. It was total bliss. I enjoyed a few chocolate martinis, and shared a tuna tartar appetizer and and entree of Petrole sole. Yummmmmmmm. Oh yeah, don't forget the sourdough bread too! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE SF? lol

Friday morning comes, and it's Pop's 70th birthday. He and Linda (girlfriend) are driving down to meet us at noon. It was so nice to be able to relax and lounge around for a few hours. The in-room coffee was great, and I was so tickled because they actually had Coffee Mate and Equal. How sad is that!?! I was actually ecstatic! oops... mentioned that already :)

Once they arrived and checked in we decided to take a walk DOWN to Union Square. I say DOWN to because it was a 8-10 block jaunt down Powell Street. For any of you familiar with S.F. you know that Powell is like 90 degree sloping hill. Nothing like making your legs quiver and shake. I lived.

Of course once we got settled into the lunch booth it took about 30 minutes for the legs to settle down!!!!!! We spent the day sitting in the middle of Union Square admiring these funky yellow flowers, and shopping at art galleries. Pretending to be considering a 24k piece. Yeah right. Car vs. art. Sorry.... need that car! lol

Then Linda and I got away from da boys and hit up Saks. Yeah :) A few hours later (just kidding) we cabbed it back to change for dinner.

Yes.... another wonderful seafood dinner in SF. This time at their favorite place - Scomas. I'll tell you it HAD been my fave too until the Cliff House trumped it! It was a nice dinner, and very tasty.

California Museum of Science

Saturday we spent at the California Museum of Science. It houses the Planetarium, Aquarium, and a Rain Forest too. The Planetarium was the COOLEST, and I loved the Imax movie :)

Here are some of the pictures of the "beasts" we viewed. The funniest part of the day happened when I was viewing the very venomous viper snake at the exact same time that my cell phone decided to vibrate in my front pants pocket. Yes.... I totally screamed. Who the hell was calling me? My FIL wondering where we were. I'm not sure he couldn't figure that one out just by my blood curdling scream?!? I'm sure I've conveniently forgotten to mention that I am TERRIFIED of snakes... let me repeat that.... TERRIFIED. So... timing is everything in life, right?!?! ha ha ha

As you can see the albino allie was pretty cool.

TINY red frogs were cool as well.....

But WHAT THE HELL is this about? We just had to find the one and only childish thing... but isn't that what is expected of me?!? lol Of course considering we know a Kirk... well... it just had to happen. The funniest part is look at the following pictures..... Dick Dick... Tiny.... Size.... ???? Come on... who wouldn't find these hilarious?!?!

TINY? So sorry Kirk!

YES....... IT........ DOES!!!!!!!!

So.... on that happy note, I'll finish this off by saying it was a GREAT mini vacation. We both loved seeing Pop and Linda and sharing their joint birthday celebration with them. We look forward to doing it again, next year? And LOVED every second of it.

Next up? Cottage and the boat................ yeah !