san francisco

Matt surprised me with tickets to San Francisco for Christmas. We were talking about going because I had never been and we thought it would be fun to take a trip before the little one comes. We left Porter with my parents for the first day and a half, and then Matt's parents the next day and a half. It was so much fun to get away and we got to do so much but we were anxious to see Porter when we got home. I think it was the perfect amount of time.We got there on a Friday. We stayed at Hotel Whitcomb which is downtown. It was a pretty ghetto area. We were walking in the streets with too many bums every night. We were really close to all the shopping areas so we did that for a good part of the day and then headed to Chinatown for the evening. We ate dinner there at a little Chinese place called the R & G Lounge. The next day we hopped on the cable car and rode down to Fisherman's Wharf. We ate some delicious crab and clam chowder and then took the ferry to Alcatraz. We both enjoyed the tour of Alcatraz! The audio tour was very interesting. They have a bunch of interviews on there with several old men who were inmates back in the day. One interview was with a man who was kept in solitary confinement. He was kept in a small cell in the dark. He said he would pull a button off his clothes, flip it in the air, spin in circles, and then get down on his hands and knees and try to find it. Once he found it he would do it again. Another man would imagine there was a light in the room and try to focus on it until it got brighter. Then he would pretend the light was a TV and watch shows for hours.Here is a view of the city, or "freedom," the inmates could see from the island.We also went to Ghirardelli Square that day too. On the last day, Matt found an awesome breakfast place to go to. We walked past 100 bums to get there but it was worth it. It's called Dottie's True Blue Cafe. It was the best breakfast place I've ever been to. We stuffed ourselves and then went and rented bikes. We biked along the bay and across the Golden Gate bridge and back. Then we went through the streets and up some large hills so we could ride down Lombard Street. It was beautiful and lots of fun! It was really windy up there on the bridge. Thanks for the awesome Christmas present, Matt! And thanks especially to our parents for watching Porter so we could have so much fun!!!