Tag Archives: San Francisco

Hidden Fun

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When Bill and I were on our Big European Vacation in 2008, we stumbled upon a circus in Honfleur, France. Knowing full well that we wouldn’t understand a word that was being said, we both agreed we wouldn’t miss that little family-owned circus in a unique French village for anything in the world. It remains one of our favorite memories of that trip.

While any traveler doesn’t want to miss the highlights of a destination, many times some of the things upon which you stumble might give you the most pleasure and the strongest memories. So while we all enjoyed the predictable things we saw during our recent visit to San Francisco — and wouldn’t miss them for the world — there were a few unexpected pleasures upon which we stumbled.

For example, as we made our way the first day from Pier 39 to our final destination of Ghiardelli Square, we noticed we were passing an interesting arcade called Musee Mercanique. The games in this arcade were all vintage. It was fun to see the kids playing with some of the old-school arcade games more familiar to their Papa Bill than to them. For a mere quarter or less, you could play with a puppet or listen to a music box. You could have your fortune read by a scary-looking porcelain head….

…or arm wrestle an even scarier-looking porcelain arm…..

We spent a good bit of time in that old arcade museum, and Papa spent plenty of quarters to watch the kids go back in time.

One day when we were all getting fairly thirsty (did I mention that we had unusually pleasant — even warm — weather, something for which we were all grateful), we stopped at a little cafe that turned out to be more than just a cafe. The Gallery Cafe instructs its customers to PUT DOWN YOUR TECHNOLOGY and talk to each other and to have some fun. There are old-school games…..

…..and many opportunities to be creative, something at which the McLain kids excel…..

While visiting Chinatown, in addition to Addie getting a SMOKIN’ deal on some earrings…..

…..we also visited some Asian markets. We saw many different fruits and vegetables with which we were unfamiliar. The proprietors spoke Chinese and the signage was also in Chinese. I was particularly struck by this beautiful fruit…..

Not having the remotest idea of what it was, I texted my daughter-in-law Alyx and asked if she knew what it was. Dragonfruit was her immediate response. Inside fruit is like a white kiwi, she added. Who knew?

Our hotel overlooked the ocean, and every night we would see men fishing from the shore. I’m not sure just what they were hoping to catch, nor did I ever find out if they were fishing for fun or were professional anglers. But they were a pretty sight as the sun would go down…..

The wind, salt water, and sea spray gave me a laugh when I saw just how relaxed our granddaughter Addie — who always takes great care to look perfect — was after a few days on the beach. Can you say Crazy Hair?….

By the way, I likely won’t ever be forgiven for posting this photo!

When we visited Muir Woods, one of the most interesting and typically-Californian things I noticed was this sign…..

And finally, that same day as we were driving home from Muir Woods — July 11 — Jll suddenly made a screeching turn into a 7-11 store parking lot. Why? She remembered that it was July 11 — 7-11 — and they were giving away free icees. What can I say? More vacation fun…..

While I’ve visited San Francisco on a number of occasions, this is one I will certainly never forget.

I Left My Heart

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The first time you visit San Francisco, here are the things you must do: drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, take a gander at the sea lions on Pier 39, tour Alcatraz, hop on a cable car and hang off the sides, walk through Chinatown and look at the ducks hanging in the shop windows, eat seafood on Fisherman’s Wharf, drive or walk down crazy Lombard Street, drive through the intersection of Haight and Ashbury (preferably while singing Age of Aquarius), and eat an ice cream treat (most likely an enormous hot fudge sundae) at Ghiardelli Square.

By time you’ve done all of those things, you will recognize that it’s just about time to go home.

The first time I ever visited San Francisco was in 1991, when I went with Bill, who at that time was my husband-to-be. I know this to be true because during the fairly recent Cleaning-Out-of-the-Bookshelves in our bedroom, one of the things I came across was a little photo album. I blew off the dust and read my hand written label: San Francisco 1991. I’ve been back several times since.

Dave and Jll not only honeymooned in San Francisco, but have visited the City by the Bay since. So, they have also done all of the above-mentioned must-does. However, none of their four kids had ever been to San Francisco, and they – just like Karl Malden and Michael Douglas – were ready to hit the Streets of San Francisco.

We ran into our first glitch when Jll (thinking, as did I, that tickets to Alcatraz were readily available), realized that the tickets were sold out until the next millennium (well, practically). Oh no! she texted me. Is there anything we can do? I put Bill on the case. He’s as good a detective as Michael Douglas any day of the week, at least when it comes to finding tickets or reasonably-priced hotel rooms. What he learned was that tickets were indeed sold out. However, if one is desperate enough to get up with the birds and be at the Alcatraz boat dock by 6:30 a.m., some lucky people might get tickets. We did just that, and though I felt our chances of getting tickets for eight people to be slim (being the glass half empty sort of gal), we did indeed get tickets for the 8:45 a.m. tour. The tour was well worth the inconvenience…..

We had checked off the sea lions at Pier 39 (the majority of which were not making their appearance because they were off breeding) and eating seafood at Fisherman’s Wharf the first day. I know this will surprise many, but Bill’s top priority was not the Golden Gate Bridge nor cable cars nor Chinatown; it was Ghiardelli Square. Well, not the square so much but the ice cream treats the square offered.

Because of this, following our visit to the indisposed sea lions, our next stop was Ghiardelli Square, with a quick stop-over to Boudin Bakery — the home of sourdough bread….

This photo was actually taken at our SECOND trip to the Mecca of Ice Cream Treats. But who’s counting? After all, it was a different day.

We were all interested in riding a cable car, but we were put off by the long lines. Dave discovered that if one was simply wanting to ride a cable car for the experience instead of to get to Fisherman’s Wharf, the best idea would be to take the less popular California line. That had our names on it, so one day we rode a cable car up and back, with everyone taking turns hanging off…..

Lombard Street and Haight-Ashbury were knocked off in a couple of driving trips, along with some lessons about switchbacks and the history of Flower Power. And I did, indeed, sing The Age of Aquarius, which admittedly caused some surprised faces among the grands. Was Nana a hippie? The answer: a most decided NO.

I documented some of our trip to Chinatown in my last Saturday Smile. In addition to our lunch at House of Nanking, we also visited a fortune cookie factory…..

…..where the woman’s job was to take one of the soft, flat disks that were coming down the line, lay a fortune on top, and fold it and crimp it and place it into the special cooling pan, then move on to the next one. Catholics would call her job Purgatory. Or perhaps Hell.

That same afternoon, we took a bathroom break at a restaurant called Sushi Boat. The boats carried plates of sushi; they would float by, and if you were interested, you would grab the plate from the boat. The color of the plate told you the price. Alastair would have stayed there all afternoon had I given him a couple of hundred dollar bills to pay for all of the little plates he would collect…..

We checked off our drive over the Golden Gate Bridge with a trip to Muir Woods, on the other side of Sausalito. It was a beautiful morning…..

Our days always concluded with whale watching and enjoying the beautiful sunsets over the Pacific Ocean…..

Alastair, Dagny, and Maggie Faith watch the waves gobble up their footprints at sunset one night.

Saturday Smile: Be Quiet and Eat

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Our trip to San Francisco this past week (about which I will blog next week) brought about many smiles, but perhaps the funniest experience of many funny experiences took place in Chinatown.

Dave and Jll honeymooned in San Francisco 21 years ago, and their memories are fondly recalled. One of their best memories was a meal they ate in Chinatown at a place called House of Nanking. As Dave tells the story, as they perused Chinatown 21 years ago, it became abundantly clear that most of the restaurants had available seating, but one restaurant — House of Nanking — had a lengthy line down the street. Bingo, they thought. That’s the place with the good food. And so they got in line, and so it was.

We arrived past 1 o’clock, so the line — while still present — was considerably shorter than normal. A table for eight, Jll cheerfully requested. The proprietor didn’t even blink. Five minutes, okay, she said…..

It was a bit longer than five minutes, but not an unpleasant wait. We sat down, and the server came over and said, “You been here before?”

Not most of us, we admitted.

She picked up the menus she had just set down, and told us, “I order for you.”

Since walking in the door, about 4 minutes had passed.

Before we could say Trump China tariffs, food began appearing. Bowls of won ton and hot and sour soups. Pork dumplings. Stuffed mushrooms. Something she called tender beef. Sesame chicken. We would finish one thing and the plate would vanish and be replaced with something else. This photo was taken in the literally few minutes before the appearance of food…..

The woman who took over our thinking process is standing to the left. Standing guard…..

And all of it was delicious. She was right; she really did know best. We probably were done eating in just a bit over 30 minutes. No chopsticks to slow us down. No one asking if we would like any dessert. We decide what you eat; we decide how much you eat; and we decide how long it takes you to eat.

There are more people waiting, after all.

House of Nanking provided us not only with a delicious lunch, but with a lot of smiles.

Have a great weekend.