San Francisco Pt. 2 (FamBam)

I decided to split my San Francisco blog into two parts- one for weeks 1, 2, and 4 and one for the third week where my Mom and sister, Leeanne, visited… which is a trip within a trip.  

I didn’t grow up in a traveling family; we weren’t travelers for multiple reasons, the two largest being finances and my mom’s intense fear of flying.  

When I was little we would drive down the Cape and spend a week there each summer and then as an adolescent we started driving to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina every summer.

In my entire 34 years, my mom has probably flown 5 times, MAX, all on the east coast. Her decision to fly to California to see me is a brave, loving, once in a lifetime occurrence; she’s totally my hero. 

That being said, my mom and Leeanne faced their respective fears and motion sickness to arrive in San Francisco on a Friday evening after listening to San Francisco by Scott McKenzie, “If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair” on repeat as they drove to Logan Airport. 

On their first morning we walked the two blocks down to the cross section of Haight and Ashbury.  My beautiful mom had tears in her eyes as she saw this place that had existed in her teenage dreams that she wasn’t sure she would ever actually see.  

As soon as physically possible on their first day, I took them to see The Golden Gate Bridge.  I was so enthralled by it and had to share it with them.  As we drove over it I played the Full House theme song and we all cried at how amazing it was. 

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We did ALL the tourist things while they were there including Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, shopping on Haight Street, coffee and lunch in the Castro District, the Presidio, and Golden Gate Park.

My mom and I drank lots of coffee.  Each afternoon we tried a different place; we’d cheers and have our coffee happy hour because in my mom’s words, “It’s 8am somewhere.”

On one of our coffee trips I took my mom to see the Painted Ladies.  She obviously experienced my childhood obsession with Full House so seeing that strip of houses and the epic view behind them was really cool. 

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Growing up, music was a huge part of our lives; whether we were listening to Queen records or We Sing Silly Songs cassettes- we were jamming.  Truth be told, one of our cars growing up didn’t have a working radio so when we were all in the car we would each take turns picking a song and then the 4 of us would sing it together. 

One of the songs we sang frequently was “This Land is Your Land.”  I grew up singing, “From the Gulf Stream waters to the Redwood Forest, from California to the New York island, this land was made for you and me.”  I’ve always known about these epic trees and that my mom would love to see them. 

A few days into their trip, we drove the four hours north to see The Redwoods.  We drove through miles of winding Northern California terrain until we arrived at Humboldt State Park where we hiked through the most beautiful forest along the Avenue of the Giants.  

After marveling at the trees we headed to our AirBnB.  We were exhausted so my mom and I went to grab some takeout.  We finally had enough service for me to play “This Land is Your Land.”  We put the song on repeat while we drove through the redwoods holding hands and crying in disbelief and gratitude.

After staying the night we got on the road to head back south with a plan to explore the wineries in Napa and Sonoma.  

My friend Beth Ann from Seattle has friends who own and operate the beautiful Tedeschi Winery.  She recommended I go while in the area and it did not disappoint.  We sat in adirondack chairs looking out at endless grapevines.  Beth Ann’s friends took amazing care of us and spent a generous amount of time talking with us.  It was a perfect experience. 

Unfortunately, our luck in Northern California shifts after leaving Tedeschi’s.  Apparently tastings in Napa and Sonoma book out days in advance and even though I called about 15 places while we drove we weren’t able to get into any of them.  Most vineyards are requiring reservations due to COVID and I was unprepared.  We did get to drive by a bunch of beautiful vineyards and can now say we’ve been to wine country. 

We stopped in Sausalito on our way back to San Francisco to have dinner on the bay looking at the city.  We sat outside eating seafood with an amazing view.

We happened to be heading back as the fog cleared from the skies so we made the quick decision to drive up to Battery Spencer which is one of the best places to look out at the Golden Gate Bridge.  The lookout is through a one way tunnel and high up on a cliff.  We got out at a few points to take pictures and take in the view.  It was remarkably windy and cold standing on the cliffs.

We noticed that in several parking lots there were many spaces with shattered glass from break-ins.  We decided to go to the last and best lookout in shifts to stay with the car.

Leeanne and I ran through the wild wind gusts while laughing and freezing to see the famous bridge below.  The clear view was worth waiting for.  

The next day we woke up early to catch a ferry to Alcatraz Island.  We had the best Uber driver from New York City who mentioned that you usually can’t get tickets for the tour the same week because they are so booked.  He told us a lot of tourists will accidentally book a ferry that just drives around the island but doesn’t actually include the tour… cue: panic that we booked the wrong tickets.

Luckily, our luck had shifted back and we had booked the right tickets.  We were at the front of the line for the 1130 ferry and due to extra room we were able to jump on the 11am ferry to get our trip started even sooner without having to wait in a line for 30 minutes- such good timing!

After a short boat ride with a beautiful view we got to Alcatraz which I kept accidentally calling 

“Azkaban” because I’m a diehard Harry Potter fan, sorry, not sorry. . 

My sister is a highly sensitive person and she and my mom love watching paranormal shows together.  Leeanne was excited to see the cell blocks because they are known to be the most haunted places on the already haunted island.  We walked through the cells and spent some time in cell block 14 which is apparently the most haunted cell.  My sister has a paranormal recording app on her phone that she turned on while asking questions.

We explored the rest of the island including the gardens, morgue, prison guard barracks, and yards.  We learned about the famous Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly and that most of the prison workers lived on the island with their families; their children would take a boat to San Francisco to attend school.  

After returning from the island we went in search of a trolley car which was at the top of my mom’s list of things to do on her trip.  

We got perfect seats and took the trolley from one end of the line (up a wildly steep hill) to the other end while my mom sang the old Rice-a-Roni commercial song where they’re singing “Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat!” while showing people riding a trolley.  

We not only enjoyed the ride itself but also watching the conductor operate this old school trolley car with levers the length of adult humans and a pedal that took all his weight to engage. 

After a wonderful visit I drove them back to the airport.  Through hugs and goodbyes I kept it together until they disappeared through the sliding doors and were out of sight, which is when I cried knowing I won’t see them until I get home for Christmas… unless I can convince my mom to get back on a plane to come see the Grand Canyon with me this fall 😉