San Franciscans sure are friendly... their transit system on the other hand... not so much

Needless to say, after the nearly 24 hour journey to get to San Fran, we took our time in the morning and were all glad I hadn't booked anything for this first day (always be prepared ha!)  We had breakfast at our hotel and were a little slow to get started but caught a cab into the downtown core  to figure out what we would do from there.

It's alot colder in San Francisco than I thought it would be.  I mean we came from -24C and it's 55F-68F here... surely it's going to be downright balmy!  Not so much.  In fact, neither Dad nor Mom had brought jackets so we needed to spend an hour finding them each one.  Next was to get on the Cable Car, I didn't come all the way here not to get on one afterall.  Cue the queue... over an hour and a half in line to get on this thing and we were tired by the time it got there but we finally got on and even if it's not an efficient way to get to where you want to go, it sure is fun!  We received tips about walking up a ways and jumping on there to avoid the line, but alas we weren't in a rush to go anywhere anyways.  Once on the cable car, we made sure we could stand on the platform and hang off - Kyle making it his mission to high 5 the passengers on the opposing car as we would cross. Some were successful COOL people cars and some just gave him that WTF look and thus dubbed the UNCOOL people.  Clearly.  Riding up is hard work because you really need to hang on, so picture taking was pretty much a fail but the ride was worth doing for sure!  Next time I would walk up the hill a bit and attempt jumping on instead. 

At the end of the line is Fisherman's Wharf the "tourist trap" but hey - we're tourists afterall so it's the place to be with everything from gift shops and tour companies to museums and street performers.  Oh...and LOTS of people.  We roamed around here and waited yet again for a bite to eat and the waiter informed us this is the busiest this place has been since the 4th of July.  So apparently, the holidays is not a great time to be a tourist unless you like really long lineups. Who knew?  Ok, so I knew, but they wouldn't accomodate my request to re-date the Rose Bowl to the off-season so we do what we gotta do. 

It gets dark here approximately the same time as it does back home (maybe a little later) but I've noticed that it's cool in the morning warms up alot for only about 5 hours or so before cooling right back off to the point of needing a real good jacket or sweater to keep warm.  After eating we start making our way to the Golden Gate bridge.  We want to walk this baby so we hop the bus that takes us there.  It's dark by the time we arrive and everything is lit up and it's beautiful!  We start our trek across and as much as I thought I'd conquered my fear of heights, I'm not sure what it was about that bridge that made me slightly anxious.  Maybe the simple fact that it was out of this world majestic and powerful or the fact that I couldn't see the water but it was a little overwhelming.  The walk was totally worth it though - the views of the skyline are amazing and everything is lit up all around.  It's stunning.  (And Moo was keeping me safe so it was all good).  We were however about 30 minutes too late for 2 reasons:  first, we missed the sunset which we could have seen walking the far side of the bridge and second, crossing the finish line at the far end at 6:40pm we were not so politely informed that the pedestrian path was NOW CLOSED!  For those who don't know how a bridge works, it connects 2 land masses usually over water and once across, if you need to get back, you hope the bridge is still open.  HA!  So now we're stranded on the other side of the Golden Gate with no way of getting back.  Dad is trying to get back on the bridge but the voice from the heavens keep yelling at him to GET OFF! He proceeds to yell back until finally he successfully buzzes the bridge patrol and they send a guy in a paddywagon to come and get us. So there we are 4 large grown adults crammed into the back of this golf-cart sized buggy being driven back across.  What a trip! 

Everyone we've met so far has been absolutely ridiculously friendly here.  I've been to alot of places, but none as friendly as the San Franciscans. Even the driver of our paddywagon was super nice!  By the time we got back to the wharf we tried to find a bus that would take us back to union station where we could get the subway but that was easier said than done because the first bus we took didn't loop around it ended because our driver was taking his break so we had to wait for another bus.  Then (my mistake) we got off on an early stop...had to catch another bus and then finally made it.  Once on the subway (did I mention we were doing all of this so Dad would save a little money on cab fare?) we headed to a stop on the end of a line that would bring us much closer to our hotel and would only cost us a little in cab fare from there.  Little did we know until we got to the end of the line and the last stop dropped us off in the middle of NOWHERE and was not looking like a very safe neck of the woods if you know what I mean.  Of course the subway STOPS because it's not a typical subway, it's more like a streetcar and we are forced to stand out on the street with no phone, no life in sight and no way of hailing a cab unless it drives by (but it's not looking likely).  Finally the subway starts up again and we go back a stop or 2 to a 7/11 and they call us a cab.  It shows up 20 minutes later and finally gets us out of shades-ville and brings us back to the hotel well after midnight.  It's been a long day of lineups and screwups and madness and we are all happy to get to bed. Alcatraz is tomorrow so we all want to be at our bests!

Wake Me Up in San Francisco! - Adventures with MooReece

I have travelled a considerable amount in my young life, for work, for pleasure and really just for the Hell of it.  I must say overall I've been pretty darn lucky when I've travelled.  Sure, I've had alot of "adventures" and "experiences" that were more stressful than they should have been but all in all, by comparison to some, I've been blessed with good travel karma.  UNTIL NOW.

The red flag should have been raised when the flight out of Sudbury was running late but it's December, delays are pretty much a regular thing so I didn't think too much about it.  Besides, once on the plane it was all good.  We arrived at Pearson with plenty of time to get through Customs (a new system that is now automated in 3 steps yet you still need to go through a border agent in Step 3 so I don't understand why they automated the first part because if anything it takes MORE time now than it did before...) but were cutting it close by the time we got through and made it to our gate in the OLD part of terminal 1 in the middle of nowhere (7 min walk from civilisation anyone)?  We finally make it all the way out there only to find out that our 12:50pm flight has been delayed until 15:00. Grrrreat!  Especially considering our connection in Newark was at 15:30. Oh well, what can you do but kill time with exploring the terminal and watching Breaking Bad on Netflix?  Just before the 15:00 flight I got myself a sandwich because I figured I probably wouldn't get much to eat until California because the connection in Newark could be tight with all the messed up flights.  Of course that flight was delayed until 16:45 and so Kyle, Dad, Moo and I hit the Molson Pub for some beer and hockey. Kyle of course lucks out and gets this wicked burger while Dad and I are pissed cause we choked down sammies thinking we would have been on the plane by now.  FAIL! Oh well, we just had more beer and tried to figure out what team VIT was. 

We finally get on the plane and make it to Newark where we find out we need to go to a different Concourse to catch our flight to San Francisco - a flight I might add - that we have NO IDEA at what time it leaves at.  So we get on the shuttle and scurry over and arrive befuddled not knowing where to go or who to talk to because our original flight left over 3 hours ago.  A few minutes of trying to find Customer Service or something and Dad goes to a gate desk and asks.  The lady looks us up, looks up at us with slight panic in her eyes and is like you're on the 7 pm flight!  (And in case you're wondering, it was after 6:30pm at this point).  So she hands us our papers back and whistles down a go-cart thingy and tells him to get us to our gate STAT!  So here we are racing through Newark airport, dodging holiday travelers left, right and centre with our driver yelling "beep! Beep!" Like the roadrunner! We get to the gate breathless like that scene in Home Alone 2 and we don't even have current boarding passes so the guy has to look us up as well and is rushing to get our stuff printed and throw us on this plane.  Of course because this isn't our original flight, our seats are all over the plane.  Mom and Dad lucked out and got 2 seats at the front with no one in front of them while Kyle and I got separated and sandwiched in a "middle seat".  6 hours later of no moving, no leg room because my carry-on was under the seat in front of me and no food, because they don't serve a meal on that flight and you can't get me off that plane fast enough. We meet in the terminal and Kyle says he highly doubts our bags will have made it because we barely made the connection.  Good thing I packed necessities in my carry-on!  Dad is complaining of a sharp pain in his temple and left eye after landing.  It's all bloodshot... I figure it's a pressure thing? 

Anyways, we truck along, exhausted and now cranky to baggage claim (in case) and I send Dad to go get the rental car saying we'll meet him up there but will see if the bags come out first.  We wait a while and then I go to the counter and she informs us the bags will be on the plane that lands at 12:30am but we can get them delivered to the hotel in the morning.  TERRIFIC!  We set that up and head for Rental Car Centre but stop at Subway for some subs on first.  We haven't eaten since early afternoon at Pearson.  We finally get to Rentals and Dad is NOWHERE to be found.  WTF?!  We search all over and nothing...  Now because of his eye thing getting off the plane, Mom is now starting to have an anxiety attack.  Kyle goes back to baggage to see if maybe he went back... he comes back alone.  Now I'm getting annoyed and a little worried too.  So I go talk to the counter person to ask if he checked in for the car.  She checks and says NO!  HOLY SHIT now I've lost my appetite and am really starting to freak out on the inside.  It's been well over an hour, he can't get lost, he never checked in, where the F is he?  So we head to the medical clinic but it's closed so we head back to bagage hoping to find someone to ask how to find a missing person in the airport.  Of course it's now well after midnight California time and everything is closed so I'm walking around bagage and Kyle searches the bathrooms to no avail and I'm starting to LOSE IT when all of a sudden Dad walks through the doors from the parking lot.  I yell out a THANK GOD !  Almost in tears at this point and he's all pissed off because we weren't outside waiting for him and he had circled the airport like 5 times already because finally parking and coming in.  WHAT?!  I told him we'd meet him up there and he said he'd come pick us up?  UGH!  Miscommunication at it's finest. That aside the real question is why did the counter girl tell me he hadn't picked up the car yet?  Had she said yes, we would have known right away where he was and ran back but because she said NO and because of his complaint about this burst in his head and bloodshot eye, we thought something really bad had happened.  Not a fun feeling whatsoever (and I'm not one prone to panic).

It all worked out and by the time we left I'm sure our bags had arrived but we were so tired and just needed to sleep...it was nearly a 24 hour day by the time we got to bed.  If this was any indication of how the rest of the trip would be, Moo and I are in for one heck of a LONG 2 weeks... wake me up when it's all over!