San Francisco: Been There Done That

With only two days remaining until the end of our travels, we finished our 2-week expedition of the Pacific Northwest with a visit to my sister Gayle in San Francisco (technically located in the “Pacific West”). As both Julie and I had taken previous trips out to “The Bay” in the past, we spent the majority of our 48 hours partaking in some severely half-assed sight-seeing, as “just-wanna-go-home” mode had started creeping up on us. I leave you with highlights: 

Driving in Traffic – Although no guidebook refers to the wonders and amazement of “Bay Traffic,” we decided to spend almost 1/3 of our time in San Francisco experiencing just that. From the never-ending left-turn lanes backed up for miles, to the endless and unavoidable toll booths charging a minimum 3 weeks salary to leave this perma-traffic-jam-of-a-city, the only thing San Franciscans appear to enjoy more than spending every waking minute in traffic is spending over $100/square inch for their apartments. The time spent creeping along in Gayle’s Civic did, however, provide some much-needed sibling catch-up time, which made it all… worth….while. Awwwwww says the collective Mother readers. 

Wine Tasting in Napa/Sonoma Valley – With my previous “California wine country” experience involving a romantic trip for Brett Crandall and myself to Dale Earnhardt’s winery, I figured second time around would not be difficult to outdo. Replacing Brett with Julie, and Dale Earnhardt with several non-Nascar-based-wineries, the end result was a much less trashy, yet unfortunately quite equally-disappointing experience. With over-priced tastings for under-whelming wines (I’m a connoisseur if you did not know), we decided that our tiny winery in Hood River, Oregon put both valleys of Napa and Sonoma to shame. The one beacon of entertainment during our day, however, was the pair of unbelievable inebriated girls professing their love to their limo driver. He looked happy, as in the “I’m-about-to-get-laid” type of happy. 

“The Full House Experience” – While this could-be-amazing tour disappointedly does not exist, we did manage to create our own version. I leave you with the summary of our experience:

• Included: Visit to “The Painted Sisters.” That’s it.
• Excluded: Dreamy-Oh-God-So-Dreamy John Stamos, Funny-Until-The-Age-of-8-and-Then-Kinda-Annoying Dave Coulier, Never-Ended-Up-Being-As-Hot-As-Expected Olsen Twins, Bob-F-Bomb-Dropping-Saget and of course Kimmy Gibbler. Oh Kimmy how I wish we could have experienced your crazy crazy antics.

Haight Street – Marijuana Stores, Weed Stores, "Herbal Supplement Stores," and a few thrift shops for those non-Cannabis-inspired individuals.

Gayle's Birthday - I was there. I am a good brother. 

Onto the pics