The San Francisco Treat

We had quite an extended Thanksgiving vacation this year. It included hours upon hours of driving, fish and chips, Walt Disney, and being a couch potato. Have I piqued your interest? These are just the highlights.

Our route, which according to Google Maps takes a total of 1 day, 7 hours:

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Ben ran across a busy street to reach this gem that we came across somewhere in the middle of Nevada.

We forgot our camera on the first day, so you will just have to rely on my words to spin a picture. We drove to California with our friends Ian and Lauren, and we stayed with Ian's grandparents, Grammy and Papa. They were extremely hospitable and Grammy did a good job of feeding us. Our first stop in San Francisco was the Walt Disney Museum. We learned about Disney's life and his early cartoons and movies. 

Our other main event that day was a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. The last time Ben was in San Francisco he found a fish and chips place and had been missing them ever since. We drove around in the rain and asked for directions, but eventually we were so hungry that we gave up and ate mexican food. I was happy (not being a seafood fan myself), but Ben was quite sad. After we ate, we drove about a block down the street and lo and behold, there was the fish and chips restaurant. So of course we stopped.

On Monday we hit a lot of the touristy sites. I made a special request for Lombard Street, which lived up to its reputation.

We ate lunch at the most amazing sandwich shop, Ike's. Ben and Ian split a sandwich which included Roast Beef, Corned Beef, Pastrami, Salami, Turkey, Bacon, Ham, Mozzarella Sticks, Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers, Beer Battered Onion Rings, Avocado and Pesto. Tasty.

Just a side story, when Ben was last in San Francisco, he and his four male friends stumbled into this 24-hour diner in the middle of the night only to discover that it was the self-appointed "gayest diner in the world." It happened to be down the street from Ike's, and upon seeing it, I wondered how they didn't realize that Little Orphan Andy's, adorned with rainbow flags, was what it claims to be.

The rest of our trip was just as touristy. We took a bunch of pictures in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. I wasn't even posing for this one.

We visited Chinatown briefly and spent the rest of the evening walking around the pier. Ben particularly enjoyed Ghirardelli Square.

We ate dinner at Boudin's, which is famous for its sourdough bread. We had some amazing views of the city from the pier. 

The rest of our trip was spent in Los Angeles. Our friends have family there and we stayed with my grandparents who live outside of LA. It was the most wonderful visit, during which we spent a good deal of time just relaxing on the couch in front of the fireplace. Thanksgiving itself was just as laid back, with more of my family coming over. And now... our wonderful week of being taken care of by grandmothers is over.