Friday Farm Fun- Trip to the City

Last week we went to San Francisco on a vacation.  With there always being something that needs tending when you have animals, we can usually get away the easiest during October. When my sister-in-law called and invited us to meet her and her husband in San Francisco to watch the Seahawks(hubby and brother-in-laws favorite football team) and the 49ers(sister-in-laws favorite team) play we decided it would be a good vacation.

Traffic- yuck!

All but one cow has calved, the irrigating is done for the year, and we haven't started feeding yet, so it was the perfect time to hit the road. Only hubby can't go anywhere without making it a business trip. He set up to take a look at a swather he'd read about in the Capital Press.

We left early Tuesday morning(5am) and arrived in time to call and invite some friends in the Klamath area to have  breakfast with us.  Then we swung west and found the small area of Gazelle CA and checked out the swather. It was older than the model number indicated. We hurried on down to Santa Rosa and had dinner with my aunt and cousin and her family.

Crookedest street- Lombard

Spent the night and then got caught in traffic between Santa Rosa and San Francisco. I was flinching and swaying away from the cars coming at us from all directions and truly thankful my hubby was driving. We only slowed for a short distance with no major traffic jams. We found the hotel in SF and told them we'd be back late because we had to pick up the in-laws from the airport at 9:30.  Then we took the coast highway down to Santa Cruz where we met an author friend of mine, Barb Cool Lee and her mother. We ate lunch and my hubby and her mom had to listen to "shop" writer talk for two hours while Barb and I caught up and compared notes on the industry.

We left Santa Cruz and headed up to San Jose where we were to meet another cousin for dinner. We were early and hubby had to use a restroom. My eagle eye spotted a Barnes and Noble book store. Hubby didn't know what he was in for! I spent an hour and a half perusing the shelves and coming out with two discounted books on handguns, one book of Indian photographs, and two mysteries with Native American elements. Oh and chocolate!

I called my cousin and we met at a brewery for dinner then went to their house until we needed to head to pick up the in-laws. only right as we were leaving the sister-in-law texted they would be an hour late.  We went to the SF airport and people watched until their flight came in.

Our arrival at the hotel was even later than we'd expected. The nice young woman who ran the hotel stayed up waiting for us to arrive because we'd let her know we'd be late. Only there wasn't a parking spot in the small parking area of the hotel left. She instructed my husband where he could park for free but to watch out for the streets that would be cleaned in the morning. We fell into bed after midnight.

The next morning hubby had a bad feeling and went to check on the car. Sure enough, a ticket was on the windshield. He'd parked on the wrong side of the road. He parked the car in the hotel parking, and we didn't take the car out again until we left on Saturday.

Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge

Thursday we walked down to Fisherman's wharf and learned the best way to get to Candlestick Park without using our car. We called a taxi and asked how much it would cost. it was reasonable so we climbed in and went on a sightseeing tour as he dodged the traffic going to Candlestick Park. We arrived two hours before the game. The other three were excited and sat in the hot sun waiting while I remained in the shade in the walkway watching people. The game started and I couldn't believe the nasty remarks by the 49er fans to my husband and brother-in-law who were wearing Seahawks hats and shirts. There's nothing wrong with some fun ribbing but they were talking trash and acting like they wanted to provoke a fight. I also was sandwiched between my husband and a wide bodied man I'd never met. I don't like my bubble invaded and it was a long three hours!

Candlestick Park before the game

After the game we went to wait in the taxi line, which was longer than the football field and no sign of any taxis. Brother-in-law went searching for alternative transportation and shoved us on an already overloaded bus.Hubby was holding onto the bars at the front of the aisle holding all the standing people into the aisle so the driver could see hsi side mirror. I couldn't take much more of having my bubble invaded and the first time the bus stopped I bailed off. Hubby and in-laws were saying, "We don't want off yet." I said, "I'm walking." I couldn't take it any more. So they all got off and we walked 3.5 miles back to the hotel stopping along the way for a late Italian dinner.

Fort Point

While I enjoyed walking across the Golden Gate Bridge and seeing Fort Point, I couldn't wait to head back home and get away from all the congestion. In fact on the way back we took a detour that meandered us through some country we've never seen before and was less congested.

I like visiting the city but I need my space!