San Francisco or Bust
... or should I say "San Francisco was a bust."
I am sad to say that our San Fran holiday was one of the worst vacations I've ever had.
Now this is not to say that the entire trip to Cali was bad. In fact, most of it was great. I really enjoyed my time down in Silicon Valley. I got to see Santa Cruz, Monterey and alot of the California countryside. I also had a very nice dinner with Sarah, and ate at a really good Mexican food restaurant in Mountainview.
San Francisco, however, didn't work out so well. For some reason, I developed some really horrible stomach pain and nausea. So with the exception of a few good hours, we spent most of our time in the hotel room waiting for me to feel like I wasn't on the verge of death. So, here are some of Matt's Do's and Don'ts for visiting the left coast:
DO go down to Monterey. It's a beautiful city, and the aquarium is good fun for a couple of hours. I wasn't incredibly impressed, maybe because of the crowds, but we did see wild otters frolicking out in the bay and eating crabs off of their tummies.
DO drive up the coast road, Highway 1. It is perhaps one of the most beautifully scenic drives I've ever been on in my life. It's a combination of pastoral farming country and rugged coastline that is entirely endearing.
DON'T go to San Francisco when they're having a heat wave. The reason for this is not the heat. It only got into the upper 80's and lower 90's, which by Texas standards is nothing to get excited about. The problem is that because those temps are so rare, very few places in that area that have air conditioning. And a stuffy bar in 85 degree heat is not a fun thing to experience.
DON'T rent a hotel room in downtown San Francisco without first checking whether or not they have A/C. Especially not in the middle of a heat wave. Our hotel, the King George, would have been a great little place to stay, had it not been for the fact that there was no decent way to get a cool breeze into the room. Ugh.
DO go down to Pier 39, IF you've never been to SF before. I know it's a touristy place to go, but it was the one place I had fun in all of San Fran. We had lunch at a nice restaurant got clam chowder out of a bread bowl, saw the sea lions sunning themselves, got a nice view of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and a sail boat race. The sun was out, the breeze off the bay was nice and cool and we found a few cute things in the shops.
DON'T expect decent service. I never thought the service in Austin was all that great, but compared to California, it's phenomenal. And the rude drivers are worse even than Massachusetts. On the whole, the people out there didn't impress me in the slightest.
In the end, all I can say is that if I had to do it over, I would have done things quite a bit differently. I would not have rented a hotel downtown. I would have stayed farther down in the burbs, only gone into SF for one day, and I would have spent more time roaming the countryside, going to the beach at Half Moon Bay, driving up to Nappa and enjoying the sunshine without all the horrendous crowding and price gouging of the city.
I don't know if it was just me, because I was sick or in the wrong frame of mind or what, but found that San Francisco didn't come anywhere close to my expectations. Sorry to all my friends that enjoyed it, but I just didn't dig on the place too much.
Now that is not to say that I didn't like the rest of the state that I saw. I would really enjoy another trip out to California. I've promised Michelle that I'm going to take her on a tour of the wine country, and it's a promise I plan to keep, and not with any sense of distaste. I'd also like very much to spend a few more days on the coast around Monterey, or even around Capitola, Santa Cruz or Half Moon Bay.
All in all, it wasn't the best trip I've ever had, but it was an experience, and that is what life is really all about, having new experiences, learning new things, meeting new people and seeing new places.
Of course to top it all off, I'm writing this on my borrowed work laptop because when I got home, my computer was busted. Oh, and half my plants are dead and there are huge brown spots in my back yard because my wife, although lovely and talented in many respects, doesn't know thing one about watering a plant.
So tomorrow, it's back to reality and back to work. At least I have some projects to keep me busy.
It's good to be home...
I am sad to say that our San Fran holiday was one of the worst vacations I've ever had.
Now this is not to say that the entire trip to Cali was bad. In fact, most of it was great. I really enjoyed my time down in Silicon Valley. I got to see Santa Cruz, Monterey and alot of the California countryside. I also had a very nice dinner with Sarah, and ate at a really good Mexican food restaurant in Mountainview.
San Francisco, however, didn't work out so well. For some reason, I developed some really horrible stomach pain and nausea. So with the exception of a few good hours, we spent most of our time in the hotel room waiting for me to feel like I wasn't on the verge of death. So, here are some of Matt's Do's and Don'ts for visiting the left coast:
DO go down to Monterey. It's a beautiful city, and the aquarium is good fun for a couple of hours. I wasn't incredibly impressed, maybe because of the crowds, but we did see wild otters frolicking out in the bay and eating crabs off of their tummies.
DO drive up the coast road, Highway 1. It is perhaps one of the most beautifully scenic drives I've ever been on in my life. It's a combination of pastoral farming country and rugged coastline that is entirely endearing.
DON'T go to San Francisco when they're having a heat wave. The reason for this is not the heat. It only got into the upper 80's and lower 90's, which by Texas standards is nothing to get excited about. The problem is that because those temps are so rare, very few places in that area that have air conditioning. And a stuffy bar in 85 degree heat is not a fun thing to experience.
DON'T rent a hotel room in downtown San Francisco without first checking whether or not they have A/C. Especially not in the middle of a heat wave. Our hotel, the King George, would have been a great little place to stay, had it not been for the fact that there was no decent way to get a cool breeze into the room. Ugh.
DO go down to Pier 39, IF you've never been to SF before. I know it's a touristy place to go, but it was the one place I had fun in all of San Fran. We had lunch at a nice restaurant got clam chowder out of a bread bowl, saw the sea lions sunning themselves, got a nice view of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and a sail boat race. The sun was out, the breeze off the bay was nice and cool and we found a few cute things in the shops.
DON'T expect decent service. I never thought the service in Austin was all that great, but compared to California, it's phenomenal. And the rude drivers are worse even than Massachusetts. On the whole, the people out there didn't impress me in the slightest.
In the end, all I can say is that if I had to do it over, I would have done things quite a bit differently. I would not have rented a hotel downtown. I would have stayed farther down in the burbs, only gone into SF for one day, and I would have spent more time roaming the countryside, going to the beach at Half Moon Bay, driving up to Nappa and enjoying the sunshine without all the horrendous crowding and price gouging of the city.
I don't know if it was just me, because I was sick or in the wrong frame of mind or what, but found that San Francisco didn't come anywhere close to my expectations. Sorry to all my friends that enjoyed it, but I just didn't dig on the place too much.
Now that is not to say that I didn't like the rest of the state that I saw. I would really enjoy another trip out to California. I've promised Michelle that I'm going to take her on a tour of the wine country, and it's a promise I plan to keep, and not with any sense of distaste. I'd also like very much to spend a few more days on the coast around Monterey, or even around Capitola, Santa Cruz or Half Moon Bay.
All in all, it wasn't the best trip I've ever had, but it was an experience, and that is what life is really all about, having new experiences, learning new things, meeting new people and seeing new places.
Of course to top it all off, I'm writing this on my borrowed work laptop because when I got home, my computer was busted. Oh, and half my plants are dead and there are huge brown spots in my back yard because my wife, although lovely and talented in many respects, doesn't know thing one about watering a plant.
So tomorrow, it's back to reality and back to work. At least I have some projects to keep me busy.
It's good to be home...
posted by matthewstoryteller | 7:04 PM
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3 comments
