San Francisco Trip 2018

I said my goal was to recap my 2018 trips and my 2019 trip by the New Year. I have until midnight today to get both done. Lol.

My last trip of 2018 was to San Francisco with a group of friends to see a few baseball games. It was a blast! We all became friends because of our love of baseball (mainly Texas Rangers baseball). This was the second baseball trip for our group- most of us went to Washington D.C. in 2017 (see recap here).

We took early flights so we could catch an afternoon game in Oakland to see the Rangers and A's. Not all of us were on the same flight so we met up in California. My flight was on Alaska Air and thanks to a SUPER nice gate agent, I got bumped up to first class for free (pinkies out). 

All the leg room!

When we got to the Coliseum in Oakland, it was overcast and threatening to rain, but after the game started, the sun came out and it ended up being a beautiful day. I'm not gonna lie, the Coliseum is NOT the prettiest ballpark in the world, but it wasn't a bad experience. I know a lot of people complain about it, but we had fun. We were at an afternoon game in the middle of the week and there were a good number of dedicated and passionate A's fans there. 

Happy Rangers fans after a win in Oakland

On this trip, I was able to meet my Twitter friend Cori- she and I had been Twitter friends for like nine years. She's a Rangers fan living in California, and I'm so glad she could join us!

This game was broadcast on Facebook Live, and it turns out I made it on "TV" a few times. I really need to learn to just smile and not make weird faces when I'm at a game. The cameras always find me at the worst time. Lol.

By that evening we were exhausted after traveling and being out in the sun all afternoon, but we did make time to have dinner at Mel's Diner before heading off to our hotels/AirBnbs (we didn't all stay at the same place). I possibly talked the waitress into letting me keep the menu. My college roommate is named Mel and her kitchen has a Mel's Diner theme. :)

The next morning we were up early for a tour of AT&T Park (now called Oracle Park), home of the San Francisco Giants. I haven't toured all the ballparks I've visited, but I've toured a good portion of them. The tour in SF was awesome, I highly recommend it. The Giants have a lot of history and I loved learning about it.

We were told not to touch the grass. Of course I had to take a photo of me touching the grass. Lol.

After a trip to the gift shop, the group split- some of us went for lunch while others went shopping. I was part of the group that wanted to eat (act surprised). We went to this hole in the wall pizza place called Za Pizza in SF Russian Hill and it was AMAZING. Hands down the best pizza I've ever tasted. The slice of pizza might look ordinary in that photo, but it was fantastic. If you are ever in San Francisco, I highly recommend that you find a way to get to Za Pizza.  

The guy in the photo is Brooks Berstein, he's the owner.

After lunch, most everyone else wanted to go shopping, but I wanted to go sight-seeing, so my friend Moose and I took off walking to see the sights of San Francisco. We did A LOT of walking that day. We got a week's worth of steps in just in that afternoon. Poo Moose had to keep up with my fast walking (I have long legs, I can't help it). 

When we left Za Pizza, we discovered we were about a 7 minute walk from the famous Lombard Street, so we made our way over to it. Lombard Street is that curvy street they always show in movies  and TV shows about San Francisco. I honestly thought it would be a longer street, but it was maybe a block long. They have a sidewalk for pedestrians to walk down so you aren't in the middle of the road. It was pretty crowded, so obviously everyone else wanted to see it while they were in town as well. 

From Lombard Street, we made our way to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 to meet up with some of our group. If you are going to walk around San Francisco, just know there are a lot of hills. Your legs will get quite the workout! I loved Pier 39- there were musicians and lots of shops and places to eat (again with food, I know). :)

I swear I thought that bird was going to attack me.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...

While on Pier 39, we had to check out the sea lions. They actually have an interesting story about how they ended up there (click here for it because I'm too lazy to retype it). 

Richard Olsen was one of the musicians playing on Pie 39. He was an amazing clarinet player (much better than I ever was back in the day). :) I bought two of his CDs.

That evening we had tickets for a night tour of Alcatraz. I must say, I put Alcatraz as a "must see" while in San Francisco. And I HIGHLY recommend the night tour if it fits into your schedule. The tours book up fast, so it's best to buy you tickets in advance (that's what we did). We were there in August but it was quite chilly in the evening (hence the beanies and jackets). My Texas blood doesn't do well in the cold. Lol. The boat ride to Alcatraz was extra chilly (the wind coming off the water was so cold). As the saying goes, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." 

My friend Monica accidentally took this photo, and it's one of my favorites. It looks like the cover of a rap album. Lol.

Once you get to the island, there is a pretty good size hill you have to walk up to get to the actual prison. Tip: Wear good walking shoes when you go to San Francisco. They do have a tram that will take the elderly and people with walking challenges up to the prison though. During the walk to the top, a tour guide gives a brief history and points out places of interest along the way. Once you get inside, you are given a headset with a recording, and you can go through the building at your own pace. Some people in my group were done in just over an hour. I took my time and took almost two hours. 

The recording was made by people who were actually in prison there at one time or who worked there. The recordings are from the 1980s (I believe), so some of the people you are hearing have passed on. I will say, Alcatraz is super creepy at night, but it was fun. I learned a lot, and as a history nerd, I was all about it. I must admit, it was eerie standing in one of the isolation cells. The inmate talking on the recording said it would be so dark he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. In order to pass the time, he would take a button off of his shirt, throw it in the air, and then spend time trying to find it. 

They heard how many Whataburger number tents I have at home. Lol.

My souvenirs 

We got back well after 10pm, which made for a long day, and day three was going to be super long as well. After grabbing food, my group got back to our AirBnB after midnight- and we had to be up early the next day for another day of fun. We obviously don't go on vacation to sleep. :)

On Day 3, a group of us drove around the city sight-seeing (giving my legs a much needed break). We took photos of the Golden Gate Bridge from every angle possible. One can never have too many photos by the Golden Gate Bridge. :) We walked about halfway across it and then drove over it. We later drove down Lombard Street (so I got to experience it walking and in a car). 

Day 3 posse

One of the things I wanted to do was to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean (not the San Francisco Bay, the actual ocean), so we drove over to Pacifica, CA, and found a lovely beach to spend some time at.

For those who don't know, the Pacific Ocean is VERY cold. I had a rude awakening when the first wave hit my legs. Lol.

After lunch at a cute little cafe in Pacifica, we headed back to San Fran for the Rangers/Giants game that night. Oh yeah, we were in California to see baseball, we almost forgot. Lol.

We had amazing seats for the game and again, the weather was not what we were used to in August, so we were bundled up. We noticed about the 8th inning a huge flock of seagulls starting circling the ballpark. I guess they were hoping to get some scraps of food. It was interesting and terrifying all at the same time. I've seen the Hitchcock movie The Birds, it doesn't end well. Lol.

I finally got to meet my Twitter friend Matthew. We both live in Dallas and go to Rangers games all the time, we just had never met up. We were able to meet up at this game though!

The gentleman in the center photo caught balls along the first baseline all night. He was adorable. 

Top left you can see the flock of seagulls. 

The next day was our last full day in SF. We went to the Giants day game (so we could experience a night game and a day game). Also it was a bobblehead giveaway and we are all bobblehead junkies. It was funny (not really) that that game the Giants were celebrating their win of the 2010 World Series...where they beat the Rangers. So yeah, that was fun reliving that. Lol. It was a bobblehead set, but you only got one. I ended up with the Buster Posey one, so I needed the Brian Wilson one to complete the set. The family in front of me had three Brian Wilson bobbleheads so I offered to buy one for $20. They were nice and agreed, so I had the complete set by the time I left.

The guy in the top right is Andres Torres. He played for the Giants when they won the World Series, but he also briefly played for the Rangers. Of course I got a photo. Lol.

Our seats for game two were higher up, and in the sun. I never travel without sunblock so I was sharing it with everyone around me. I was very popular. :) 

My first trip to California was so much fun. I can't wait to go back. I still have three ballparks there to see and two presidential libraries!

So, as 2019 comes to a close, I'm FINALLY done recapping my 2018 trips. WHEW!!!

As always, thanks for reading. I hope to get back to blogging in 2020. I kinda miss it. 

XOXO!