California, Here We Were!

Nothing like stretching out a vacation for an extra month, right?   But it's not like I did it on purpose.   You see, I had a bit of a distraction with a snake in my yard.  And then I had to go eat some pie.   Now that all those fun distractions are out of the way.... I can finish talking about my vacation.

As I have mentioned previously, our California trip was essentially split into two halves: Wine Country and San Francisco.  The pro: we got to see two awesome places.  The con: we did not see near enough of each place!  I have already summarized, in great detail, the three days spent wine tasting.

Since we were California -and therefore San Francisco- newbies, Michael wisely decided to book us a bus tour upon arrival in the City By the Bay.   But, Michael being Michael, he found a deal on Groupon for a new tour company that uses a small (think airport shuttle van) bus that gets to the standard tour stops, but also takes guests to many more fun, out of the way places.   It was a blast.   The photo below was taken in a little turn around between Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro, near a ginormous cell tower.   Despite the low clouds (aka fog) it was a great view.

In four hours we saw pretty much all the main San Francisco tourist spots, from Alamo Square (Full House picnic spot)

 to the Golden Gate Bridge (across the bay, too!) 

from Haight-Ashbury (notice the clock is set to 4:20!)

to Union Square

If you are planning a trip to San Francisco, I highly recommend the tour company, City by the Bay Tours.  Our driver, Jason, was a riot, and was very knowledgable about the city.  And!   He had a soundtrack.   Cheesy?   Perhaps.  But I liked hearing "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" in the morning, and then driving back over the bridge to "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"

We actually did quite a bit of exploring on our own aside from the guided tour... more on that next time.   I should be able to conclude the trip by the end of May!