June 17, 2010--20 years ago I married the love of my life. And 20 years to the date, we continued celebrating in San Francisco. We woke up and had a lovely breakfast out in the garden of our inn--waffles with chicken sausage (and scrambled eggs for wheat-sensitive Mike) preceded by a wonderful fruit cup of berries, mango, peaches, and kiwi and fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Then we headed downtown on the bus to catch a cable car. First we stopped at the massive Old Navy for Mike to buy some sunglasses and for me to buy a sweatshirt. Then we took one look at the enormous line for the Hyde-Powell line and decided to follow the advice in our guidebook--we walked up one block to catch the cable car headed uphill. It worked like a charm. Of course, Mike had to restrain himself from yelling "Suckas!!!" at all the crowds already loaded on the cable car.
Here's the view from the cable car going down toward Fishermen's Wharf:
And at the bottom, after we disembarked:
When we got off of the cable car, Mike spied a Barnes and Noble and suggested we go in and browse. Even though my first thought was "I'd rather be browsing in City Lights," I then thought..."why not? we're on vacation!" So we went into the bookstore and we were immediately approached by a Nook salesperson (Nook is Barnes & Noble's answer to the Kindle). Mike actually seemed to be quite interested in the Nook, which I found interesting--he hasn't been too taken with most high-tech gadgets.
After the B&N browse, we headed off to the VERY touristy Fishermen's Wharf, where we shared a crab/shrimp cocktail for lunch...after nearly losing it to a diving seagull! Fishermen's Wharf is a great people-watching destination and appealed to Mike's voyeur tendencies. I told him that hanging out there made me feel very skinny! (Why do so many "tourists" tend to be overweight? Perhaps because of the massive tour buses that drop them off at certain locations.)
This is about all we saw of the Golden Gate Bridge--very foggy on both days when we had a good view of it.
In spite of the hordes of tourists at Pier 39, we did find a couple of little shops we enjoyed, namely Lefty's (a store for left-handers, where we bought Chris a t-shirt with the names of the world's famous left-handers). Mostly, though, it was full of tourist crap.
We got to see the famous sea lions, who spend their time lounging on the decks near Pier 39--they are quite a loud spectacle! They have been loafing there for 20 years now.
Before catching another cable car back across town--this time clinging to the sides of the car! The best way to ride a cable car...
We returned to our inn in the late afternoon and partook in the wine reception in the beautiful garden. Then we dressed for our second evening out. We had dinner downtown at a fantastic Mexican restaurant, Colibri, where they stock several varieties of tequila and have a long margarita menu. They brought us freshly made corn tortillas to start, and then I had mole poblano.
This was a fitting entree for our anniversary dinner, because the first time I tasted mole was when we were dating in Japan. Mike had taken me to a wonderful Mexican restaurant where they served an excellent mole. Some other guests at our inn were not only surprised to hear we liked mole, but also to learn that Japan had good Mexican restaurants. Osaka in particular had amazing restaurants, often more authentic than what we find here. Japan also has outstanding Indian food. As a recent college grad and newly in love, it was where I discovered the joys of fine dining. (When I was growing up we hardly ever ate out.)
With our margaritas:
Mike had an equally yummy dish--perfectly cooked large scallops on beds of mashed potatoes. (A few days ago he made a comment about how everyone knows what he eats at restaurants because of my blog...sorry, honey!)
For our anniversary, I gave Mike a tie with the signatures of various authors on it...plus tickets to a certain Broadway show that was running in San Francisco while we were there. Those of you who know my family know why I'm not writing more about it...and why you must never speak of it around any of my family members. :) We had a fabulous time (even though I felt a tiny bit guilty). Here we are before the show:
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