San Francisco Trip

For the first time ever, we finally made it to San Jose to visit my brother Tim and his family. We planned to spend 4 days in the San Francisco/San Jose area.

On the first day (June 16, 2023 Friday), we rode the Caltrain to the end at 4th Street and King and then the city bus up to Chinatown, where we walked around and bought appetizers and desserts. We stopped by the famous Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.

The Coit Tower was on top of a hill. To get to the tower, we climbed many steps.

The Lombard Street zigzag street is the world’s longest zigzag street.

Of course, we had to stop at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory to enjoy the expensive but fancy chocolate fudge sundae. The highlight of the visit on Friday was walking on the Golden Gate Bridge. We did not make it all the way across.

On Day 2, Tim and his family took us to the Henry Cowell State Park. We walked around the 1-mile path to witness the redwood trees. Truly majestic.

At noon, they drove us to the best tasting seafood place at Phil's Fish Market & Eatery. We ate something called cioppino or fish stew. Then we toured Stanford University, where I was accepted for grad school but did not attend.

Afterwards, we ate Korean food for dinner and crushed ice at Meet Fresh. On Day 3, we attended church with Tim's family. It was Father’s Day, so they gave out goodie bags in Sacrament Meeting and more candy in Sunday School and a cake pop after that. In the afternoon, we visited the Apple Visitor Center.

Then we came home for an amazing barbecue, which included bell peppers, zucchini, bacon wrapped asparagus, ribs, and triple tips (steak).

On Day 4, we rode the Caltrain station into San Francisco as before. After breakfast, we tried to board the cable car, but it was out of service there, and had to board a complimentary shuttle a couple of blocks north. There were delays, but we finally experienced the brief cable car ride. By the time we arrived at the waterfront, we had missed our reservation for the boat ride to Alcatraz. However, with a lot of persistence, they finally gave us 3 tickets to Alcatraz. That did sound very good. The boat was exceptionally brief but pleasant. When we landed and disembarked the boat, we were immediately greeted by a lady park ranger continuously talking through her handheld megaphone. She ran through the laundry list of rules and released us to roam the island. We explored the west side of the island with the burnt down social hall and the fire engine. But we eventually took the audio tour and witnessed the disgusting and solitary conditions of the inmates. It was clearly an eye opener.

Our last meal in California was an enjoyable dinner of Japanese curry. The tour in San Francisco was a very quick trip, but we were able to see some key tourist spots and enjoy my brother's hospitality. Thanks, Tim and Joyce.

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Happy Holidays 2023

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