Visitors from Afar

I've mentioned my Mommy friends a few times - but I'm usually the one traveling to places like Virginia or Kansas City to meet up with them.  This time they finally came out here to see what the San Francisco Bay area has to offer. My mommy friends and I all met online the winter of 2007 when we got our positive pregnancy tests.  Nearly 4 years later we're still in touch and really good friends - getting together every chance we get (for example my last business trip to Baltimore in April I had dinner with my friend from Virginia, my business trip in March in Philadelphia, I had dinner with a friend from New Jersey).

One of my friends this trip is from Michigan and until last weekend had only been as far west as KC, the other is from SoCal and just wanted to "crash" the party LOL.

We did San Francisco in a day - and where I took only a handful of pictures (I'll snag a few of their pictures from Facebook).

L-R: Angie, Krista

First order  of business the ferry ride to Alcatraz.  It has been so long since I went that I had no idea it changed from leaving out of Pier 41 to Pier 33 (I suppose I should've read the tickets more clearly - oops).  We had a great time exploring the former prison.

Angie behind bars

 

Krista's getting some of her best thinking done... on the prison potty.  

Angie and I exploring the nooks and crannies of the prison/former military base.  After a picnic lunch on "the Rock" we hit up Pier 39, the Sea Lions and Ghiradelli Square.  On our way over to the Golden Gate Bridge we drove down Lombard Street - the crookedest street in the world (I'm sparing you those pictures).

But one of the requirements this trip was to show Krista the Golden Gate Bride - and a cable car... which were closed for the weekend due to maintenance... oops.  So going back to the Golden Gate Bridge...  we drove toward Ft. Point, which is the Civil War fortress housed beneath the bridge.

To get to that view point we had to walk down (and then back up again) nearly 200 stairs - I lost count about half-way through, but Angie tallied them up.

After walking around all day, Krista's feet and blisters weren't happy.  Did I mention Krista was doing a marathon tour of the city with a bad back?  What a trooper.  As her reward we drove across the bridge rather than walk the 1 mile span, and had dinner in Sausalito.  That night we relaxed with some adult beverages.

Day two, we took it easy and just hung out around my neck of the woods.  Had lunch at a favorite hangout, went to a few malls and had more ice cream.  While at Ghiradelli in San Francisco the three of us shared one hot fudge sundae.  This time, at the San Francisco Creamery - which Dave said is famous thanks to Man vs. Food - we each had our own.

Angie's quote of the day, was when she wondered if anyone would ask where we met.... Weight Watchers!  Needless to say we were a little green after consuming that much dairy, so after a little mishap at a nearby store, we just headed home.  (I'd talk more about the mishap, but we must protect the guilty from prosecution...).

That evening we had to bring Angie back to the airport so she could get back to her family (she had her second child earlier this year.  Krista and I returned home totally exhausted and just had dinner and hung out with Dave.

Saturday  the weather turned wintery - Juneuary as my co-worker called it - and the rain kept us mellow.  We caught a movie, and just gathered the grub for our crab feast.  Krista wanted SF crab, and we delivered!   

Dave is asking for more crab - thanks a lot Krista ;).

Sunday after recovering from my hangover (those of you on Facebook may have noticed a little random activity Saturday night) we went back into San Francisco to do some more shopping before heading back to the airport.

We crammed a whole lot in, knowing the weather was going to turn south quickly.  Now to get the whole group together again - sans kids of course!