Rock escapades and other adventures in San Francisco...

Almost a week after we left for San Francisco I have finally managed the time in my busy unemployed schedule to update on our whirlwind five day trip - and what a wonderful trip it was!

Despite the ordinary weather and below average temperatures for this time of year, I thoroughly enjoyed our little hiatus - welcome relief from soul sapping job hunting.

As most of you would know, I might just have a mini-obsession with New York City - it's engaging, overwhelming, amazing - awesome. I can only describe San Francisco as a chilled out, less pretentious New York. There's so much to do, the architecture and streetscapes blow your mind, the people are relaxed (and a lot friendlier!) and it just doesn't take itself as seriously as the big apple.  I loved every minute of it! I will always be true to New York but it doesn't mean I can't have a little love affair with San Fran on the side! 

Yes San Fran, I do heart you. A lot.

Unfortunately due to the location of Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, we were limited in our options for hotels - we had to find somewhere relatively close - so we ended up staying at Fisherman's Wharf. For anyone who has not been to San Fran, I would personally not recommend staying here unless you're into Surfers Paradise - because that's exactly what this area is like. Tacky, touristy, annoying, smelly children screaming, obnoxious overweight loud mouth tourists everywhere who clearly can not last a minute without a piece of gum in their mouth and who clearly do not know how one chews with their mouth closed. They also love to walk right in the middle of footpaths and stop suddenly in random places, blocking the paths of all behind them. I digress.

So while I enjoyed Fisherman's Wharf between 8 am (when we arrived) and 10 am (when all these lazy people finally get up and start waddling around), let's just say I wouldn't be in any rush to go back there. The perks? Chocolate shops, lolly shops and the seals! Oh, the seals were so stinky but so fun to watch!

Stinky but loveable seals at Pier 39.

After we sussed out Fisherman's Wharf and bought our Alcatraz tour tickets for Sunday afternoon, we decided to rent bikes and ride all the way up and over the Golden Gate Bridge (and back again). I can't even describe how amazed I was with the Golden Gate Bridge, and I'm not generally all that into bridges and stuff. Something about it was so spectacular though, and being able to ride up to and over it was pretty amazing. It's just really beautiful.

Us & The Golden Gate Bridge - on our cycling tour.

After lunch at Boudin (original sourdough & clam chowder), we headed off to the famous Lombard Street - the most winding street in the world! It was amazing. I couldn't help but keep thinking about how I was certain I wouldn't find an obese native San Franciscan, purely because of how steep the streets are in this city. After 10 minutes of trekking up the mountain that is Lombard Street I was absolutely stuffed. And I'm pretty sure I had the beginnings of buns of steel ...

Lunch at Boudin.

Lombard Street.

More Lombard Street.

Once we hit the top, we decided to keep walking for a bit which is when I ran into my new dog crush - Titan the bulldog (he was extremely gorgeous) - who I may have tried to coax away with me ...

Titan - my new boyfriend.

The great thing about being the person responsible for all tourist related activities on our trip was that I was in charge of the map. This meant I could manipulate Steven into walking 12 blocks to Union Square (central shopping hot spot) with me and by the time he realised it was going to be a bit more than "just a couple more blocks" it was too late ... So the good news is after visiting Saks, Barneys, Macy's, Nordstrom and Marc Jacobs store itself, I finally got my Marc Jacobs bag - hooray! I will love it always. I'm pretty sure Steven was about 5 minutes away from strangling me before we even made it to Union Square because I kept having to "consult the map" every ten steps. My short term memory is like a sieve, particularly when it comes to street names and all numbers.

Oh, you're probably wondering why we were doing all this walking and not just jumping on a tram - the signature transportation of this city .... as luck would have it the trams weren't running this particular weekend due to track upgrades! So cabbing and walking it was.

Union Square was very busy and touristy and by the time we managed to find a cab back to the piers, I was certain that would be the end of my reign as chief touristy activities manager for Team Conlow. Fortunately I managed to quickly locate the restaurant I had planned for our dinner (phew) - a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant recommended to us by Alex. It was fabulous! I didn't realise how much I missed rice paper rolls until we sat down at that dinner table ...

Slanted Door Vietnamese dinner.

After Friday's mammoth city trekking efforts, Saturday was dedicated purely to triathlon preparation. Although we'd had plans to visit a couple of other places, because of the horrible rainy weather and time limitations we didn't want to push it. Therefore Saturday consisted of triathlon registration, Steve's warm up ride & "warm up" swim, a trip to the shops to get nutrition supplies and resting.

And then came Sunday - what can I say? What a spectacular triathlon - for athletes and spectators alike! I have to say I completely understand why Escape from Alcatraz is on the 'to-do' list of so many athletes. The scenery was stunning - I'll never forget sitting on the freezing cold rock wall in the shadow of the Golden Gate, watching the sun come up over Alcatraz Island, teeth chattering, being able to think of nothing other than my mother once telling me if I sat too long on cold concrete I'd get piles! (Thanks Mum). Good news is that I didn't, so celebrations all round! The only thing that could spoil this spectacular moment (aside from Mum's timely advice) - my worst nightmare - sitting next to a COLLINGWOOD supporter! Yes, that's right. I'm sitting on a freezing rock wall at 7 am in San Francisco probably getting piles, and who's sitting beside me but Ron the Collingwood supporter! Once I noticed his scarf it was all over. Turns out he was there to support his son from Brisbane who was doing his first ever Alcatraz triathlon too, so I made peace with my initial annoyance.

Eery Alcatraz - moments before race start.

Some gorgeous views for support crew on race day!

I am happy to report that Steve successfully completed his first ever Escape from Alcatraz in 2 hr 36 minutes and I managed to take a few (perhaps a little dodgy) shots on the fancy camera. The best news of the morning was that we also got to meet Australian pro athlete and back to back Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander - and Steve had a great chat to him after the race in the recovery area too - stoked!!

How's that for a run with a view!

The famous hand gesture on the home straight.

Steve and Craig "Crowie" Alexander.

Steve and Crowie catch up post race.

Finisher!! (15th in his age group)

Sunday afternoon I dragged a tired athlete off to our tour of Alcatraz Island. I had high hopes after hearing how great the tour was from many of our friends and I was not disappointed. Alcatraz Island - located in the San Francisco Bay and now a designated national park. We spent the afternoon on Alcatraz making our way around all the displays and taking the brilliant audio tour of the old prison - phenomenal (and creepy!). I admit that I didn't know much about Alcatraz before, but the whole thing really sucked me in. I also loved that because it's a national park now, they have designated bird breeding grounds on the island for protected bird species.

A little chilly on Alcatraz, looking back to the city.

Inside the jail.

Jail cells.

Individual cell.

Sunday night we made our way to the Little Italy area of the city and had dinner at a restaurant Cecily had recommended called The Stinking Rose - sounds appetizing doesn't it! So The Stinking Rose is a garlic restaurant - we ate so much garlic that night I am sure we only made enemies on our wine tour the next day! Sunday night at The Stinking Rose also marked a momentous occasion in our relationship - it was the first time in 5 and a half years that Steve has won best dinner. He couldn't believe it, but there was mutual agreement that he had indeed picked the best dinner. FYI it was lamb shank and garlic mashed potato.

Yep - garlic cloves - delicious spread on focaccia!

Something else I really loved about San Fran was that just an hours drive away you will find yourself in wine country. Now, I'm not a massive alcohol of any sort lover, but I don't mind a nice glass of wine every now and then. Our triathlon-wine tour combo seems to be a trend of late, which I was in no rush to buck. So Monday morning we ventured off on a tour of Sonoma and Napa Valley - regions famous for their quality wine. Given this knowledge it would be wrong of us not to try ... right? So we enjoyed a day of wine tasting and eating and finished it off with dinner back in the city at a place called Calzone's. Safe to say Steve was thrilled with the opportunity he had here to eat the mother of all meals - his two favourite foods combined into one, greasy delight - lasagne calzone. I was told it was good.

Sonoma.

A dingy view, but a beautiful place.

Caught devouring lasagne calzone.

San Francisco - a thoroughly enjoyable whirlwind trip and I have no doubt we'll visit again in the future! More photos on Facebook if you follow this link - & also this link.

As for our adventures for the next two to three months - we'll be laying pretty low and saving our behinds off for our next overseas trip. In the meantime, there are plenty of summer festivities in Vancouver to keep us occupied so stay tuned for more local adventures ...