Second full day in San Francisco - Dylan's Tour and lobby pizza

Today we booked a private city tour with local company Dylan's Tours. They offer a variety of tours depending on your group size and activity level. You can do shuttle bus style tours, bike tours, or even what they call an electric tuk-tuk tour. Since we already had our own plans to see Alcatraz, we went with the option they call "Dylan's Famous Tour." The thought of a 7 hour tour did not sound appealing to me but the nice thing about booking your own private tour is that you can go as slow or as fast as you want. There were a few time constraints as far as our guide giving us a time frame to be back after exploring an area on our own and the fact that we had to visit Muir Woods within a certain time frame of the late afternoon since their company had an assigned time for the use of one of the super limited and popular parking spaces on the property. While a large group bus tour always has those one or two people that believe the time space continuum doesn't apply to them leaving everyone else waiting, we are the kind of touring people who will most likely be back well within the guide's requested time.

First stop of the day however was back down to the lobby for the included continental breakfast.

I'm one of those people that likes barely cooked bacon that's still chewy. Rarely ever seem to find that on my travels though. Couldn't finish everything on this plate so I took the yogurt back to our room fridge. Never did go back and eat it. 

Back up to the room to grab our stuff and we met our guide Aaron waiting for us outside the hotel. He'd brought more of a van than the advertised mini bus but for us two who simply had jackets and a camera case, it was fine. We told Aaron that we'd already visited Alcatraz, Ghirardelli Square, and Pier 39 the day before so he kept his overview of Fisherman's Wharf brief as we drove away from the hotel. Our first stop was City Hall. Aaron told us about the lines of trees in front of City Hall and how they are meant to be cut back so that only the top has leaves and the bulk of the bark is exposed. 

Someone in San Francisco decided that the trees were too bare and needed to be kept warm so they make these animal stockings to cover the bark with the animal's mouth serving as the opening to where the leaves start:

After a quick drive through Chinatown and their Little Italy neighborhood known as North Beach, we drove up to an area known as Twin Peaks for their panoramic overview of the entire city. We were very lucky to be visiting on a day with such clear skies, missing the days of smog that soon filled the air a few days after we headed on to Hawaii. 

Our next stop was to the Haight Ashbury neighborhood known as the hippy neighborhood. Aaron explained that the area got its name simply from the two street names that meet and Dad fell in love with a tie dye Tshirt that showed the street signs. Aaron slowed down along the drive enough to point out The Grateful Dead house and the Hell's Angels house. He told us of having a guy on a past tour who was such a Grateful Dead fan he climbed all the way up over the current fence so he could stand where they'd stood. Now the houses have fenced in porches as well as fences at the bottom of their stairs. This was our first point where we were given a time to be back at the van. Aaron pointed out a public restroom in a little hole in the wall restaurant called Street Tacos and suggested we check out where Jimi Hendrix used to live. We bought a couple sodas at Street Tacos and used the restroom before walking along the streets admiring the colorful buildings and shops. 

Following drive through visits to the historic neighborhoods of The Mission and The Castro, Aaron drove us by the famous Painted Ladies or Seven Sisters block of houses that was not only used as the outside of the house from the sitcom Full House but also a corner house used in the filming of Mrs. Doubtfire. Unfortunately he wasn't allowed to stop and let anyone off for pictures. He told us the story behind how Robin Williams convinced the owners of that house to let it be used for the film and how they only agreed if the place could stay anonymous. Robin agreed and filming began. The owners of the house went to the theater to see the movie and discovered that in the scene where Sally Field's character tells Mrs. Doubtfire where to report for the interview, she gives the exact address where their house is located. They soon had lots of extra houseguests. 

A quick drive through the Presidio followed where Aaron joked that when he has families on his tours, the kids get excited when they spot the Walt Disney Museum. Then they find out it's not really about Disney and its characters but focused on Walt's life and career. 

We stopped at Fort Point nestled just below the Golden Gate Bridge and got a great view both of the bridge and across the bay. Aaron told us about the 1989 earthquake that hit San Francisco and how the only fatality was the one guy who was crossing the bridge because everyone else was watching the Battle of the Bay game between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A's. 

One of the perks of being on a private tour is making requests for changes or extra things onto the schedule. We spotted a great vantage point we'd passed further back on the ride here to view the bridge and Aaron happily drove us back to that point.

After checking out the Tenderloin area, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to head into Sausalito for lunch. Aaron pointed out the bridge's "barrier transfer machine" known as The Road Zipper. The Road Zipper moves the barrier between lanes along the bridge when traffic gets heavy so that it keeps cars flowing freely. 

Aaron pointed out a few popular lunch spots and turned down our offer to have lunch together. We ended up at his suggestion of a place called Venice Gourmet Boutique. Sounds like it ought to be selling clothing but was more like a deli. We placed our orders, pastrami for Dad and a turkey on sourdough for me. The place to pick up your order was around the far side of the deli case where a long line of people were waiting. Before we could join the line, a waitress for the deli asked if we planned to eat here at the tables outside. We said yes and she ushered us out to the tables before we could even pay for the food. Dad kept asking her about still having to pay but she told him that he could pay at the end. She grabbed us a couple sodas while we sat unfortunately in the path of the blinding bright sunlight. Took a super long time when we'd only ordered a couple sandwiches. Dad liked his sandwich but my sourdough bread was really tough and hard to eat. I finally disassembled it and ate the inside ingredients leaving the bread behind. 

Our waitress seemed to be running back and forth between the outside tables and the deli counter frequently until we decided it was time to pay and leave. We had gotten to the point of getting up to head back inside the deli so we could pay and leave when she came rushing back to check on us. Dad's sandwich and my carb free meal cost just over $27. We still had time to kill before having to meet Aaron back at the van so we wandered along the waterfront looking at shops.

The place on our tour where I'd be doing the most walking was our next stop - Muir Woods. As I mentioned earlier, the few parking spaces right by the entrance to Muir Woods are so limited, they now have to be reserved. Otherwise you're stuck parking on the side of the road and walking a mile or two down into the valley. We passed several cars parked along the long winding desolate looking mountain road that led to the entrance. Once at the entrance, Aaron had to go to a specific single parking spot explaining that they had this one spot reserved for this particular hour of the day which is why Muir Woods was one of our last stops. There are several paths to follow within the Woods and each of them are marked at the start by a numbered bridge. Dad asked which would be easiest to walk and Aaron said to check out Bridge #3 before sending us on our way with a time to meet back. 

We stopped at the ticket hut and Dad used his lifetime national park pass to get in for free. As it turns out, they extended the same privilege to me so this particular stop cost us $0. The paths to walk around are either covered in planks or paved asphalt. 

There were a few steps leading to the gift shop but another space on the opposite side featured a ramp for those with limited mobility. It takes a bit of walking to get to where you find Bridge #1. We'd been given a map at the ticket hut and Dad noticed on the map that Bridge #2 is physically shorter whereas Bridge #3 might have been more of a flatter even walk. I decided to try out Bridge #2 then since Bridge #3 would require another long stretch of walking to even reach its start. Dad opted to relax on the bench outside Bridge #2 and wait for me. 

Aaron had warned that while the weather was comfortable throughout our tour thus far, we'd want to take our jackets into the woods as it is so shaded that it gets cold. 

Paved path once you get past the bridge

I learned from the plaques posted along the route that the trees in this forest are deciduous because the above picture shows how little sunlight makes it down to the forest floor. I also picked up little tidbits of information about the name of the creek that ran through the woods and the types of animals found here. I reported my new found knowledge to Dad later and he was amazed that I'd picked up so much info on my walk. There must be a way that these Bridge # paths end up becoming one (i.e. Bridge #5 is the toughest because it covers the length of path all the way back to Bridge #1) because I started out walking across Bridge #2 and after following this one directional path, I came out by walking off of Bridge #1. The drawback of that is that I then had to walk again past the gift shop, the ranger lecture area, and the long path just to get back to the start of Bridge #2 where Dad was waiting on the bench for me. Dad was surprised to see me walking up from our original direction and not back along Bridge #2.

We walked back again toward the entrance stopping in the gift shop as we passed. Plenty of tree, bear, and other animal shaped trinkets if you're a collector. We made it back to Aaron and the van in plenty of time before our reserved parking spot time slot was up and he was impressed at how punctual we'd been all day. He said he routinely had to go running through the woods finding those last one or two late people when he gives tours to bigger groups. It would have been lovely to spend more time hiking the paths but I think by this time of the day the energy level was waning.

With some extra time left we asked about being able to visit Lombard Street, known as the famous crookedest street. Aaron told us that tour companies weren't allowed to get too close, especially with his normally large groups and the bigger shuttle buses. He was able to find a place to park nearby and Dad stayed in the car while I joined the masses of selfie sticks with people attached to them to take pictures from across the street. Not quite sure how all those turning their backs to Lombard Street to get a picture of themselves as well managed to get a picture showing anything other than their heads and some flowers. You have to face the street and show the curves and the moving cars to get the true representation of the curves.

By now we felt we'd gotten a great representation of all parts of the city for our last full day in San Francisco and bid goodbye to our guide Aaron after he returned us to our hotel. After we'd rested for a little while, we decided to stay in and try the recommended delivery restaurant of Napoli Pizza. They offered a small variety of pizzeria style foods from pizza to calzones to subs and pastas. We opted to split a pepperoni and sausage pizza with a side order of garlic bread with cheese. We also added a 6pk of Diet Coke cans since we didn't have anything but tap water on hand. They were willing when we called from the room phone to bring it directly to our hotel room but Dad still didn't want to eat in the room without a table. We told them we'd meet the delivery guy in the lobby and finished placing the order at 6:18PM. Off to the lobby to sit and wait and jumping the surprisingly multiple times someone walked in carrying a pizza box only to be hotel guests. Finally at least 45 minutes later, a guy walks in with a small stack of boxes. We greet him and he hands over one of the pizza boxes, a smaller box for the bread, and a generic shopping bag full of knocked around loose Diet Coke cans. We had tried to pay over the phone with our credit card but the guy taking the order said they only accepted cash. Not bad though for $29. Once we paid the delivery guy and he went off to find the room belonging to the rest of his stack, we took our boxes to one of the breakfast tables in the lobby.

I only ate one half of one bread slice just to try it as this picture makes it look more appetizing than it did when I opened up the box. Together we polished off 2/3rds of the pizza and thankfully the soda cans though shaken up were cold so we didn't need cups and ice. We used the smaller bread box to bring the remaining pizza up to our room. The last few sodas went into our room fridge. With plans to fly out to Hawaii the next morning, we both took showers and settled in for the night.