San Francisco and the U.S. Open

Brent and I took off for a long weekend in California last weekend to see San Francisco, go to the second day of the U.S. Open golf tournament, and experience wine country.  We flew in late Wednesday night and stayed at the airport, which is also next to a BART station (San Francisco's public transportation).  We decided to figure it out without a rental car for the first three days, which means we walked a ton.  Which also means we could eat more calories...key for vacation.

At Champps in the Indy airport.  In honor of the tournament, I had to order the John Daly drink special.  It's an Arnold Palmer (iced tea and lemonade) with the addition of vodka and triple sec.  So wrong, but so tasty.

Celebrity sighting in the Milwaukee airport #1 - Bill Cartwright of the World Championship Chicago Bulls.  Circa...1991.  Guess which one of us recognized him. 

Celebrity sighting #2 - a Manny Del Gado look-alike.

Thursday morning - we made it downtown, coffee is in hand, I'm rockin my new monogrammed birthday bag from Ashley, and we're ready for a full day of sightseeing.  The Bay Bridge to Oakland is behind me.

Chinatown!

Lombard Street - the curviest stretch of road in the world.  I've now driven down it and walked it, and walking is much, much better.

Clam Chowder in San Francisco sourdough for lunch.  Yuuuummm.

Story: We ate lunch at Fisherman's Wharf and decided that we really wanted to walk on the Golden Gate bridge.  Here's where not having a car became an obstacle.  Bike rental was out because I had my huge bag and thought that balancing it on the handlebars for 5 miles there and 5 miles back could get annoying.  So...we walked.  And walked.  Then we failed to take a turn and ended up UNDER the bridge and had to turn around.  We made it finally...and took a bus back.

A few of the remaining sea lions in the Wharf.  We hear that most of them have headed north to Oregon.

After the Golden Gate we went back to the Wharf for dinner and to board our boat to Alcatraz.  We were taking the last tour of the night, which I thought would be really creepy because it got dark when we were still on the island.  The audio tour was great and it was really an interesting place to go. 

Three rows of cells...and a few of the eleventy billion people who were also on the tour.

 

Mom, Dad, and Grandma flew out for the tournament and we hooked up with them on Thursday evening.  Here we are in Ghirardelli Square for a smidge of chocolate.

And now to the Main Event and checking something else off the Life List!

9. Attend the Masters and US Open golf tournaments

We drove down to the Monterey Peninsula VERY early Friday morning.  Here are some old Army barracks in Fort Ord.  I only point these out because Dad was stationed at Fort Ord in the early 1970s.  He didn't have to stay in these because E-4s and higher could live in nicer digs, but close enough.

Coffee explosion on my shorts at 5:30 a.m....making these shorts even more ridiculous than before considering that it barely peaked 55 degrees all day.  I just really thought it would warm up!  I got desperate enough to buy an official U.S. Open sweatshirt blanket after lunch.

In the parking lot before boarding the shuttle buses to Pebble Beach.  This was the last time we could have cell phones and cameras, so unfortunately I don't have any other pictures.  Pebble Beach is ridiculously beautiful.  I loved it!  Phil had a great day of golf, which we feel somewhat personally responsible for.  We should have stayed all weekend for him I guess!  Mom and I gave Tiger the stink eye when he was walking to his drive on 16...I'm pretty sure that's why he didn't win.