If you read Heidi’s blog, you already know a lot about our trip but here it is in recap again!

Day 1:

We left 3 hours before my flight thinking that would get us to JFK on time, but the subways were not cooperating. We got there at 6:05, I think it was, for my 6:55 flight. I checked in quickly, only to be told that it was too late to check a bag and it was too big for carry on. The gal at the counter was so rude, didn’t even look at me when she was talking to me. I asked her, “So what does that mean??” She said, “It means that you either go without a bag or go tomorrow.”

If Jacob hadn’t been there, I would have just given up and taken the Saturday flight. But, like I mentioned in the 25 Days of Jacob, he is a good problem solver and he thinks quick on his feet. He took my laptop out of it’s bag and we just stuff as much as we could from my suitcase in there. As you can imagine, it wouldn’t fit much but Jacob got quite a bit in there. Heidi hadn’t left Utah yet so I called her and she packed some extra clothes and toiletries for me. Thank heaven for that!

It’s a 7 hour flight to SF so I didn’t get in until 2 AM NY time. Heidi’s flight had gotten in an hour or so before mine so she was waiting when I arrived. Luckily I had no checked bags so we could get a cab to the hotel right away.

Now, we were under not expecting any sort of palace from the Chelsea Motor Inn on Lombard. We were getting what we were paying for, basically, but the place was neat and clean. While checking in the employee mentioned that it’d be a little noisy but should quiet down around 3:00. He didn’t make it seem like it was a big problem so we assumed he just meant traffic noise as Lombard is a very busy street. Boy were we surprised to arrive in our room and discover a night club right across the street. The music was ridiculously loud. We could actually hear the melody, not just the beat. It was practically rattling the windows. At 1:30 we called to ask about switching rooms but he said the other side of the hotel is just as noisy so we stuck it out. I was still awake at 3:30 (that’s 6:30 NY time…)

Day 2:

The following morning we went down to the desk to talk about the situation. It would be that late for at least the weekend nights and we didn’t want to be tired and cranky while on vacation! We asked about switching rooms to which they replied that the only quiet side of the hotel has single occupancy rooms and we’d have to pay $10 for a roll-away bed. No thanks! We decided to switch to the Marriott Courtyard which was only a little more expensive (or so we thought. That’s a whole other story.)

So we got a cab to our new hotel and dropped off our things. They helped us hook up with a hop on/ hop off tour that we did for the rest of Saturday. It’s such a good way to get a feel for a new city. We met a cute young couple from Germany while we waited for the bus at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Union Square

City Hall (more from here another day..)

Looks like this window is giving birth to a hooker.

Painted Ladies. More later.

Golden Gate Bridge. So gorgeous!

Transamerica Pyramid

Day 3:

Sunday morning my sickness from before the trip came back to visit again. We missed going to church, which we wanted to do since it was Easter. It was Heidi’s birthday as well so luckily I was feeling better in the afternoon so we could still go out. We visited a few museums (um…mostly gift shops, if I’m being honest. A lot of them were too expensive to justify visiting!) and did some more hop on/hop off. We ended up stuck at Fisherman’s Wharf so we had to take a street car home. That’s not the same as a trolley car, if you’re not familiar. It was an interesting experience!

Palace of Fine Arts

That night we had trouble finding any place to eat dinner since it was not only Sunday but Easter Sunday. And I was still feeling iffy as far as food goes. We’d seen a restaurant near our hotel that said it would be open on Easter. We went in and Heidi began asking to see a menu when I spotted a big furry cat on the bar! My stomach did six somersaults (hairy cat near food preparation? I think not!) and I said, “No, we’re leaving!” and we walked out.

We finally gave up on finding a restaurant and went back to the hotel and ordered room service. It was Heidi’s birthday so it seems fitting, right? Plus a side of mashed potatoes was the only thing that sounded edible to me so it worked out nicely. We ate our room service dinner and watched North and South. Pretty low key birthday for Heidi but I think she was ok with it. At least Mom and I made up for it by giving her 30 days of gifts for her birthday!

Part 2 coming soon!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 7:56 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.