NW Trip '12 - Day 13

6/14/12 - Day 13: Happy birthday to me!! After a rough drive the night before, a day in the city with my beautiful wife was the best birthday gift I could ask for. We grabbed Starbucks for breakfast in Fort Bragg and hit the road (if only I had a dollar for every time we sang "on the road agaainn...")! Since we drove a little further the evening before, the short drive to San Fran was a welcome change. We only had to stop for one bathroom break (and ironically, it was for me!). Since we were coming from the north, we got to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge on our way into the city, but we stopped on the north side at a scenic overlook to take a few pictures (see above). It was a little hazy, so seeing downtown as more than a shadow was difficult, but it was still a great sight to see. 

We drove in and found our way downtown to our hotel, the Intercontinental, where we were able to check in early. We splurged a little for our hotel decision despite booking on Hotwire, and it was a little fancy for my taste. But it was definitely nice to stay in a less-rustic place than we had been the past week and a half! Not only that, but my parents had shipped a yummy birthday treat of homemade cheese biscuits which were waiting in our room upon arrival! Our first stop was lunch...Chipotle to be exact! We walked to a 5-story mall and ate a much needed lunch. "Since we were already therrrrree" (can't you hear Cari saying that?) we walked around and shopped for a little bit. Next, we decided to head to Alamo Square Park, the site of the intro of Full House. 

We started walking towards the park and began to get into a very shady part of downtown. I think Cari even saw a drug deal go down. Needless to say, we hailed a cab the first chance we got and made it there much quicker than we would have walking. The park was beautiful and gave some great views of the city, so we just hung out, took lots of pictures, and enjoyed some great people-watching. After an hour or so, we hopped in another cab and went to Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, where Cari had planned a birthday dinner. We had a little time before dinner, so we went to Hard Rock Cafe for drinks (for me) and a big plate of nachos! We also had a nice pre-dinner walk around the pier and a great happy birthday conversation with my parents.

For dinner, we went to the Crabhouse, where Cari had reserved a great table by the window where we could watch the sun go down. She had a shrimp cocktail and I enjoyed the fish and chips. The food was great, but we were still a little full from our nachos, so we didn't nearly eat all of it. After dinner, we walked to the end of the pier and watched the sunset between the Golden Gate Bridge (to the left) and Alcatraz (to the right). We took a few pictures of the sunset and the sea lions close by, ate some Chinese donuts (yum!), and grabbed a cab back to the hotel where we called it a night!