{"id":3162,"date":"2023-07-17T23:44:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T06:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shirscribe.com\/?p=3162"},"modified":"2023-07-17T23:44:03","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T06:44:03","slug":"story-time-being-in-san-francisco-the-last-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shirscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/17\/story-time-being-in-san-francisco-the-last-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Story Time: Being in San Francisco the Last Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Day 3, Sunday<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

9:30am \u2013 Get a chocolate, banana, almond croissant from B Patisserie and some other breakfast items<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10:30 \u2013 Head to Concord for the Summer of Soul concert featuring Fantasia Barrino<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4:00pm  — Concert lets out, head to Ensera in Oakland for Ethiopia food and cupcakin also in Oakland for dessert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to the hotel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what you see up there is the itinerary that I planned before I arrived. But with Day 1 and Day 2 not going as planned, I guess it was inevitable the same would be true for Day 3, and so it was. On the night of Day 2, I had a decision to make: do I do the hop-on hop-off tour and ride over the Golden Gate Bridge, or drive to Concord and see the Fantasia concert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turns out the decision wasn\u2019t that hard after all. I\u2019d already missed Sacramento and the Jelly Belly factory on Day 1. I\u2019d missed the Golden Gate Bridge and practically every other San Francisco tourist attraction except for Alcatraz on Day 2. I just couldn\u2019t pass up the Bridge on Day 3. So, yes, I forwent the concert (which, by the way, I saw on YouTube and wasn\u2019t that good), for the hop-on hop-off tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then just my luck \u2013 though I don\u2019t believe in luck \u2013 I got my period that day. I hate being on my period while on vacation. I try to plan around it, but you just never know \u2013 it has a mind of its own. And the thing about my period is I tend to get really horrible cramps. Thankfully they\u2019ve become less intense as I\u2019ve gotten older, but they still can be painful not to mention, but I\u2019m mentioning, annoying as hell.  The worse pain usually lasts for a day \u2013 day 1 or day 2 of my period. I wasn\u2019t sure if that pain was coming that day, but I decided that even it was not going to keep me from that tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before heading out, I wanted to use my $25 food credit for the day, so I stopped off at the caf\u00e9 in the hotel. I got a chai latte which was so good, and two cold-pressed juices totaling $23 and some change. From there I walked to Salesforce park, just to check it out because I saw it on an SF YouTube review. Plus, I use salesforce every day at work, so it was kinda neat to be in a park created by them. From there I headed to Union Square where I caught the hop-on hop-off bus and took the tour. I opted to sit on the top level of the roofless double decker bus even though it was freezing cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a combination of the cold weather and my cramps, I knew I wasn\u2019t going to be doing too much hopping on and off that bus. As a matter of fact, I now only had one stop planned \u2013 Chinatown. I just had to have some authentic Chinese food in Chinatown\u2026or so I thought, but more on that later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the last stop before we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, the pre-recorded audio tour lady warned everyone that this was our last chance to go to the lower-level before we crossed as the winds are quite heavy. But I didn\u2019t drive all the way to San Francisco to experience the Golden Gate Bridge from the lower-level. I wanted to know exactly what this wind was like. And, well, I found out alright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wind was pretty intense crossing from San Francisco to Sausalito, but it was freaking next-level crossing from Sausalito back to San Francisco \u2013 like I-could-not-breathe strong as hell. I mean that wind was just whipping across my face, through my hair like nobody\u2019s business. I literally had to cover my face and turn to the side to not feel like I was suffocating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing the bridge up close, listening to the recording explain what an engineering feat it is, the bridge started to become more impressive to me again. There\u2019s probably a lesson in that somewhere, but I don\u2019t have time to identify it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Golden Gate Bridge, we went by some other tourist spots like Lombard St., the Palace of Fine Arts, which I was really sorry I didn\u2019t hop off and see, but again it was cold and I had cramps so it wasn\u2019t happening. We went by some other places too until finally we arrived at the entrance to Chinatown. Period pain or not, I wanted some authentic Chinese food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I went to far and got lost in Chinatown, I popped into a store and asked a woman where can I find good food. She told me Jackson St. So I headed to Jackson St. where there were several choices. I ended up choosing a place that had outdoor seating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ordered orange chicken and a side of rice. It was quite disappointing. Honestly, Panda Express is better. This place just wasn\u2019t it. But I ate it of course, because I was there, and it was edible. The food wasn\u2019t crazy bad, it just wasn\u2019t that good. I cleaned my plate and they gave me the check for a whopping $30. What\u2019s more, the tip was already included. When is the tip ever included for a party of one? But whatever, I was on vacation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, I hit up a bakery for an egg tart. I like the ones they sell at the Caf\u00e9 85 bakery, so I thought I\u2019d try one in SF. Tell me why did this tart taste more like scrambled eggs than the egg tarts I\u2019m used to? Thankfully I only bought one, and I didn\u2019t even finish it. From there I headed to a boba place, where finally I got a win in Chinatown. The boba was pretty cheap for boba \u2013 I think like $5 \u2013 and was light and refreshing, not too sweet though it definitely had some sweetness in there. I think I got the passionfruit flavor, the milk tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, I headed back to the tour bus stop, and waited about 20 minutes for the bus to come back around. Once I hopped on this time, I did not hop off again until I reached the stop to go back to my hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got back to the hotel it was pretty early still, like maybe 4 or 5 pm. I remembered I had some clothes from the Gap Factory that I wanted to return. I was going to return them on my first day there, coming back from the Jelly Belly Factory, but since I didn\u2019t, it was now or never since it was the last day I could return the clothes and get my money back. So go figure, I ended up driving to Concord (or was that Walnut Creek) anyway not for the concert, but to return clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I was headed out that way, I brought my dirty clothes with me to do laundry at a local laundromat. I like to go to neighborhood laundromats when I travel just to feel like a local, and it\u2019s usually cheaper than what the hotel offers. I had one tiny pile, brought detergent and dryer sheets from the 99 cent store and did my laundry about a mile away from the Gap Factory I returned those unwanted clothes to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was only seven-something in the evening when I finished my laundry and I wasn\u2019t ready to go back to the hotel quite yet, plus I still needed to get something to eat for the night. That\u2019s when I decided to go to that restaurant called Lita that I had planned on dining at on my way back from the Jelly Belly Factory on my first day there. I found out about this place on Instagram. It\u2019s black-owned, and looked to be a hip and trendy little spot that was said to have good food and even better drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I pulled up, it was pretty packed. Once again, I had to circle for parking, before finding a metered spot about a block away. It was a few minutes before eight when I parked. I got frustrated with the meter which wouldn\u2019t add extra time even though I kept putting coins in only to after a few moments discover that parking was free after 8pm. So I put about an hour\u2019s worth of coins in there when I didn\u2019t need to. You\u2019re welcome city of Walnut Creek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was about an hour wait, I was told, for regular seating, or I could sit at the bar. Of course I chose to sit at the bar, there was one stool left on the end just for me. I think I was the only one there alone. They had loud music blasting, all the tables were full of people heavy in conversation, even the bar was lined with people in groups. The bar faced the open kitchen, so it wasn\u2019t a good place for people watching, other than watching the people in the kitchen do their thing \u2013 and watching the bartender, so that\u2019s what I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bartenders were nice. Two of them helped me. Since this was a place I had planned on coming to before I even arrived in SF, I knew exactly what I wanted to order and how much it was going to cost. The main thing I was interested in trying was their drink called the coco-naut. Now from what I saw online, I could have sworn this drink was non-alcoholic, however I should have known better when they present it to you by setting it on fire. Unfortunately enough of that alcohol didn\u2019t burn off with the flame, \u2018cause that drink was strong as fuck. I tried to swirl it around, let the ice melt into it to calm it down, but nothing doing. Try as I may \u2013especially since it cost me $17 \u2013 I couldn\u2019t finish it: This drink was just straight up liquor!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for food, I ordered the curry chicken empanadas \u2013 I know empanadas again \u2013 plantains and rice and peas. Sorry to say, the food was not that good. But then again, isn\u2019t that how it goes with expensive food. It seems to me the more expensive the food, the more trendy the restaurant the less appetizing the food tastes. Nothing beats a hole-in-the wall or somebody\u2019s momma\u2019s kitchen. I ate what I could, but was full with most of it still left on my plate. I got a doggie bag and bounced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the freeway, headed back to the hotel, I wasn\u2019t quite ready to turn in yet, so I made my way to Garden Creamery and squeezed in just before they closed at nine, then I was done for the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was my last night in that exceptionally comfy bed. My last night with that skyline out my window. My last night pretending or remembering what it feels like to live alone. The next morning I was a bit surprised that I was reluctant to go. It wasn\u2019t so much because I wanted to stay in San Francisco, but I knew I was about to give up the freedom that comes with being on vacation. The seemingly careless spending (even though I budgeted the hell out of it), the ability to come and go as I pleased, whenever I pleased \u2013 like the feeling of the lack of responsibilities other than to ensure that I have fun, that would soon be gone, and I\u2019d be back on my grind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Downstairs in the hotel lobby to checkout, I stopped by the caf\u00e9 again. This time I got the matcha latte \u2013 it was delicious just like the chai. Then I waited the longest I\u2019d ever had since I\u2019d been there for the valet to bring my car around\u2026and I was off, headed back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d thought about taking the 1, you know Pacific Coast Highway, back to take in the scenic route. But then I got scared, thinking I might get sleepy, it might take too long, scared I might go over budget. That I might have to spend more money on another hotel room before I got home. So I played it safe and took the 5 back down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a starting budget for this trip of $1500 then I increased it to $1800 when I went with the more expensive hotel. Once I got home, I added everything up and it came out to about $1350, so I ended up coming in at even less than my original budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damn, I should have taken the scenic route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The End\u2026or maybe the beginning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 3, Sunday 9:30am \u2013 Get a chocolate, banana, almond croissant from B Patisserie and some other breakfast items 10:30 \u2013 Head to Concord for the Summer of Soul concert featuring Fantasia Barrino 4:00pm  — Concert lets out, head to…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[248],"tags":[673,675,676,677,658,666,679,678,614,185,674],"class_list":{"0":"post-3162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-getting-out-the-house","7":"tag-chinatown","8":"tag-concord","9":"tag-doing-laundry","10":"tag-eating-out","11":"tag-garden-creamery","12":"tag-golden-gate-bridge","13":"tag-hotel-stay","14":"tag-lita-restaurant","15":"tag-san-francisco","16":"tag-vacation","17":"tag-walnut-creek","18":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nStory Time: Being in San Francisco the Last Day - 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