terrifying San Fransisco

Jake: "Mom. You know how bad big cities scare me."

Dixie: "Yep. That's why we are going."

No sympathy at our house apparently. 

Dixie snaps a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge as we drive along 101

We got up early to beat traffic for the drive from Loomis, California to San Francisco. Our first and only real traffic problem was at the Bay Bridge toll. We sat in this line for about 20 minutes.

The other real problem? Getting to San Francisco at 8:30 am. Nothing was open. And we mean N-O-T-H-I-N-G. So we wandered around and killed time because our prepaid ferry ride to Alacatraz wasn't until noon.

Lander and Jake at Fisherman's Wharf

Dixie and Lander made a new friend. They are on first name basis with the Material Girl. 

That Madonna is one nice lady!

Lander and Dixie pose next to a Madonna statue

And then our killing time began killing time. So we ate a little local fare. 

Is it weird to eat clam chowder at 10 am?

P.S. Clam chowder is "the best" according to Jake, just in case you were wondering

After our Alcatraz tour, we decided to walk to Chinatown. 

Holy moly....

I WISH we would have captured a few pictures of the hills. It felt like we did about 2000 vertical feet of stairs and sidewalks to get to our location. The hills were 100% INSANE! Even the sidewalks. This was a very mellow street. Notice the cars parked sideways so they don't roll down the street. 

We ate lunch at House of Nanking, a hole in the wall type restaurant in Chinatown that came highly recommended. We were not disappointed!

What did disapoint was Chinatown. Lander decided to buy some Pokemon cards that he collects while we were there.

Yep. You guessed it.

100% FRAUD!

So we had a very good object lesson in Chinatown. We also learned how different life can be in the city. Take grocery shopping for instance. Again, we should have taken pictures, because as we walked by (and smelled...pee-you!) the little markets, even Dixie didn't recognize the strange, exotic and bizarre foods being sold.

We ended the day by skipping a trolley ride. Lame, I know. Then we also skipped the 2 block detour to see the super curvy portion of Lombard street because the adults were wearing out the children. Double lame! But, we did buy $10 a piece ice creams at Giardelli Square! Children appeased. Adults happy. Life is good!

Day almost over.

And you know what? Dixie's lack of sympathy worked. Jake was relaxed and unafraid the entire time we spent in San Fran and realized that he is totally okay in a big city.

Jake - 1

Monsters Under the Bed/In the Big City - 0

Boo yah!