San Francisco – Glad to be Gray?

Well, what a shocker. After mumbling and grumbling for all that time about the heat, when we hit SF we were in for a shock… a damp, cold shock. Much to Jen’s horror, San Francisco (at least for the 3 days we’re here) is colder than Preston! That officially makes it ineligible as a holiday destination. She is not amused (especially so because she didn’t pack any warm clothes).

Weirdly, on the first day here, after leaving the gray, cold RV site and getting on the bus and then the BART (their tube), we emerged into a warm, sunny central San Francisco! It’s the same kind of localised fog that we found in Point Reyes. It can hang over one area like a damp blanket, while another nearby location is sunny and fine. We made the most of the sunshine by letting the girls muck about in a playground in Yerba Buena, then blew it by splitting up so Jen could get some shopping in while the girls and I went to see Toy Story 3. If we’d have known the weather was going to get worse, we probably would’ve saved that ’til another day.

On the second day we did some shopping in cool Hayes Avenue, a street that apparently used to be under a fly-over until the 1989 earthquake. It’s all the better for being out of it’s shadow. Then we hit Japan Town, which seemed a bit odd (going to Japan Town while in America?!) but we all found something to enjoy; me: some cool toy shops, the girls: the Sanrio Hello Kitty shop and Jen: a new designer bits-and-bobs shop. We finished up with some good Japanese food and headed back to the chilly RV (where luckily the heater works better than the air conditioning).

Today we ventured on the cable cars up the famously hilly SF streets to Fisherman’s Wharf. To be honest it was a massive disappointment, simply because it wasn’t much more than a gigantic tourist trap. I’ve not seen so many silver-faced-pretending-to-be-robot beggars in one place for a long time, and living in London that’s saying something. Still, we got to see the (stinky!) sea-lions on Pier 39, and had some good seafood in the Blue Mermaid. We didn’t quite make it to Industrial Light and Magic offices in the Presidio district, but made our way wearily home instead.

Being back in an urban environment has really taken it out of us. Looking forward to seeing some hopefully sunny beaches over the next few days. Can’t say any of us are particularly enamoured with the place, but that’s probably more to do with the weather and our lack of options when it comes to exploring ’cause of the kids.

Edited: August 6th, 2010