I welcomed the Mizzoni's to the great state of California this past week and it was a typical family fun time. I haven't seen my Aunt, Uncle, or cousins since Christmas so it was a great opportunity to catch up and show them around my new state. They flew into San Francisco on Thursday night and I was planning to meet up with them Friday morning.
My cousin Mike called me Friday A.M. before I left Monterey and I had hoped to give them some ideas while they awaited my arrival in San Fran. Mike had said they wanted to see Lombard St. Ok...but that'll only take you 10 minutes. I had suggested going to Coit Tower to see the entire city since they were close by, even heading over to Chinatown or North Beach and walk around. As I got closer to the city I called to check in and instead of taking my advice, and in typical Mizzoni fashion they had decided it best to let everyone drive down Lombard St! In the hour plus time I had been driving they had literally ONLY driven down Lombard St. (6 times) and walked down it once. I couldn't believe it! I said to Mike, "You're in one of the greatest cities in the country, go do something! Use your smart phone, look at a map, go somewhere!"
Instead they decided to just drive around, eventually park the car at the hotel, and then walk along the water towards Ghiradelli. I got in around 11:30, parked in the Ghirardelli Square garage, walked out and they were right there (kinda weird). We caught up as we walked along the water, down a wharf, and then decided it was time for lunch. We ended up just eating at a local Irish bar because it was outside the craziness of the Pier and wasn't busy at all. After lunch we worked our way down to Pier 39, got a look at the impressive sea lions and then went down to Alcatraz.
Our Alcatraz tour wasn't until 3:55, we had to meet at 3:20 and we had gotten down to the landing at 2:30. Instead of waiting around forever we decided to head down Sansome St., eventually making it over to the stairs to Coit Tower. By the time we had actually decided to do this it was 2:50 so we had to rush up the stairs (quite the workout btw) and after we got to the top we had to turn right around and go back.
We made the Alcatraz tour and it was just as cool the second time, albeit much colder and windier. I love the stories and the history of the island. They enjoyed it as well and we even got to see some baby Western gulls! After Alcatraz we shot over to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and then went to the hotel. The cousins all stayed up for a bit to play some cards and then A.J. (my cousin's BF) and I decided it was time to go out. Unfortunately nobody else wanted to see at least some of the night life in this great city but we were all for it.
We headed down Columbus and hit up a few places before eventually calling it a night. It was a great first day with the fam, lacking any sort of preparation or planning, but instead was filled with crazy adventures and spontaneity!!
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