Bay Area Observations

Here are some interesting observations that I discovered during our trip:

1. 1. I love how environmentally conscious everybody was. There was never just a trash can, there was always a trash can, a compostable can and a recycling can. Plus everything your food was held in was made of compostable materials. It was just fabulous to see. The amount of Hybrid's was ridiculous. Everybody has one and all the taxi's are hybrids. I think part of it is that San Francisco is populated by those who want to make a difference in the environment, but you get all kinds of crazy tax incentives for driving a hybrid and you are allowed to drive in the car pool lane during rush hour which could be a huge bonus. Regardless, it was wonderful to see!
2. I also noticed how you paid the same price for organic, hormone/chemical free products as you did for regular products. In most restaurants, organic, hormone free was your only option. In Trader Joe's, the organic milk was same price as non organic milk. Here in Calgary, you have pay $6 for a litre of organic milk which is like 3x the amount of regular milk. We went to a farmer's market where we got dairy free, gluten free, organic free-range chicken corn dogs and it wasn't even abnormally expensive. Why can't I have this here?
3. Several restaurants in Fisherman's Wharf claim to be the inventor of both sourdough bread and clam chowder in a bread bowl idea. It seems weird to me that they all claim this but I kinda relate it to "The Best Cheesecake in NY" because every place you eat there has this claim and it was clearly not the case. I think Boudin takes the cake for sourdough invention - they have the coolest bread factory I have ever seen but not too sure about the clam chowder. Greg did have clam chowder in a bread bowl at one place and it was really good he said. Crazily enough, it wasn't one of the restaurants making the claim.
4. I don't really understand the attraction of Fisherman's Wharf. It was kinda cool but other then food and souveniers there isn't much there but a crap load of tourists. I would think if you lived in the Bay Area, you wouldn't spend too much time there. We did a complete walk through of it once on Saturday afternoon before ending the evening at Fog Harbor Seafood, which was delicious, and the Aquarium of the Bay. We had lunch there another day and walked through it to get to other places we were going. I would recommend not going on a weekend as the weekdays are so much less busy. We went to the Submarine down at Pier 43 or 45 and it was early in the morning and it was so peaceful and all you could smell was sourdough and clam chowder being freshly made.
5. Alcatraz was by far one of the coolest tourist attractions I have ever been to. I loved it all! Finley and I sat on the bottom of the boat because I get crazy seasick if I am on top and Greg went up and took some really good photos. I would definitely recommend going to Alcatraz and am looking forward to visiting there again when my kids are much older so they can appreciate it.
6. Finley hated highchairs while on vacation. This meant getting a quick lunch in while she was napping in her stroller and experiencing some major meltdowns at supper time. Eventually we figured out that as long as she could sit in a booth on her own, she would eat and be happy. I was concerned that this behavior would follow her home, but I put her in her highchair last night for a quick snack before bed and she was fine.....knock on wood.
7. Everybody seemed to own a Louis Vuitton bag. No matter where you went, there was a tonne of LV. I thought it was maybe just tourists but judging from the Airport, I think they are locals. You still had your standard COACH, Kate Spade, Marc Jacobs and whatnot but it was predominantely LV. I had just purchased 3 brand new designer bags myself and I still felt inferior to those around me....
8. 12 degrees in San Francisco is a lot warmer then 12 degrees in Calgary. We averaged about 14 degrees the entire time in San Fran and about 25 degrees in our 2 days in Vacaville/Napa & Sacramento. The wind is quite chilly there and always blows in the same direction - at least that is how it was the whole time we were there.
9. Cable cars and the F Train are cool for a short distance but overall they are brutal. It is something touristy that you need to do when in San Fran but it is not a very effective means of transportation. The BART, MUNI train and regular bus service is SO much better. My only complaint with any form of San Fran transit is that the elevator that you take to get to the street/concourse level from the actual station reeks of urine. And the worst part was that it didn't even matter which area or form of transit you were using. A local told us that this was quite common for the homeless to urinate in the elevators. This surprises me since the weather is so much nicer in the bay area that you would think they would just do it outside. Even Calgary elevators don't stink like that. I understand that money is tight in California but cutting the maintenance of your transit system that is used by both locals and tourists should be a big no-no. I felt dirty and disgusting every time I had to wait underground to get somewhere.
10. Westfield Center is probably the most amazing mall I have ever been in - EVER! Seriously it was amazing - both with the food court, the stores but the design was remarkable. It had spiral escalators through the middle of the mall. It was 8 floors of heaven with such stores as Bloomingdales, Nordstroms, Macys, Victoria Secret, Kate Spade, Frederick's of Hollywood, Kenneth Cole, Kiehl's, Michael Kors, Movado....I could go on and on but seriously it was just amazing. I thought I had died and gone to heaven!
11. Access to Outlet malls!! Within an hour from San Francisco, you have access to Gucci outlets, Saks Outlets, Barneys Outlets, Coach outlets, Michael Kors outlets, Converse outlets, Burberry outlets, Gymboree outlets, Carter's outlets....I so wish I lived that close to an outlet mall....although I am pretty sure that both Greg and my bank account are happy that I don't! I did manage to get a fabulous Gucci bag from the Saks outlet which truly made my day - not to mention that I also purchased another black coach bag (Yes Greg I have 3 black Coach bags but the are all necessary due to the pattern, size and style), a gorgeous maroonish color Michael Kors bag and another black coach baby bag - this one with a shoulder strap. In order to get the baby bag, I had to promise Greg I would "try" to sell our existing black coach baby bag - any takers? haha. Finley & QuiniferBrae* also got some fabulous new clothes too!

I am sure that there are more but at the moment, that is all that I can remember. If I think of any, I will be sure to post them! All in all, we had a great time and can't wait to go back when Finley is older and can appreciate what she has seen!

Will start posting some photo blogs tomorrow hopefully. I have some on my picasa site and hope to have them on facebook soon too. Now, I must go rest up and try to get rid of this stupid cold and hopefully watch Lee win American Idol. Hopefully I won't be disappointed like I was with Dancing With The Stars!