San Francisco

Dining, Shopping, Golf and Baseball.. we did it all in San Francisco and Pebble Beach

We enjoyed a terrific three nights at the Four Seasons in San Francisco. It’s in a perfect location for my husband and me...in the heart of the shopping district and yet very near the baseball stadium. By the way, the Giants made it to the play-off semifinals when we were there.

The hotel exhibits the traditional high standards of a Four Seasons establishment with front desk staff making instant eye contact as you arrive. The concierge had lots of great recommendations for restaurants and was extremely helpful in getting our rental car to the hotel, and the contract signed, without us having to leave the hotel.The hotel bar was upbeat and lively with lots of action and great drinks. And breakfasts in the hotel were very tasty, especially the crab omelet.

Our first stop on our tour of San Francisco was the ferry building where we were lucky enough to spot the space shuttle on its way to its final destination in Los Angeles.

This is a little fuzzy but it was exciting to see the shuttle make its final voyage

Another highlight was the tour of Alcatraz. It was wonderful, especially the behind-the-scenes tour. Remember to buy your tickets in advance. We visited on a Friday and next available tickets were for the following Monday. Tickets are available from the National Park Services at http://www.nps.gov/alca/index.htm. 

If you stay at Alcatraz....

The so-called ‘hop-on’ bus provides a great overview of the city and a ‘lay of the land’. There are three bus options; we chose the red buses, but I expect they all provide similar services.

Our tour of Chinatown was exceptional- led by a man by the name of Rick Evans. Rick guided us through many alley ways, which we would not have ventured down on our own, to sneak a peek of illegal mahjong games and to taste hand-made fortune cookies. We learned a great deal about Chinese immigration to North America along the way. To learn more about the Chinatown walk, click on http://www.chinatownwalk.com/.




The gate to Chinatown is actually located 2 blocks before Chinatown starts - it's there
because it is more striking in this location - the first 2 blocks are antique, camera
stores and souvenir shops......

The borders of Chinatown are well-defined




Graffiti on this street plaque is meant to keep tourists away




Alley in Chinatown




Great seats at the Giants game, but they had already clinched a spot in the play-offs

Depending on the number of days you have during your visit to San Francisco, here is a possible list of things to do and see... http://www.fourseasons.com/sanfrancisco/destination/?c=t&_s_icmp=mmenu. 

We followed San Francisco with a trip to Pebble Beach, golfing at several spectacular courses, specifically, the courses of Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach and Spy Glass. My husband got an ‘eagle’ while playing the Spanish Bay course, so this part of the vacation turned out to be a huge success.





The Eagle has landed!

The courses of Pebble Beach.

Spectacular ocean view from the links.

You get great service at these courses...even shoe cleaning

During our golfing excursion at the courses of Pebble Beach, we stayed at the Inn at Spanish Bay. It's a somewhat dated facility with generally small rooms. Our room was a 'handicapped accessible' room - making it much larger than most - but strangely, there was no storage available except a small closet with no drawers. After propping our luggage on luggage racks, we called for help and eventually, a dresser was brought to our room. A room without a dresser is not an issue I've encountered previously. Our friends with whom we were travelling had the same issue and were moved to a different room. Also of note: to see the ocean from the 'ocean-view' rooms, one needs to be sitting on the window seat. I didn't try the spa at this facility because it was located in a free-standing complex. To reach it, I would've needed a car or to have taken the shuttle, and this reduced its appeal somewhat. The spa menu looked great though.






Caddy calling it

One happy golfer

My recommendation for golfing any of these courses - get a caddy – your score will improve by leaps and bounds.





Teeing off on the 18th hole with the clubhouse in the background.

Our turn to relax with a drink and watch the golfers on the 18th hole.

We dined at Stillwater Bar and Grill http://www.yelp.ca/biz/stillwater-bar-and-grill-pebble-beach-2 following drinks at The Bench http://www.pebblebeach.com/dining/the-lodge-at-pebble-beach/the-bench. Both these great restaurants offer terrific views of the 18th hole and it was fun to watch other golfers as they ended their games. Of course, the shoe was on the other foot as we finished our game and were somewhat intimidated by all those customers, sipping their drinks and watching our play. We sat on the outdoor patio of The Bench for drinks and appetizers after our game, sharing some great pizza while sitting around a fire that kept the chill off. Later we went to Stillwater Bar and Grill for wonderful seafood. FYI: there is a shuttle that can take you between the two locations, but we found driving to be much more convenient.

I absolutely loved the aquarium in Monterrey. It had the best exhibit on sea horses and jelly fish that I have seen anywhere. The camouflage that the sea horse has developed is astounding. Here’s the link to the   aquarium, which is the best destination in town with its great ‘touch tables’, kelp field exhibit, and more.... http://www.montereybayaquarium.org. In my view, it is significantly better than the aquarium in San Francisco.

 

The extraordinary seahorses.

Our last stop was Carmel, a wonderful town with some great shopping. Additionally, it has lots of tasty food/restaurant options. Clint Eastwood happened to be at his restaurant while we were there. Although the food was not memorable, it was fun seeing him. We were told that the previous night Mr. Eastwood had been at the bar with guests for several hours. http://www.missionranchcarmel.com