Three Days in San Francisco - Final Day

Link to Day 1
Link to Day 2

Our last day in San Francisco was Easter Sunday. We started the rainy morning off with breakfast and realized our room was on the wrong side of the hotel when we took the staircase (instead of the elevator) and saw the north views out the window. Darn it!

Our morning routine of walking to the Embarcadero was still in-place. This morning we visited the Aquarium by the Bay located near Pier 39. We were mostly interested in the otter exhibit. This is not a very large aquarium because its focus is mainly on the SF Bay area so there weren't any dolphins or whales like we have in Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. The exhibits focused on the local fish with a very long walkthrough tunnel. In the "touch zone" we petted a shark of some sort. We spent the rest of our time watching two of their five otters on display and hung out for "Otter Talk" to learn some more about them. They lighting was horrible so pictures turned out awful.

We were done at the aquarium around noon and walked back towards our hotel for lunch. Dave was very interested in having a dim sum experience. Dim sum is an Asian tapas bar of sorts where the food is brought around to tables on carts and you pick your items. In this restaurant, City View, they marked a card left on your table noting what you ordered. The place was packed with many people waiting. Luckily as a party of two we were seated right away. We've never been to a dim sum place before and found the experience very manic. As soon as we were seated a cart arrived. The lady rambled off what the items were but who the heck could tell what she was saying over the crowd noise. We grabbed something, and she marked our card with some Chinese writing in a certain column. How much was this? We spent our time eyeing trays and carts from a distance and started to get aggressive in drawing their attention our way. We had to flag down the lettuce wraps lady. It was so chaotic we didn't even think to order beers. In the end we sampled a lot of good dishes, we were full, and the bill was under $40.

We went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and our car. We headed over to The Presidio for the Walt Disney Family Museum. This museum opened a few years ago and is dedicated Walt Disney as a person vs. Walt Disney the company. The displays were well done and presented information on Walt's parents and how they met, the different places they lived, Walt's inspirations as a child, early career "failures", etc. There was a lot of reading. A lot. We were burned out by the late 1930's. Fortunately by that point the exhibits started to focus on technical achievements - which we have seen in special exhibits in Chicago. Some of the show-stopper exhibits were the Griffith Park bench where Walt came up with the idea of Disneyland, the large model of Disneyland, and the tribute room for Walt's passing.

It was now 4:00 and our flight leaves at midnight. The weather wasn't as cooperative as it was the last two days and it was still drizzly and hazy. We discussed checking out Golden Gate Park but thought it might be too yucky. We opted to see if we could make the 5pm tour of the Anchor Steam Brewery. The price was a bit stiff at $25/each but we figured another museum would cost as much. There were about 2 dozen people on the tour (and this is 5pm Easter Sunday). Our guide started us off with a sample of beer, discussed the company's history and importance in America's beer culture, then gave us a quick walking tour of the copper brew kettles, open fermentation vessels, and storage tanks. We were surprised to learn this was Anchor's only brewing facility. The tour ended with a generous sampling of several products.

We needed to make one more stop before our flight home. We drove over to Ghirardelli Square for an ice cream sundae. We had one last beer at a nearby restaurant then got into the car for the trip to the airport. Red-eye flights are not fun but this time it helped us to have three full days in a very fun city.

Three Days in San Francisco - Part One

Our usual travel schedule got a bit of an overhaul this year because of our upcoming epic trip to Alaska. That meant we had to skip our February BVI trip. With only two marathons in the winter season we were itching to get out of town for a few days. We decided that Easter Weekend would be a great time to visit San Francisco. We visited San Fran quickly in 2014 when we passed through on the way to the Big Sur Marathon and 10.4 mile race. This trip would be a bit more of an immersive experience.

We landed Thursday night, checked-in to our hotel on the border of Chinatown and the Financial District, then climbed the steep hills to the Fairmont Hotel for our reservation at The Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar.  In 1945 Hollywood set designers transformed an indoor pool into one of the original tiki bars, making this a Mecca for fans of mid-century tiki culture. We lucked out with a poolside table near the boat-shaped bandstand. The 3-person group was kicking off their second set when we arrived. To our amazement, the stage started to float out into the center of the pool. We were thankful for reservations because the bar section became crowded real quick. Our dinner was good; Pu Pu Platter type food. Dave was in heaven.

Friday: With the two-hour time difference we woke up before the alarm. We had a full day of touring on the agenda. By boat we were going to visit both Angel Island State Park and Alcatraz. The reason we were visiting both was because me missed out on buying just Alcatraz tickets so we had to buck-up for the combined tour. It was actually a decent value considering the extras included.

We decided to walk to Pier 33 - a mile from our hotel. We wanted to look at Coit Tower / Telegraph Hill on our way. This was another encounter with a really long steep hill. We were tired and sweaty after climbing to the base of the building, but we were offered some great views. We found the best way down was to take the Greenwich Steps. We were thankful we were going down. The stairs were narrow and went on forever.

The trip to Angel Island allowed us to get some different angles on Alcatraz because of the boat's route. Once on Angel Island we received an hour guided tram tour that highlighted the natural beauty and military installations dating back to the Civil War era. Angel Island is considered the "Ellis Island of the West" since it was the second largest immigrant processing center in the country and served as a detention center during WWII. The hilly island offered wonderful views of San Francisco and the Marin County coastal towns. We had a decent lunch at the cafe on the island.

As we approached Alcatraz the first thought that came to our minds was "how are we going to avoid getting crapped on by those birds?" It was nesting season and there were so many birds flying around. Luckily we survived. Upon disembarkment a friendly park ranger "ordered" everyone to listen to her orientation - which was helpful. 

We jetted up the hill to beat the crowds for the prison audio-guided tour. The program was told as a narrative from the POVs of guards and inmates. We toured cells, solitary, the dining hall, intake, and the grounds where the employees lived. Interestingly enough, Alcatraz had a fort on the island before it was a prison.

When we arrived on mainland we went over to Pier 39 (against our better judgment). Good Friday with beautiful weather meant people were out in-force. We found refuge in a sushi restaurant and had beers and rolls. We escaped "The Pier" quickly and headed to a grocery store to pick up some things. We realized it would only be another .6 miles to get to Rogue's Public House (we went there in 2014) so off we went. After climbing the hills we swore we would cab to the hotel, but it was only .6 miles away. We walked it.

Dinner was a dress-up event. Restaurant Gary Danko did not disappoint. We enjoyed pre-drinks at the bar and excellent service the whole evening. Dave spilled something on his shirt and someone on staff noticed. A man discreetly delivered Shout stain wipes. Our meals were delicious and included all the little extras like an amuse bouche, little pastries with dessert, and take-home cakes. If we are back in SF we would not hesitate to visit again.

After dinner we went back to the hotel. With the time change and aggressive touring we were wiped out. The next day was shaping up to be just as busy.

San Diego Weekend: The Beer

In our last post we covered our impromptu trip to San Diego that happened because friends ended up with extra tickets to Stone's Beerfest. Before, during, and after the fest we found ourselves in some of the local breweries - and didn't even scratch the surface. There were three breweries within a mile of our hotel that we never visited. In this post we'll cover the breweries we did visit, along with the impressive Stone Beerfest.

Pizza Port's Ocean Beach gave us a great selection of beer to choose from in a surf-town casual atmosphere. The order process was a single line walk-up counter. At the time we arrived the line was long enough to give us a chance to figure out what we wanted to try between house-made beers and guest taps. Signage was cute with well-designed name cards, but they took a while to read through. The two lists combined offered a well-rounded selection of styles to choose from. We ordered 1/2 pints of their blueberry sour and coffee porter. Both were very enjoyable. We loved their pizza - excellent NY style crust.

Coronado's production tap room was a fun stop. The large production area was off to one side and towards the back of the building - white walls mixed with stainless steel equipment. The taproom was in a corner with mid-tone wood paneling and neutral walls. Want to see a bunch of dogs? Come here. At least 5 dogs were in the building at any given time. We had three flights between the four of us with a dozen of their 15 offerings. Some were good while others were a bit experimental. We picked a few IPAs and our tongues were burning from the hops.

The visit to Ballast Point was interesting. The location we went to was in a strip mall. On one side of the location was a home brew goods store, the middle Ballast Point merchandise, and the third section the taproom. The walls were adorned with nautical art and murals taken from label artwork. At the counter you could see about 30 different tap handles. They displayed their offerings on two TV monitors: hoppy on one monitor and all-other on the second monitor. Since the only Ballast that seems to make its way towards Illinois is Sculpin we took advantage of the situation and tried the scotch ale, porter, coffee sculpin, and other malty offerings. They offered a variety of pour sizes giving us lots of options for tasting.

Our visits to Karl Strauss and Stone's Liberty Station were more focused on food than beer. We've had a bunch of Karl Strauss products at Disneyland so nothing new to us here. The selections at Stone were decent with a lot of their own beers mixed in with guest selections.

Intergalactic was a stop all about the beer. Their industrial center/corporate park location was no thrills except for a few sci-fi posters and murals. The beer fully compensated for lack of ambiance. With names like Walking Carpet you can't go wrong. All beers were excellent and the cucumber wheat was a standout. The time spent with Dave's family was an added bonus.

The focal point of the weekend was Stone's Beer Festival. Lee and Laura purchased all-access tickets that gave us two three-hour sessions and the opportunity to try up to 20 rare beers (2oz pours). Other options were to do only one of the sessions, skip the rare beers, and to have some add-on rare tasting sessions with brewers. All proceeds went to charity. Each session included unlimited two oz pours of beers. A "VIP" lanyard punch-card would get us our 20 rare beers.

The setting of the festival was California State University @ San Marcos - a commuter school with buildings terraced on a hillside that has beautiful views to the lower valley. It made us question our choices of college locations: West Lafayette, IN and Potsdam, NY. The festival was scattered throughout the school's terraces.

Happy to be here

Before we arrived we remembered friends were riding Jungle Cruise in Disney all day as part of a fundraiser. On one hand we were thinking "suckers, we're drinking beer all day" but on the other hand we admired their dedication. We decided to donate $1 to their charity Give Kids the World for each beer we tried (Results at the end of the post). It helped us stomach some nasty IPAs knowing that it was "for the children". Since we did not think catching cooties was a possibility the four of us ended up sharing tastings. More sampling meant less time on line.

Upon arrival we checked in and picked up our glasses (don't break it or your day is over), maps, programs, and rare tasting lanyards.

We headed deep into the fest so Dave could get in line to try Russian River's famous Pliney the Elder - one of the most sought after pale ales. The line was twenty-deep so Holly, Lee, Laura diverted to other tents for tastings while Dave waited (less than 5 minutes). The verdict: It's nasty! Like chewing on dandelions and pine needles at the same time. The rest of our party agreed and we dumped the remainder. There were some nice sours at the next tent that helped cleanse the pallet.

The festival had a few food trucks and bands scattered about. The campus had pointy cacti lining the walkways and one false move gave you such a poke. There was a big tent with plenty of tables and chairs plus a few photo opp locations. We enjoyed mugging for the photo booth. Since we did not think cooties were a possibility the four of us ended up sharing tastings. The fest-goers were a respectable group - folks just out having fun tasting beers. We really did not see anyone drunk and/or disorderly.

IPA face

Our friends told us in years past this was essentially an IPA event. That is still the predominant style, but we found there was a bit of diversity in the offerings this year. Fruit and sour beers were scattered about and stouts/porters were mostly found barrel-aged or imperial (some were in the 19% alcohol range). A few cider makers were present and they had some outstanding products.

Halfway through Session A we met up with Kristina and Matt (Lee and Laura's friends) and their cousin joined up during Session B. We were having too much fun sampling beer, chocolate, insanely good brownies, and just enjoying the day.

Between Session A and B there is an hour break. This is when we (and many others) hit the rare beers section. Surprisingly nothing here really wowed us. Too many over-alcohol barrel-aged beers or over-hopped belgians. We didn't get more than 7 or 8 punches on our rare cards due to the longer lines and our lack of interest in the offerings.

Having the two session ticket was perfect! We had a chance to try everything - more than once if desired. Most tents were a walk-up or just a few people in line which helped expedite tasting.

After the festival we had dinner at a pizza place walking distance from campus.

The Stone Fest was an extremely well run event. Sampling was efficient and the variety of offerings was amazing. Drinking water was always in eyesight and there were several craft sodas available for when you needed a break.

Dave took notes of everything we tried on the festival guide and transferred them to the festival guide PDF pages. Highlighted items are beers we tried. "Tried" can mean a tiny sip from a friend's glass, a few sips from your own, or you went back a few times because the beer was that good. Our tally, which was calculated over pizza, was 100 even. After a recount it appears we squeaked in 103 unique beers/ciders/wine that day.

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