We drove to Chicago, where we spent the night before our flight and where we could leave our car while we were gone. From Chicago, we flew to Dallas/Fort Worth and connected from there to San Francisco. I could have counted this as my first visit to Texas since I touched ground, but just experiencing an airport doesn't count as a "significant event".
As a part of the travel package, we had a rental car for our first day only. So when we landed, we went to get the car and drove first to our hotel, then around the city to sightsee. We went to Golden Gate park the first day, and through the neighborhoods to see the townhouses. It is interesting to view how houses are built on very steep streets, because to make level floors, one side of the house will have a foundation several feet taller than the other side. It's also extraordinary to a Midwesterner's viewpoint to see how brightly-colored the houses are.
Another small but telling difference is that we never saw a rusty car. In the Midwest, winter road salt takes its toll, but in San Francisco that isn't needed, so the cars last a lot longer and are in more pristine condition.
After visiting Golden Gate Park, we drove to Fisherman's Wharf and did some strolling. We didn't know much about the city so generally we were looking to visit the well-known tourist spots. After the first day, when we had to return the car, we did a lot of moving around via cable car. Or by bus when we wanted to go places that the cable cars didn't go there.
We did walk Lombard Street, a famous street that curves back and forth as it goes downhill. It is lovely but one can't imagine driving down it except at a crawl. It is a series of hairpin turns with flowerbeds on each side of the street and in the photo, you can see the flowerbeds better than the street itself, but the cars are telltale.
One thing that was educational to us was the variety of foods and the demographic mix of peoples. At that time, we had few Asians in our home city, but in San Francisco, there were large populations of Chinese, Japanese, and other Asians - and the markets and restaurants supporting their tastes. My partner and I enjoyed Chinese food, so we spent a great deal of time in Chinatown. It was our first experience with dim sum. And, as keepsakes, we each bought Chinese silk bathrobes. Mine was green with gold embroidery, and I have it still.
The other tourist experience I most enjoyed was the visit to Alcatraz. At that time, with Alcatraz a national park site rather than a prison island, one could buy a ticket on the ferry that brought tourists over several times a day, and a park ranger would conduct a tour. Some parts of the prison are familiar if you have ever seen a movie set in a prison, especially the main cell block, with tiers of cells and guard posts at each end, and the prison yard and mess hall. I was impressed with the solitary cells, with no windows, three-inch thick doors, nothing except a sink and toilet - no beds. The park ranger told us that an inmate in solitary might or might not even be allowed to have his clothes, depending upon the circumstances. The rooms were dank and cold, so it wouldn't be comfortable, to say the least. But we were told that Alcatraz made no attempt to rehabilitate prisoners. The purpose was simply to isolate and control.
We spent four days in San Francisco - not long enough to see everything but a good first visit. I always wish I had more time and I always plan to return to a place I liked. But it is 24 years later and I have not yet been back to California.
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