City by the Bay

It just wouldn’t be right for a blog named Hotel Snob not to take a few minutes out of chaos to write about our recent trip to San Francisco. Although I’ve been to the city a few times for business and at SFO on numerous occasions for a layover, I never had the pleasure to enjoy and get to know the city by the bay.

The trip was impromptu. With our tight budget in this ridiculous economy, taking a family vacation seemed out of the question in the summer of 2011. But after a brief airplane collision with another Delta vessel in Chicago on a business trip a few weeks prior, I was presented with a beautiful thing - A travel voucher good for a domestic flight. The email haunted me daily as I reviewed my Gmail in-box. “Go somewhere – go somewhere – you deserve a vacation,” it told me. After quickly realizing that I hadn’t taken more than 8 hours PTO all summer, I decided to ponder what a trip might look like. “I could take one boy. That wouldn’t cost too much,” I thought. Yet, when I presented the idea to Jon, he immediately demanded that entire family attend the last minute get away. So with the blessing of 85,000 Delta Skymiles and a free ticket, we decided the trip could be a reality.

Family vacations are a priority for us. It gives us forced time together. We escape the hectic world of teen and pre-teen sporting events; car-pool journeys and other pre-planned rituals that seem to distract us. Plus, Owen and Eli have inherited the travel bug and desire to see the world. Although their young minds would prefer to see every major league baseball field in American rather than the South of France, they enjoy experiencing new cultures and how the rest of the world lives.

The Village on the Bay

We arrived in San Francisco just before 10:00 am on Wednesday. It was a gorgeous warm day without a cloud in the sky. Very unusual we are told for this city. Although it cooled in the evening, we had beautiful sunny weather throughout the vacation. With GPS in hand and a full sized Dodge something or other, we were off to Tiburon, a small community on the Bay. Jon and Eli visited the beautiful city of Tiburon last summer while visiting his uncle E.C. He loved the quaint village, its shops and excellent restaurants. It was an ideal location for us to explore the north shore of the bay. Plus, there was an In N Out Burger. The one destination requested by Owen. He’s an easy kid to please. It was clear that wine country with two boys was out of the question. That brief dream fizzled as quickly as basket of fries from the burger shop.

Photos don’t do the Golden Gate Bridge justice. We admired the hundreds of tourists hiking, biking and taking snapshots as we crossed the grand structure. The boys had no interest in joining the crowds so we continued on our way to the land of redwoods, artists and wealthy residents.

Day two and headache was gone. Thank God! Jon was itching to explore so off we went.It was a short 20-minute car ride to Tiburon where we quickly checked into our hotel room at the Tiburon Lodge. (An executive suite. I sweet-talked my

way into an upgrade. I wouldn’t call it the Four Seasons, but the room was decent with a kitchen, living room and large flat screen TV.) The hotel pool was lovely and refreshing for the day to unwind. Unfortunately, the poolside marguerite had a wee bit too much tequila. It immediately gave me a nasty 18-hour migraine. It was my own fault and I was out cold the rest of the day. Luckily,the boys and Jon were exhausted from the flight so we all hit the sack at 5:00 pm.

Mountains and curves and rocks, Oh my…

It took two attempts to find Muir Beach. Numerous friends and the guidebook recommended the venue. This was the one destination on my list. The GPS didn’t quite navigate us to the correct place. We quickly found ourselves traveling upwards on winding roads with sharp turns through neighborhoods of expensive homes. Quickly, Jon realized the following:

1. We had no… juice. (Which is a problem when traveling with a Type 1 Diabetic)
2. We had no…Dramamine. (Which was essential as I’d already threatened to vomit twice.)
3. We had no…jokes. (Our jokester, Owen stopped making us laugh.)
4. We had no…patience. (Our driver was fed up with all of it.)

After a quick lunch, a trip to Safeway and some clear directions, we were back on the road to Muir Beach. This time I was mentally prepared to take on the scary journey. After white knuckling the back of the car’s head rest for what seemed an hour, a near miss by a garbage truck and a VW golf playing Nascar on the sharp mountain turns with no guard rail, we landed in one of the most glorious sites I’ve ever seen, the Muir Beach Overlook.

The view was spectacular. A woman who has been blessed to see much of America and several other countries, I thought it was one of the most breathtaking views I’d seen. It rivaled Jamaica, St Martin and even Hawaii. It was worth the near death experience and nausea. Owen looked at me and asked, “Mom, do you think we can liver here someday.” I knew then that it had touched the heart of a fifteen year old. It was all worth it.

Stay tuned for the next City by the Bay entry…