Thrashing out the Bay Area

Joe Montana, Alcatraz, Zodiac Killer, Golden Gate Bridge, Streets of San Fransisco, Tales of the City, plenty of cultural icons associated with this great city. For me, in the late 1980's it was the emergence of thrash metal and the skateboard counter culture from this region that really captured my imagination and was nice to reflect on that today as we went from one end of the Bay to another, Parkrun by the bridge, then 3 mile stroll from the Wharf down to the AT&T stadium to watch the Giants Play Baseball, plenty of skaters, less metallers, a few groovy 70s street performers thought. It is fair to say we hit the lights today, I know I have done Metallica already on the trip, but the others would be even more obscure.  So am sticking with what I know and a bit of a western feel too ... :)

(Carys)



Today was the day we had been waiting for. Parkrun day. For those of you who do not know, Parkrun is a free, weekly, timed 5km run that we have been doing for a few years now. We woke up early, the sort of time I haven't woke up at in ages (6am). We sleepily threw on our running clothes and packed our suitcases and bags into our car, before driving for an hour to beautiful San Fransisco. The sights of the bridge as we drove in - and over it - were absolutely fantastic.

We then ran the run, though we weren't really 'famous' there ( like we had been at previous tourist Parkruns) because most of the runners were Brits!

I really liked the run, flat and lovely scenic views of the bay and bridge, and it turns out I got a personal best time by around 1 and half minutes. I am extremely pleased. (Not far behind dad now!) After the run we had some sourdough donuts, which were quite odd tasting, but nice enough. We then searched for our hotel, fingers crossed our room was ready. We must have been lucky, as it was! The is really pretty - boat themed - with lots of blues and stripes.

We took some time showering and changing, which wasted some time, but it didn't matter too much. We then headed off on the 5km walk to the baseball game we were seeing. It was quite a long trek, but we made it, and managed to see a lot of pretty sights in the streets of SAN FRAN.

The baseball game itself wasn't very gripping (nor easy to understand) but the experience was very enjoyable - and the food. We munched on pizza, hotdogs and popcorn (not one of each for all of us). The stadium was huge, as was the crowd, and therefore the noise. It was quite overwhelming actually.

We received these rather large tote bags full of goodies labelled with The San FRansisco Giants mark. We have no clue what we are going to do with all the stuff. I think we might give the blankets to someone who needs them more, such as a homeless person (believe it or not, it actually because really cold here later in the evening. Read on for more info).

Instead of getting a taxi home,we walked the 5km back to the hotel in burning heat (yes, I am sunburnt now). This was a lot more difficult than the walk up, as it was hotter, and we had gained an assortment of bags.

Once we'd returned to our underwater hotel room - via the Krispy Kreme shop - we kicked up our tired feet and devoured the donuts. They are irresistable. After much consideration, we half-heartedly decided to go for a look around the San FRansisco pier, as this was the last we'd be seeing of San Fran for who knows how long.

I was overly excited by the pier, as it was like a christmas market, cold, lit up and pretty. There was a gorgeous double decker carousel, smelly but cute sea lions, fudge and chocolate shops and lovely views of Alkatras Prison Island. My excitment couldn't be contained by what I saw next though - a Christmas shop! I could just spend hours on end gazing in awe at the beautiful lights and decorations. I won't go on about it, but you can imagine how spectacular it was.

Tired and cold, we popped into CVs in search of a few things, and then grabbed a Chipotle Mexican to eat back in the room. Yet another day over, only a week left now!

(Lloyd)

Set our alarm for 6am and stoicly packed the car for a dawn departure from our motel.  Only there for 12 hrs or so not sure we got full value in Santa Rosa, but that's the way of it.  Hit the road for the approximately hour drive to San Fransisco, google maps providing us some reassurance we were on track for Crissy Field, although we had a pretty good idea of what we needed to do. Cross the golden gate bridge and then take the second junction off for the yacht club.

So we arrived with an hour to spare before parkrun, a groggy morning in terms of the weather, but could see the bridge through the mist, and people slowly began to arrive.  Almost an entirely British outfit, the locals seem keen not to engage but do their own running on the same course at the same time ... the kids must have been inspired running towards the Golden Gate Bridge as they smashed their PBs, leaving Chrissi and I in their wake.  Didn't stop us all celebrating with sourdough donuts afterwards.

misty start

best part of the run

is sour dough a healthy donut?

A short drive along the front and a few loops around Fishermans Wharf and we were outside the Argonaut hotel.  A valet took 'the beast' for a well earned nap for 24hrs, trust we will be seeing him again.  The hotel checked us in early which meant we could all freshen up post run and be ready for the next activity of the day.


Took a walk down to the AT&T Stadium right through Fishermans Wharf, past various Piers and it took about an hour, through all the hustle and bustle, street entertainers, and the excited throng.

STID

a slower 5K

We had tickets on the bleachers, benches to you and I. As expected we witnessed something between sport and light entertainment. The bits in between the pitching and batting as much part of the experience, singing, chanting, crowd camera etc  And so many different choices of food and drinks, plus we seemed to have randomly been seated in an area where we all received a goodie bag with loads of San Fransisco Giant freebies.  Sort of got the gist of the rules by the end and there was a sort of tense finish before our newly adopted team secured victory. Nice to have a bit of good sporting news, as had been told of the Swans result earlier in the day queuing for the donuts post parkrun, by a Leeds fan.

hot dog, hot dog, hot diggedy dog

just throw it

harry potter on tour

everything branded

Feet beginning to ache but we walked the 5k back to the Argonaut hotel, rewarding ourselves with some Krispy Kreme Donuts for our troubles.  Hot dogs, donuts, beer, baseball, an all american afternoon complete!  As night fell we took a stroll back down to Fishermans Wharf to see the lights and the seals, before grabbing a Mexican take out as were well and truly la cucarachad (or words to that effect)|

misty end to day, boiling in the middle

night falls