The trip home was mostly uneventful.  We had until noon to fly out of San Francisco, and were all awake early, so we had plenty of time to pack our belongings, and left for the airport to give us plenty of time.  A quick walk to the BART station, and a 40 minute ride, and we were at the airport.  I had a Vietnamese sandwich and the girls had a pepperoni pizza for lunch, and Laura snacked on guacamole.  We got three seats together in row 8, and 2 together in row 11.  I sat with the youngest, who was tired and cranky, and made it quite clear to us and all the other passengers that she wanted to sit with mom.  Luckily, the flight attendant let us switch just prior to takeoff.  Three and a half hours later, we landed in Indianapolis, where the temperature hovered around -10 Fahrenheit.  I took the shuttle over to the employee lot, and was lucky in that I didn’t have to scrape my car, though a few inches of snow had fallen while we were gone.  Within a few minutes, we had the girls in the car rolling toward the house, though all were uncomfortable from the bitter cold.

Overall, a very good trip, and we learned a few things along:

1. With all that goes on in a city, escapes from the hustle in the form of trips back to the room and playground time are much needed for them along with some sightseeing sprinkled in.
2. People in San Francisco love kids, as we had so many people waving and smiling at them and talking about them to us.
3. City trips seem less intimidating now that we’ve gotten one with all three girls under our belts.  They mostly did well with walking and with taking buses, and did great at staying right by our sides.  It will only get easier the older they get.
4. It’s really nice not having to unload, carry, check, buckle in, etc, three car seats.
5. Last but not least, San Francisco remains our favorite city in the United States, and we are happy that it’s one flight away, and one that is very often open enough for us to get on!

We got a bit of a late start, and initially planned on taking the cable car to Fisherman’s Wharf, and then catching a bus to the Golden Gate Bridge.  However, the line forming for the cable car was already lengthy, and the girls were begging for pancakes.  Not wanting to waste a lot of time and money on breakfast, we found a Burger King on Powell Street and got pancakes for the girls.  After that, we walked a few blocks down Market to catch a bus to the bridge.  After just missing one, we waited 20 minutes for the next, only to learn that it was a $4/person charge to ride.  I then determined via Google Maps that we could take the 5 bus and transfer to the 28 to get to the bridge.  Unfortunately, this entire process, from the time we left the hotel to the time we got to the bridge, took almost two hours.  Luckily the girls were pretty patient.  During the bus rides, Laura told the story of how 11 years ago waiting for the same bus, she wrapped her arms around me and put her hands in my vest pocket, almost discovering the engagement ring I was hiding there.  After I pushed her away, she thought I was mad at her, and figured out the reason a few minutes later when I got down on one knee and proposed to her in a park at the base of the Golden Gate.

We only spent a short time at the bridge, as the girls weren’t too interested in it.  We walked a short ways across, but it was a bit much for the oldest, so we turned back.  We stopped for a few pictures, and got back on the bus after a short time.  The girls had been begging for hot dogs all day, so I found a place on the way back where they could get their fill.  Luckily, it was a few blocks from an Ike’s location.  Ike’s Place is a restaurant Laura and I first saw on Diner’s, Drive-ins, and Dives years ago, and which we visited on our first trip to the city.  They make a large variety of sandwiches with some pretty unique ingredients.  I made a run to Ike’s while the girls were eating their lunch, and then took a bus back to the hotel, where we enjoyed our sandwiches.  I had a sandwich (Alamo Elementary) that had fried chicken, mushrooms, BBQ sauce, and mozzarella sticks, which paired nicely with the bottle of an IPA that I pick up every time I’m in the area.

After spending some time in the room, with the goal of the girls getting a nap (which never happened), we gave up on that and headed back out to try to catch the sunset over the Pacific.  We hopped on the 5 bus again that took us all the way to Outer Richmond and to Sunset Beach.  The oldest sat by me on the bus, where I caught her yawning.  She told me she wasn’t tired and was just stretching her mouth, and was asleep in my arms within 2 minutes.  The other two also slept most of the 45 minute ride.

We reached the beach, which is very wide from the street to the water, and walked over to the water and watched the sunset.  It was the youngest girls first time seeing the Pacific, though at two and a half, it didn’t mean much to her.  I was jealous of those bundled up by fire pits enjoying the sounds and sites of the ocean.  It was fairly windy and somewhat chilly, so we didn’t stay too long before heading back up toward the street and looking for the next thing to do.

We couldn’t think of much else to do for the evening as it was getting dark and the girls didn’t get much in the way of rest, so we decided letting them play at a playground for a while would be good.  With the magic of Google Maps, I found a playground a few blocks inland called Cabrillo Park.  It had plenty for the girls to play on, and kept them busy until it was mostly dark.

As we had a large lunch, and no one was too hungry, so we decided to head back to the hotel, after which I went to a nearby Whole Foods to pick up some chips and guacamole, sausage, cheese, crackers, and other assorted snacks to serve as our dinner.  By the time I got back, it was just over an hour from the ball dropping in New York to signify the beginning of 2018, and the girls were pretty close to falling asleep already.  We snacked on the food and I had a nice stout I’d been gifted by my friend Nicholas.  The local TV stations were showing the NYE festivities delayed by three hours because of the time change, so at the last minute, I found the countdown on my phone.  We counted down the last thirty seconds, and fairly quickly afterward, were all asleep.

Because of the three-hour time difference, everyone was up and going well before sunrise.  Laura needed a shower, so I decided to take the girls on a short walk to kill some time while she did so.  We headed a few blocks over to Union Square, which was pretty dead, as it was early on a Saturday morning.  A few weeks earlier, I showed them the huge Christmas tree and the skating rink there as I walked back to my hotel from my training class via FaceTime, and at the time, they loved it.  It was very cool for me to be able to show them all of this in person.

After everyone was ready to head out of the day, we all left the hotel and took the F streetcar down Market Street to the Ferry Building, where we checked out the Saturday Farmers Market.  The younger two were hungry and cranky, so we didn’t get to see as much of it as I would have liked.  We went inside the Ferry Building to find something quick that they could eat.  The first thing they found that they wanted was a container of six gluten-free chocolate sprinkle doughnuts.  The box cost about the same price as a decent lunch with a drink at a decent restaurant.  Yikes, California.  I got myself two each of two types of oysters and two clams for breakfast to hold me over until lunch, so I guess I can’t really talk.

After our breakfast, we hopped back on the F streetcar and headed to Pier 39.  It’s a busy, congested tourist destination that I love and hate at the same time, but if nothing else, I wanted the kids to see it.  There is a huge Christmas tree here also, and the views of the Bay Bridge and Alcatraz are nice.  The highlight was showing the girls the sea lions that hang out on wood docks in the bay adjacent to the pier.  The oldest was particularly fascinated by them.  We spent a few minutes at the small sea-lion museum.  There was an area where kids could write on a sticky-note heart what they like about the sea lions, and the oldest took part by adding “they are silly.”  Stole my heart.

After this, we headed to Fog Harbor Fish House, one of the few restaurants on the pier amongst dozens of crappy tourist traps that is actually pretty good.  I stopped in on my trip a few weeks back, and wanted to go again for an obligatory sourdough bread bowl filled with clam chowder.  We learned the first day that the girls can only handle so much before needing to go back to the calm and quiet of the room, so we headed back for a nap.

After our nap, we took a bus a few blocks north to the Stockton Street portion of Chinatown, one of my favorite areas of the city.  The middle girl lost her gloves, and I knew that Chinatown was the place to score a cheap replacement pair.  A quick search through a shop that sold tons of odds and ends led us to a pink pair that cost only one dollar.  Score!  We stopped by AA Bakery, where we got a pastry filled with hot dogs and a coconut custard bun for the girls to munch on.  Laura and I were still full from lunch.  The girls picked over their food before we headed out to check out the more touristy side of Chinatown on Grant Ave.  We walked past a band playing Chinese instruments, plenty of Chinese restaurants, and lots of shops full of cheap junk.  After stopping for a couple of pictures at the Chinatown Gate, we walked back toward the hotel.

We had to make a surprise stop at the Ghirardelli location on Market Street, as the oldest had been begging for ice cream.  After a huge brownie sundae that cost the same as the box of gluten-free doughnuts earlier in the day, we headed back to the hotel, where the girls were ready to sleep after an evening of walking.

I’d made plans to meet up with my buddy Nick, who lives in town, so I headed over to Cellarmaker Brewing to hang out with him.  I was able to meet his girlfriend and a couple of his other friends.  He and his girlfriend had to get up early to fly to Portland to visit friends for the New Year, but I made friends with his friends and hitched a ride to Liquid Gold, a beer bar where I visited during my last trip, where Nick bar tends once in a while.  Lo and behold, Nick’s friend Brandon, who we’d hung out with on my last trip, was there bar tending, so I got to hang out with him a bit while I had a beer.  A stop at an Indian joint for some carry out on the way home and I was back at the hotel and asleep quickly.

As always, we had a couple other trips planned out that fell through at the last minute, and the only place I could find that had open seats to somewhere that wasn’t experiencing tundra-like weather was San Francisco!  I’d been in town two weeks prior for a training class, and while I enjoyed my time there, didn’t get to do much for fun as I was in class all day, so I was more than game for a family trip.

What made us apprehensive about our destination is that it would be the first trip we’ve taken without the girls where we didn’t have a rental car.  Most of our trips are to scenic destinations where we spend lots of time in the car, and the girls get naps that way.  This would be the first where we would need to rely on public transportation, and would walk through a large city with lots of traffic, people, and new experiences for the girls.  Overall, they did a really good job and were good sports.

We flew out early on the morning of Friday, December 29, 2017, on a direct flight on United.  We got three seats near the back, where I sat with the older two girls, and two toward the front, where Laura sat with the youngest.  The flight was fairly uneventful, and we got in almost 30 minutes early, getting too the gate around 9am local time, where it was noon at home.   This was also the first trip where we didn’t check car seats or bags, which was really nice, so we were easily able head straight from the gate, over to the train that took us to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station.  We easily purchased tickets for myself, Laura, and the oldest (younger two girls were free), hopped on the train, and made our way to Powell Street station in downtown San Francisco, a block away from our hotel, the Marriott Marquis.  I stayed a few blocks away my last trip, but the training I took occurred at a conference center within the Marriott, so I was somewhat familiar with it and the area.  The girls got their first dose of the sights, smells, and sounds of a big city (unfortunately many of those related to homeless people) at the subway station and on the elevators.

We were at the hotel just after 10am, but they were able to check us in early and get us to our room.  It was on the sixth floor, so no view to speak of unfortunately.  But it had two double beds and a roll-away, which the oldest loved and slept on during our stay.  We ventured across the street to Westlake Mall, which has a very diverse food court.  The girls split a pepperoni pizza, Laura got a sandwich, and I got a Korean short rib sandwich on rice patty buns, along with waffle fries topped kimchi, bulgogi, and spicy sauce.  With everyone in the family having had a flu or cold recently that we were getting over, along with an early morning and long flight, we were all a bit tired and some cranky, so we decided to lie down a bit back at the hotel.

After a nap, we got up with just a couple hours of daylight left, and made a quick decision to go check out the sunset from Alamo Square, including the Painted Ladies – beautiful Victorian houses, with the hilly skyline as a backdrop.  The younger two girls are still a bit young to appreciate a lot of things, but the oldest was as impressed with the beauty of the city, as we are.  I could tell quickly that she was enjoying it so far.  Along with the view, she especially liked seeing all the dogs out and about with their owners.  We got a few obligatory pictures, and headed over to the playground within the park that the girls spotted on the way up the hill.  We spend quite a while there, watching the sun set over the city the whole time.

The playground wore them out pretty quickly, as they all fell asleep on the bus ride we took over toward Fisherman’s Wharf.  The goal was to grab some food and take a cable car back to the hotel, but finding a restaurant we could all agree on proved difficult.  We settled at Jack’s Cannery, a spot that Laura and I ate at on our first trip to the city 11 years prior.  It’s fairly touristy and has a basic menu of bar food, but it had burgers, which is what the girls wanted.  There was a guy playing solo, mostly Beatles tunes, so that was fun.  We tried to go to Ghirardelli for a sundae, but the line was out the door so we decided to pass.

We headed to the cable car starting point to find a 45 minute line, so started walking north toward a bus line.  A cable car came along as we were about to get on the bus, so we hopped on.  Pro tip:  avoid the line at the turnarounds, walk a couple blocks away, and hop on there.  The operators save room for people, and you don’t have to wait in line.  Laura called it cheating, but I call it knowing how to use the system to your advantage.  Unfortunately we were inside the cable car and it was dark, so the girls couldn’t really see much or get the best experience on their first cable car ride.  Once back at the hotel, the girls were ready for bed, so I grabbed a couple local beers from a nearby store to enjoy and watched TV a bit before we all fell asleep.  Good first day!