My best friend Beth was in San Francisco yesterday for a meeting, so I zipped down to meet her for a quick visit. As her meeting was in the Embarcadero area and Beth is somewhat direction-challenged, we opted to meet at the closest, most obvious place, Pier 39.
Pier 39 is one of those touristy places that's fun to visit in a limited sort of way. I've not been there for years, and it seemed like since the last time, there are fewer nice shops, more touristy souvenir junk shops, and more restaurants. Oh well. We had a good time wandering around, looking at the tacky stuff, and chatting incessantly. The incessant talk is the whole point of getting together, so, really, it doesn't matter where we are.
We paused for bloody mary's and popcorn shrimp at Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co., a touristy experience if there every was one. It's actually pretty fun, if you don't mind the overdose of Forrest Gump stuff all around. We sat in the bar with Forrest Gump playing on a big flat screen in the background. And at the table next to us was a fellow clearly aiming for the Forrest Gump lookalike award -- baseball hat pulled tight on his head, protruding ears, and all. The waitress swore he was a local guy who hung out there for the attention because he looks like Forrest Gump. Okay.....
And since we were right there, we opted for wandering around Fishermans Wharf. This consists of more touristy junk souvenir shops, restaurants, and sidewalk stands with guys waving crabs at you.
We didn't succumb. (Eating shrimp cocktail on the sidewalk is one of those quintessential Fishermans Wharf experiences, but we've been there and done that.) We opted for one of the finer Fishermans Wharf experiences, dinner at Alioto's.
We sat and sipped wine and ate sourdough bread and enjoyed a lovely view of the water and talked more. I had a shrimp and scallop risotto that was simply delicious.
And there was more talk. There is nothing more pleasant than an evening with a wonderful old friend. We talk about old stuff and new stuff and old stuff again.
Even the 90 minute drive home was lovely, listening to Car Talk on my ipod.
We have a 3 day weekend ahead, and C has a sleep-over at a friend's house on Sunday night. So Roger and I are planning a date night. Ooh, what shall we do?!
Lovely SF pictures! What a nice way to spend a day. I used to go to SF on business at least once a year, but haven't been there in a long, long time. You have made me want to plan a trip immediately. It's been too long.
ReplyDeleteAsk Roger. He wrote the book.
ReplyDeleteWonderful day. And you made the right choice with Alioto's! My hubby's family lived across the street from a good portion of the Alioto family and remain good friends. Wonderful memories at that restaurant.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely day :) You are bringing back memories of my visit to SF in 1988...yes, that long ago...we visited Pier 39 (doesn't every tourist?) and loved it then!
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