If You're Going to San Francisco

Ripped from the lyrics of the Mamas & the Papas, "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)", I was indeed heading to San Francisco....but certainly without flowers in my hair. Arriving at the San Jose International Airport, around noon (local time), I had no idea what to do next. The brilliant thing about traveling alone, and without an itinerary!

First things first, I needed to find Enterprise Rent-A-Car, where I booked a rental for the duration of my trip. Passing by the San Jose Sharks Sports Bar in the airport, it looked enticing, but I decided to walk on by in search of the non-existent rental car agency at the airport. I walked outside, and their were shuttle buses pulling up every two minutes.

I had followed signs that said "Ground Transportation", so certainly this should be where I am going. I had no idea, so I just randomly stepped on a shuttle bus. Fortunately, this was the right bus, taking airport passengers to the off-site rental car agencies. I sat in the back of the bus with a family, husband, wife, and daughter.

The rental car agency had several different rental vendors, about six or seven that I can remember. Enterprise was the most popular, with the line weaving in and around. Hertz, had the second most people in line, which was about 1/5 of the Enterprise line, so it was a long wait.

Since I had pre-booked, it was pretty simple. I went ahead and pre-paid for the gas, meaning I bring the car back as empty as possible. To pre-pay, it is only $2.91/gallon. Over the first two days I was in California, the lowest price of gas I found was $2.99, and the highest I saw was in San Francisco ($3.35).

Upon getting to the Enterprise lot, a nice gentleman named Charles greeted me. He took me to my rental car, a white Toyota Corolla, that was conveniently parked right next to a yellow 2008 Chevy Camaro. He said, "I can put you into this Camaro if you want." I said, "Sure...for the price I'm paying for this Corolla and it's a deal." Apparently, that wasn't a good enough deal for him, so I drove away in my Corolla.

Thank the lord, I remembered to bring my Garmin. I actually hadn't thought of it until I reached Peoria, and got lost trying to get to the Eastside Centre. If I didn't bring the Garmin, I would probably be writing this blog entry from Vancouver. Many of you know my shortcomings when it comes to going places without a map or GPS!

My friend Quincy Bejster, who I was making this trip for (wedding), gave me a call in the afternoon saying they were in Carmel-by-the-Sea and were going out for drinks. I said I would have to pass it up, as I was trekking north to San Francisco.

Driving Interstate 101 to San Fran, I passed by Palo Alto (home of Stanford), Santa Clara, and Redwood City. I almost stopped in Palo Alto, but decided to just go straight to San Francisco. The only thing I had eaten all day was peanuts on the plane. By the way, in the last blog I wrote how the stewardess passing out, "Peanuts, Pretzels, Cookies", was shrill...I thought of a better way to describe her announcing those three things. It sounded like Martha Stewart, if she was peppy and over the top.

Anyway, back to the hungry part. I reached San Francisco, and drove by AT&T Park. Unfortunately, the Giants were off, and out of town all weekend. I cruised to, what I thought was downtown, and was just looking for a pub or grill, to eat something. I found nothing where I was at. All I can remember about that part of town, was that all of the streets were named after states (Kansas, Nebraska, etc.).

I drove further to the west and was driving through an interesting neighborhood, with a lot of homeless people and decided this wasn't a part of town I wanted to hang in. Plus, one of the hotels there, advertised, "COLOR TV & Phones". Wow, breaking technology for 1965.

Driving further north, closer to the Pacific Ocean, I found some more life, and less homeless. While trying to Garmin area restaurants, right there in front of me was Chieftan's Pub. Perfect, this was exactly what I was looking for. It took about 15 minutes to find a place to park, because I didn't want to spend $10 in the Public Parking lot across the street for just a few hours. Even though it was 3 or 4 hours, that would have been a better investment.

I pulled up to a parking meter about a block from Chieftan's. I didn't have any change, and there was some weird signage. Taking a gamble, I figured they could just ticket me $5 or $10 for the tolls. Well, apparently this was for commercial vehicles only, and I would have saved $65 by using that $10 lot. After leaving the pub, I found a pink ticket for $75 on the windshield. Thanks SFPD.

Chieftan's was a Cheers-type of bar. There were only a handful of people in the joint. It was very nice, a neighborhood sports bar type of place. There were about four or five large flat screen TV's, showing golf and college softball. I counted about 13 or 14 tables, all various sizes, some with booths, some with stools, and some stools were higher than others. The pub sat on a corner, with the door meeting the middle. The swinging doors were left open, and a light breeze blew in. I took a table right next to the doors.

I ordered a Blue Moon on tap, and it was much better than I remember, from the last time having one. It could have been that I was thirsty for a drink! I ordered a Portobello sandwich from their menu.

After about 20 minutes, there were two guys sitting at the bar, and one of them mentioned Chicago, and was talking about the Windy City as if he had lived there. I went up, and said I was from Illinois, and both he and his friend said they had lived in Chicago for about 8 years. Alex, now lives in San Diego, while his friend Ted, is on the east coast. Another guy at the bar, who was there seperately, Richard, was visiting from Texas.

The four of us shot the breeze for an hour, and then another hour, and then it was 4:00, and it was Happy Hour. After the first hour, I hadn't received my sandwich yet, and asked the waitress about it. The bartender actually took my order, and forgot to put the food order in. Dylan, the bartender who was originally from San Diego, said he would give me half off my order!

Alex and Ted had been there for about an hour before I arrived. They were also drinking Guinness, and were drinking fairly fast. I think that fact, effected Ted, as he had hit the "curb" of the bar twice, spilling his drink all over. We had a lengthy conversation about the perfect vacation, as I said I was in town for a wedding, and have no plan. In fact, I didn't even have a hotel booked for the night. Sometimes, vacations are so planned out and scheduled, it drives me...and many guys nuts.

Richard, who was a hispanic man from Texas, played in a band on the side. He was wearing a shirt that said, "Menudo: Breakfast of Champions". I don't know what that means, and didn't ask. He and Ted got into a conversation about the state of Texas, and the politics going on there. One of them apologized about talking politics, and I said, "I don't care who you voted for, or what you have to say, good or bad," I have no strong convictions in politics either way.

The bar started filling up around 4:00, since it was happy hour. Some fans piled into the seats to watch the NBA Finals game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. Being in California, you would think it would be all Lakers fans in there. Not the case at all. I guess being an Irish pub, it brings out the Boston in people. Also, L.A. and San Francisco are light years apart, and in the grand scheme of things, it could be the same distance as Boston (figuratively, not literally).

Typing in Garmin, I found a hotel downtown, and checked into room 305. After settling in for a moment, I decided to hit up the town. I walked all over downtown San Francisco, and headed over to Chinatown. One of the goals of this California trip was to try sushi. It has been something that I have wanted to try for sometime, and decided this would be the perfect place to do it for the first time.

I stopped into a place called Sushi Rock, and sat at a table. I ordered something off the menu, I just remember it had Salmon. I love salmon, so that's how I made my choice. I am really not good with chop sticks, so not only did I look like a tourist, I really looked like an amateur eating sushi. There was a spoonful of green stuff that resembled butter on the plate. It looked tasty, and I have a thing for green-colored foods, so I put a healthy portion on a bite of sushi, and OH BOY! WOW! It cleared EVERYTHING out!!! I stayed away from it, which I later discovered was Wasabi.

At the sushi bar was a middle-aged man to the far right, and on the end at the left was a woman that appeared to be in her late 20's or early 30's. The older man, slightly beligerant began talking to the woman. She was from Atlanta, in town visiting a friend. I forget what the man mumbled, but her friend, male, sat down next to her and the man at the end of the bar became silent.

Walking back towards my hotel, a homeless man approached me. He wanted a dollar. He told me he wasn't going to get crack with it, but only a beer. Fair enough, I thought....at least he's honest. I didn't give him the dollar, but instead offered him a deal. I said, I will take you to a bar and buy you a drink, if I can talk with you about what you are doing with your life. Of course, most likely I wouldn't get through to him, and I shouldn't be supporting his drinking habit, but you never know.

He took me a block to a little bar, but the bouncer wouldn't let him in. I shook his hand and said goodbye, as I walked in. I ordered a drink and watched some ESPN highlights, and then decided to call it a night. About a block down the street, another homeless man said something as I walked by. He seemed agitated when I ignored him. He said he didn't want any of my money, but I kept walking. One block down, it was a red light, and I turned and looked behind me, he had turned around and begun following me. I hurredly walked into the next establishment, and waited inside the door. He yelled out, "Where ya goin little boy". That was creepy, and I looked out and he had walked in a different direction, so I took off for my hotel.

Coming Up: "Streets of San Francisco" Blog