Road tripping USA 2023

Now that we have been to both LA (in 2017) and San Fran (this trip), we both are loving San Fran so much more than LA. Downtown LA really turned us off the West Coast of America, we have never felt so unsafe in our lives. We did however love Santa Monica and Venice Beach (though parts of VB were a little sketchy as well). Having said that, I am sure there are parts of San Fran that are extremely unsafe having travelled through some of them last night on the bus but here at Fisherman’s Wharf we all feel very safe.

Today we went on a walk to Lombard Street which wasn’t far from our hotel however we had to walk up some very steep hills to get there. Lombard Street is known as the “Crookedest Street in the World”. It is one of San Francisco’s most popular landmarks. Every year, millions of visitors walk or drive down its eight sharp hairpin turns. It is a beautiful sight to see and walk however it was really hard to get a good photo. We got a leg workout walking to the top and then for another hour around the neighbourhood both up and down the steps hills of San Francisco.

After walking for a couple of hours looking at the sights, we headed back to our room for some lunch. After lunch, Kenz stayed back in the room to get ready for the basketball game and a bit of a relax while Dave and I went for walk to the Sea Lions at Pier 39. I could have stayed there all day to watch their antics, they are super funny and very intelligent.

From here we went to the San Francisco Maritime Historic National Park mainly to get a closer look at the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a beautiful little area on the bay with a big park, a ‘beach’, a view of the Golden Gate and many old ships. We will head back again and have a look through the museum tomorrow as it is supposed to be raining and very windy.

As it was nearly time to make our way to the basketball, we headed back to our room for a quick freshen up and we were out the door again in the direction of the bus stop to head to the Chase Center.

We had to take the 30 Stockton Bus 13 stops to 4th & Market St and just before the second last stop, there was huge delays. As I was standing I could see that there were heaps of police and a bus with police tape on it. Dave looked and said no, that’s just the strap that holds the bus onto the power lines and looks like it has come off. Nope I was right, as we went passed the bus I could see in and there was a couple of seats covered in bright red blood and bandages/towels/clothing. As the bus went further, I saw many police interviewing people, others searching and 2 police officers tackle a kid and handcuff him. Not much further from here, it was the stop for us to get off to get the 15 bus to Chase Center. After 2 stops on the 15 bus we were at the Center ready for a great night.

While we were waiting for the game to start, we searched news feeds and found that an altercation broke out between youths on the bus before us, one pulled a knife and attacked another leaving him with life threatening injuries. It happened about 10 mins before we got there and we ever so grateful it wasn’t the 30 bus we were on.

The game between the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns was amazing, the atmosphere, the game, our seats, everything was perfect. Warriors won 123 to 112. Another bucket list item ticked off.

Even though we were in the nose bleed seats, the seats we had were amazing, clear view of the court and we didn’t have to watch the big screens at all.

Fantastic game and fantastic night!Read more