Weekend in SF: Sea Lions!
Saturday, January 18-Sunday, January 19
This weekend marked the 30th anniversary of the arrival of the iconic sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco, so Mr. E and I made use of our SF weekend package from the WEAVE live auction for a quick overnight trip. Our Amtrak train left Sac at 10:30am on Saturday, and the connector bus was supposed to get us to downtown SF by about 12:10pm, but a delay with the bus due to equipment malfunction plus major traffic due to the closure of Market Street because of the Women's March resulted in our arrival at the W hotel near SF MOMA closer to 1:45pm. Good thing we didn't have any specific appointment on the calendar for early afternoon!
Mr. E did a short weight workout after we got settled in our room while I found the nearby Whole Foods to pick up some snacks. Then we went next door to SF MOMA to see "Mur Murs," a wonderful film by Agnes Varda about the mural culture in Los Angeles during the 1980s. We both enjoyed the style and story of the movie, and for Mr. E, the sights and scenes brought back memories of his time in SoCal during the early 80s.
Our weekend package included a $150 gift certificate to La Mar restaurant on the Embarcadero, right next to the Ferry Building. La Mar specializes in Peruvian cuisine, which is based on peppers, so almost every dish includes pepper of some kind, even the specialty cocktails! I tried the El Volcan with aji amarillo gin and ice cube, but it was just too spicy for me, so I ended up with a glass of white wine from Argentina instead. We had a fabulous server who was very helpful with my dietary restrictions, which was especially useful since we weren't familiar with many of the items on the menu. We shared the Causa Limena as a starter, and then Mr. E had the mixed Anticuchos sampler for his meal while I had the Salmon La Mar. Yummy!
We walked back to the W where I did my daily yoga practice and Mr. E enjoyed a cocktail in the bar. After an episode of "Love It or List It," we called it a night.
On Sunday morning, I did a jog/walk down Market Street to the Embarcadero and along to Pier 15/17. Then we had breakfast at Trace, the W's restaurant, since Mr. E's Bonvoy status gave us access to the complimentary meal. We followed up with coffee at the Starbucks on 3rd & Market and then caught the F Streetcar down to Pier 39, where we signed up for the 12pm Sea Lion Discovery Tour. Since we had a little time before the tour, we walked to Boudin to buy two sourdough baby turtles for later. Then we headed back to Pier 39 to join our tour group, which was led by an educator from the Aquarium who provide a 30-minute lesson about the sea lions, including their history in SF bay, their physical characteristics, and their typical behaviors. Although the population was a bit sparse today, we still enjoyed watching their antics and hearing their bellows.
After the tour, we walked around Pier 39 to admire the 30 colorful sea lion statues, which were created by local artists to celebrate the animals and will be placed in various locations throughout the city for the rest of the year in honor of this anniversary. We purchased a beautiful (but pricey!) commemorative book at the Aquarium gift shop along with a sea lion ornament to add to our collection.
We decided to walk back to the hotel since the weather was nice and found our way to the Salesforce Park via the gondola on Mission Street. What a great public amenity on top of the Transit Plaza! Next time, I'll have to keep in mind the various group fitness classes available for free, including the 2pm yoga class on Sundays. If I had known about it, we could have planned better so that I could attend, but instead we needed to get back to the hotel to pack up and check out (yay for the late checkout). Then we caught our Amtrak bus near the Salesforce Park gondola and had a smooth trip back to Sacramento, where our train actually arrived 10 minutes early.
Such a fun SF trip. Love those sea lions!!!
This weekend marked the 30th anniversary of the arrival of the iconic sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco, so Mr. E and I made use of our SF weekend package from the WEAVE live auction for a quick overnight trip. Our Amtrak train left Sac at 10:30am on Saturday, and the connector bus was supposed to get us to downtown SF by about 12:10pm, but a delay with the bus due to equipment malfunction plus major traffic due to the closure of Market Street because of the Women's March resulted in our arrival at the W hotel near SF MOMA closer to 1:45pm. Good thing we didn't have any specific appointment on the calendar for early afternoon!
Mr. E did a short weight workout after we got settled in our room while I found the nearby Whole Foods to pick up some snacks. Then we went next door to SF MOMA to see "Mur Murs," a wonderful film by Agnes Varda about the mural culture in Los Angeles during the 1980s. We both enjoyed the style and story of the movie, and for Mr. E, the sights and scenes brought back memories of his time in SoCal during the early 80s.
Our weekend package included a $150 gift certificate to La Mar restaurant on the Embarcadero, right next to the Ferry Building. La Mar specializes in Peruvian cuisine, which is based on peppers, so almost every dish includes pepper of some kind, even the specialty cocktails! I tried the El Volcan with aji amarillo gin and ice cube, but it was just too spicy for me, so I ended up with a glass of white wine from Argentina instead. We had a fabulous server who was very helpful with my dietary restrictions, which was especially useful since we weren't familiar with many of the items on the menu. We shared the Causa Limena as a starter, and then Mr. E had the mixed Anticuchos sampler for his meal while I had the Salmon La Mar. Yummy!
We walked back to the W where I did my daily yoga practice and Mr. E enjoyed a cocktail in the bar. After an episode of "Love It or List It," we called it a night.
On Sunday morning, I did a jog/walk down Market Street to the Embarcadero and along to Pier 15/17. Then we had breakfast at Trace, the W's restaurant, since Mr. E's Bonvoy status gave us access to the complimentary meal. We followed up with coffee at the Starbucks on 3rd & Market and then caught the F Streetcar down to Pier 39, where we signed up for the 12pm Sea Lion Discovery Tour. Since we had a little time before the tour, we walked to Boudin to buy two sourdough baby turtles for later. Then we headed back to Pier 39 to join our tour group, which was led by an educator from the Aquarium who provide a 30-minute lesson about the sea lions, including their history in SF bay, their physical characteristics, and their typical behaviors. Although the population was a bit sparse today, we still enjoyed watching their antics and hearing their bellows.
We decided to walk back to the hotel since the weather was nice and found our way to the Salesforce Park via the gondola on Mission Street. What a great public amenity on top of the Transit Plaza! Next time, I'll have to keep in mind the various group fitness classes available for free, including the 2pm yoga class on Sundays. If I had known about it, we could have planned better so that I could attend, but instead we needed to get back to the hotel to pack up and check out (yay for the late checkout). Then we caught our Amtrak bus near the Salesforce Park gondola and had a smooth trip back to Sacramento, where our train actually arrived 10 minutes early.
Such a fun SF trip. Love those sea lions!!!
posted by jms | 3:33 PM
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