Day 1: Going to San Francisco

Our trip through California was supposed to start with a 11am arrival in San Francisco so we could have a whole day of sightseeing right away. Unfortunately United Airlines managed to delay that arrival by 5 hours, robbing us of the better part of our first day of vacation. I know it could have been worse, but it was still a bummer. On the bright side, the girls handled it like champs, Zach wheedled some meal vouchers out of the deal for us, and we used the extra time to have some fun taking pictures in the O’Hare airport.

B

It took a while, but we eventually made it to San Francisco! The girls had so many funny observations and one-liners that kept us laughing all day, but I should have written them down because I can’t remember any of them. My goal for the rest of this trip is to write the funny stuff down immediately!

We made our way to our hotel in Union Square and while organized ourselves in the hotel room the girls started to get a little too noisy. When we scolded them, Melina tried to stalk off in a huff but in the tiny hotel room she had nowhere to go but the closet. She now jokingly calls it, “my sulking closet.”

We explored Chinatown on the way to meet my cousin Eleni for a peking duck & dim sum dinner. The food was decidedly mediocre but the company was fabulous. We had a blast and the girls were so excited to see Eleni, hanging on her every word (and in Diane’s case also just literally hanging on her).

After dinner we tried “dragon’s beard” candy from a hole in the wall shop. We watched a woman making this candy, which looks like white hair (or maybe mold?) wrapped into a cylindrical shape around a nutty center. At the insane price of $10 for a tiny box it was pretty terrible but totally worth it for the beard it leaves when you try to eat it. It tastes like slightly sweet sawdust and peanuts.

So depite our delays we still had a great day. And there still so much more to do in San Fran before we leave to explore elsewhere in California!