So today we were lucky enough to get up and head to San Francisco on July 4. This was not planned or expected but turns out we were in the middle of the great city for the July 4 celebration and their 100 year centennial celebration. I knew it would be a nightmare to find parking but we tried anyways. The primary feature of today was to drive the coast for about two hours on the way to San Francisco. And we did just that and enjoyed some coastline and got our feet wet going into the water every few minutes at the pill offs. As you can imagine such a scenic road there are a lot of areas to stop and enjoy the scenery. So each time we saw beach or a lighthouse you something that look interesting we decide to stop and enjoy the view. So it took us about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to get to see riches go and with various stops we ended up getting there around mid afternoon. Our thought tonight was not to get a hotel and stay in the car. I know San Francisco going to be very expensive so we decide against a hotel. So before the festival he’s got started we ended up walking around the San Francisco botanical gardens with her which was a great treat. These features over 500 species of flowers and plants from around the world with various set ups based on region and continent and weather. As you can see from the pictures the terrain of plants are very devout verse. This is in the Lincoln Park and we decided to come back the next day to do the Japanese gardens.
So from here we decide to go get some food and after a small snack we went down to the fisherman‘s wharf to find parking for the July 4 fireworks. As you can imagine it was an absolute nightmare to find parking so we settled on a $40 a car parking spot! But in our opinion that ended up being a great investment as it was a worry free so in the park and we slept there until eight in the morning. It’s also allowed us to walk around the city without having to worry about driving after having a few drinks. We ended up going out to fisherman‘s wharf right next to where we parked and the fireworks and celebrations were about to begin. We ended up getting dinner at the famous Fisher area on the wharf. Their life performers and various musical acts performing as well. I ended up getting fried clams and fries and Ashley and up getting fried grouper sandwich which was very popular this location we went to. After that we decided to head to The Jeera deli factory. From there it off for the best views of the bay and outside park to watch the fireworks. Once again on the Pacific West Coast we forget that there’s fog the rules and so after enjoying the sunset we realize that the fire was really in and we may not be able to get a great seat for the fireworks.
But we were able to see half the explosions under the fireworks so I guess that is something. We decide to go to the bar in the park before the fireworks. This is where we met a couple people and explain what we were doing and they thought it was absolutely awesome and ended up buying us a couple beers! So that was a very nice perk of doing what we did! So after the fireworks with side to head back to the car but stop at a bar on the way back and we stopped at the small dive bar called… Wish they were doing special for Fourth of July.While we were enjoying a beer I was scrolling through my phone and looking at tickets to Hawaii which we are intending of doing. Turns out tickets are half price for the departure date we selected so we ended up buying them for departure date of July 19 from Seattle. Just got a super excited and in a great mood for the rest the evening not that we never were. Another thing that worked out well during this time frame as expected was my buddy chappy had a timeshare in Hawaii that we were going to be able to use to stay with him while we were there. In the future blog post I will explain what happened. Nonetheless we finished up our tab at the bar and went to the car to sleep. This was actually very nice as they lock the place going in so we would feel very safe in the parking lot.
July 4 Expenses
28.84 breakfast
gas 14.80
3.50 coffee
40 parking
16 botanical gardens
23 beer
15 beers
21 beers
Total 162.14