I'm really, *really* terrible with the camera. I'm just warning you.
We flew in on Thursday, and everything went great - we caught our connecting flight in LA and basically landed in SF right on time. We caught the BART to Union Square, which was where we were staying. That night, we just got some food and took it easy, 'cause we had to be up early the next day.
On Friday, we got picked up around 8:30am by our tour guide, who took us and four other folks to the Muir Woods.
My general stance on nature is that it's Me Vs. The Flora and/or Fauna. In fact, my theory is that nature is merely a *medium* to get me from one place that is inside to *another* place that is inside. That said, Muir Woods was really beautiful and peaceful. Perhaps my hardline stance on nature is changing.... Anyway, we set off on our own, away from the group, and walked a slightly more difficult trail and it was just spectacular.
Obviously, some of us loved the trees more than others....
After Muir Woods, the tour took us over to Sausalito very briefly. It was cute, but not really us. Then we went to a scenic lookout point, and pretty much had our breath taken away by the spectacular views.
After the tour, we hunted down an adorable little sushi restaurant near the hotel and ate ourselves silly. After recovering from our morning hike and raw fish, we set out to see more of the city.
We started off in Chinatown...
But we ended up going through Nob Hill and Russian Hill as well. Russian/Nob Hill are stunning. Chinatown is a total tourist trap of course. But it's big and interesting, and I had a good time. We bought a big metal samurai monkey. I love him.
We pretty much just walked - with no real destination. Just seeing what we can see. Which produced two conclusions:
- San Francisco is just beautiful - the city has a wonderful look that is lived in but elegant. And the views are astounding, and just seem to be everywhere you turn.
- Really, there are a lot of hills. A lot of BIG hills. We walk a lot in Chicago. This was nothing like walking in Chicago. It about killed me.
Saturday, we headed to the Castro and Haight-Ashbury, taking the streetcar to get there. I really don't have any pics of this day. We did some shopping, and just wandering around. It felt TOO tourist to take pictures of the shops and buildings where, like, people are living, shopping, and doing business. I would feel too much like the people who roll through Hyde Park in tour buses, to see the Frank Lloyd Wright house and snap pictures of Rockefeller Chapel here at the University. I will say, I LOVED the Castro. It just felt like a great neighborhood, and the people were super friendly. It's where I would want to live, but I would never live there out of fear that my lame-o hetero ways would ruin it all. We also saw the Harvey Milk Plaza while we were in the Castro, and it made me want to cry.
Haight Ashbury - it is what it is. Mrs. SignalNoise found a great top. There was a cute bookstore there too. The guys asking for money for "marijuana research" cracked me up.
That night, we took a look around Union Square, which (as we expected) was pretty much like the Magnificent Mile here in Chicago. To note: the Virgin Megastore in San Francisco is MUCH BETTER than the (closing? closed?) one we have here. Later, in the evening, we showered up, ate Indonesian food, and had an (overpriced) drink at the hotel bar.
Sunday, was for Fisherman's Wharf - the ultimate tourist trap, recalling shades of a super-Navy Pier. The views were pretty, and we saw sea lions. I consider that worth it.
After having some seafood, we headed out to the North Beach area. We went to City Lights, where I HAD to buy a book, and wandered through a little neighborhood festival that was going - listening to some music and checking out street vendors. We also saw neat buildings. Including the home of American Zoetrope, Francis Ford Coppola's production company.
Monday, we were supposed to come home. We slept in, then schlepped back to the BART. We got to the airport fine, but our flight was delayed and ultimately canceled. There was weather back here in Chicago, producing weird air flows around O'Hare that caused so many delays that had to weed some flights out. We got seats on a plane home the next night, but we spent the night at Hampton Inn in South San Francisco - about a million miles from anything to do. So we watched cable and slept. 
One interesting fact: South San Francisco is the home to tons of biotech companies. If I had picked Berkeley for grad school, rather than Chicago, the wife prolly would have been working down there all these years. It was an odd realization - like a flash of "what could have been." Part of kicked myself for picking Chicago over the Bay Area - but I love the City of Big Shoulders too much to *really* regret anything.
Anyway, we got home late Tuesday night, safe and sound and so on. So, that's about it. There was a lot we didn't get to: Berkeley, the Mission District, Telegraph Hill, the Napa Valley .... Which leaves just enough to justify future visits....
We had such a great time and hope you did too!