Bright Lights, Big City! Part I

San Francisco, California 

Days 1& 2

Last Thursday my younger sister and I headed out on our first road trip together to the big city of San Francisco (SF)! Our mission: Get her to the French Consulate for validation of her student visa (she is going to be an exchange student in France this next school year and is leaving in August 2014).

Day 1 Thursday:

We took off early Thursday morning, with one stop in Medford, Oregon for a couple hours to visit some family and we arrived at our motel that evening.

*Something to note....our motel was located in Oakland, California. Any of you who are unaware as I was when the room was booked by my sister should be warned that Oakland is a dump and is well known for its violent crimes and understaffed police force. Not the best place to visit!! My poor hubby was not very happy about it. But we played it safe and luckily hotels/motels tend to be little islands of security, but not anywhere else in the city.

Common Sense & Safety Precautions

• Always lock your doors
• As soon as you get in you car - lock up!
• Upon entering your motel/hotel room - lock up!
• Park in well lit areas
• When at your hotel/motel park in the front where your car is easily visible even if it means a longer walk (like in our case)
• Top floors are safer
• Especially in a motel where all of the doors are on the outside of the building.
• Keep your windows up and room windows closed!
• Don't walk to any location no matter how close, drive everywhere.
• Don't be out after dark.
• Keep friends/family appraised of where you will be and what you will be doing, have designated check in times so that if something were to happen someone will know to look for you.
• When walking to your car or motel room - have your keys in your hand and ready to go in the lock. 
• You should never fumble around at your door, your back is exposed and you aren't watching your surroundings if you are looking for your keys.
• Keep a phone on you and charged.

I'm kind of a safety nut, my father was in security we have lots of military in my family and I married a U.S Marine who does Federal Security. I'm also a strong advocate for women being able to protect themselves, for example learning self defense (and practicing regularly!) or taking up a martial art and learning a combat sport.

Day 2 Friday:

Good thing we left an hour and a half early, we barely made it to the French Consulate in time what with the hellish traffic and terrible toll bridge that causes a huge traffic bottle neck! Near disaster averted! 

After the stress of barely making it to the Consulate on time we decided to stop for coffee before making our way to Pier 39.

Their weren't many seals but it was fun visiting all of the shops!

Carousel at the Pier

My very favorite part of our visit was Alcatraz Island! We took a ferry out to the island and did a day tour we ended up spending about 3 hours on the island.

I recommend reading up on the history of this place.

Dinner for the night: homemade clam chowder and fresh sourdough bread bowls!

My sister!

We then swung by a local Trader Joe's for some snacks and juice.

What was cool about it was that the Trader Joes had its own parking garage area so we didn't have to pay, I also liked how one of their entrances was attached to the garage. It looked really cool!

One of the great things about California is that their is hard liquor in grocery stores, it was fun seeing high end and reasonable prices of liquor at Trader Joe's. I ended up picking up a nice scotch called "Monkey Shoulder" for my husband.