Uneventful Southwest flight from Orange County to San Jose (which is under massive reconstruction, doing the transformation that Ontario did several years back, only moreso and without the extra land available). Sheila, the GPS, proved her worth in getting me from there to the hotel, despite occasional traffic (when plowing into San Francisco on the 101, then I-80) and losing the satellite signals a few times in the city.
Margie was staying at the Stanford Court, a very nice hotel at the top (nearly) of Nob Hill in the City, so that driving up to it (behind a cable car) and then maneuvering around the block to get to the parking entrance involved a lot of 4-wheel-drive-worthy inclines, up and down. Too bad I don’t have a 4-wheel drive car …
In fact, I have a Dodge Caliber from Dollar Rentals — which was by far the cheapest thing to rent, and worth every penny. In addition to having horrific sight lines, it has a feeble 4-cylinder engine and, in the model I have, crank windows (ironically), manual door locks (including the hatch), and manual rear view mirrors. Which I’m sure sounds terribly self-pitying, but it’s deucedly difficult to remember to that I have to reach over to unlock the door for Margie, or make sure I’ve locked all the doors (individually) when leaving it, after many years of power doors and windows. (sniff sniff)
After Margie got back from her conference across the street, we shook hands in cordial greeting and went out and about on the town, walking through Chinatown, then down over to Union Square (buying some pants for me at Macy’s, long story), and ultimately over to Daffodil Restaurant for dinner.
(Don’t expect any detailed restaurant reviews in this Travelogue. Too many places, too little time.)
The Daffodil was tasty, with a nice wine list. I had a lamb ragout, and a tasty Italian pepper / bacon pizza as an appetizer. That said, it wasn’t truly fabulous, the portions felt a bit small, and the service was desultory. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to go there, but if you find yourself there, I wouldn’t wave you off.
After that, we hiked back to the Stanford Court (seriously up-hill). San Francisco is, aside from the topography, a Big, Live City, reminiscent of New York City, and distinctive from the feel of cities like Denver or Portland. Very intriguing in its own right, and I must confess, as much as I love suburbia, I’m curious what it would be like to live in such an environment.
We got back to the hotel, relaxed, watched a bit of TV, and drifted off to the sound of cable cars (and cables thereof) beyond the window.
Poor sight lines and greatly underpowered seem to be the standard complaints about the Dodge. Though I am shocked that there is a rental car without power locks or windows, that just seems silly.
Dollar Rentals — it’s cheap. And it’s cheap.