Day 5: We decided the previous day to do the “Hop-On-Hop-Off Big Bus Tour”. After waking up and eating a typical hotel breakfast we got on the bus. We got off the bus at the “Painted Lady’s”. The Alamo Park is across the street from the houses and a great place to take pictures. It was cool seeing something that you had seen so many times on TV, but we did not stay long. After the Painted Lady’s, we went about five blocks to the “Full House house”, which was unfortunately under renovations. Our plan after this was to jump back on the Big Bus Tour, but my wife “had” to get her nails done, which she did. During this time, I went to Fort Mason, an old fort built during the Civil War, most known for as the staging area for the troops going to the Pacific in WWII. Good place to kill some time if in the area, but not worth a special trip, unless you are a WWII buff.

After two hours, my wife nails were pristine and we went to the Lyon Steps. Great view of the Bay and worth the trip, especially on a sunny day. While at the steps, we walked along "Billionaires Row" to see how the other half lived. The mansions were incredible.

Next was lunch at Culltivar. Cozy, newish (or recently renovated) restaurant. We sat on the back patio. Food was good, but we wouldn't go back. After eating we were off to Lombard Street. Iconic street, views from the top were nice, took a few pictures, but did not stay very long.

Next, we made our way to Ghirardelli's for milkshakes before the Alcatraz Night Tour. “The Rock” is something we had both seen in movies and read about our entire lives, so to be on a boat headed to it was surreal and it did not disappoint. We did an audio tour through the prison that was very interesting. The sun going down while we were there added to the experience. Would highly recommend.

Day 6: Sonoma wine tour day. The day my wife was looking forward to the most on this vacation and possibility the most excited she has been during our entire marriage. We did our tour with the Edge of the World tour company. Great tour, our guide was very knowledgeable about the area. We went to three wineries: Homewood (very small winery, the wine presenter was very good), Cline Cellars (large winery, beautiful vineyard, nice outdoor atmosphere) and the Mayo Family Winery (least favorite, less than ideal experience). Our only regrets with doing the wine tours was that we wish we could have had more time to explore the vineyards themselves.

For lunch we ate at Della Santina’s in Sonoma. Great atmosphere, great food, reminded us of Italy. The owner, an older man from Italy, talked with us for much of the meal and was great. Would highly recommend.

After lunch and the wineries, we went to Sausalito for thirty minutes before going back to San Francisco. Sausalito was a cool, small town with great views of San Francisco from across the bay. Not a bad place to spend an afternoon away from the city.

After leaving Sausalito and being dropped off by the tour company, we went and did the Lands End Trail and were at the Land Ends Labyrinth for sunset. Beautiful views of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridge.

We had supper at Bartlett Hall food was very good, but our waitress was awful. Would recommend because of how good the food and with how we were treated (sans the waitress).

After supper we went to Cheaper than Therapy to watch a comedy show. The show itself was decent, there were four entertainers plus the host and two of the four weren’t funny, but the host was good and two entertainer’s that were funny were hilarious. The stage where they did the comedy show is located in the basement of a larger theatre. The stage is located in a small room was seats for ~50 people, outside the stage room is a bar. My wife and I went early to hangout at the bar before the show and had a great time. The people we met were "different" than we we were, but a lot of fun. Would highly recommend just for the experience and seeing something different.

Day 7: Woke up and ate a really good breakfast at Sears Fine Food. Basic and simply, the restaurant had a lot of character and tons of memorabilia from days gone by. After breakfast we went to the Golden Gate Park and went all out tourists and rented a large funicular (?). My wife absolutely loved it and the park was beautiful. We stayed on the bike and did not get off the bike to explore.

After we left the Park we explored the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Saw a lot of interesting folks and a small protest of High School kids for the Green New Deal.

From Haight-Ashbury went to the Mission District and explored the wall murals including Balmy Alley, Clarion Alley, and the large mural on the Woman’s Building. We both enjoyed the murals and spent a good bit of time at each.

From the Mission District, I talked my wife into going through the Castro District. It was different, with more gay flags than a person can imagine, but we are glad we went. Saw lots of interesting people..

After the Mission District, we went to the free Cable Car Museum, the "heart" of the cable car system. I loved it. Gave the history of the cable car in San Francisco in great detail, as well as the engineering behind it. Was really neat to see.

Lupper was at Cotagna. Reviews were great, service was excellent, cool atmosphere, but we were both disappointed in the food. Just wasn’t our style.

After lupper we took a nap at the hotel before going to the Ferry Building. Neither of us were hungry, but we enjoyed walking through the small shops and stalls. We then did a cable car ride up Nob Hill. After the cable car ride we went to Johnny Foley's Dueling Piano's. Your typical piano bar, we both had a lot of fun.

Day 8: Our last morning in California, we ate breakfast at Sweet Maple before taking an Uber to the airport. Breakfast was excellent, we both really enjoyed our food.

Final Thoughts (Carmel/Big Sur)

Have an idea of how to get to Pfeiffer Beach, McWay Falls, etc. without relying on WiFi or road signs. Cell phone service is non existent in much of the Big Sur area and road signs for the top sights are non-existent.

Take your time on Highway 1.Don't rush it. Go as slow as you need too, just use the pull outs if the line behind you gets long! The drive is absolutely beautiful and indescribable. My expectations were very high going in and they were exceeded.

Final Thoughts (San Francisco)

Walk down the hills and Uber up. The hills are absolutely brutal and well worth it to budget using Uber more than you typically would to avoid them.

We had no issues with the homeless. It was sad to see, but was not as bad as we expected. Not a lot of "in your face" begging.