San Francisco | AT&T Park

We were actually only in San Francisco for one full day last weekend.  We spent all day Friday driving there, then had dinner at Fog Harbor Fish House.  Saturday was our only full-day there and we spent the morning touring Alcatraz. 

After lunch at Gott’s Roadhouse inside the Ferry Building, we walked back to our hotel to get a little rest.  But on the way back, we decided to walk past our hotel and go to Ghirardelli Square instead.  We had already walked over four miles for the day and there was a lot more walking to do.  So we treated ourselves to ice cream sundaes at Ghirardelli! :) 

Todd had the fudge brownie sundae, while I had the caramel sundae.  Both were delicious and hit the spot after a lot of walking.  When we were in line to get in, we got to see mouth-watering photos of all the treats and decide which ones we were getting.

We were so excited and wanted the line to move faster, heh heh!

Finally our sundaes came!  Does anyone look excited here?

Yum!

Took a photo outside with the Ghirardelli Square sign.

Right down the hill from Ghirardelli Square were some beautiful views.  In fact, you could see Alcatraz Island.  I thought these blossoms were so pretty.

And of course, a photo in front of a cable car was a must!

By the time we got back to our hotel, we only had 30 minutes to rest before having to head out to AT&T Park to see the Giants versus Padres game.  We had asked the hotel bellboy on the way back if hailing a taxi cab to AT&T Park was easy and he said yes.  When we came back out around 5pm, there were several people in front of us wanting taxis.  It took FOREVER to get a taxi.  We waited for half an hour and only 3 taxis came by.  I guess taxis were very busy that night.  When finally one taxi came by and it was our turn, he said he was not going to AT&T Park.  I was worried that we would be late to the game and miss the first pitch.  So the bellboy flagged down a town car type of ride and the driver said he would take us to AT&T Park for a $40 fixed fee.  By that time we were desperate so we said yes.  We had our car with us and could have driven over, but there was no guarantee we would find a parking spot near the stadium this late in the game.  It was only a 3-mile walk but we were too late for that.  So we got into the town car and spent the $40.  (Meera later told us they had to pay $30 for parking near the stadium.  She said after they got into the lot, the attendants started charging $40.  After that, they started charging $50!  So that made me feel better about spending $40 for a 3-mile taxi ride.  Also, as a comparison, we had to pay $53 + taxes/fees PER DAY to park at our hotel.  That’s San Francisco for you!)

When we exited the taxi, we saw this sight. 

I almost wanted to cry.  I lived my formative years in the Bay Area (between ages 9-18).  One summer when I was a teenager, I decided to watch a Giants baseball game on TV.  I had always thought baseball was boring and and had never paid attention to it.  But on that particular night, I watched this Giants game on TV and it went into 16-innings.  I learned everything I needed to know about baseball during that game.  Because it went into 16-innings, I learned EVERYTHING, including suicide squeezes, bunts, balls, strikes, RBI flyouts, etc.  From then on, I was hooked on the Giants and baseball.  I made my best friend Sally (whom I’m still friends with to this day and she lives in San Diego also!) take BART with me to Oakland Coliseum to watch baseball games.  (This was before we could drive.)  I went to games at Candlestick Park.  I was the only girl I knew who knew the statistics like the back of my hand.  The Giants were my first baseball love.  And even though I hadn’t followed them as closely in the last few years, except last year when they won the World Series, I felt like crying when I saw AT&T Park.  I had never been to AT&T Park, and the Giants were my first baseball love.

Along the walls of the stadium were plaques for the great Giants players.

And we were in! 

There was a group of about 30 of us, all are AJ’s family and friends, celebrating his birthday there at AT&T Park.  We sat in the outfield bleachers. 

The view from our seats up to the scoreboard.

And a selfie.  It was very windy and actually got cold out there.  That’s San Francisco for you!

The sun was in our eyes, but we were able to see the game pretty well with our sunglasses on.

And of course, there was some garlic fries eating.  Because we were at AT&T Park!

Todd got me this HUGE kielbasa.  Normally I like them, but this one looked too big and kind of gross to me, so I gave it to AJ and told him “Happy Birthday”, LOL!

And if you know Todd, there had to be some popcorn-eating.

We had so much fun hanging out with the AJ-party and watching baseball.  There’s really nothing like going to a baseball game. 

As the sun set, I was thankful for real sun, real grass, and real baseball.  (If you were a Giants fan in the 80’s, you would know this phrase.)

We left slightly early because it was so COLD on the bleachers in the stadium. 

For the return trip, we walked the three miles back to the hotel.  That’s 7.2 miles of walking in total on that day!  Along the way, we had a view of the Bay Bridge lit up at night.  It was so beautiful.

San Francisco will always hold a special place in my heart.  Glad we were able to make the trip up there to celebrate AJ’s birthday with him!  The next morning, we caravanned with AJ & Meera and the kids back to San Diego.  The drive took the whole day again.  We packed a lot into this short trip to San Francisco.  Including adding AT&T Park to our list of now 41 stadiums we’ve been to!

Here’s the list (not necessarily in chronological order until the last 10 or so):

1. Ohio Stadium (OSU Buckeye Football, Columbus, OH)
2. UD Arena (Univ of Dayton Flyers Football, Dayton, OH)
3. Nutter Center (Wright State Univ basketball, Fairborn, OH)
4. Assembly Hall (Univ of Illinois - Champaign basketball, Champaign, IL)
5. Ryan Field (Northwestern University football, Evanston, IL)
6. Memorial Stadium (Indiana Hoosier football, Bloomington, IN)
7. Cooper Stadium (Columbus Clippers baseball, AAA farm team of the New York Yankees, Columbus, OH)
8. Canal Park (Akron Aeros baseball, AA farm team of the Cleveland Indians, Akron, OH)
9. Municipal Stadium (the old stadium of the Cleveland Browns and Indians, Cleveland, OH)
10. Richfield Coliseum (old home of Cleveland Cavaliers basketball, Cleveland, OH)
11. Jacob Field (Cleveland Indians baseball, Cleveland, OH)
12. Cleveland Browns Stadium (new home of the new football Browns)
13. Cinergy Field (old home of old Cincinnati Reds baseball & Bengals football, Cincinnati, OH)
14. RCA Dome (Indianapolis Colts football, Indianapolis, IN)
15. Trans World Dome (St. Louis Rams football, St. Louis, MO)
16. Sun Devil Stadium (Fiesta Bowl and AZ St football, Tempe, AZ)
17. Oakland Coliseum (A's baseball & Raiders football, Oakland, CA)
18. Candlestick Park (49ers football, old Giants baseball, SF, CA)
19. Angel Stadium (Anaheim Angels baseball, Anaheim, CA)
20. Qualcomm Stadium (Chargers football, old Padres baseball, SD, CA)
21. St. John Arena (old OSU Buckeyes basketball arena, Columbus, OH)
22. Rubber Bowl (Univ of Akron Zips football, Akron, OH)
23. Jar Arena (Univ of Akron Zips basketball, Akron, OH)
24. Cox Arena (SDSU basketball, SD, CA)
25. SD Sports Arena (Gulls hockey, SD, CA)
26. Peoria Sports Complex (SD Padres spring training facility, Peoria, AZ)
27. Scottsdale Stadium (SF Giants spring training facility, Scottsdale, AZ)
28. Phoenix Municipal Stadium (Oakland A's spring training facility, Phoenix, AZ)
29. Petco Park (SD Padres new baseball stadium, SD, CA)
30. Surprise Stadium (Texas Rangers & KC Royals spring training facility, Surprise, AZ)
31. Maryvale Baseball Park (Milwaukee Brewers spring training facility, Maryvale, AZ)
32. HoHoKam Park (winter home of the Chicago Cubs, Mesa, AZ)
33. Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles, CA)
34. Huskie Stadium (Univ of Washington, Seattle, WA)
35. Safeco Field (Seattle Mariners baseball, Seattle, WA)
36. LA Memorial Coliseum (USC football, Los Angeles, CA)
37. Qwest Field (Seattle Seahawks NFL football, Seattle, WA)
38. Stanford Stadium (Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA)
39. Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA)
40. Camp Randall Stadium (Univ of Wisconsin, Madison, WI)
41. AT&T Park (San Francisco, CA