Thursday to Saturday San Francisco 2 days and first day in Hawaii

Thursday, July 3, 2014

The day is finally here! Time to leave for our Anniversary Trip to Hawaii!

Our plan was to leave early for the airport to avoid stress and have time to relax in the Maple Leaf lounge. Which we did! Since we had used extra points to get business class tickets, the flight to San Francisco was very comfortable with a roomy seat, blankets, TV and a lovely meal. I watched a Canadian movie (Monsieur Lazhar), Jim listened to music, and we both had naps.

The Hotel- Fairmont San Francisco

                         

This hotel deserves at least a complete paragraph. I have always wanted to stay in one of those historic hotels, and now I have, thanks to a friend with connections. (You know who you are.) The Grand Lobby was ornate and breathtaking. I did not know that this is the flagship Fairmont property, opened in 1907. It was named after James Graham Fair, who made his fortune by discovering a silver mine and bought the property on top of the hill. Many famous people have stayed here, the UN Charter was drafted here in 1945 and they have recently spent millions on restoration of the public spaces and refurbishing the guestrooms. It was fun to explore the beautiful historic hotel.

Relaxing in Fairmont Lobby

 

















We got a lovely room on the 14^th floor. But the best part was the view! Looking right down to the Bay, we had a panoramic view with many landmarks such as Alcatraz Island and the Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. This would be perfect for seeing the fireworks tomorrow on July 4. I guess they knew it was our anniversary trip because we were greeted in our room with a special card and a yummy arrangement of cheeses, crackers and assorted fruit. Nice touch! 

View from our room

Friday, July 4, 2014

We had exactly one day to see San Francisco so we decided that a bus tour was the best way to get an overview of the main sights. We chose a double decker, open top bus with a hop-on, hop-off plan. The complete loop had 19 stops, with commentary, sometimes live and sometimes recorded. Most of the time we were on the top deck. (Got a little sunburned, but not too much).

We got off the bus tour 3 times. The first time was at the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a cool photo op, emphasis on cool. We had each packed one long sleeved item specifically for San Francisco, but left them at the hotel since it was hot when we left for the tour. Then the fog set in over the bay and we were soon shivering as the wind whipped around us as we drove over the impressive bridge and back.

Happy  couple even with fog rolling in

We left the tour next at Lombard Street, looking for a place to have lunch. Jim had noticed a diner from the bus and it turned out to be a great choice. Mel’s Diner is a well-known, old fashioned diner with a juke box at each table. We had only one quarter so Jim picked a Roy Orbison song. The diner was well decorated for the July 4^th holiday. The food was really good too

The last time we hopped off was at Fisherman’s Wharf. It was very crowded with mobs of people because it would be where the fireworks were that night. At 4:00 it was already traffic gridlock. We were glad to leave the crowds behind even though it was a fun place with street performers, etc.  

That evening we watched the 20 minute fireworks show from the comfort of our hotel room. We sat in our matching white Fairmont bathrobes with our chairs pulled up to the window and enjoyed a spectacular display. A few of the higher fireworks disappeared into a fog layer, but most were easily visible. I didn’t know that San Francisco has a reputation as a foggy city. We ordered in some delicious Chinese food for a late dinner. Overall, a great day. On to Hawaii tomorrow.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

We had another easy flight from San Francisco to Hawaii, around 5 hours, where we read, napped, and were served a yummy breakfast this time. Our destination was Kona airport on the island of Hawaii. The state of Hawaii is a chain of islands and I chose this island because I didn’t want the highly populated city of Honolulu and I thought the active volcano sounded so interesting. People just call it the Big Island.

Aloha! The airport was cute and unique, but as we were landing we looked out of the window and thought, “Oh my gosh! What have we done?” After collecting our luggage and getting the rental car, we drove north towards the resort area. All we could see were black lava fields in every direction. Jim very tactfully asked me how I had come to choose this island.

Not the best intro to Hawaii

But cute airport terminals

                              

We made a detour off the highway to find some lunch and a grocery store to buy a few groceries. We stocked up on drinks, snacks, some breakfast items and suffered a bit of sticker shock. How can bananas be $1.29 a pound when I am pretty sure they are grown here? It’s nice to have some drinks and food in the room though, for convenience and to avoid resort prices.

We arrived at the resort where we will stay for 4 nights. We were given a lei, not of flowers but of kukui nuts, cute souvenir. The lush grounds and view from the lobby towards the pool area reassured us that the Big Island was a good choice after all. We got a great room on the second floor with a balcony and an ocean view. Later on we ate on the balcony before we set out to explore.  

View from  our room balcony

 













By then it was dark and torches were lit around the property but hardly anyone was out. There are 540 guest rooms here but I guess everyone goes to bed early. There were a few people at the Luana Lounge so we stopped there and shared an appetizer. Then we continued on to the pool, and what a pool! – free form shape, 10,000 sq. feet and open 24 hours. We had our bathing suits on and if the water was warm we planned to go for a night swim. Oh yes, it was warm, and we had a lovely swim with no one else in the pool but us hardy Canadian night owls.

Our room is in the South tower, right side of property