Travel During The Pandemic

I was in San Francisco recently. It was a fun trip. While we were there, we went to many food places that were excellent. We went to the Muir Woods, and we travelled over the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge. I was with my daughter and her two teen boys. She calls them her middles as she has olders, middles and littles. The middles are almost six feet tall and eat every two hours or so. They were always hungry. I would say, didn’t we just eat and one of them would say, that was a long time ago and I am starving!

We tried Joes, and that place was the bomb. Then we ate Asian, and then Russian. Asian again, and crepes. Then there was the Fisherman’s Wharf. A burger place that isn’t close to us. The boys loved it! The In-N-Out burger place was created in San Francisco. Everyone everywhere was wearing masks and social distancing. We needed vaccination records to eat in restaurants, some people were allowed to eat outdoors as there was some limited seating, some even with heaters.

We had to schedule time to walk through Muir Woods and that was fun. I knew I wouldn’t be taking the full tour and would probably wait along the path quite a bit. It was just right. They ran ahead and reported back and showed me pictures of a few things I missed. I loved spending time just sitting in the trees. Imagine how old they are. I read that they are okay with fire as they have a built-in fire retardant, and their bark is three feet thick. So cool! There is a stream going through the woods and they were expecting trout to swim through at any time while we were there. We saw one fish.

The bridges were neat and there was a fee that we got in the mail after we were home for a week or so. It was worth the view and the trips we took out of San Francisco. We could see Alcatraz, but I had no interest in going. I wasn’t overruled. We went to the ocean and the beach, and the boys enjoyed that! They shopped at Target and there was a shoplifter, a young boy that got a whole lot of attention. The security person had him in a hold and he was fighting to get lose. Several police cars, police motorcycles pulled up and a fire department vehicle. He was put in a wheelchair and removed in the fire department vehicle. It was exciting for us as we don’t see much of that kind of action where we live. We didn’t see other law enforcement anywhere else.

The hills were huge and when we were being detoured around traffic or construction we went up and down some steep, steep hills! Scary really, as when you get to the top you can’t see the crossroads until you are right there. Either way, up or down it feels like your car may tip over. We noticed soon that there isn’t much for parking. No real restaurant parking. We felt lucky to find anything! We talked about taking a taxi or another method of transportation next time, rather than renting a vehicle. Our vehicle was nice, but large and it was difficult at times maneuvering there.

We decided to go to a movie, and it didn’t work out as we couldn’t find the theatre. Parking was an issue and the GPS was not helpful! We decided we would give up when we were past the movie’s start time. Even though I love movies, I was relieved to be skipping it. We weren’t in the best neighborhood, and it was evening.

Overall, our trip was great! When your boys get to be that age, it isn’t long before they are not interested in traveling with mom and grandma! They carried everything, including my suitcase everywhere. We all had vaccinations and I had the booster. No one got sick, even though the littles came down with something while we were gone and had to be quarantined.

It is odd to me how our state is one of the highest in covid cases during our travel and no one here is wearing masks or social distancing and really many people have not gotten vaccinated, and restaurants are not requiring proof of that to be served in restaurants here. I really did feel safer there than here. I would love to say, it is the end of the pandemic, but I'm afraid it may be here to stay as no one is saying otherwise. It is not the end of my travel either as a couple friends and I are planning a car trip soon and I will look forward to that.