There's No Place Like Home: Day Three

We've all heard the saying, "Third time's the charm!"
I was hoping that would apply to the third day of my trip,
but no such luck for me!

While I at least had a nice, comfortable night of sleep,
my day started out much later than planned.
My plan for today was San Francisco...ALL DAY!!!

But, this was before I knew it was the mother-in-law's birthday
and that my brother and his family would be going out for brunch,
which meant I had no way to get a few things I needed back at their place.

So it was already afternoon by the time I arrived in San Francisco.
Again, being there it felt just like home to me.

I got off at the Powell Street Station and walked around Market St.
I went up Powell Street and got a slice of Blondie's Pizza for lunch
and then went around the corner for some Cold Stone Creamery.

As I headed to the bus stop, I walked past Union Square,
where there was something going on because there were
a ton of people around there and I could hear someone singing.

Apparently, some things have changed in the past two years.
I got on the 38 Geary bus thinking it would take me to Ocean Beach
like it always had in the past, but instead it stopped at a place called
Land's End.

When I looked at the map on the bus shelter, I saw that I wasn't
far from Ocean Beach...but I was much higher!

So I just started walking down the street and hoping I'd figure out
how to get to where I wanted to be... and then the street stopped
going straight ahead and turned to the left instead!
Which was the opposite way of where I wanted to go.
I looked around and saw what looked like a pathway.
But it was even better than that....it was a stairway!!
Not a nice paved stairway, but a stairway, nonetheless
which made things far easier than trying to hike down the hill
without that assistance.

Oh yeah, and did I mention I was wearing new shoes?
I bought a new pair of oxford tennis shoes,
which I wouldn't think would give me any problems
and technically they didn't....it was my socks!
My right sock in particular liked to slide down
just enough so the back of my heel would rub against
the back of the shoe, causing a blister and causing me pain!

I finally got to the end of the stairs and made my way towards Ocean Beach!
But before the beach, I stopped in at the Safeway there to purchase
a box of band-aids for my poor heels!
While I was in there I saw that they had fresh-out-of-the-oven sourdough bread.
Even though I just had a slice of pizza and had melted ice cream to eat,
I just couldn't pass that up. Mmmm...soooo good!!!
 
So you would think all the challenges to get to the beach were over, right?
WRONG!

As I walked down the stairwell to get to the beach,
I saw that there was a dip and then a big hill of sand
to climb to get to the actual beach.
It's already difficult walking through sand, but climbing up sand,
when your feet are sore from blisters...
Well it just goes to show you how determined I was to get to the beach!

There were very few people around, so I picked out a spot,
rolled out my newly purchased beach mat, [Thank you 99 Cents Only Store!]
pulled out my melting cake batter ice cream and enjoyed the sound
of the crashing waves against the beach.

It was a breezy and foggy day. [Big surprise being San Francisco and all!]
Don't get me wrong, I love the fog, but was hoping for a bit of sun,
so I could get some prettier photos. [And actually see the Golden Gate Bridge!]

Ahhh..if money were no object, I'd call one of these places 'home'.

Even though there was fog and a chilly wind, there were a couple
determined surfers out there to catch some waves!

I had planned on spending hours at the beach, just relaxing and watching the waves
but instead I was only there for about an hour or so.
I walked down the beach a bit and searched for shells,
mostly finding nothing but broken sand dollars.
I got closer to the ocean, because I said I couldn't leave California
without going to the beach and feeling the Pacific Ocean on my feet.
I was a bit hesitant at first, since it was a chilly day,
I expected the water to be freezing, but it wasn't.
I thought it felt nice, so I got my feet wet a couple more times before I left.
I said goodbye to the crashing waves and trekked on back to the real world.

The bus ride back to downtown felt like it took forever!
There were so many places I wanted to go and so many things I wanted to see,
that sadly I knew I wouldn't have the chance to.

I did stop and looked around in a couple stores before I left.
I had gone to Ross before I went to the beach because I forgot to bring a towel.
I bought one there, so I would have something to wipe off all the sand on me.
But while I was there, I noticed a few cute things that I liked, which would have been
awkward to carry around while on the beach, so I went back there for them.
One of the items I saw was gone, but the rest were still there, as were a couple
other things I found along the way. [Mostly frames for cute baby photos.]

I didn't want to leave. I mean, this is San Francisco! It was only around 8:00pm,
so the night was still young and there's still stuff that could be done!
Instead, I reluctantly made my way to the BART station to head back to Concord,
and stopped long enough to give my partially eaten loaf of yummy sourdough bread
to one of the homeless guys sitting inside the station.

Sad to say goodbye, but grateful that I even got to say hello!