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California Road Trip 2019

In the summer of 2019 I took my daughter on another road trip from San Francisco to Carlsbad.

Day 2

I woke up first and I let Katie sleep in. She woke up around 7:30 and we headed over to IHOP which was next door. After that we walked over to Pier 39 where I had seen a Biscoff coffee shop. Those cookies are the best! We bought some ground coffee, a bag of cookies and crunchy Biscoff sandwich spread. Also the best! I ordered a Biscoff Latte. We walked out and I took my first sip. Well, uh, that was certainly different. At first I thought maybe I'll get used to it, but a very sweet latte with a cookie taste turned out to be something I could not get used to. 

It was around 10am now and my plan for the day was as follows: take the cable car from one turnaround to another. From there walk to Chinatown, look around and eat lunch. After that it would be around 12:30 when the Museum of Ice Cream opens. Things turned out a little different. 

We did take the cable car and because it was Monday the line was very short. In fact, we could hop on the very next one and were able to hang on the outside, the way you're supposed to ride a cable car. Surviving some precarious moments (as in being an inch away from a parked bus), we arrived near Union Square. From there we walked to the Dragon Gate and I took some photos.

We walked up and down Grant Ave and at around noon headed back towards the Museum of Ice Cream. We walked into a sushi restaurant for lunch. Now, neither Katie nor I like sushi, but they have tempura and noodle soups and that works for us. Katie had tempura and I had teriyaki chicken. Now the Ice Cream Museum was waiting for us!

We saw a long line of people which went around the corner of the block. We joined at the end of the line. Then, a lady walked up to us and asked if we were in line for the 12:45am session. I said yes but it started gnawing in my head because that question implied a reservation. So I went online on my phone to buy tickets. 12:45: SOLD OUT. 1:30: SOLD OUT. Etc etc. at 4:30pm there were 9 tickets left so I ordered two. Bummer. I thought of what to do next and I remembered seeing double decker buses driving around town which sounded like a nice and lazy thing to do. I looked up a stop and saw one on Union Square.

Arriving there we saw a Deluxe Bus and a representative lady from the company walked up to me and started her sales pitch. My natural reaction normally is "No thanks" but since I wanted this it was an easy decision and Katie rode for free. Of course we sat down on the second floor in the section without a roof. The bus tour was going to be between 2 and 2.5 hours so we would be back on time for the Ice Cream Museum. The bus took us through the Dragon Gate (it barely missed the gate but hit some tree branches right after as Katie pointed out), Fisherman's Wharf, and over the Golden Gate.

On the other side I checked my email while the driver was on a 10 minute break. I had received an email from the Museum that said that a car accident had caused a fire hydrant leak and our tickets were canceled. We could reschedule or get a refund. I guess we were not meant to see this museum because the next morning we had a reservation to rent a car from the SF airport. 

Next, we went through a tunnel on the other side with about 2 inches clearance, through Golden Gate Park, Haight and Ashbury (the bus driver: "In the park that is coming up you can see some of the most wonderful hippies on your right"), Jimmy Hendrix house, Painted Ladies, and back to Union Square. I still wanted to see if somehow things got fixed and we headed for the museum. There, I heard a museum dude dressed in pink say that the first floor was flooded. Bummer. Again. 

So we decided to walk back to our hotel, which was only about 30 minutes. When we arrived we played tube ping pong and giant four-in-a-row. We both won one round. The hotel was selling s'mores and while Katie roasted one I had a beer sitting next to the fire pit. All in all it was still a good day. I guess we will have to come back next year for another Museum of Ice Cream attempt?