Puttin' on the Miles

We wanted to get to the Pork Store for breakfast. The original Pork Store was in Haight Ashbury.  The local in the area are not known for early rising and the Haight still had a glaze from the night before.  The murals on the walls were great, with trippy bold colors and themes that are expected in the epicenter of the counter culture.  Breakfast was outstanding.  Amy got a Caliscracious omelet that was great.  We hit a couple of open stores, a cigar shop and small market.  Put a kale salad and an orange in our day pack and strolled off toward the Pacific Ocean.  We walked through Golden Gate Park and accidentally sneaked into the Botanical gardens.  The gardens were beautiful, but we got turned around pretty quickly on the winding trails and without having paid were a little hesitant to ask for help.  We found our way back into the sprawling acreage of Golden Gate Park and the statues around de Young Museum.  We popped out at the Beach Chalet Brewery, and the bar tender made it clear that all sales were on premise only and the he really didn’t care if took our drinks across the street the beach.  We ate our lunch, kale salad and orange, on the beach and went back for a second drink from the bar.  It was a wonderful lunch both he company and the views.  We caught the city bus back to the hotel and freshened up before eating at an open-air restaurant, De Flora, with large windows that brought cool night air in and let the Italian smells out.  We shopped Chinatown proper that evening and picked up some chopsticks for the kids in various colors.  Before returning to the brighter and cleaner of Market St.  We did a lot of walking but we were getting pretty good at hoping on and off the trolleys too.  Even when told to stay on the trolley after it hit a car…we did not stay…we were on vacation and had no time for traffic crash drama.