Travel: should you ride a Cable Car in the rain?

For the last four years, my childhood friend R and his wife O have talked to me about coming to California for a coast-to-coast trip. R and I grew up together in Toronto and his lovely wife O used to live in L.A. for several years before deciding to return to Toronto to be closer to her family.

I got the call last week, that they’ve decided on a whim to come and visit. I was so excited and helped plan their trip. They would fly into San Francisco and then drive to Carmel, L.A., Laguna Nigel and end up in Vegas. Perfect!

What we didn’t plan for was the rain… (So glad I straightened my hair yesterday.)

I have a day a half with them in San Francisco. My plan was to take them on a cable car ride to Ghirardelli Square to see the Chocolate Festival. (I’m sure O and I could really make a dent there.) And then we would walk down to see the OUTDOOR the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Maybe we could then get some lunch on outside Union Street and coffee in mostly outside North Beach. Our dinner reservations are at a Sushi place that specializes in Japanese artistry mixed with California cuisine. Plus the ambiance is an orange color with great acid jazz music plays in the background. Can you get anymore San Francisco?

And then it happened. I woke up this morning to hear thunder and rain. Uh rain? Thank you local weatherman. I had no idea. Yesterday the city was 78 degrees and we had our windows open to try and feel the San Francisco Bay air.

When I had first moved to San Francisco from Los Angeles, I had been warned about the cool San Francisco summer weather. I remember a city heat wave of 90 degrees. The city was hot, still and sticky. When I asked a friend if she could turn on her air conditioning in her apartment she laughed. “Do you see the Bay?” she asked me. “That’s our only air conditioning!”

I digress. After all of these years, my Canadian friends will land today to hear their flight attendant say, “ Don’t forget to bring your umbrella.” While showing around tourists, where do you go in a city with rain and without a car? Do you think their trip will be a wash? (Sorry that one was too easy!)