Survived City Tour, Day One Tour One

Day One. My goodness what a day! I met the entire group finally! They are great. I've got a family of 6 and 2 couples and 2 singles. Fun fun! I found some breakfast and then went to the cafe here and found the family. I hadn't met them yet. They are fantastic. Very down to earth. Its great.
We had our meeting and I reviewed the trip and covered some of the important stuff with them. All of which I will review again each day. Its kind of like whats the point. They aren't taking it in just yet anyways.
I'm not sure they are convinced I know what I'm doing. Which is a little bit disheartening. I'm trying to be vague but honest as I can so they are at ease. They won't mind if some of this trip is new to me I'm pretty sure.

I walked them all over this city this morning! We saw the bums on Market St. The cable car on Powell, Union Square and then into Chinatown. Then we headed up Columbus into Little Italy before they spotted Lombard St and so we voted to walk up it. Thats the crookedest street in the city. 8 turns in one city block. Steep hill too! Oof. I got a good sense of the hikers for sure!
We walked down Hyde from there, catching the end of that Powell Hyde cable car line and then into Fishermans Wharf. I took them to Boudins for sourdough bread bowls and then gave them a bit of time to look around. (not enough!~ need more than one hour for eating and shopping and the line for the toilet)
Then we gathered again and met Brian who had the van and he took us on a city tour basically. He is really good at it, I'm glad he was there. I did a terrible job. Couldn't remember a thing! Brian was great and would "add" to what I said with the details. Thank goodness for him, he is very savvy. We got to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and the fog had lifted so they had a great view.

Then Brian took us to Lucasfilms studios in the Presidio so we got to see Yoda! It was great. The lobby is closed but you can see in the windows and there was Darth Vader! Yeah!

So we had a good drive and then a break at the hotel for an hour and a half then I walked them back to Chinatown for dinner at a place called House of Nanking (recommended by Brian) it was awesome! The line was huge and I had called ahead to let them know I was coming so we essentially got to skip the queue! What a show off-y thing that was! And then we sat down and the waitress comes up and says how hungry? We say very hungry and she just starts showing up with food. She ordered for us!. It was great fun. The place was packed and the food was really really good! They all enjoyed it alot, I'm so glad.
Part of the group wanted to ride the cable car after dinner so I sent them off to do that and then walked back with a few others. Phew, what a day!

I don't feel very prepared at all! They have alot of really good questions and I can't answer them. Eventually, like Tony said (my dear English sailor man) I'll know how to prepare for their questions soon enough.
Tomorrow I'm doing a new route to Yosemite so its going to appear that I'm lost. Boo! Brian is coming along for the few days we're in Yosemite and then possibly to Walker as well. I'm glad to have the support but its scarier with someone in the know. I'd rather wing it. But I certainly won't complain and we'll have fun anyways. He is a nice mellow guy and my group really like him.
Brian said I seemed to have a good standing with the group already so that was good to hear. I'm sure I'll want that.
My goodness what a day. Have I said that already? The one couple is having their 25th Wedding Anniversary in two days so I've got to think up something fun for them. Mr said the helicopter rides in Grand Canyon would be their celebration but we'll see if I can't get them some champagne at least.
Its tougher than I thought but they are really fun and once I get them to hiking and wear them out then we should be in a nice groove. I can't wait to see how they handle the heat. One man has already said he prefers it to be cooler than hotter. Oh boy!
So I'm off to pack and get to bed. I'll go early to the office to pick up the van and then get back here to pick them up.
Something I just thought to mention...walking tours of San Francisco don't exist but they really should. It is hard with a large group but 12 was doable. And you have to kind of gather them between the crowds to tell them what they are seeing but they don't seem to mind the wandering. Its like letting them discover places on their own, they know they are seeing things they wouldn't see in a bus or van. Its a thought! I might just come back and do that. For those who are up for a good walk! Of course I'd have to actually COMMIT TO MEMORY the details of this big ole city! My gosh.