Five Great U.S. Cities, Coast To Coast: An Insider's Travel Guide

We journey through Boston, Las Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, and San Francisco with Kayleigh McAllister, Senior Regional Director at Go City. She shares insider knowledge to get the most out of these iconic destinations.

From the historic cobblestone streets of Boston to the glitz and excitement of Las Vegas, Kayleigh gives us must-see spots and hidden gems.  We learn about the best seafood restaurants, delectable cannolis, and breathtaking outdoor spaces in Boston, before diving into unusual attractions in Las Vegas. In Orlando, Chicago, and San Francisco, we'll uncover unique experiences like Universal City Walk's sushi burger restaurant, Chicago's architecture river cruise, and much more.

But it's not just about the places. It's also about the memories. Kayleigh shares her personal memory about supportive friends, proving that sometimes, the journey really is the destination. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or planning your first city trip, this episode is packed with useful tips and inspiring stories that will have you wanting to explore these US cities, and others.
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Kayleigh McAllister is Senior Regional Director at Go City.
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Podcast host Lea Lane blogs at forbes.com, has traveled to over 100 countries, and  has written nine books, including the award-winning Places I Remember  (Kirkus Reviews star rating, and  'one of the top 100 Indie books' of  the year). She has contributed to many guidebooks and has written thousands of travel articles.

Contact Lea- she loves hearing from you!  @lealane on Twitter; PlacesIRememberLeaLane on Insta; Places I Remember with Lea Lane on Facebook; Website: placesirememberlealane.com. 

New episodes drop every other Tuesday, wherever you listen. Please consider sharing, following, rating and reviewing this award-winning travel podcast.

Transcript

Lea Lane: 0:26

So many cities, so little time to travel. On this episode, we're covering five US cities popular with travelers Boston, Las Vegas, Orlando, Chicago and San Francisco, to give you an idea of the variety of pleasures you can find when you travel to cities, even if you just take a staycation or a long weekend. Our guest is Kayleigh McAllister, senior Regional Director at Go City, the leader in app-based attraction passes. with products in 30 cities worldwide, Go City has curated under the radar experiences as well as the bucket list items travelers are searching for when visiting major cities. Welcome, Kayleigh, to Places I Remember.

Lea Lane: 1:07

(Hi Lea. Thank you for having me.) Great to have you. Before we start, I'd like to say that wherever you travel maybe even before you decide where you'd be traveling you should do your research. You can google and find at least five things you'd like to do. Researching when you travel helps you decide on where, how long and what to see and do, where to eat and stay and when to go. What do you think about researching ahead, Kayleigh? Where would you check besides your app, Go City?

Kayleigh McCallister: 1:34

Oh, Lea, i am the consummate travel planner. I'm the person who shows up at a trip and I have, you know, four itineraries created and my husband, who likes to be on the fly, says, oh, let's do that. And I say, oh, that's interesting, i have an itinerary for that. He has no idea. And I do a ton of research. But my go to is, if I'm not using the app because I'm in one of our cities, google, of course, just starting on google and seeing, you know, there's going to be lists from Eater and Time Out, hidden gems, but also TripAdvisor. I actually started my career at TripAdvisor, so I can vouch personally. The wealth of knowledge available from actual travelers, people who've been in those destinations and given their actual feedback, is more beneficial, truly, than any article you'll ever read.

Lea Lane: 2:16

I want to hear from a traveler. Interesting, because you know I used to write guidebooks, the paper kind, and that isn't even mentioned anymore because of course, they're dated by the time it comes out. Things have changed, So that was another era, But now it's all online because it's recent, it's immediate.

Kayleigh McCallister: 2:34

And it's in your phone, you're traveling light. People don't want to be traveling with quite as much. I do love a good guidebook, but I think, especially the younger travelers, everything is just in your hand, Absolutely.

Lea Lane: 2:44

Okay, let's discuss five cities. Kayleigh, you'll give five suggestions about each. Some may be obvious and some surprising, and I'll give some of my suggestions as well. We haven't seen each other's list, so it'll be fun to see how many suggestions we share. Maybe none, which is interesting, right, yes, Okay, let's start with Boston, historic city in New England, the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. What are your five suggestions? I not to miss there.

Kayleigh McCallister: 3:17

I am biased because I live in Boston, so this is a list from a local, but also a visitor. My five not to misses. The first one, i would say is the Charles River Esplanade. The Charles River is well known in Boston and you can swim if you want to, you can sail, you can kayak. My favorite thing is just to walk or bike along the Esplanade. It's on the Boston side instead of the Cambridge side, and it's beautiful. There's a number of different docks that you can just stop at along the way, so they're always full of people picnicking, having a lunch, just taking a break, and Boston's really awesome beer scene has a couple beer gardens along the Esplanade. Nice on the water.

Lea Lane: 3:54

What is the Watching? he Head of the Charles? I've heard of that.

Kayleigh McCallister: 3:58

The Head of the Charles is a regatta, so it's rowing and it takes place. it starts, i believe, in Cambridge, so actually my neighborhood gets super busy at that point in the fall. But if you think of Harvard and you think of sort of historic classic rowing teams, that very preppy New England activity, that's the Head of the Charles and it brings in a lot of visitors.

Lea Lane: 4:17

Fun, and you can rent a boat, i guess, anywhere along there. I'm sure, yeah), go on the river, absolutely. Okay. So that's a great one. What's another?

Kayleigh McCallister: 4:25

The next one is Fenway Park, which is iconic. It's America's most beloved ballpark for a reason, but my favorite part is that it's located really centrally in the city. So you can buy tickets to a game if you want to, but you could also just walk down Lansdowne Street. It's where music venues are, there's food vendors and you're directly underneath Fenway Park. So you can look up and you can see the Green Monster. (What is the Green Monster? for those in the world who don't know, The Green Monster is a big green wall across Fenway Park. You can actually buy tickets to sit inside. They're very expensive, so I typically don't do that.

Lea Lane: 4:59

Inside the wall or inside the park, Inside the park on top of the wall On top of the wall,

Kayleigh McCallister: 5:04

Yeah, and so if you're hitting a Grand Slam, if somebody's trying to hit a home run and you hit it over, the Green Monster. people just go crazy. A lot of people don't know this, actually, but you can see a game from inside a bar. It's called Bleacher Bar on Lansdowne Street and it's awesome, so it's super, super busy before games. But they have this cool garage door, because it used to be part of the park. And now it's a bar and you can just watch the game through there. So you can see the players, but the outfield players can't see you inside.

Lea Lane: 5:32

Oh how interesting, very good tip. What's another?

Kayleigh McCallister: 5:36

I'm actually not a huge seafood eater but for people who are, Boston is just in the most perfect location because we have Maine to the north, we have Cape Cod to the south. So, especially if you like oysters, i think if you're coming to Boston and you're trying to get good seafood, i would have to recommend Row 34, the Barking Crab, the Daily Catch or Neptune Oyster. All of those are either in the seaport north end four point very, very walkable and top-notch seafood of all kinds, fish shellfish.

Lea Lane: 6:08

Yeah, we love food. That's a great, great tip. Is there another?

Kayleigh McCallister: 6:12

There is another. I have two more, but I would say the biggest one is the north end. The north end is a neighborhood in Boston. It's known for our Italian history and Italian population. What I would say is people who go to the north end are either getting dinner, they're walking around and they're taking a tour, but they're really stopping for a cannoli.

Kayleigh McCallister: 6:34

. A cannoli is this pastry. It's sort of a hard puff pastry shell filled with this ricotta, the sweet ricotta filling. The traditional one has little tiny chocolate chips on the end. But you can get them in any flavor and they're addicting. I mean, they're sinful.

Lea Lane: 6:48

They are eah.

Kayleigh McCallister: 6:50

People in the north end. Think about Mike's pastry, which is great cash only always has crazy lines. I would say, think about going across the street to Modern Pastry. Modern Pastry also has a secret underground martini bar that a lot of people don't know about, so you can get your cannoli and then get a cocktail underneath. Or, if the night gets away from you, you can go to Bova's bakery, which is just down the street, which is 24 seven, and that's sort of where you'll see the creative folks at 3 AM.

Lea Lane: 7:16

Oh, my goodness, they're cannolis), Yum and wow.

Kayleigh McCallister: 7:21

Exactly. One more, yeah. Last, i would say the outdoor spaces. I think people realize that Boston is a little big city, so we've got the skyscrapers and you can walk through Back Bay, downtown, seaport, but we also have a really awesome outdoor space. Obviously it's seasonal. You don't really want to be out there in the middle of February in Boston, but I would say that the best outdoor spaces to get a walk in or just see sort of nature or flowers are the public garden. Of course The Kelleher Rose Garden over in the Fenway area is beautiful, or the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain. I love to go there in May for the lilacs. They have a massive lilac selection and you know lilacs are temperamental. They only bloom for two to four weeks if you're lucky. But all of those are beautiful spaces to spend an afternoon.

Lea Lane: 8:08

And they smell good too. Oh, they smell amazing.

Kayleigh McCallister: 8:11

It's my favorite spot actually.

Lea Lane: 8:12

love it too. Well, those were absolutely fantastic and you live there, so of course you have every little detail down. I had some of yours on my list, but I have a couple of other things which you might want to comment on. You mentioned the botanical garden, the public garden, which was built in 1837. I also the oldest public park, the Boston Common. That's connected near it, right You? it's sort of like a necklace of these lovely green spaces And there's the wonderful Swan Boats, which may be touristy to a local, but they're wonderful. They were introduced in 1877. And the children especially love to go in those Swan Boats.

Kayleigh McCallister: 8:49

Yeah, they may be touristy, but I actually took my nieces, my young nieces. We took them here a couple of weeks ago and they loved it. So it's touristy, but it's sort of -you have to do it once.

Lea Lane: 8:58

It's old fashioned touristy, which is a nice vintage, i would say. The Chinatown is interesting in Boston. There's a park nearby, the Chinatown Gate, and that's another nice place to walk and with fountains and so forth in the warm weather. For those of you who like the ballet and Broadway musicals, there's a beautiful Boston Opera House. It was redone in 2004 with the help of F Edward Kennedy, and those of you who like buildings, interiors, it's just fun to go there.

Kayleigh McCallister: 9:27

The areas are right next to each other too, Chinatown and the theater district. So that makes for a really nice night, because you could go to Chinatown, get an amazing, authentic dinner and then go see a show, a play, a musical, a comedian, right down the street.

Lea Lane: 9:39

Perfect. And of course there's the Freedom Trail, which is again touristy.

Kayleigh McCallister: 9:51

Yes, it's all in the same area And the Freedom Trail is So you can walk it for free if you wanted to. Even if it's a little touristy the sort of costumed guides they do add something to the experience because they'll tell you things that you just don't get from an app, and it's not the same experience.

Lea Lane: 10:06

Right, they're wonderful museums in Boston. I like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. It was t house. It looks like a Venetian palace And you get free admission on your birthday -- and anyone with the first name Isabella gets in for free. Just saying. ll the Isabella s out there. Yeah, wonderful museum as well. Ok, so we covered Boston. How about switching to Las Vegas, which springs out of the Mojave Desert with entertainment for everyone? It's the second largest city in the Southwestern United States and one of the fun capitals of the world.

Kayleigh McCallister: 10:38

Some suggestion I think so, first and foremost, Vegas is amazing. It's an expensive city. You are going to spend some money on dining because there's amazing dining shows. If you're a gambler, then you have to visit the casinos. So I think my first tip is to take in the Strip. The Las Vegas Strip is sort of entertainment in its own right. So I say that that's anybody's first stop when you get to Vegas. Walk up and down the trip.. he first time I went there I was surprised at how long it was. I think movies and TV had made me feel like it was this sort of really condensed area nd it's pretty long. And Vegas is one of the rare cities in the country that lets you consume alcohol outside. So you can get your drink somewhere, so it could be totally free. Or you can buy a cocktail and just walk down the Strip. And you could see the fountains at the Bellagio and people watch and see sort of the dancers outside, and then decide what you're going to do for the rest of the night.

Lea Lane: 11:30

And then start. Good overview.

Kayleigh McCallister: 11:32

Yes, next, thank you. So next, if you're ready to move inside, i have to talk about the Verbena cocktail at the Chandelier Room at the Cosmopolitan you heard of this (I? Tell me.) me It's fabulous. It's a word of mouth cocktail, so it was added to the menu in December 2010. They took it . It was just seasonal. And there was a sort of widespread uproar because people love the cocktail, so they kept making it, bu n . never put it back on the menu. And now it's all word of mouth.

Kayleigh McCallister: 12:01

So it's a cocktail with a Siczuan button flower. It's an edible flower, so you sip the cocktail, you eat this flower, and the effect on your mouth is it takes everything to level 10. So everybody's experience is different, but it has this effect on your tongue and your mouth. (The umami ). A little bit. And as you experience the drink, some people say it feels like pop rock. Some people say the flavor exploded And it's elegant, elevated experience underneath the chandelier and the Cosmo. So you have to start there and then go for your dinners or your shows. I always really enjoy spending time at the link promenade. So the link promenade is located just off of the Strip. So it's right, in the middle of the hustle and bustle of everything, and they've got some great attractions. They have the High Roller over there, which is a really, really big enclosed ferris wheel for brave heights?

Kayleigh McCallister: 12:51

(I, i'd say, at any rate right, it's a little slow, Very slow, and it's super high. So if you're afraid of heights, once you get to the top you're sort of like, all right, let's get going to the bottom ow I'm ready to get off, But it's super, super fun and sort of an off-shoot of the Strip. Next, i would say you have to get outside of Vegas if you're flying all the way to Nevada. So the Grand Canyon is cliche, maybe because it's right, you know the number one thing you think about in America, but the easy access from Las Vegas just can't be beat. So if you're doing a helicopter tour, you're taking a guided van tour, a guided bus tour, you're just renting a car. If you're an outside traveler going to Nevada for the first time, you should tack on a trip to the Grand Canyon from Vegas.

Lea Lane: 13:30

Yeah, a lot of people don't know how close it is. What would you say? know just couple Just hours.

Kayleigh McCallister: 13:36

there's really expensive luxury ways to get there or super, super affordable ways that you can do it yourself.

Lea Lane: 13:41

I once went in a train. I where the outlaws come on the train, I don't think it takes you anywhere, it's just there. I forgot how long ago that was and I don't know if it's still going on. But you're in this little train and these outlaws come on and rob you Because you don't expect it. They don't tell . it's gonna happen.

Kayleigh McCallister: 14:02

Of course. Well, speaking of outlaws, I guess my last tip would be visiting the Mob Museum.

Lea Lane: 14:09

Yeah especially r o families museum.

Kayleigh McCallister: 14:11

If you're trying to get off the Strip at all and you want to go to the Fremont area, the downtown Las Vegas area a little bit north of the Strip and get away from some of the casinos and the hotels. the Mob Museum is fascinating. It's a true museum, so you learn a lot, but it's also really interactive. You can take your own mug shot. You can learn all about the mobster history of the US but also in Vegas, which was sort of a mob run city for some time. So that's really really cool and well worth the price And it also tells you law enforcement agencies that fought the mob.

Lea Lane: 14:39

there is that as well. It's fun and it's also informative. I love the Mob Museum. Those are great. I didn't have any of them except the Mob Museum, But I have one that is very interesting : the National Atomic Testing Museum. Have you been there?

Lea Lane: 14:53

(No, I ) haven't. In the 1950s, people would walk around the streets on the strip and watch an enormous atomic mushroom cloud appearing on the horizon. The development of America's nuclear weapons program is hypnotic and horrifying, and Las Vegas was close to the heart of it, so you can visit while you're there. It's a fascinating, sad but interesting part of history. The Las Vegas Preserve, Springs Preserve have you been there? That's the center, the original water source for the Las, las Vegas Springs, and it's known as the birthplace of Las Vegas. It's bold, there's activities, you can bike around there. It's green and nice. So that's a nice One, one that I've heard i about it. It sounds I. It's the heavy . playground Have you heard of that?

Kayleigh McCallister: 15:33

I have heard of that. I haven't been there myself.

Lea Lane: 15:35

Neither have I. You can get in a bulldozer, an excavator and just big trenches and stacked tires and build mounds and just play like a kid, And I think some people might like that and maybe don't know about it. So I have that on my list. I think sometimes you put things on your list that you maybe will do. You don't think you're necessarily going to do it, but it's good to know about it. Also, the Neon Museum; have you been there?

Kayleigh McCallister: 15:58

I was just going to say that. Lea, That reminds me of the Neon museum Same thing. Yeah, it's wonderful.

Lea Lane: 16:03

Old neon signs. They destroyed a lot of stuff. You know, Las Vegas is always new, new, new, but they kept the neon signs. So you get a tour there. They tell you about some of the old, you know, rat pack stuff and all that kind of thing. It's really pretty to see the lights and to hear the history, so that's fun. Okay, we've covered two. How about Orlando? It's home to more than a dozen theme parks, but beyond Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, there are some surprising must-dos as well. So let's hear some.

Kayleigh McCallister: 16:34

First, if we're getting outside, the theme parks, which you know tend to bring folks to Orlando, but I think where you should expand your horizons a little bit is Icon Park, which some people might say is also a little bit touristy, but I've been there, i guess, as a tourist, but with my family that lives in Florida and it's awesome. You you know you said wholesome before to talk about you know something, in l s I It's wholesome. Lots of activities, lots of dining. Again, like we talked about the High Roller, that observation deck in Orlando that lets yo se see the whole city. And it's cool because you can see the nearby theme parks, you can see the tallest rides and what they're doing, and I really love spending time there with my family, my in-laws specifically. Where'. Next, Orlando itself is super, super fun. So whether you're driving down -- I drive -- you're getting something to eat. I think people underestimate how drivable Florida is, especially if you're going to the parks and you need to rent a car anyway. So I would say, if you have some extra time thinking about what's in technically the Orlando area, but a little bit outside, could expand your list of things to do. So, whether that's Kennedy Space Center, which is all the way out to the east, or if you're driving a little bit further south to Kissimmee, and you're going to Old Town Kissimmee or Fun Spot, which are locals' favorites, or you want to get out in nature. I've done airboat rides in the area too, and those are awesome because you can't leave Orlando without seeing some alligators, or you know whether they're enclosed in a Gatorland type space or out in the wild on an airboat.

Kayleigh McCallister: 17:56

I think people have different opinions about this, about eating alligator, But that's also something that's a very Orlando thing to do. If you are open to eating alligator., It it tastes like chicken. That's what they say. You know what. I was offered the opportunity to eat one one time and I had just seen them alive, and so personal, i get it. I get it. The people I was with did, and they really enjoyed it. I couldn't bring myself to do it (I I get it. Where think?

Kayleigh McCallister: 18:22

Now I'm going to pivot to dining, because Orlando is full of so many dining opportunities. The first thing I would say is I don't think everyone realizes this if they're coming from out of the country or out of the state, but even though the parks are super expensive, you can dine and sort of enter for free at Disney Springs or downtown Disney Universal City Walk. So if you drive and just enter there, you can experience the theme parks without paying the high admission prices. I love a theme. I love anything sort of kitschy. It's called Cowfish. In Universal City Walk It's a combination sushi burger restaurant. You can get a really great burger. , Yeah, literally Sur f and Turf. You can get really great sushi. Or you can get a burger themed sushi which I've gotten before, sort of cheeseburger sushi, no raw fish included.

Kayleigh McCallister: 19:09

(Oh my goodness. And it's so specific, it's hilarious, it's super, super fun. I think Orlando really runs the gamut in terms of budget too. At the Ritz Carlton they have an amazing restaurant called Highball and Harvest, and t a tip that I love to use in different cities is, if I'm not deciding to pay for the luxury hotel experience, i might go take one dinner at that luxury experience.

Lea Lane: 19:32

Exactly, or even one drink at a bar, or even just sit in the lobby. I say that a lot. You can enjoy the ambience without staying there. Yeah.

Kayleigh McCallister: 19:40

Exactly exactly. I mentioned the Gators before, but there are a lot of areas where you can either see Gators in their enclosures, like Gatorland o, or just learn more about all the conservation happening. The swamp areas and sawgrass in the state have changed the landscape so much over the years that a lot of these places will let you learn what climate change has meant to the state and how it's changed over the years. It's really really fascinating, Interesting.

Lea Lane: 20:04

Okay, i have just one additional on my list. I would add Winter Park, which is a city just about 25 miles outside of Orlando, very beautiful little city. There's a narrated Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour where you can have a guided tour through the waterways. You see the natural scenery, the wildlife, Rollins College, which is from the 1920s, a very beautiful campus. It's a lovely, lovely thing to do when you want quiet, get away from the busy scene. And then my favorite museum in the area is the Morse Museum, which is the world's most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany, including the artist and designer's jewelry, pottery, paintings, art, glass, leaded glass, lamps, windows and even a chapel interior from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It is a real surprise. It's one of the great museums of Florida and maybe of the country, and it's right there near Disney. I highly recommend Winter Park Park d Al day, get away.

Kayleigh McCallister: 20:59

I'll have to add the Morse Museum to my list next time I'm visiting, (Oh it's just gorgeous, really is.

Lea Lane: 21:04

So how about Chicago Illinois, a it's among the largest cities in the US, a real American city. What are some of the highlights?

Kayleigh McCallister: 21:12

The first highlight-- and people love this, it's well reported on in i TripAdvisor and Yelp -- - an architecture river cruise. It's one of the top things to do in city. city And for a reason, s here are different providers that you can take. But Chicago's architecture is fascinating, and I think every city has its own architecture. So you sort of think, ok, well, what's so special about Chicago? But it truly is, and it's how collaborative the architects were in designing the city, so I won't spoil any of it. But absolutely seeing the city and learning about it from the river is a must do.

Lea Lane: 21:43

Got all levels and all types. It's a wonderful city for architecture, i agree, yes.

Kayleigh McCallister: 21:49

The next thing if you're a fan of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, really easy to recreate and have your own Ferris Bueller Day in Chicago. You can add in as many sort of fancy restaurants if you want, like that scene with the hostile host at the restaurant. If you start your day at the Sky Deck in Willis Tower and you see the views of the city t (They have the thing that moves and scares you, or is that another ?)

Kayleigh McCallister: 22:12

Yep, t the Tilt, right. Yeah, you can T out into the bumpouts on the side of the building. The first time I did it I was too afraid, so I turned around, i sat down on my butt nd I crab n back so that a my friends could a take a photo, and then crawled out because I, just couldn't stand, to look beneath me. And Tilt is scarier T that. It's so tilt of the glass. You have to t do that. And fi e b a Cubs game, which is iconic. Just like Fenway Park in Boston, Wrigley Field in Chicago is W must do if you're a baseball fan if you just like hot dogs.

Lea Lane: 22:46

Yeah, i think it was built in 1914. They don't win a lot, but they're very loved, very much.

Kayleigh McCallister: 22:52

Exactly. Next, i would say the Bean at Millennial Park is super touristy but super free, very Instagrammable. And that's something that you see and you immediately think Chicago. That is just a huge piece of Chicago's public art . And it's really fun. You can go take selfies in it with your friends or your family. You can get all kinds of angles. So I wouldn't miss that.

Lea Lane: 23:14

A lot of other public art there too. There's also the Boeing galleries where you can stroll through gardens. You can relax on the lawn in front of the Frank Gehry designed J Pritzker Pavilion. It's a beautiful area. Millennium Park I guess it was built for the Millennium, correct?

Kayleigh McCallister: 23:30

I think so .Chicago just feels like a very clean city. I think part of that is the architecture truly. I think it's the clean lines and how the city was built, but it's also the public art. It's just a really nice city to spend some time in, even if the first time I went was March and it was freezing cold. I would prefer to spend there in July or August.

Lea Lane: 23:49

It's lovely in the warmer weather. I think Chicagoans are proud of their fortitude.

Lea Lane: 23:54

You can walk along the river too. You mentioned the boat ride. There's a pedestrian path along the main branch of the Chicago River. It's lined with restaurants, bars, gathering spaces a long way or a short way, but it's very pretty. The architecture is right there at night as well. Beautiful Garfield Park is among the largest conservatories in the United States. It has 600 species of plants, the gigantic trees that fill the palm house and a fern room. It's really warm in the winter, but it's cool to go because it's tropical. Those are my additions. It's a great place for a long weekend. You really feel it's a part of Americana. I love it actually.

Kayleigh McCallister: 24:33

It's so centrally located in the US too, It's an easy long weekend to take with East Coast, West Coast exactly.

Lea Lane: 24:39

Absolutely. We're going to end with a gorgeous city, Probably my favorite as far as beauty in the United States S San Francisco, the commercial, financial and cultural center of Northern California. What are some of your suggestions?

Kayleigh McCallister: 24:52

The Golden Gate Bridge, of course. you an can walk over it, you can walk underneath it, you could drive . d really love to see it by boat. It gives you this unique vantage point of sailing underneath the bridge too. You can see it from one far side underneath it and really look up and marvel at how massive it is. Then come out on the other side and see another vantage point with a different background it. Alcatraz i it A lcatraz alcatraz is this top site. The best tip that I have is you have to plan ahead and do your research. There are so many different ways to visit, but it's very much like the top tier experience of visiting the Statue of Liberty. That's Alcatraz in San Francisco. If you're interested in visiting, plan well in advance and make that the focal point of your trip.

Lea Lane: 25:35

I would add, they have a night tour which is kind of creepy, very creepy.

Kayleigh McCallister: 25:38

I don't know if I would do that.

Lea Lane: 25:40

It's there for people who want i t. If it's foggy and all that, it's even worse, but it's kind of cool.

Kayleigh McCallister: 25:45

What else? Fisherman's Wharf in the Pier 39 area in the Embarcadero. They get a touristy rep. I think it's well worth spending a couple of hours there. It's right on the water, plenty of free things to do if you want to. The famous Pier 39 seals on their deck.

Lea Lane: 25:59

They're sea lions.

Kayleigh McCallister: 26:03

Yes, they're hilarious. I mean, they will talk to you. They're snoozing on each other, but then they're making their massive bellowing sounds and it's super fun. Are you sure that was a sea lion?

Lea Lane: 26:12

(No actually .) It is fun. I love that you can, in the middle of a great city, you can go and play with the sea lions. Well, you can watch the play.

Kayleigh McCallister: 26:21

Exactly, there's plenty of food around there. You can take that route and mosey your way over to Ghirardelli Square and try the chocolate, of course, Or you can try the sourdough bread that San Francisco is famous for. I think it's worth tweaking into your itinerary for a quick visit. Lastly, i would say the painted ladies.

Lea Lane: 26:36

Those are so famous in San.

Kayleigh McCallister: 26:38

It is well worth a trip. You know every city that you visit. You ou to take that iconic photo. But standing in Alamo Park and looking out at the painted ladies, you see the city beyond them.

Lea Lane: 26:48

Sometimes you can see the water Painted ladies o Victorian houses with three or more colors. It is beautiful.

Kayleigh McCallister: 26:53

Yes, San Francisco is known for being super hilly. Wherever you're coming from, you're going to be walking some hills to get there, so maybe stop for a snack or some ice cream. There's, you know, a bunch of Salt and Straws in the area. Get a snack and then just sit for a little bit once you see the painted ladies, and then go about the rest of your day.

Lea Lane: 27:09

Speaking of hills, there's one street, Lombard Street. It's known as the Crookedest Street in San Francisco. I would go to the top of it. It's a zigzag road that makes eight sharp turns across Russian Hill. You'll have a great view and then you walk down the steps. You see the mansions around you. If you have a car, you can try to drive it, which is probably very hard. I have never been in a car doing that, but I have walked it and it's cool.

Lea Lane: 27:31

I mentioned in my list Golden Gate Park, which is larger than New York's Central Park and it has so many wonderful attractions. You can spend all day there. It's beautiful. There's a museum and gardens and all kinds of wonderful things to do with the family, and also Chinatown. I think this is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia. It's just wonderful for Chinese food. If you go to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, they make 20,000 fortune cookies every day, folded by hand, and that's where I think the fortune cookie came from. It's an American thing, not a Chinese thing, so you might enjoy that as well. Now, the name of the podcast is Places I Remember. So, Kayleigh, could you please give us a special memory of your travels in a city or wherever in the world?

Kayleigh McCallister: 28:17

Yes. So I'm going to bring us back to Las Vegas, one of my favorite recent memories from Las Vegas. I was traveling there with my work team. Actually, we're a very close group of colleagues. We had previously done the amazing zipline experience above the Safari Park at the San Diego Zoo. It was incredible. You ascend this area and you zipline over the entire acreage So there's just wild animals grazing underneath you and we were all terrified. I think some of us felt like ,great did that once in a lifetime, never going to do that again.

Kayleigh McCallister: 28:51

Well, a couple of years later, a lot of the same group were in Vegas and at the promenade that I spoke about the Link promenade, you can zipline over that. We all said we're going to do it. I remember it so vividly because we're such a supportive team and some of us were truly scared down to our toes. And halfway through we're in the elevator and we're saying no, we can't do this. No, we can't do this. Then we get to the top and there's that line and you're saying I can't do this, i can't do this. Then they're putting equipment on you, you're strapping you up and that sense of just having a supportive group around you who says you can do this. It's terrifying, but it's also exhilarating. .was amazing, and so I will never forget.

Kayleigh McCallister: 29:29

Getting up to the top and you see the promenade out before you and, of course, sometimes you see four-year-old, eight-year-old kids in front of you and they're getting on no problem. So then you say, okay, well, i can do this, the eight-year-old boy can do it, i can do it. And so you jump up and they strap you in, and when you're in a line, especially with friends or family, you can look to your left and right and see them there. The adrenaline just takes over and we ziplined and, of course, we're just screaming and nobody can hear because it's so loud. But we screamed and we ziplined and we sailed over everybody down below who was eating, drinking, walking around with their massive yardstick smoothie cocktails, and I think I remember screaming Las Vegas as I'm ziplining over the top and I thought that I would never top that experience. The Safari Park in San Diego... It . topped it Very, very good.

Lea Lane: 30:18

Thank you so much, Kaylee Kayleigh McAllister, Senior Regional Director at Ghost Go City, for sharing your suggestions with us. Our cities are filled with surprises, so let's travel and enjoy them. Thank you, Kaylee Kay