Tuesday, September 01, 2009
So I was going through pictures (again) and came to the sudden realization: Holy Snot! I never blogged about San Fransisco! To rectify the situation, I now blog. About San Fransisco.
Once upon a time it was June and my soul was owned by Disney. The Scheduling Gods smiled down upon me, though, and allowed me to purchase a plane ticket to San Fransisco, where I would be meeting Chillylint at the airport (it took a while; we were lost from each other and I started to have panic that I'd never find her). Somehow it had fallen upon my shoulders to reserve a hotel room, so I did, but I think Chilly learned her lesson and, on our third honeymoon (because this was the second, the last one being in October last year when we went to Disneyland together- Oh, the irony), I think I will not be booking the room. Our hotel was very far from BART and all other modes of public transportation, and it wasn't even in the city. It was in a totally different city. However, the hotel staff were very nice and, dood, at least it was inexpensive and basically Brand New, so everything was in working condition and I think the beds were decent. Despite the fact that I developed a nasty rash that weekend that lasted for nearly 2 months. Awesome.
Anyway.
Many details are a little fuzzy to me now that it has been so long, but as luck would have it, Chilly was totes on top of things and blogged about our little adventure basically right after it happened. See
[here].
I do, however, have a few more pictures and details to add, assuming I can find where I put the pictures, which we hope I can because I've been organizing them and they weren't in my To Organize Folder. I'm guessing this means I already put them where they belong.
Ahkay. Here we go.
So, Friday, the day we flew in, was spent wandering the streets of DownTown while we waited for bismark, our escort/taxi to arrive. He was awesome enough to drive up from Sacramento (I think?) and cater to our every need the whole weekend. What did he get out of it? Well, not much, I'm sure, other than the fact that he got to have two of the most amazing females on this enter PLANET for company. Chilly got my camera all of Friday (she forgot hers. How? I still don't understand that one), so I have no pictures of China Town, which is where our end-goal was and where we eventually ended up.
Saturday, Chilly and I went to Alcatraz! I love that place So. Much. and thought it was worth every penny spent on getting over there. The picture above is us at the sign. Obviously. Sad hearts, though, the white balance was off on my camera the ENTIRE WEEKEND, and somehow I didn't notice/think about it/realize this was the problem, so most of my shots are way blown out. Sad. Especially considering the fact that we got a picture with a really, REALLY sparkly man in Ghirardelli Square for 2 dolla later in the day (btw, if you ever are in San Fransisco and see Sparkly Man, it's totally worth the dollar tip to get your picture taken with him. He's hilarious).
We got this kind of behind-the-scenes tour of the island, as Chilly noted on her blog, by a guy who grew up there. His dad was a foreman/engineer/something like that, not a prisoner. Good to know our tour wasn't being given by a Dangerous Criminal, right?
Inside the doorway, you can just make out the bathtub where the Bird Man of Alcatraz would shave his ENTIRE BODY (he was one creepy guy). This, to me, is disgusting and reason enough to Avoid the Tub, but Chilly, being braver than I, got her picture in it. As well as several other people who were in the tour with us. I was good with a distance-shot, personally. I mean, hello? Germs? Yeah, gross.
After the tour, we wandered around the island and ruins for a bit before taking the ferry back to the mainland where we met up with bismark again at Fisherman's Warf. This is, of course, after Chillylint spent mega bucks on jewelry that she didn't need (but it was beautiful and I totally supported her in this investment) and a Glinda Nutcracker (from Wizard of Oz!), which I'm pretty sure I was the one who told her she HAD TO BUY THIS!
I wanted to see Japan Town, too, (big surprise there), so we walked up 50 million hills and down a hundred thousand stairs on Lumbard Street to get to bismark's car (San Fransisco is not a parking/driving friendly city, we learned). Once we reached Japan Town, we took a little breather and just sat for a while. I guess. I don't actually remember why it was we sat down, but we did.
Next thing I know, weird things are happening.
Somehow we decided I needed a picture, too, but it just resulted in a fit of giggles and, well, you can see how much less-awesome it is when I try to be like Chilly.
And so we see that no one can be as cool as Chillylint no matter how they try.
Shortly thereafter (in fact, I think it was like immediately after this picture was taken), bismark got fed-up with our sillyness or something, and decided it was time to stop taking pictures, so we went inside the shopping center where I wanted basically EVERYTHING but only spent $15. Go me!
So, the end. That was this year's San Fransisco trip. Hopefully someday I can go again and get a better picture with Sparkly Man and have more money/time for things like Japan Town and other such awesomeness.
Labels: Chilly, Friends, travel
