San Francisco, baby!
Our "Family" trip to San Francisco was a success.
They picked me up from work on Friday and we headed onwards and upwards, arriving sometime after 1 am. Our room was shite--one queen bed and one pull-out. Bah. But we only had to endure it for that one night.
On Saturday morning, we switched rooms and then took the shuttle to the airport to pick up the Bart train. We hadn't a clue where we were going or what we were doing, so we got off the train where a bunch of people got off. Seemed like a good enough idea. After a brief stop at Starbucks and an inquiry at the Ramada there, we formulated a plan: lunch in the shopping district, then a few blocks down to the Natural History Museum (which turned out to be an under-construction aquarium, but was enjoyable just the same).
Afterwards, we hopped on a cable car and went down to the Bay, where we hit Ghirardelli Square (for a sample of chocolate... yum!), sat on the beach for a while, and then decided to wander down the piers. We ended up at a second aquarium, although this one had an "Under the Bay" portion where you could walk through these tunnels and be completely surrounded by fishies! It was very cool. And then, at the end, there was a "Touch the Bay" exhibit where you could pet the fishies rays and starfish! Which we happily did. *g*
At that point, being aquariumed out, we got back on the bus and headed up to Japantown for some sushi. We split up at that point, as Caitlin and Sean wanted to try a seafood buffet, and Ryan and I, not fish eaters in the least, opted for a vegetarian-friendly Japanese restaurant. And then off to the movies it was--Caitlin and Sean saw Star Wars Episode III and Ryan and I (wanting to see Epsiode II before Episode III) saw Madascar. [Cute and mildly amusing, but "eh"... possibly due to exhaustion more than anything.] And then it was H-O-M-E to the hotel to crash.
On Sunday, we got up and hit I.H.O.P. before heading to the airport/Bart station. There was a carnivale thingy for some unknown celebration which we tried to attend, but we appeared to have been too late. Still huge crowds, but no entertainment to be seen. Or so we could gather. So we got back on the Bart and went to SFMOMA, where it was decided that size is greatly a factor in something being considered "art". I mean, really. A huge, white, three-panel thing that takes up most of the wall? Art, apparently. Although it was plain, flat, white. It was, in essence, a wall. On top of the wall. But it was big, and, therefore, art. There was some interesting stuff, some ridiculous stuff, some enjoyable stuff, and some nauseating stuff (film art, in all its epilepsy-inducing flashiness, was decidedly not my thing).
After the museum, we wandered past some Opera in the Park, so we popped a squat, basked in the sun, and listened to some music. Enjoyable.
Then it was to Chinatown for us. No really good buys, but we had some tasty Chinese food at House of Nanking, and then hit up City Lights Book Store. I bought a book of short stories, to be added to the mile-high stack of "to be read" books I have going here. Heh.
After shopping, we hopped back on the bus and made our way to Haight & Ashbury. Being Sunday evening, all the shops were closed, but we stopped for some coffee and conversation. Then we had to go to Amoeba Music, which is quite similar to the LA version, truth be told. There were some good deals to be had, and we made it back onto the bus before our transfer expired. Whew! Back to the hotel.
Monday morning was basically packing-and-leaving. We drove back with minimal interference by traffic. Whoo!
The weather was gorgeous all weekend. Possibly a bit cool and windy, but not uncomfortably so. We packed a lot into those two days. And there was some sort of twin epidemic--I saw SEVEN sets of twins in two days! Seven! That's fourteen little twins! Crazy.
I was off today, so I caught up on laundry and cleaning, hopped down to Hollywood to pick up "Wicked" tickets (yay!), and now I'm contemplating dinner. As my stomach talks to me. Shhhhh....