San Francisco!!

On a brighter note, we have this wonderful opportunity to visit San Francisco this weekend, where I am posting this blog. Jeff had yet another training with the ACS and so his entire trip was paid for. I found a cheap ticket and figured we might as well enjoy a last hurrah before we're living in a cardboard shack (heehee). So, here I sit at the Omni hotel and it's beautiful!

We flew here early yesterday morning on United, which I have not flown for years. They had TV!! I got to watch "30 Rock" which I've never watched before (and it was funny). I know a lot of planes have TV and such, but I am still chilidishly entertained by such perks. The flight was short, just about two hours, and I also enjoyed reading the first several chapters of "Three Cups of Tea".

When we arrived, we decided to take BART, the public railway system, to our hotel. That was interesting (and very loud!). We got out at what we supposed was the station closest to our hotel. Boy were we wrong! We walked for blocks (and then went out of our way) before finding the hotel. By then we both had blisters from walking in bad shoes! But we settled our stuff in the room and set out to explore San Francisco with the hours we had before the first dinner engagement.

We covered a LOT of ground. We started by visiting the Ferry Building, which is sort of like an upscale Pike Place Market for those of you familiar with that Seattle landmark. There were so many nice shops and restaurants. We were starving, but had chosen to explore right around business lunchtime so our competition was stiff! We finally scored a table at a seafood restaurant and enjoyed our meal thoroughly, dining alfresco while watching the ferries and sailboats. After lunch, since we were so ravenous before we ate, we decided we should get a fresh loaf of San Francisco sourdough and eat it straight from the bag! Yum, it was delicious! Browsing along the Embarcadero, with the beautiful California sun shining down on us, enjoying fresh sourdough, it was easy to forget our troubles.

I saw what looked like a giant arrow in the distance, so of course, I had to explore. It turned out to be a huge bow and arrow sculpture in a park that housed a few homeless men. Hmm.....interesting. I took a few photos of the Bay Bridge and then we started walking along the piers. We walked all the way down to Pier 39, which was much like I remembered it. Very touristy, but fun. Lots of shops to explore! We wanted to see the sea lions, so followed the stinky smell to where they lay basking in the sun. A few photos later and we headed toward Fisherman's Wharf. Long before this, I had abandoned my shoes due to my blistered feet and walked the waterfront in only my socks. My feet were killing me!

Fisherman's Wharf was cool, grittier than Pier 39, but with many shops and street artists/performers. We stopped to watch a guy create an amazing painting of the San Francisco skyline using only spray paint and a putty knife. Another guy had collected a bunch of branches and was hiding behind them on the sidewalk. He would pop out at unsuspecting passerby with hilarious results! I had more fun watching him than I should have! (I love scaring people!) Another guy had spraypainted himself silver and stood stock-still on the sidewalk with music playing. He looked like a statue!

By this time I was hobbling because my feet were so sore and lo and behold, a shoe store loomed in front of us! I went in and bought two new pairs of shoes (ok, it was Payless buy one get one half price sale, but still......) and some cushiony inserts for the ones I was currently wearing. We marched on.

When it was time to head back, neither of us could bear the thought of walking the several miles back to where we started, so we took a city bus. I thought perhaps we were on a hidden camera show as this bus stopped at station after station and kept picking up people, even as the last ones to board were crammed up against the bus door! I have never seen so many people on a bus! It was comical. We got off and STILL had to walk five blocks to the hotel. Jeff had to push me the last block! :) Lesson learned - never walk for six hours around a city with bad shoes on!

When we got back to the hotel room, I immediately took two Advil and we soaked our feet in ice water! Then, we had a few minutes to change for dinner. We met the rest of the ACS group in the lobby and were whisked by Town Car to the Crustacean, a nice, upscale restaurant in downtown SF. We enjoyed delicious cuisine while visiting with a bunch of chemist-types (giggle) and headed back (in a stinky old cab this time, not the fancy Town Car!) to the hotel where we collapsed in total exhaustion! Our day started at 4:30 a.m. and ended around 10, which seemed embarrassingly early for a night on the town, but yesterday seemed like the longest day ever!

Today's agenda? Jeff is in training all day while I plan to hobble on my sore feet over to Chinatown and North Beach. And maybe take a bus tour or something that doesn't involve walking all day! There is just so much to do here, a weekend is not enough time at all. But we plan to get the most out of it (or at least I do, while Jeff is stuck in training) and enjoy this great opportunity. But alas, I smell coffee wafting from the hallways and now must hurry off to find a Starbucks and fortify my morning! Until later...........