San Francisco touring

The one thing you cannot do as a tourist in San Francisco is avoid tours.  Well, you could, but then you'd miss half of the fun.

One of the places I wanted to see was the Rock.  Yes, Alcatraz.  Tickets were sold out for the next week, so there was no hope of me hopping on a tour to the infamous prison.  However, I was able to catch a bay cruise that motored me around the island and then on to other highlights in the bay.

The boat meandered under the Golden Gate Bridge, which was shyly hiding behind fog.  I have one thing to say about the bridge:  it's huge!  I find it interesting that it's so iconic of San Francisco that it is constantly being painted to keep it beautiful (and because it needs it with the salty sea air).

After walking back onto solid land, hunger descended upon me.  Hillstone, a restaurant just across the street from pier 33, looked pretty appetizing.  Of course, in order to get to the restaurant, you have to walk a block to a stoplight, then cross the street and walk back.  But it was worth it.

Hillstone was probably the best food in my entire San Francisco journey.  I got nervous approaching the door that exclaimed "proper attire required."  Does that mean dressy?  Who knows.  They let us in.  Waitstaff decked head to toe in black, and a too-happy hostess attempting a 70s look fit in with the dark wooden decor.

Being next to the water, many of the menu items were seafood.  I settled on a Chicken and Friends Sandwich.  (Not seafood)  It had chicken, it had ham, it had avocado.  Sold!  I didn't know it until my first bite, but it  had a house bbq sauce as well.  Scrumptious!  If you're in San Francisco, eat there.  Eat that.

Service was prompt, the food was delectable... though I think the waitress was in training.  When asked to repeat something or questioned about the one of the items she listed off, it was a blank stare for about 30 seconds before a very hesitant response.

The famous "Painted Ladies"

Moving along, after lunch was another walk along the piers to look for San Francisco bus tours.  An Australian teenager sold us on a hop-on hop-off bus tour.  We stayed on the bus through most of the route, given the hour (hopped on at 4:30 and most places closed around 5).  We saw the Painted Ladies (very cool), dropped off some Germans to "shop" on Haight and Ashbury, cruised by city hall with it's beautiful dome...

Did you know that George Lucas rents out a building on the Palacidio for $5 million a month?  Or that there's a Disney museum?

The one area I wanted to see was Golden Gate Park with the Modern Arts Museum, flower conservatory, and Japanese Tea Gardens.  Alas, it was too late on Friday...I consoled myself with the thought that maybe on Saturday we could go with the bbf (and pass on Ghirardelli Square?  I don't think so).

A day of eating in San Francisco

San Francisco is known for good great things.  One of those things is food.  High quality food is definitely on the to-do list while on vacation.  Not that I don't love the Lake, but I'm the one cooking the entire time.  San Francisco, on the other hand...I don't have to touch a pan.

Hopping off the plane at nearly 10:30 at night, I gave up hope on a nice dinner out.  The bbf not only managed to get out of work early enough to avoid the stress of hunting down the shuttle, she had ideas for dinner.  She hadn't had time to go out in San Francisco yet, having just moved and working 12 or 14 hour days.  Crazy.  I don't think I'd have the stamina to be a doctor.

In all of her amazingness, she had wanted to make a surprise dinner: Zuppa Toscana.  Mmmm.  So good.  However, with her long schedule and a crock pot that doesn't stay on for the requisite 14 hours, it wasn't to be.  Spaghetti with homemade sauce and some bread, that's what dinner morphed into.  Hey, we don't know where to eat at 11:30pm on a Wednesday... Kudos to her cooking, though.

I take it back, I did touch a pan.  Breakfast!  I can make it myself, so I did so.  The first day I opted to spend in the Exploratorium, which, while it has many interesting things to do, does not have a very thrilling food court.  I did have some quinoa salad that was pretty tasty, but that's about all I can say about lunch.

Walking around San Francisco for the remainder of the day worked up my appetite.  Dinner was going to be at a restaurant with the bbf.  However, she recommended we try an In and Out fast food joint, so, after a few hours of walking, the manfriend and I stumbled into one.  Not wanting to ruin a much tastier dinner, the we split a combo.

Photo from The Cheesecake Factory

Eventually, after looking in store after store around Union Square, we found a sweater to keep the manfriend somewhat warm in the windy city.  A bench in Union Square finally gave my feet a reprieve, where I happened to become very aware of The Cheesecake Factory.  Who can resist that?  Mango Key Lime?  Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate?  Vanilla Bean?  Red Velvet? Triple Chocolate?  Too many options...I wanted to try one of each!  Alas, we settled on one per person...only three... (not that we didn't split every piece between the three of us).

Due to high demands at work, the bbf didn't get off until 10pm.  Our choice for dinner was a quaint thai restaurant, Them Phanom.  Only one problem - they close at 10:30.  By the time we arrive, they graciously tell us that they are already closed.  It's 10:15, of course they don't want to seat us.  Alright.  Walking back to the car, we spot a hole in the very dirty wall: Chili Cha Cha.  Okay, we'll give that a try.  It's still food.

Best choice ever.

The curry is amazing - the perfect blend of spice and creaminess.  The cashew chicken is delicious.  I hear the pad thai is pretty awesome as well.  And best info ever for the bbf: they deliver!  The negative thing is that we requested to sit in the restaurant, and they ended up bringing us our food for take out.  Whatever.  We piled into the car and ate in the comfort of the kitchen.

And had cheesecake for dessert.

Exploratorium

Hands on science:  having fun while learning.  Thus is the idea behind the Exploratorium.  It may be directed at kids, but aren't we all kids at heart, even if we have a bit bigger body to experiment with?

The Exploratorium is located at the Palace of the Arts, which happens to be an incredible building.

Yes, I'm slouching. But look how big the urn is!

There are more experiments to play with than you could imagine.  One area is dedicated to magnetic fields, another to biological science, yet another area deals with sound, space, etc.  The current exhibit at the Exploratorium is Color.  It was fun to play with light and how colors change (and do everything you can imagine with color).

A modified polygraph was interesting.  It measured excitement levels in the body.  What's the most embarrassing thing I can ask you about in front of this crowd of people...?  I also talked to a computer program (Daisy) that was just learning language... it wasn't too thrilling.  I think she could have been programmed better.  She liked to repeat herself.   There was also a special activity of dissecting a cow's eye.  How cool is that?  And creating a functioning motor.  And a forever walking slinky.  And...and... I managed to take pictures of a few stations.

Ever thought about how different colors change your mood?  Let's find out...

Blue (becoming purple) is soothing

Red makes you anxious/excited

Purple!..I dunno...

Let's create a magnetic field and project it on a screen, shall we?

Can you tell I'm attempting to take a picture?

How about making different colors with light?

Oooh, special disappearing tubes...

And my personal favorite:  The unattainable spring.  There is a light that shines in this little box in the wall.  Okay, what's so cool about that, you say.  Well, try to grab it.  It looks like it's right there in front of you.  But it's not.  Your hand goes right through it.  No, no, it's not a ghost.  This is a science museum, after all.  Not the unexplainable.  Geez.  It's just a trick!

Hint:  If you walk around the corner and look into the other window, you can see where the spring is located...and the concave mirror that reflects it to look like it's right in front of you.

Space-y type stuff was towards the end.  There was a satellite orbit simulation, which is cool, until you jet off into space or crash into earth, (zero gravity?  I didn't hit the zero gravity button...).  To further explore, dry ice demonstrates the way asteroids move...

Pretty, isn't it?  All the twirling...

Anyway, to sum it up, the Exploratorium was fun.  Definitely something to do with the kids that's educational as well as time consuming, but fun for adults, too.

Update

I made it home.  Of course the flight to San Francisco was delayed several hours, but to return was exactly on time.  Okay, not exactly...it was delayed 10 minutes.  For a flight, I consider that on time.

I'm always amazed at the hostility some people spew for minor inconveniences.  (But that's another story.)

The flight was peaceful...(meaning that I slept through 2/3 of it).  Arrival back in Washington was quick and easy.  However, by the time we drove out to the house, the manfriend wasn't feeling too well.

We went out shopping.  I knew something was up when he walked at my side, instead of outpacing me in all the stores.  By dinner, he was asleep, and until now has barely been awake for an hour at a time.

I have yet to get sick, and thank God every day for my immune system.  (I haven't even been dousing myself in Emergen-C or drinking orange juice to keep the sickness away - here's the upside to working with tons of children)

As I write this post, pictures from my travels are uploading.  Hopefully I will be inspired enough to post about the rest of San Francisco today instead of spending all my time out in the yard.  I do have a lot of pictures.

My poor aching feet...but cheesecake makes everything better

Photo from The Cheesecake Factory

Today was day número uno in San Francisco. I awoke bright and not-so-cheerfully early. For me, in the summer, 7:00 is the buttcrack of dawn-it shouldn't exist. And yet it does. My eyes partially cracked open, I pulled my phone over to examine the options for my day.

I quickly found a link yet again to the Exploratorium. I've come across it like, three times. It must be a sign.

Done. The day is decided. Off to the Palace of the Arts to learn science and play with weird experiments!

It doesn't take too long to get ready and walk out the door. The arrival to the Palace, well, takes longer than it probably should, being that part of the time is spent walking the wrong direction...or taking the bus the opposite way...but nevertheless, Adventure! San Francisco is full of beautiful architecture to be seen. Despite a few minor mishaps, arrival is within the hour.

It's easy to blow several (4) hours at the Exploratorium. More to come (with pictures) soon once I can upload them. After becoming slightly bored with the million and a half exhibits, it's time to go. Forget the aching feet and headache, it's time to walk San Francisco.

The next several hours are spent meandering the streets checking out the scenery. There are some beautiful views of Alcatraz and the bay, and some not-nearly-as-attractive views of a naked man laying in the grass...yeah...it got worse when he stood up and tried to keep pace with us...moving on...

We walk through parts of Golden Gate Park, Fisherman's Wharf, and the piers. Anyone feel the need for an Alcatraz: Psych department shirt? Eventually hundreds of tourists, myself included, shove our way onto a trolley. Escape from the hoard finally comes at Union Square, where it's time to do a bit of shopping. Who am I kidding? With names such as Bulgari, Luis Vuitton, and Saks Fifth Avenue, I'm mostly gazing into windows.

As I give my poor feet a break from standing 95% of my day, a sign catches my attention: The Cheesecake Factory. I. Must. Go. There. Being that lunch was a minuscule salad and a spoonful of quinoa with veggies, and "dinner/snack" was approximately half a combo from In and Out, I'm in the mood for cheesecake. Alright, alright, it's just an excuse. I mean, it's cheesecake!

So, climbing up to the eighth floor of the building, I paid my homage to cheesecake. Real dinner plans with the bbf, along with the huge crowds, keep me from ordering a meal. But I can buy a piece to go...Mango Key Lime sounds about right.

After about another 45 mintues, I can't handle it any longer. While waiting for the bbf to get out of work, I hide out in a Starbucks with a coffee in one hand and my cheesecake in the other. I between bites, I'm writing this blog. My feet have been aching for hours now, but miraculously, with each bite, the pain seems to disappear a little. Cheesecake. It's the miracle cure.

I should patent it or something.

Travel and it's inconveniences

Airports, full of sweaty people pulsing against the constraints of security to hurry up and just wait already. Tempers run short and passengers become exhausted. Weather threatens to make not-so-welcome changes to itineraries and inevitably a screaming baby is swaddled near you on a turbulent ride.

Or not.

I happen to enjoy travel. All aspects of travel. I don't mind the long waits at security, the people that don't understand relatively simple directions, or the long waits at different gates to climb into a plane and sit a while longer. To me, it's all part of the adventure. I relish the excitement that descends upon entering the airport, breathing in the hint of new horizons.

Maybe this wanderlust is a product of being able to go places like Disney World as a child. Maybe not. I've always loved traveling and visiting new places. If I could do that my whole life, I would. (Maybe I went into the wrong profession? Flight attendant? Maybe that would have been a way for me to see the world as it bends and expands.)

Currently, I'm on the flight to San Francisco. (Gotta love being able to write anywhere and upload it later.) Out my window I can see a full moon transform the tops of clouds into a sugary spun pink below me. The flight was delayed 2 1/2 hours, and I don't mind, it affords me this beautiful view. A few thousand miles below me, lights of cities create pockets of fire that peek between the clouds. Nope, I wouldn't give this up for the world.

But with all the parts of traveling that I enjoy, there is one I do not. Bear with me, or I will be forced to turn around and complain rather rudely (with possibly a few choice words) to the woman behind me with a grating voice. She's one of those let's-be-best-friends-and-discuss-our-life-stories-and-politics types that I've only ever had the displeasure of sitting next to once in all of my travels. But I could forgive her that, if it wasn't for the constant vibration of my seat. It has nothing to do with my position on the plane, mind you, but rather the fact that she keeps slamming her hands down onto the tray table attached to my cushion.

Maybe she's Italian? Talking with her hands is a part of her nature? Who knows, but it's very hard for me to do anything, anything, while she's doing this. It's my number one travel pet peeve. Its preventable. There's no need to partake in said behavior. A crying baby? I can get over it with my shining headphones that block out the world of my choosing. A hold up for security because someone didn't read the signs, can't follow other people's lead, and apparently has never traveled before? Ah well, they've never had the opportunity to travel, and my plane will wait, or I'll just have less time to mill around the gate. A delayed flight? Weather is weather, and I'll make my destination eventually.

Being inconsiderate? No, there's no real excuse for that.

So please, next time you travel, don't bang on the seat in front of you. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your book. Or the view out the window. Or best yet, dream about the new escapades you'll have when you arrive.