San Francisco!!!

So! I made it back from San Francisco safely and I had a ton of fun! I wasn't sure that I would have any fun from the start of our trip..in fact, I wasn't sure we'd even get to go on the trip and have a repeat of cali trip earlier this year.

Everything seemed fine, we got to the airport with more than enough time to spare. The plane left on time we made good time to DFW to catch our next flight and got the gate just fine but thats where things started to go wrong. First everyone gets on the plane and then the pilot comes in over the speaker and says that there will be some thunderstorm activity over the flight plan for that evening...normally this would not be a problem except their weather radar is not working. So they got a technician in to fix it. They decided it wasn't fixable so they replaced the whole thing delaying us for an hour...yuck. Alas, finally we start going down the runway and then the pilot comes on the loudspeaker again...uh oh indeed!! One of the engines is not properly firing up. Great!!! So he heads back into the airport to have it checked out. After about 30min on the plane, the officials decide it is not something that can be fixed right away and put everyone on another plane. Thank god we got off the doomed plane!!! So now it takes another hour to get everyone on the plane and take off, making us 3 hrs late for our destination. Very nice way to start a trip!

We get into San Fran at around 3am their time and head straight for the hotel. We stayed at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. It is a very old hotel but overall nice. We woke up early the next day and headed out surveying the area. We stayed mostly in Union square that day looking at all the huge stores. I swear the area is like one giant outdoor mall. We also, went to the San Francisco Modern Art Museum. I enjoyed it a lot. I wish I had been able to go a couple of years ago when I was taking a modern art class and was learning about all the art work I was getting to see first hand. I think Jeff had mixed feelings about the SFMOMA. He got quite angry over Triptych by Rauchenberg. For anyone who is curious, its 3 completely white canvases...I thought he was going to storm out of the museum. Unfortunately, after we were tired and ready to rest did we find the photography exhibit which really interested him but by that time we were ready to leave.

Later we headed out trying to find the San Francisco Brewing Co. We didn't find it but ended up walking into a dive bar whose happy hour had just started. We ended up staying there from like 5-8 drinking tons of beer and then moving on to alcohol...I know wrong order! Jeff and I fell in love with our bartendress. She was nice but totally no nonsense plus she made kick ass drinks. We also met a local named Rob and hung out with him for awhile. By the time happy hour was over, Jeff and I were so smashed that we had to leave or risk never finding the hotel again. Ended up crashing sans dinner and slept through the night.

Next day miraculously there was no headache and we headed down to the Market center for the huge market that goes on every Saturday. Let me just say that I cried it was so beautiful. Fresh fruit and veggies everywhere. Beautiful flowers. Fresh cheeses from Cali and honey from local beekeepers. If I had such a market here in Austin, I would be in heaven!! From there we spent the rest of the day patroling the warf. Pier 39 is over rated is all that I have to say. But I love the sea lions...stinky but cute! We went to the aquarium but it was kinda lame. We also walked around Chinatown which is absolutely huge!

Our last day in San Fran, we rented bicycles and biked across the Golden Gate bridge. Its about a 10mile round trip, most of which is up hill. That was a lot of fun. Just on a side note...San Francisco is cold!!! I froze the entire bike ride. While I was working my ass off biking uphills, I did not break a sweat once! After that we went on a bay cruise and got to see the bridge from underneath and then Alcatraz up close. We did not get to go to Alcatraz though because tickets were sold out fo the entire weekend. The city has limited the number of tickets that are purchased so only I think 300 people get to visit everyday..something like that...I don't remember. Then we decided to try and find the brewery again for the 3rd time. So we asked some people and it seemed like we were never going to find this elusive brewery. Finally we found it in an area were we had been a million times in the last couple of days but never knew that it was there. We tried the beer which is made fresh with less carbonation and served at cellar temp. I really didn't care too much for the beer. I've had much better microbrewery beer here in Austin then there. Jeff thought it was the warm temperature of the beer that he didn't like. I think I agree.

After the brewery, we went back to the hotel and passed out again. Got up at 5:00am to leave for Austin. Came back here and now I have class this afternoon that I've spent all morning reading for.

I'd have to say that the vacation was a success. We didn't get to eat at some of the places I wanted to, but, you know, at the end of the day, I was too damn tired to care!