This year for Eric’s birthday, we decided to take a trip to San
Francisco. The 2 of us spent a fun-filled weekend touring the City by the Bay
and giving our calves a good workout as we walked up and down San Fran’s famous
hills. Things got rolling Friday morning as we boarded a plane bright and
early. Our seats were located right behind the curtain that divides first class
and coach. With our prime seats, we got a firsthand view of the wonders that
await those who fly first class. From what we saw, we basically missed out on
hot towels, wider seats, and actual cups instead of plastic ones. Oh, and
apparently people who fly first class are more hygienic than we coach dwellers,
as Heather noticed that the flight crew handled the garbage from first class
with bare hands, while the steward helping us wore protective plastic gloves.
Fascinating.
Realizing we had no specific plan to get from the airport to
our hotel, we hopped in one of those shared vans driven by a wild Asian man. We
say wild because he narrowly missed getting smashed several times as he drove
his massive van through the crowded streets. We both wanted to puke after going
up and down hills and repeatedly slamming on the brakes. More on wild Asian
drivers to come … Once we finally found the correct hotel (we got dropped off
at the Holliday Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf, which consisted of 2 separate
buildings, both of which we tried to check-in at, but actually had reservations
at the Holliday Inn Express down the street), we ate some lunch and had a nap
like an old married couple. This started a trend of coming home for naps to
give our tired feet a break from walking everywhere. If only that could happen
in real life. Anyways, that afternoon we were ready to explore the city.
Our first excursion was to Coit tower, a tall old building
with an ancient elevator and some cool murals which showcase the history of San
Francisco. The one that stood out most to us showed a guy lying dead in the
street after apparently having been run over by a cable car. We went to the top
of the tower and got a great view of the whole city. After wearing out our legs
walking up some steep hills to and from the tower, we decided to check out
Ripley’s Believe it or Not, which was only a few blocks from our hotel. We saw
all sorts of weird structures built out of toothpicks and matchsticks, a lizard
man, a guy with a candle embedded in his head, and other treasures. Heather’s
favorite exhibit was a bunch of ants that had been painted with a tiny brush to
look like celebrities. Eric loved the animatronic band (think Chuck-E-Cheese) in
the lobby consisting of the world’s tallest man, a lady with tons of rings
around her neck, a 3-legged man, and a tiny guy in a birdcage.
The first night was spent touring the
shops on Pier 39 and having dessert at Ghirardelli Square. At the end of the
night, Heather’s phone told us we had walked somewhere between 8 and 10 miles,
so we were grateful to get to sleep!
Day 2 was spent exploring the Golden Gate Bridge. But when
you’re as cool as we are, the only way to truly see the bridge is on a tandem
bike. That’s right, we rode over the bridge on a bicycle built for 2. How’s
that for romantic? Actually, Eric’s stubby legs always make biking an
adventure, but we did pretty well for ourselves and enjoyed taking pictures and
biking from San Fran across the bridge to the little town of Sausalito. Before
crossing the bridge, we took a wrong turn and ended up at the base of the
bridge where we parked our bike and explored an old war fort. We took pictures
with cannons and ascended spiral staircases and were glad we missed our turn
because the fort was really cool. After crossing the bridge and ending up in
Sausalito, we took the ferry back to San Francisco. After returning our bikes, we
saw some street performers, including a breakdance crew that recruited Eric and
5 other “white guys” to be part of their act. All the white guys got in a line
and one of the dancers flipped over them. It looked like he broke his ankle
when he landed, so hopefully all the tips
they got will
pay his medical bills. Later we went to an Aquarium on Pier 39 that had some
awesome jellyfish. We also saw a really cool octopus (as if there is any other
type of octopus) and walked through some giant aquarium tunnels full of
starfish, sharks, stingrays, and tons of other sea creatures. After the
aquarium, we explored the pier again, this time in the daylight. We saw tons of
interesting stores, such as the sock store, a magic store, and even a store
that sold creepy puppets. For dinner we tried a place called Dick’s Last Resort
that turned out to be one of the most awkwardly memorable dinners we’ve ever
had. The wait staff prides itself on its ability to be rude and condescending,
which they achieved by belittling the customers and making them wear crude
homemade hats made of butcher paper. The waitress threw a stack of napkins at
Heather and then when she pulled out her cell phone to take a picture, they got
out a leaf blower and strewed an entire package of napkins all over our table.
That was a once in a lifetime experience, simply because we don’t really want
it to happen again in our lifetime.
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| Typical Eric :) |
