Thursday July 4th
We drove up to SF around 9:30 on the way we saw Google,
Adobe, Youtube, a big Android dude. We
also saw…M5 Industries. The place where
Mythbusters started! We got some pics
and left a note for Tory written in the dust on the garage door. Oh so cool.
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| The sign that was duct taped to the door. Duct Tape - that makes sense! |
We parked near Pier 39, on the 4th level –
important fact. I hadn’t done much in terms of vetting SF for things to do and
see. I knew I wanted to see the bridge,
ride a trolley car, see Alcatraz but other than that I was wide open. Well Pier 39 was something I wasn’t
expecting. It was on the Bay and had
every type of novelty store you could want.
It also had oodles of places to eat. There was so much to see that it
could get a little overwhelming after a while but we persevered.
We found a set of stairs that when you stepped on them it
sounded like a piano – you know, like from Big.
Then a few feet later we ran into Zoltar –you know, like from Big!!! Landed
at Bubba Bumps for lunch. Had a semi-view
of Alcatraz, but it was more fun looking around at the film memorabilia and
attempting to decipher our server Caolen’s accent and how to pronounce his
name. Work on it – I’ll tell you at the
end. Shrimp all around and a Forrest
Gump quiz.
We walked down a few piers and got to the America’s Cup
Opening Day festivities. We watched a short video about what it would feel like
sailing on one of these big boats. These boats are fast, big and potentially
dangerous…a perfect hobby for a 1%er. There was a ceremony to start the 3 month
long race that we went to. There was
plane doing acrobatic tricks before the ceremony started – it appeared to stall
in mid air...amazing. Actually Brian, Sully, Donna and Lee went to it. Seth had a roaring headache so we got out of
the sun. We went to the ‘medic’ and
asked for some ibuprophen. They took us
behind a curtained door and a full ER opened up waiting for patients – it was
built just for this event. It had beds
for aobut 12 injured/sick people and an
xray machine available – was not expecting that. Needless to say, they had ibuprophen, he got
some and started feeling better. We walked around the pier and Seth climbed
over a fence to save some guys hat from falling into the Bay.
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| Learning to paddleboard |
Here is Sully account of the opening ceremony: I saw the teams from all the boats. Then each
countries team had entertainment. New
Zealand had dancers kind of like Indians. It was interesting because I have
never seen it before. It was very
unusual. My favorite entertainment was
from American’s Got Talent –Recycled Percussion. It was kind of like Stomp – it was not slow,
it was fast and fun.
After the ceremony we oogled over the 1%ers yachts –
these things once again were HUGE. How
does one make that type of money??
The afternoon was ticking away and we needed to eat
before boarding the boat. We found
Boudin’s restaurant that is famous for making sourdough bread. A guy was luring patrons in the doors by
throwing loaves of bread into the crowd –Brian caught one and it was
delicious! We put our names in for
seating and walked around the museum (that had more free samples of
bread). It was taking much longer than
anticipated so we had to leave and get hot dogs on the street. But we stopped for some street entertainment along the way!
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| Uncle Lee and Sully laughing at the guy juggling swords on a unicycle |
We boarded a boat to take us to the Bay to watch the
fireworks. How fantastic is that! Watching the fireworks in the SF Bay?
AWESOME! We zipped around Alcatraz then
under the Golden Gate Bridge. Boys were
having a ball running up and down the stairs and taking pics (Sully took 200 pics of the firework show
alone) . Me on the other hand…I was
getting a headache. How did I get a
headache…walking all day, in the sun most of the time, drinking very little
water, poor sleep the night before…okay I get it now why I have a
headache. The sun was setting as we were
returning and long about 9:30 the fireworks started. I couldn’t be on the 2nd or the 3rd
floor of the boat as it swayed too much so I hunkered down on the main level –
in the dark and quiet and very little movement of the sea to rattle my
brain. I truly thought I was having a
stroke when I saw TWO set of identical fireworks going off at the same time
about 1 mile apart from each other.
Nope, no stroke, SF had 2 sets of fireworks. Very cool.
Sullivan found me down below and spent the entire time attempting to
take pics of each and every blast going off.
We got off the boat and into the parking garage at 10:30
– remember what level we were on? That’s
right the 4th. I got wayyyy
in the back, laid down and fell asleep – ahhh the car is not moving it was
heaven and my headache finally went away.
While I was peacefully dozing Sully and Brian were looking over the
parking garage at the cars on the street that weren’t moving at all. It took 90 minutes for us to get out of the
garage! I remember waking up at some point, seeing a white ceiling and thinking
“Wow, we are home already”, but no we were still in the parking garage. It took another 90 min to get back to San
Jose. Apparently traffic was horrible –
Seth and I slept right through it. We were in our beds at 1:50. Moved boys into our dark bedroom so they
could sleep later the next morning. Sullivan wasn’t happy about that!
Our server’s name Caolen – is pronounced Keelan. He said it is an unusual spelling even by
Ireland’s standards.
Best thing:
Sullivan – watching the fireworks because I took 10,000
pictures
Seth – Fireworks, because they were fun
Sarah – The fireworks – even with a headache they were
great
Worst thing:
Sullivan – Stinky bathrooms
Seth – Headache
Sarah - Headache
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