The Many Adventures of Hannah: San Francisco - A tale of one woman's expedition

Hi once again to all! First of all, a quick birthday update - it was good! The day before Nick left we went kayaking out in Morro Bay with the seals and had authentic clam chowder while sitting at a bar with an awesome view of the Pacific! I wish Everyone could have been there to share the fun! There are only cell phone photos from this trip though - even though a new camera was purchases in lieu of the previous being so crudely dropped by yours truely - it's battery failed to work in our time of need (which resulted in a later return to Best Buy) If Nick figures out how to upload those, I'll be sure to share them!

Now jump ahead a week! Growing increasingly bored with staring at my beige walls, and coming to terms with the fact that no matter how much I beat my dinosaur of a television the picture is not going to fix itself, I chose to step out of my comfort zone and see some of California! Monday's pick... San Francisco (for better or worse...)

After a pleasant 3 hours drive, I found myself in the heart of ghetto San Francisco (you can google all the charms of the "Tenderloin"). Terrified and lost, it wasn't long before I was crying in my car. People drive NUTS. I almost got hit by a bus and no one uses crosswalks. Just short of turning around and going home, I stopped at the only eatery I could find. Once inside McDonalds, I found I was the ONLY white person. Go figure, they say if you ate out all 3 meals at a different restaurant everyday, it would take you 8.5 YEARS to get through them all in San Fran....and I went to McDonald's. Nice. I paid an extravagant amount for a hamburger, made a few phone calls and decided I didn't drive 3 hours to eat at fast food! I made my way to a local tour bus company and hopped on!

Maybe it was Senior Citizen discount day or maybe it was just awesome luck, but now I was on a bus with the finest of our vacationing geriatric population. But - I saw the city! I saw Chinatown, the hoity toity shopping square, those crazy steep curvy roads, cable cars, transvestites, and more! I hopped of at Pier 39 which is a big touristy hub. Lots of cute shops! At the end of the pier I saw Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz (but no Sean Connery in sight...) Eventully I made it back to my car and finished my day by seeing Haight Ashbury (where the hippie movement got big momentum!) I'm a little disappointed I didn't see the "painted ladies" victorian homes, but then again, I'm proud I saw anything in San Fran at all! I guess I'll just have to go back someday (preferably with company!) And of course, as it is anyday I choose to take a trip, it was raining cats and dogs. I was the epitome of fashion in a bright red poncho supplied by the tour bus. So hot, these California girls have nothing on me! Nothing! :)