The Bay Area

           
          Well I must say arriving on the outskirts of San Francisco during rush hour is truly the pinnacle of driving mayhem, and I survived!!! Barely…After getting my first taste of the notorious Bay Area traffic I arrived at my Aunt and Uncle's house.  I chucked my stuff in the house and started a load of laundry before taking off to watch my cousin Jordan’s football game.  She is a cheerleader on the freshman team at San Ramon Valley High and did awesome!! I was so proud! Sorry McCall-Donnelly High, you aint got nothing on these girls!

            Friday was a bit of a blur.  My Aunt Susan and I crammed about a weeks work of activities into 8 hours.  She grabbed the maps and I, the guidebook and we were scurried off to downtown San Francisco.  Of course I was shocked at how good a driver she was in all the traffic and all over those steep San Fran hills!! Go Susan!  Our first stop was Crissy Field and the Golden Gate Bridge, which were bustling with other site-seers even in the bitter bay air.  Sadly it was so foggy we couldn’t even see the top of the bridge tower until we were right under them and the wind that accompanied the fog was so strong I thought it was going to blow Charlie into the water!  The plan was to rent bikes or walk all the way across the bridge but weather worn and stuffy nosed, we settled for a brisk stroll to the first tower then headed back for a tasty seafood lunch at Fisherman’s Warf.  I naturally had my fav, clam chowder while Susan enjoyed a bloody mary, a salad, and tray of bruschetta, which we split and gave us garlic breath for the rest of the day!

            We wandered around Giridelli Square (yes, as in the chocolate company) people watching and window-shopping and drove down Lombard Street before heading to China Town.       I must say it was not at all what I had expected, and didn’t actually remind me of China at all.  We stuck our heads into a fortune cookie factory, which smelled delightful and ducked into an eclectic bookstore for a few moments to browse the “banned” books selection.  Charlie was so brave! He walked the whole time all by himself and never even got stepped on once haha; what a trooper!

            Leaving the city on a late Friday afternoon= 2 hours stuck in traffic, but when we arrived back in Danville my Uncle John and three cousins picked me up and we went to dinner.  By the time he dropped me back off I was so tired I could’ve slept where I stood, but oh my, what an exciting day!!

            The next morning the house was bustling early because my cousin Kylie had a varsity cheer competition in Santa Cruz.  We drove down and chilled on the beach all day while hundreds of high school cheerleaders excitedly buzzing about in their crisp uniforms and costume makeup.  It was cool to watch although a tad nerve racking because Kylie is a flyer and they really chuck those girls high into the air! Her squad got third in her division and qualified to move on to nationals!  Way to go Wolves!!! :D My Aunt stayed with the girls at the pier after the show so they could ride the rides and stuff themselves with carnival food while my uncle and I split a bag of caramel corn on the drive home and went grocery shopping.  We polished off the day with a lovely dinner of caprese salad and sautéed winter squash. YUM!

            Monday I ventured back to San Francisco on my own to go to Alcatraz Island.  I took the train in from Danville and proceeded to immediately get on the buss going in the wrong direction.  Yey for being directionally challenged…Thank goodness for the wonderful conductor who let me ride the loop with him as he played tour guide pointing out cool stuff throughout the city and giving me a hard time about being a tourist.  Due to my extended buss tour, I barely made my ferry, but was so excited to see the famous prison I forgot all about the whole mishap as soon as the boat pushed off.

            Alcatraz is extremely beautiful and just as you would imagine it: dark, damp, and isolated.  The audio tour is spectacular and shockingly informative.  The voices really suck you in as it walks you all over every inch of the prison and through all the escape attempts over the years.  You feel as if you’re there and you can see the men desperately trying to make their way to freedom.  It was so moving to stand in the cells where officers were killed during the “War for Alcatraz” and to see the still visible grenade pot marked floors. Imagine what it would have been like to be one of the men housed there…able to see the lights of San Fran and hear the city sounds carried on the night wind but to be locked all the while in a 5’X10’ cement cell; if that’s not enough to make you reevaluate poor life choices, I don’t know what is.  After making it back to Danville (after I got on the train going the wrong way…again…), I went to the movies with some of my family where we consumed far too much popcorn and candy.                                                              
 (John and Kristen and Cousins) (Jim and Susan and Cousins)

            Tuesday was a very exciting day because I got to see one of my very good friends from China.  Jai lives in Atwater, which was only a 2-hour drive so I scooted over for a quick visit.  I hadn’t seen him since we got back to the states, and we had lunch at this wonderful Thai restaurant where I filled myself to the brim with green curry while we reminisced about our time in China and what we had done since.  It was so great to see him and I cannot wait until out next visit when he goes abroad to Poland!!! Future trip? Oh I think so!!

            It was in the high ninety’s when I headed back to Danville which really drained all my energy so I spent the rest of my evening relaxing with the fam and planning the next leg of my journey…….