Golden Gate, Crookedest at Lombard, Coit Tower, Alcatraz and Gay Pride Parade

Monday, June 25, 2007

It is past 3pm and am still in my pj's. Hhhhmmmmmm...

Anyway, Friday and Sunday (we were just home on Saturday) were spent in SanFo. My sister had a three-day conference in Burlingame, so we dragged ourselves to explore more of the city. We were here, there and everywhere the past weekend...all on a sudden decision to drive my sister and drop her off at the hotel where the conference was held. I would have met with a fellow Bebot, Joyce since she lives somewhere there but because we have no control of where to go, I missed the opportunity (wow, a dragging sentence!). Oh, maybe the next time we come here, I could plan ahead. (whoa, I just realized that we are homebound in less than two weeks and that the 1st half of the year is almost over! Time just flew by).

Friday, we arrived at Pier 33 where we could purchase tickets for the Alcatraz tour but we found out that the trips were sold out and the next available slots were for Sunday. A cruise arrived that day and another will dock the next day so the trips were all full. We decided to buy tickets for the first trip on Sunday instead. We had so much time to spare that day as a result (my sister's sessions will end at 5pm that day). We drove around to find a really nice spot to see the Golden Gate Bridge, sought the help of the GPS. But we got lost. Hehehe. The GPS just like any other device runs on gigo system. We entered "Golden Gate park" and we were led to a well, park that is miles away from the bridge. Kuya J thought of typing "Presidio" on the GPS and we found what we were looking for, after we followed a short trail from the Crissy Field Center! There was no low fog that day (although still cold!) so we were able to get very nice pictures of the GGB. :)

Then we drove round and round again to find the Crookedest Street along Lombard :) We missed this the first time we went to SF so I was so insistent that we should find it on Friday. We found it, anyway, and even did the drive-down twice hehehe (had to brave the very steep Hyde Street!). That was just so cool! Afterwards, we stopped briefly at the Coit Tower where one can see a spectacular view of Downtown SF and the Bay. We didn't stay long coz by then, we were hungry and needed to grab some lunch already. We drove back to Palo Alto and along El Camino Real, had a very late lunch at Boston Market (traffic at 101 was terrible, an effect of the repairs being done).

Our day ended with a mad woman because we were 45 minutes late in picking her up. I told yah, we spent more than an hour on 101 just to get there (regular travel is around 20 minutes only!).

On Sunday, yesterday, we were up again early. We dropped my sister at the hotel and went straight to Pier33. We were just on time. We boarded the 930am boat and were in Alcatraz. We took advantage of the Audio tour which was really interesting and educational (took more than an hour). We missed the trek though (where the guide will show the escape points) because we had to get in the 1130 boat back to the bay (my sister is to be picked up at 1220pm). We finished the audio tour at 1115am and had to run towards the dock (10minutes walk down) so we won't miss the trip. We got in two minutes before the gates closed. :)

We parked nearby so it didn't take us too long to get into the car and start driving towards Burlingame which is just 15-20 minutes away. Upon turning at Embarcadero, traffic was slow moving. Uh-oh, we cannot be late AGAIN! We took Battery St and were detoured even before we reached Market St. And then it hit us. The Gay Pride Parade was that day! Earlier that day, we saw people in costumes and there were floats being readied. (On a side note though, I would have wanted to watch the Parade because it only comes once a year and WE WERE THERE already...sigh). By the way, to get to 101, cars must cross Market and the only accessible road was Embarcadero! And of all days, Kuya Jun and Ane forgot their mobile phones at home while I left mine on purpose. So how are we supposed to let my sister know that we will be late? We found a payphone and I was able to leave a message on Ate's supposed voicemail. We were off the hook or so we thought.

We arrived at the hotel, more than an hour late and the lady was furious. She said we almost gave her a heart attack because she could not contact any of us. She even called Alcatraz if there were any accidents of that sort. We told here we sent her a VM and she answered she didn't get any. Turned out the number I sent the VM to wasn't hers. We missed the last number (8 instead of 9). Nyeks.

We were all hungry and the ride home was freakin' silent (as if waiting for a bomb to explode). Hehe. We grabbed some late lunch at Goldilocks (yep yep!) and headed home. We all took a nap (from 330pm to 6pm, woah), attended the mass at 7pm and had pizza dinner at Round Table. My sister was in an okay mood already by then.

That's it for now, we are off to Walmart to return the Coleman inflatable bed that has a small puncture. Hehe.


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