San Francisco

Jason and I went on what I suppose is called a "baby-moon" last month (March 17-22). We dropped Addie off in a Subway parking lot in Nephi the night before we left. No worries, Uncle Eric was there to take her to Richfield. I held it all together nicely until the moment she was in the truck and heading out, then I cried like a baby. More, even. I cried like a large baby with another smaller baby inside of it. She stayed first in Richfield for a few days and then went to St. George for the rest of the week.

The next morning, earlier than I've had to get up in years, my parents drove us to the airport and we boarded a plane heading for San Francisco for our first ever visit there. I, being hungry just before boarding, purchased a delicious vanilla caramel steamer and drank it all down. Bad choice. The first 10 minutes of the flight proved turbulent and I promptly threw up into the "feel better" bag they provided in the seat pocket. I handed it to the kind flight attendant who, I'm sure, was glad to be of service to me. The name on the bag is accurate, however, as I did immediately feel better. My ears, somewhere in mid-flight, became plugged and remained so for the entire trip. I was a deaf, waddling pregnant person and an ideal travel partner, I'm sure. So, here's how the trip went, beginning with...

DAY 1 (Saturday):

The first person I saw on arriving in San Francisco was a small man with a long beard dancing on a post next to the road. He was a rather lively dancer, especially considering his age. Oh, and it was St. Patrick's day. We then met Tyler and Clare at the hotel and all sat around for awhile, recovering from the travel. Then we went to a nearby store to buy peanut butter, bread, and jam so we could eat cheaply while on our trip. Pete Stark, our resident tour guide and good friend, stopped by to welcome us. We headed back to the hotel to put away our groceries. It began raining. Then it began hailing. Seeing that the weather did nothing to stop the Segway tours scheduled to pass our hotel window every hour or so, we decided to venture out. We stayed on Fisherman's Wharf and took a walk along there. Pete led us to this museum:

This museum is home to several arcade games, some of which are the first ever to be invented. They include machines that take your money and then you are privileged to peek at a photo of a natural disaster from the late 1800's or so. Awesome. Some have a small puppet that gets hung once the money is inserted. Fine entertainment. They were all in working order and we very much enjoyed wondering around and watching other people put money in them so we could see what happens. We are cheap, even on vacation.

Jason is standing in front of a large arcade machine that laughs long, loud, and in a scary manner.

After the arcade museum, we went to see the barking sea lions. Apparently, there used to be many more of them, but they have mysteriously been dropping in numbers. It was still cool to see them, though. Then Pete bid us adieu and Tyler and Clare met up with us at the Aquarium of the Bay.

Here we are, modeling the first of souvenirs we collected for Addie, and hoping the pelican behind us is cooperating in the photo shoot.

We went into a tunnel tank where I was fortunate enough to experience fish swarming over my head. As is obvious from my face, the moment was magical and dreamy.

Then J and I switched places with the fish, just for kicks. This tank was inhabited by pipefish, which are super cool and show it by swimming however they want.

Clare and a large shark. The Zumba classes she does make her fearless, I think.

After spending too much time at the aquarium we scrounged up some dinner. J and I tried our luck at a little seafood stand called Nick's Lighthouse. We got sourdough bread bowls of clam chowder and lobster bisque. We hurried back to the hotel room to eat it since it was so cold outside. First we got lost and went through the wrong hotel, but we eventually made it and enjoyed our soup very much. Tyler and Clare arrived soon and we all called it a night. I love that hotels put so many pillows on their beds.

DAY 2 (Sunday):

We got up, enjoyed our continental breakfast, made peanut butter sandwiches, and headed out to catch the trolley.

Trolleys are cool. I especially like how the conductors (two on each) hop out at the end of the line, physically turn the trolley around, and then hop back on to make the trip back down the line. I was too in awe to take a picture.

I should also explain that, although we are wearing the same clothes in every picture on the whole trip, we were there for more than one day. It was cold, so I wore the one sweater and the one jacket I packed every day. Anyway, on our way to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, we came upon a little park and an old church. Oh, and a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. Pete met us at the museum and we enjoyed many hours wandering through the exhibits...although towards the end we were dying and could care less about art anymore.

Where's Waldo, Jason?

Oh, he's there on the rooftop across from the museum. I personally think Waldo's should be placed all over just for pure fun. After the museum, Pete took us to The Mission area to show us some gems.

Like this curiosity shop, for example. This unicorn can be yours for only $7500 dollars or so. They also sold taxidermy mice dressed as fairies, weird ingredients for witch potions and supplies for terrariums. We also visited a toy store and a pirate store.

Then we went to the park to do some people watching. It was high quality. The building behind us is actually a high school. We ate a late lunch/early dinner at Basso's, a little restaurant and bar, where we were very entertained by afternoon drunks singing and dancing.

Then we went to Ghirardelli Square where we had free samples of chocolate and saw how they make it. Then we ordered some hot chocolates to enjoy. Funny thing: while we were in a crowded line to order, Jason looked across the little room and for a moment thought he was looking into a mirror. It turned out to be Tyler.

After a tiny mug of expensive but tasty hot chocolate, J and I wandered along the harbor and explored a few shops before returning to the hotel for the night.

DAY3 (Monday):

We made the journey to The Rock, also known as Alcatraz.

I asked these guys to please look like hardened criminals, sentenced to Alcatraz and making the one-way trip to ultimate punishment. J looks too happy about it, but Tyler nailed it. Or his mustache nailed it, I'm not sure which. We are on the ferry, and Alcratraz Island is just behind them.

Jason and the remains of the warden's house. The history here is pretty fascinating, especially the part about the children of prison employees growing up here. That would be crazy. They took a ferry to school everyday.

I decided to visit Jason in prison and see how he was doing. He had only been there an hour, but already he had changed so much. Prison will do that to a man.

Jason's unwillingness to follow orders and causing riots among the other inmates landed him in The Hole, also known as solitary confinement. He entertained himself for days in the darkness by dropping a penny on the ground and then searching for it. Once he found it, he dropped it again. Over and over.

Here's a bar spreader used in an escape attempt by a former prisoner. There were two escape attempts in the history of Alcatraz, both ending in disaster. Although, some wonder whether the second attempt actually ended in drowning in the bay or a successful journey to South America. No one knows.

Here's Jason out in the yard, his favorite time of day. Who wouldn't love to play bridge or baseball with mobsters? I'm surprised he still got the privilege considering his poor behavior.

Here we are, admiring the splendid views from Alcatraz, including the Golden Gate Bridge. After Alcatraz we hopped on a Muni and ate peanut butter sandwiches while en route to the California Academy of Sciences.

This building had several animal exhibits in it plus astronomy stuff, biology stuff, etc. We went inside a large rainforest dome that had several levels. I loved learning about these Pitcher Plants. They are plants that grow little pots on their ends that have some sort of gastric-type juices in the bottom. A bug will land on the "lid" and promptly slip inside and be slowly digested by the plant. The pitcher on this plant is the little brown thing near my head.

There were several species of butterflies flying everywhere inside the dome, as well as some birds and frogs. There was a pond at the bottom with various fish and turtles. The butterflies would land on people, and so before leaving the dome everyone had to be checked for stowaways. The higher we climbed in the dome, the hotter and more humid it got. I began swelling up like a manatee and thought that I might not make it out. I did, fortunately. I have a good husband.

The aquarium portion of this building was much better than the aquarium we visited on day one. They had seahorses, penguins, all sorts of fish and sea life, and this albino alligator. I declare the California Academy of Sciences the winner! After exhausting ourselves from a day of walking we headed to Little Italy for some outstanding pizza. We found it at Goldenboy Pizza, a small, narrow restaurant/ bar that serves slices of square pizza. Then we walked (I waddled) back to the hotel where we relaxed and watched an episode of Alcatraz. Oh yes, its a new TV series and parts of it are actually filmed on Alcatraz. I know, I've been there.

DAY 4 (Tuesday):

After our final day of continental breakfast we began what I like to call Stair Day.

First we checked out of the hotel, left our baggage at the counter, and then headed out to the Exploratorium. This was in a nice part of town, where everything was clean and quiet. Here we all are in front of the building. Little did we know that several hours of our lives were about to be sucked away inside by science experiments. I think it took us at least an hour just to make it 10 yards into the building. There were hands-on projects to do everywhere, and once you kicked the kids off of them they were all yours to fiddle with.

This was an association experiment: would you drink out of a toilet even if you knew it had never been used? Jason, we learned, would. I might've if the inside of the bowl looked cleaner and I wasn't worried about poisoning our unborn child.

We spent soooo long here, and we still didn't do everything. It was pretty fun, but I couldn't believe the amount of stuff they had.

Tyler and Clare were scheduled to fly out in the evening, so we left to find a place to eat. They only had time to grab a Subway sandwich and then take off. We were sad to see our vacation buddies leave. J and I went back to Nick's Lighthouse and had fish 'n chips and popcorn shrimp. Their soups are better. We stopped at a souvenir shop and bought a toy trolley for Addie. Then we stopped by the hotel to grab our luggage and started on our way to Pete's house, our home for the next two nights. We decided to walk (hike to the sky is more accurate) to Lombard Street, aka Crookedest Street, first. Here are some photos from the bottom (above) and almost top (below). There are steep staircases on both sides instead of sidewalks. We climbed slowly up and took many breaks (mind you, this after the hike to the sky part). I carried my large self, and Jason carried the luggage.

It's amazing I had enough oxygen left in my body to manage a smile.

At the top we caught a trolley. Here is a photo J snapped of the trolley heading up the hill with a view of Alcatraz Island out in the bay.

We hopped off somewhere near Market Street to switch to an underground Muni that would take us in the direction of Pete's mountaintop home. We stopped at Walgreen's first to buy another loaf of bread. Good ol' Peanut Butter Sandwich, we owe you so much.

Pete had told us that the staircase to his house was intense. His stories were too outlandish to believe, but apparently not too outlandish to be true. We first climbed a steep hill just to get to the bottom of the staircase. Then we climbed the Devil's Spine (I just named it that, but it's fitting). It was almost 400 steps with an elevation increase of 500 ft. These weren't tiny steps either. I thought we were almost to the top several times, only to have my logic slapped in the face by stinging and abusive reality. The views were nice, though. And it smelled good. But I almost welcomed our child into the world on a random never-ending staircase in the middle of San Francisco. I'd like to do some math now: 250 steps on Lombard + 400 steps at Pete's = 650 steps. I'm not even adding in the two straight-up hills we climbed. Even now I can't believe I did it and lived. Also, I never climbed those stairs again. Just a little present to myself.

DAY5 (Wednesday):

This day began as a very nice and warm day. We shed our disgusting layers with shouts of hallelujah and went up onto Pete's roof. Pete was gone for the day (school and work) so J and I were on our own. I loved this day because I got to spend the entire day with just Jason, a rare event these days.

The view from Pete's roof is pretty amazing. He could make money off of tourists by letting them up on his roof. No one would want to climb the stairs, though.

The long strip of green behind me is Golden Gate Park, our decided destination for the day. Where it looks like it disappears into blue is the ocean. I wanted to make it the beach that day, and J wanted to see the bison enclosure in the park. We considered leaving our jackets since it felt so nice, but we brought them anyway. A good move, as it turned out.

We first went up (hooray for elevators!) the Golden Gate Park Observation Tower. Jason was thrilled to be able to see all the Segway tours moving through the park. The above photo is of one of the tours. They really were pretty funny to see, like a line of ants with helmets and vests going by. The next two photos are other views from the tower.

All of the houses in San Francisco look like the house from Full House. All of them. It was pointless to even try looking for Uncle Joey and Uncle Jesse. They are pretty neat and ornate houses, though. And I love the crazy colors.

The fog was starting to roll in, beginning at the Golden Gate Bridge. It quickly turned from a nice, sunny day to a chilly one. We descended the tower and began our trek across the park. They had pretty gardens, ponds, streams, etc. After awhile we decided to find some lunch at some place bordering the park. We choose TC Pastry, a little Chinese shop that sold various dumplings, buns, and stir-fry. We sampled several things and were well-satisfied. My favorite was the sweet melon bun. We then hopped on a bus and short-cutted our way to the beach.

The fog had consumed all of San Fran by then, and made everything feel eerie and chilly. I loved it, especially once we made it to the beach. It made it feel like we were the only people on the beach just because it was too foggy to see anyone else. We came across a monk in red robes bent down in the water, washing something. As we passed him he held out a large shell to me and asked if I wanted it. I hesitated, and then he said, "It would make a great souvenir. I live here, I find these all the time." I thanked him and took it. We continued walking a little ways, a bit in a daze by the surreal experience we just had, when it occurred to us that we should've taken a picture of him. Lost opportunity, I guess. It's not everyday you have a monk encounter on the beach in heavy fog. We found several sand dollars all over, but only one whole one. We brought that one home along with the monk shell and some rocks for Addie.

He's hard to see, but there was a fisherman with a net working along the shore. I'm not sure what he was hoping to catch, but it was an awesome sight. You can also see all the sand dollars scattered all over the beach.

Jason found a jellyfish and picked it up. Not my first reaction to a dead jellyfish, but I enjoyed watching Jason handle it.

The next step after picking up a dead jellyfish is to throw it, just to see if it can be thrown. It can.

We then began our trip back through the park, where we came across some windmills and tulip patches. We eventually made it to the bison enclosure where we sat for awhile and stared at 6 little buffalo that almost never moved. It was just nice to sit.

Then we caught another bus back to the other end of the park and made our way to Patxi's Pizza. They serve Chicago-style deep dish pizzas that take an hour to bake. We ordered a pizza with half pepperoni and half Greek. While we waited for our pizza, we got the family video conference call that we had been waiting for all day: Colton's mission call. He is going to the Bangkok, Thailand mission! We were so excited, and the conference call got really chaotic with all the different lines connected. We were glad to be a part of it, even though we were so far away. Then we ate the best pizza ever. They put the sauce on top of everything, which may just be a stroke of mad genius.

We then decided to wait for the special and infrequent bus that would take us most of the way up the mountain to Pete's. It was a good move...anything is better than those stairs. We ran into two of Pete's roommates while waiting for the bus, so we didn't even have to worry about when to get off.

DAY6 (Thursday):

This was our last day. Pete had the day off, so he called his cousin, Stephanie, to see if she would be so kind as to drive us across the Golden Gate Bridge in her car. She was, as it turned out, so kind.

View while crossing the bridge. Fact: the bridge is NOT red as I previously thought. It is International Orange. Tell that to your friends if you need a little more respect. Here's another fact: it gets painted everyday. By the time they get to one end, its time to repaint the other end again.

Pete, myself, and Jason after crossing the bridge. Its impossible to not have the Full House song in your head while crossing, by the way.

We then went to the Muir Woods, a place that is special for its specific natural resources that enable redwood trees to grow there. This one had fungi growing up the entire trunk.

And this one had ferns growing out of it all the way up.

These trees are taller than the ones at Redwood National Forest, but not as big around. That being said, they were still quite large.

Pete, Stephanie, and her little boy. He is three and very shy and cute. Stephanie, by the way, is pregnant too. She is due a few weeks before me, so we were twins. We also were both wearing purple jackets, so the matter is settled.

I may one day decide to live off the grid and make my home in one of these trees. I will make my clothing and shoes from the fire-resistant bark of these trees, and I will be happy.

We then drove into the fancy town of Sausalito. It was quite pretty and clean, and the air smelled expensive. We picnicked by the harbor (more peanut butter sandwiches) and watched the boats. From out of nowhere (or from behind the other boats docked in the harbor) came this pirate ship. I tried to zoom in to see the toothless mates I imagined were on board, but it was still too far away. My guess, based on the area, is that these were most likely luxurious pirates with straight, white sparkling teeth.

I love it when I give Jason an order and he obeys. I ordered him to make a pirate face, and look how obedient he was! He certainly put in the extra effort, which earned him bonus points.

Just before getting on the Bart that would whisk us away to the airport, we stopped at Osha, a Thai restaurant recommended by Pete. We couldn't believe how fancy the food looked when they brought it out. If I would have had a blue ribbon in my purse, I would have immediately pulled it out and awarded it to our lunch for plate presentation and deliciousness. See the excitement on Pete's face? This food makes everyone feel good. We then left our hearts in the bins they provide at all the outbound transportation stations in San Francisco and left. It was a vomit-less flight, so mostly enjoyable. Oh, and the moment we landed my ears came unplugged. It was like Utah giving me a welcome home high-five. My parents picked us up, took us home and tucked us in bed. Okay, we tucked ourselves in, but we still appreciated the loving way they were our airport taxi drivers.

Addie came home the next afternoon and it was a happy and slobbery reunion. Apparently she had been playing with Barbie dolls in the car ride home: a dad doll, a mom doll, and a little Addie doll. She was playing that the Addie doll was going home to her mom and dad doll, and she would run into her mom doll's arms when she got home. How sweet is that? She was a champ the whole week, but we all missed each other and we're glad were back to normal. Except for Jason, since normal includes work. Many thanks to Eric and Megann and Nana and Bapa for watching our little munchkin all week. We love you guys!