San Francisco in March 2005 -- Week 1

(Link to Week 2)

Monday, 15 March, 2005

Yes! We're leaving tomorrow for 2 weeks in beautiful San Francisco!

Here are the pouches I got to hold just my camera and its peripherals (red) and for my camera, phone, cash, and other stuff (yellow). My camera is shown inside the yellow one and between the two in the 2nd pic.

As you can see, these cases are made for the GameBoy, but they're perfect for my use! Each pouch has a locker loop and a belt clip, and the yellow one has a strap that will act as either a shoulder strap or backpack straps!

Tuesday, 16 March

All our bags are packed; we're ready to go! We finally decided that my luggage would be the red bags, and Michael got the blue.

The driver arrived in time, we bid our housesitters goodbye, and we sat back for our limo ride to the airport in Indianapolis.

Here we are right before we enjoyed a scrumptious Jack Daniels Burger at TGI Fridays at the airport. This is one of our favorite things to do!

Our plane out of Indy was Frontier's polar bear!

We bought the TV headphones and Michael watched IU lost the first round of the NIT, and I watched Home & Garden TV..

And I shot this pic of the Denver airport as our plane sped down the runway.

Here we are leaving the Denver airport. Our plane out of Denver was the red fox! :)

Here I am claiming our bags. I do this because I like to.

We're staying at the Argent Hotel. I'll try to get some photos of the rest of the hotel later. For now, here are the calla lilies in the atrium. These are for you, Suzanne! ;)

Our room is beautiful! It's on the 22nd floor and on the corner, so we have views from 2 directions. And this time, our room is like a suite -- 2 rooms!

I tried to shoot out the window, but i wasn't using my new tripod, so here is the best i could do. I'll try to do better!

17 March, St. Patrick's Day!

We woke up feeling dazed and disoriented. While we awoke and showered at 6:30, when we arrived for breakfast, the hotel's restaurant was packed. So we decided to go to Walgreen's first. <g> We actually did need some stuff. We got a gallon of drinking water, and some snacks. I also got.. a new bag! I'll have a photo of it in here later.

We DID get breakfast at Jester's, in the Argent. Here's part of mine!

Ok, here's a pic of that tripod we made! The camera screws onto that machine screw that comes up out of the bottle cap. The black knob tightens up onto the camera to make it really tight.

Here I am, ready to go and here's my new bag! Yes, I know I have a "thing" about bags. I guess it's cheaper than diamonds, though, isn't it?

Here are some scenes of our walk to and along the Embarcadero.

Friday, 18 March, 2005

We began this day with breakfast at the Argent. Here's a picture! Yummy stuff.

Next, we did our walk up to Washington St, past the Transamerica Tower, and then to the Embarcadero. We turned south and walked to Mission St, taking it back to the Argent.

It rained all day, but not hard, and it was pleasant walking, (except when Michael took a slide on a slick grating!) But, because of the rain, I wasn't inspired to take many pics. and when I was inspired, I didn't want to get the camera wet! This kinetic sculpture was not far from our hotel, along Mission Street.

Here's the map of where we walked today!

We relaxed and recuperated in the late afternoon, watching some interesting survivor stories on the National Geographic channel. Hey, at least it's a channel we don't get at home!

We did dinner over at the Metreon, just behind our hotel, next to the Moscone Center. It's a very sexy complex of entertainment, food, and Sony stuff for show and sale. We chose the Martini Grill for supper and it was quite delicious!

Here's Michael waiting for his prescription at RiteAid.

Saturday, 19 March, 2005

We awoke to more rainified skies today. Looking out the window with my binoculars shows that folks are not using umbrellas, though, and their coats don't seem as heavy.

We breakfasted in our room with goodies procured on Mission St yesterday. I'm about to rouse Michael for our walk!

Ok, we finally got going. We headed northeast on Mission Street and then a little bit south on Embarcadero to close to the Oakland-Bay Bridge.

This bow and arrow sculpture intrigued us! It was huge, as you see. The tiny figure in yellow.. is me!

Weather, as you can see, is still a bit cloudy and cool, but it isn't raining!

Sunday, 20 March, 2005

Michael is pretty sick today, feeling very weak, coughing a lot.. not febrile, but just no energy. So we decided that I'd go off alone adventuring, and keep in touch with him on the cellphone.

I went to Telegraph Hill and climbed up to Coit Tower. After taking several pics around the base, I took the elevator to the top! What marvelous views of the city!

In the 3rd pic here, see the red arrow? That points to our hotel where Michael awaited. I called him from up here.

Though I missed having him along for all of this, I enjoyed keeping in touch with him on the phone, and he liked hearing from me, too!

On the way back, I took a few pics in Chinatown. Michelle and Mitch, that middle pic's for you!

After I got home, Michael and I went for a 30-minute walk to the Transamerica Pyramid and back.

This map shows my route in magenta, and Michael's and our afternoon route together id shown in purple.

Monday, 21 March, 2005

Michael is still under the weather, so I took off alone this morning. My goal was to walk UP Lombard Street, the famous "crookedest street in the world."

I first had to get TO Lombard Street. I went down Kearny to Columbus, and then took Columbus to Lombard. You can see my route in the map at the end of today.

The walk up to the top of the hill... oh my! This was steep and challenging, but I did it!

On the way back south, I saw this little drama on the sidewalk. It was just like this; no kidding. I wonder what the story was. I just couldn't walk past it without photographing it. I saw other people staring at me as I photographed it. <g>

I'm happy with the way the little cam shoots closeups!

Later in the day, when Michael and I were there, there was smoke coming out of the Macy's dragon's nose! No kidding! It was raining by then, though, so I didn't take a pic of that.

Michael decided that he wanted to go to a doctor and make sure that nothing scary was going on with him. The concierge helped us to find this clinic, where Dr. Sewell took good care of us.

He thinks that Michael's just over-tired, from having taken on too much so soon after his surgery. Michael got a chest x-ray and some lab work done and we'll know the results tomorrow. He is also on a new antibiotic. He feels better already!

THis last pic shows my walk in purple and our walk together in blue. We did 30 leisurely minutes in the Nordstrom mall, a "tall" mall, sort of like the Watertower in Chicago.

Tuesday, 22 March, 2005

Today, Michael got the results of his lab tests, and everything turned out normal. This means that he has been sick with a viral infection, and not something worse. Here he is after having gotten the fax from the doc.

It is cold and rainy today, but we went on a nice walk, going nearly to the top of Nob Hill. It was challenging for Michael, but we both enjoyed it!

We were not on the internet after noon today, so we spent some time napping, watching TV, and just chilling.

Wednesday, 23 March

We got up earlier today and had a delicious breakfast. I had the Argent's granola with berries and bananas (and skim milk!) and Michael got the buffet. Here we are getting ready to go out and then here's me with my breakfast.

Then we went on our walk. We walked down Kearny to Columbus and then all the way down Columbus to the Cannery, down on the Wharf. Though it wasn't raining, it was quite chilly and windy, so we were happy that we had our jackets! I didn't take my hands out of my pockets to take any pix, either, dang it!

We had a coke by the fire in Jack's Bar, a quaint historic pub in the Cannery. Then we walked the block and a half up to the bus stop, where we paid our $1 each to ride the #30 back up to Union Square.

Macy's was our lunchtime destination, and we were happy to find that they had a flower show going on on the lower level.