SF2

BTW, it most definitely was winter the day I travelled to SF, but it sure didn't feel like it. Hooray for places with mild winters!


This old riverboat appears to have been modified to become a nightclub or something. Bizarre.

I walked and walked and walked. My legs were getting weary as I finally reached pier 39. I liked the crab that greeted me


The pier is a tourist trap but I didn't mind. I was ready for a tourist trap with its various diversions. It had Stuff in it, some of which was almost interesting! The merry-go-round was very nifty


and quite a number of people were admiring the pretty horses (mostly adults, probably like me wondering if the things could bear our weight)


The stars of the show at pier 39 are of course the sea lions. I thought I got a totally brilliant video of two sea lions threatening each other but alas no the camera didn't understand that pressing the shutter button means start recording now. (I got a totally brilliant video of the decking :-) Instead, you get to see a still shot of this seagull enjoying some pre-digested lunch...


By the time I had reached Pier 39, I was sick of walking. I was going to walk all the way back into town to check out yarn shops and there was no way I was walking any closer to this SF icon:


And I certainly was not swimming all the way to there:

(though I could've caught a ferry if I wanted to share it with 500 or so 15 year olds. Ick)

A number of old trams/trolleys/streetcars rumble up and down the (dangnabbit, getting old, I think it is a Spanish word that would translate to esplanade, though it sounds like place of embarkation). Embarcadero. That is it! I spent quite a few frustrating minutes trying to get a shot of a tram rather than the side of a truck or a taxi or some enormous hulking SUV. Eventually my patience was rewarded:


I think this building demonstrates that I was in SF and not some other place


This steep street could be in SF or Wellington in New Zealand - both of them are subject to the same forces that cause sudden uplift of land


But these houses have a very Bay area feel to them


The centre of town was interesting - it was older than I expected but then again I guess the last *rooly* big earthquake was what 1906? 1908? Anyway, there were a lot of pretty looking buildings. I could've wandered around for hours if my feet didn't hurt after walking 5 miles and if I didn't want to find a yarn shop or two. (Imagiknit, which is two miles out of town and art fibers which is right in the heart of town.) I didn't take a ride on one of the cable cars (and I forgot to wait for it to rumble past so I could get a photo - I only saw one in the distance). Next time! I didn't get any good shots there either - the best views are in the middle of the streets and the streets are busy and a little canyon like (as one might expect when surrounded by skyscrapers).


On the way back a heap of Caltrains awaited me, but I chose the one that was express most of the way. Hooray for express trains! Boo hiss for diesels that spew poisonous fumes everywhere! Caltrain is going to be electrified - it is running at capacity now and if they electrify it, they can run more trains as electric trains accelerate faster. Having two tracks all the way would help too - one there, one back Yeah, it's all train stuff to me! But I sure prefer riding the train to a big city than driving a car cos at least I don't have to worry about traffic in the train nor finding a car park without having to pay extortionist rates to release the thing at the end of the day....

SF1

And that is not science fiction! Nope San Francisco.


Alas, I didn't wear a flower in my hair but I did go to SF. I plotted and planned over a MONTH ago now and chose the first sunny day in over a week for the trip. It said it would be clear in SF, which I think is pretty important if I am to take a brazilian pictures, which I did. Think yourself lucky that you get what I consider are the best ones, and think yourself unlucky that I am not very discriminatory when it comes to chosing the best photos.

Since it was half an hour to the Caltrain on the light rail in whatever direction I took, I hopped on the tram-train to Mountain View.


This is the most amusing thing I saw all day (except maybe the sea lions).


The Caltrain runs *backwards* all the way to SF. There is no turning point for the trains so the driver sits up in the "front" carriage. Clang clang clang (they have clangie things not horns for pulling into and out of stations) and the train "backs" into the station. Most bizarre. The advantage of having the loco at the back? No diesel fumes! (But this means the trip to SJ is most pongy and quite a number of people were coughing, me included.)

So I hopped off the train at San Francisco and started wandering around. I had no idea where Good Stuff was (except for my little scratch map of how to get to yarn shops) so I headed for the waterfront and walked past the ball park and onwards ever onwards.






The bridge that goes to Berkeley, etc.


I love the barrier on the bridge suspension to stop people walking/climbing up it. I can't imagine ever getting to a point where I would need to be stopped from climbing further. I would've fallen off much earlier after the vertigo got me in its clutches. Not only is the suspension support a few metres above the upper bridge deck, it is also at least 14 stories above the ground (there are buildings pretty much underneath the bridge). Ackles.


(For some reason I like the shot with the pigeon in it so you get to see it too. The bird fluttered down in front of me and strutted around importantly and amused me, even if it is a rat of the sky.)


Just what every city needs.

Along with its own little Elder thing


and a

But wait, there's more!

An ENORMOUS spidery thing. Have I scared all you arachniphobes yet?


Maybe you'll find this scarier

It is the hint of the unknown and the frightening that is more scary than the real thing!

Hmm, now that I have scared off half my audience, I had best put the rest in another blog post!

Tanked

Full again, eh?

There are so many levels to this one.... Leave your favourite version.

I must say that this lovely

caused me some angst in trying to figure out how to get it home. The angst was partly my fault for leaving the cargo net and most of the occy straps (bungee cords) in the bike trailer (cos they are SO USEFUL there! NOT!). Actually it was all my fault - I didn't *have* to buy it. But when I saw it, I had to have it - the Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of my all time favourite books. Yep, I read real complicated and difficult books ;-) The comforter was my Valentine's present to myself, since I know I won't get anything (men, Pao particularly, can you teach Nathan a thing or two?). Plus it was CHEAP! But pretty! It has the very hungry caterpillar on the bottom part and the beautiful butterfly he becomes on the top part. The back is luridly red, yellow and black. Anyway, I figured it out as you can tell. Hopefully it provided a giggle or two for people driving past....

A pretty dinner

So pretty! Purple cauliflower!


But I have no idea what this carrot thought it was up to...

On baking

Baking cakes seems to be easier down here in Campbell compared to mile-high Fort Collins. We are roughly 60m above sea level here (190'). That is pretty comparable to home. At least we won't be first to go when sea levels rise, unlike one of the Sun offices we drove past - it is TWO FEET (SIXTY CENTIMETRES) above sea level! Crikey, I won't be putting my finger in the dike they will have to build around that place! Especially considering this area is earthquake prone - San Andreas fault anyone?

Whoops, I was talking baking.

Well what do we have here?



A ugly pudding face? (Remind any Aussies of the Magic Pudding?)

Or maybe it is a yummy yummy gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate cake!

Mmmmmm, yum!

Maybe I should make another one. That means a LOT more bike riding must be done cos when I make a cake I tend to eat the whole thing in 3 days or less. OK, I don't put icing or frosting on it but that much cake... and can we just say that the amount of gums and cocoa have a *very* interesting effect? ;-)

On moving

In short, moving is a PITA.

In more wordy terms, moving even our pitiful amount of stuff that we have here in the US is still a PITA. The removalists asked twice if we had a bed base. Umm, nope, we still have a mattress on the floor. (Nathan's feet dangle off the end - he needs a much longer mattress but that equals some expense and if we put this current mattress up on a base, his feet would dangle a long way to find the floor instead of being propped up on a pile of material.) We had 100 items moved (though I think labelling each piece of a desk that was knocked apart is cheating, as is labelling each bucket and rubbish bin). We got most of our stuff here safe and sound, though the cheap bookcase is worse for wear and a couple of plastic items will never be watertight again.

See those boxes?


From just one of those boxes, I unpacked this much paper:


After a while I got bored with neatly folding and squashing each piece/bundle of paper. Instead I threw it on the ground. This enormous pile came out of another box:


It was the crockery crates wot did it. And the ones with food in them - they wrapped up anything that was open and most of the stuff that wasn't. Some of the things that came with us amazed me, but then again they did come out of Nathan's cupboard and he hadn't cleaned it out. I am hoping that all of this will be taken away by the removalists soon for recycling (I put it all in a nice big box and flattened all the other boxes bar three little ones we are keeping :-).


The lounge never looked spacious even without stuff in it but after our small collection of furniture and large amount of junk moved in along the walls, it started looking a little squishy.



The study? Once we ran out of room elsewhere, everything was directed to the study, which is going to struggle if we have visitors as they will not fit in unless we become very tidy people who put everything away all the time.


Ahem.

I was very proud of myself. I managed to unpack and stow away most of Our Stuff in only two days. Two weeks later and I still have not managed to put away the last 5% of Our Stuff. I have sorted out lots of stuff for the recycle bin, some stuff for the charity bin and some that is just plain rubbish. Hooray for me! Double hooray for not having to move a full on household of stuff!