All God's Children Get Weary When They Roam, Don't It Make You Wanna Go Home?

Today we say goodbye to the silver men and women on the docks, to the guys who jump out from dead shrubbery and say "you've had the thrill now pay the bill" and the guy who asked "Do you want to hear a really good joke today"? (he was sitting by the docks, wild hair blowing in the wind, not at Punchline).

Goodbye to the trolleys, the hills, the beautiful homes from another century lovingly restored. A beautiful, fun packed city if ever there was one.

Back to deep cold and more snow! Aggghhh! Go away snow, I want the spring weather that we've seen here.

Still I'm ready to sleep in my own bed and I miss everyone at home and work. I miss my little beagles.

The title is from an old song by Joe South, for all you old rock fans.

Adventure Cats

We sailed yesterday on a catamaran called the Adventure Cat. It went near our old haunt Alcatraz, around the bay a bit, then under the Golden Gate Bridge.

The captain and his mate were both called Hans. Very laid back guys. On the way back towards dock, the captain let anyone who wished take the wheel for a bit.

We also visited Chinatown and the Fortune Cookie Factory in a small alley. They were making the fortune cookies by hand right in the store and it smelled wonderful. The owner gave out a small slip of paper with a fortune on it and several non-folded pieces of fortune cookie.

The markets there were just bustling with activity, fresh fruits and vegetables being put out and customers buying them almost as quickly as they were set down.

We stopped by a pet shop that had a beagle in it years ago when we visited and it had been priced at over six hundred dollars. Over our heads, but we wished we could take him home. No beagles this time, but tons of exotic fish in a lower level all dim lights and darting shapes.

Today the guys went bicycling around the bay and back to Muir Beach while I trolled the shops on Fisherman's Wharf. I also took it into my wee head to go on my own to a bookstore quite aways away. I took a cab by myself for the first time ever. I swear the guy went all over town before getting to the store.

In order to get back homewards I walked a good fifteen blocks in the wrong direction (looking for the trolley) before a kind guy told me just another ten blocks ahead was the BART bus. No more cabs for me.

How could I not mention...we went to see the Watchmen! Just a short jaunt away so we go to this multi-plex with seven floors. The ticket guy at the bottom says our movie is in theater 14 waaay up top. So we scoot up the escalators and theater fourteen is showing Commonwealth. We are running late but we take a peek at our tickets and lo its in theater 6. Zoom down we go.

The movie is about superheroes in some hellish alternate time where Nixon is in his third term of office. The superheroes are Anti-Superheroes, as it turns out and the film is one scene of pooling blood after another. Yech. Bad music. Worse acting. I liked the most Anti of the Superheroes best, a very creepy but righteous dude named Rorschach. Except the cleaver scene, ack.

A Lush Life

We made it to Muir Woods and unlike our last visit there, I got great pictures that I think show the essence of what it is like. It is only $5.00 to get in and it appears to be a popular Sunday destination for people. There were plenty of parking spaces when we got there around 10a.m. but when we came out around 1:30 people were having to park back up the winding road.

We let N drive a little so he could see what those switchbacks were really like. He just peels out of the lot and we go nuts telling him to slow down. "Im going the speed limit, he says" ack!!! He found Muir Beach for us by heading the wrong way so it was all good. Tons of people on the beach as well.

I bought 3 Day passes for the trolleys and we had a nice visit at the Trolley Museum before hopping back on to Union Square, the end of the line. Walking up the road I spotted a LUSH store, home of our own Floating Lush! I went across to get my photo snapped in front of it.

The Punchline Comedy Club was great. Fifteen comedians, each with 6 minutes each to perform. Apparently this is a regular Sunday Night event.

Connection speed way too slow here, no more photos this morning.

Off to Chinatown (which my husband thinks will be interesting to revisit (we've been there several times in the past) after being in Shanghai, and a catamaran ride around the bay. (will correct later if its some other ship type :)