Trip report - "Dreams do come true" (video complete - pg 45)

[Mary626]

MAY 2ND, TUESDAY (DAY 13)

Nothing exciting went on the next day.

We had a delicious complimentary breakfast at the Club Room and took it back to the room

Fruit

I didn’t want to take a taxi to the airport, but it was too late to call the limo service, so we had no choice but to use the taxi service. At least it wasn’t a Mears taxi, and the guy was pretty nice. We got to the airport, and I asked if they had an exit row available and they did, WOOHOO! That would make the five hour flight sooooooo much more enjoyable.

Jim was sad to be leaving

I had never seen one of these before and thought it was kind of funny

We waited around the airport for a while. I got a frappucino from the starbucks using a really old starbucks gift certificate Jim had in his wallet since Christmas, which I couldn’t use before because I’d been on atkins for so long.

Jim playing his Nintendo to pass the time

The sprawling suburbs of Los Angeles

Our flight was uneventful. Since we were heading backwards in time by three hours it was much easier to transition.

We got in to the airport and Jim turned his cell phone on, and he had three messages from his friends telling him the new superman trailer was up. Great right when we can’t get to the internet Jim’s mother met us at the baggage claim, and she hands me my new Costco card. Not exactly what I was expecting, but thanks

Jim drove and traffic took FOREVER. I mean traffic in LA is always bad but it was worse then usual that day. On a good day, we can get from the airport to home in 45 minutes, but that day it took us an hour and forty five minutes, it really sucked.

We got home and my dog did not seem happy to see me at all. He was mad at me. When I’m gone for a little while, he acts all excited like he hasn’t seen me in years, but when I leave for a long time he pretends like he doesn’t know who I am. Jerk.

I did some unpacking and some laundry and looked through the mail. I didn’t expect anything important to arrive, but I got something from the school I’ll be attending in the fall. I had known I was accepted to be a Teaching assistant in the Fall, but wasn’t expecting anything in the mail at all. Well I got a letter from them extending the invitation and telling me the tuition award and the stipend I would receive and all that, but then HOLY CRAP they have to receive the letter signed and returned by may 5th. Just great!! Well the Post offices were already closed, which meant I would have to go the next morning, on May 3rd and overnight it. Talk about cutting it close!! Thank goodness I had come home for that day, or I would have been royally screwed. We relaxed and chilled the rest of the day, nothing important or otherwise exciting happened.

 

[Mary626]

Wednesday May 3rd, 2006
I told myself that I was STILL ON MY HONEYMOON today, I had to do some errands sure, but I was STILL ON MY HONEYMOON!! I thought we would sleep in really late since we had both been so exhausted the whole trip, but with the time difference I ended up waking up at 6 am and couldn’t fall back asleep. Just great. Jim woke up too so we decided to have breakfast and get some things done early in the day.

We went to a place called “coco’s” and had a really good strawberry waffle. The funny thing is, and we hadn’t realized this when heading there, we had been there EXACTLY a year ago at the same restaurant with Jim and his family, but I had started Atkins two days before. I remember because I knew I started on May first and that it was two days after I had started, and it was sooo hard for me to resist eating the French toast and waffles that everyone else around me was eating. Anyway it was just kind of funny. This time I ate whatever the heck I wanted to, I was still on my honeymoon!!!

Next stop was the post office where I paid thirty bucks to overnight the letter so that it would get there the next day. (It did thank goodness). Then we went to the mall for some reason, I can’t remember what.

On the way to the mall, Jim always takes a shortcut that takes him right past his old house where he and Chris grew up, in Sherman Oaks. To our shock and surprise his house was COMPLETELY GONE!!!! They tore it down and all that was there was flat land that they were bulldozing!!

Jim’s old house

It had been the most beautiful house and had a great big pool and hot tub and a big yard and was practically an oasis in the confined sufficating city that is the San Fernando Valley. He lived there for 17 years before they had to sell it about 5 years ago for financial reasons. Jim’s mother had sold it to someone for half of what she could have gotten for it because she wanted the house to stay a house and not get plowed down by land-hungry-LA-developers. Ugh. Jim was devastated. In the back of his mind he always dreamed about buying the house back again if we ever had enough money. It also had one of the biggest Oak Trees in the city – it was actually protected by the City. That was gone too. Of course when you’re a land developer all you have to do is give someone enough money and no one cares what tree you cut down. It sucked. We asked one of the guys working on it when they had torn it down, and he said a couple of weeks ago and told us they were building two houses on the lot. Just great. That’s what I hate about this city, no land for anyone, there is just not enough space to even breath here! Jim called his mom and brother to tell them about it. They were all pretty mad about it too.

We went to the mall, oh yeah, it was because I had to pay a payment on one of my credit cards. We got a cookie at Mrs. Fields while we were there just cuz we were both bummed out about the house being gone.

After that, we went to Jim’s friend Larry’s store,, “Blast from the Past” (one of our wedding guests btw). I had never been in there it was cool! It was like walking into your childhood, it had all sorts of vintage collectibles. I saw an ewok and I remembered having one just like it when I was younger, so Larry gave it to me as a gift, and gave jim a Superman briefcase.. Aww thanks Larry! Jim talked to his friend for a while and then we went back home.

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We stopped for an incredibly healthy lunch at Del Taco, where I had the healthiest meal of Deluxe chili cheese fries and a soft beef taco with sour cream.

a beautiful smoggy day by the warner brothers tower

I don’t remember what else we did that day, other then Laundry and packing for the morning. I think we watched a movie but I don’t remember what. We went to bed really early since our flight was at like 6 am and we had to be at LAX by 4:30,, which meant leaving at like 4 am. I packed our stuff and packed REALLY LIGHTLY. We put all of our stuff, both mine and Jim’s, into one tiny, small, insignificant, rolly carry-on suitcase. It was sooooo much nicer then the 10 huge suitcases we had been traveling with in Orlando, and is much more my style!!

 

[Mary626]

May 4th, (May the Fourth be with you Day), Thursday…

We got up extra early, showered and got dressed and Jim’s mother drove us to the airport extra early. We got there at 4 am. We were flying to San Francisco, and it was only a one hour and fifteen minute flight according to the itinerary. Sounded great.

We took some of Jim’s mothers “Ginger-roo” cookies to the airport with us. I grabbed a Caesar salad at starbucks to eat. We were both really tired, every part of me just wanted to lay down and fall back asleep.

Getting on board the airplane

We got on the airplane and there was practically no-one else on the flight, maybe 15 people, it was a really small airplane. Noone sat next to us or in any of the rows around us,, it was nice. I put my feet up on the seat next to me and took a really nice, very invigorating half an hour nap. We were up in the air and then we were descending. The whole flight was like 45 minutes, I couldn’t believe it. I have never been on a shorter flight. I wish all flights were that short!!

We got off the airplane and I could see mountains out of the window, oooo cool. I love mountains! I loved not having to wait for luggage since all we had was our one carry-on. We got off the plane and followed the signs to the BART, which was the subway system, I forget what the acronym stood for. It was much cheaper then taking a taxi, like 4 dollars each compared to the 40 bucks for a taxi.. We got our tickets and got on board around 7:10 am.

Mountains, Gandalf, mountains!

It was about a half an hour till we got to our stop at the el embarcadero street (I think that was the name). From there to our hotel, a taxi was only five dollars, so we had saved a lot of money by taking the subway system.

Exiting the subway

We were staying at a really cheap budget hotel by the Wharf. We were on a pretty tight budget for this trip, and it didn’t really matter to me what hotel we were at, as long as it was clean and had a good location.

Our beautiful hotel

We went, checked in, and left our suitcase with the front desk clerk. Our hotel was really close to the wharf and pier 39, some of the main tourist attractions in San Francisco, so it took us just like two minutes to get to the dock where we could buy tickets to Alcatraz… It was 8:30 am when we got there, so we bought our tickets for the 9:45 boat without any problems. I stopped at an electronics store along the way because I had run out of DV tapes for my camcorder. I bought one five dollar DV tape, and the guy was trying to tell me how I needed a cover for my camera. I was like “I have a cover”.. “no you should use this one… how about a macro lens, or a wide angle?” I was like “just the dv tape, thank you!!” (if you ever go into ANY electronic store by a tourist area don’t buy anything other then what you intended to buy, those places are such rip offs!)

well our hotel may not be that great, but we turn left and there’s the ocean and one block away is pier 39 and the wharf in either direction

our first view of “the rock” (Alcatraz)

where we bought our tickets

 

[Mary626]

There was nothing really open that early in the morning so we decided to go have breakfast at the IHOP across the street.

I had a standard American breakfast along with a small plate of banana stuffed French toast, which was pretty good. We read through my “Eyewitness Travel – California” guide book to see what we wanted to do in San Francisco and read up a little on Alcatraz.

At the table at ihop was an advertisement for ihop gift certificates and it said things like “the perfect gift for mother’s day, birthdays, or any special occasion!” I said to Jim “jim if you get me an ihop gift certificate for my birthday I would be pretty upset”

Reading about san Francisco in our trusty guide book

my banana stuffed French toast on the side

I went outside while Jim paid for the bill, and when he came out, you might have guessed it, he had a five dollar gift certificate for ihop and said “happy birthday”.

It was about 9:30 so we went to the pier and lined up for the boat to take us to Alcatraz. The line was really long, I didn’t realize what a popular tourist destination it was. We got on our boat with no problems though and sat outside. It was a really really short boat ride, maybe ten minutes or so. We could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, ooo cool. That was the first time I’d seen the bridge!

Our trusty ship

jim doesn’t think it looks so trusty

on the boat

our first view of the golden gate bridge (well mine.. jim’s been to San Francisco before actually)

We landed by a building with the words “Indians welcome” written on graffiti. I remembered seeing something on a tv special about Alcatraz that talked about how a group of native Americans took over the island and kept it for a number of years for some reason.

We got off the boat and there was a loud guy telling everyone where they could go or what tours they could go on and gave some information about things like some of the movies they had filmed here, including “The Rock”. He mentioned how in order to use the location in the film, at one point in the film they had to mention that it was now a state park or something, so at one point Sean Connery says “you know… this is now a state park” (or something like that, I forget exactly).

We went up the hill a little and stopped at one of the visitors center and Jim wanted to watch the 10 minute documentary they had playing. I thought it was cute that Jim seemed to be getting into it and seemed really interested. (anytime jim shows enthusiasm for anything that’s not a movie, it makes me happy)

the guy signing books was a former inmate of Alcatraz

they planted a few flowers and trees to try to pass off alcatraz as a state park or something

 

[Mary626]

After the movie, we walked up the steep steep hill and then up another steep hill and got to the old jailhouse. We purchased the self guided audio walking tour and followed along. It was a really good audio tour. I wouldn’t have known what the heck I was looking at without it, so it was worth the five bucks or whatever it was. We went around and learned about the history of the place, what life was like in Alcatraz, failed escaped attempts and the one possible escape, the shoot-out at the cellhouse, famous inmates, and what it was like in solitary confinement, etc… We explored the jailhouse for about an hour, altogether. It was pretty interesting.

the jail would have worked better if it wasn't based on the honor system

al capone’s old cell

solitary confinement

bullet holes from a time when some of the prisoners seiged the prison

the recreation area

 

[Mary626]

We went outside and took some more pictures.

San Francisco from alcatraz

We felt satisfied with all that we had explored on the island so we lined up for the next returning boat.

A one legged pigeon hopping around on the boat

It was about 12:30 when we were back on the mainland. Jim saw one of those self-cleaning pay toilets he had heard about and decided to give it a try. It costs a quarter, and I guess the room completely hoses itself down after each use, or something. Weird.

Jim and I decided to head to the Fisherman’s Wharf to walk around and explore a bit.

We walked towards the Wharf and saw plenty of tourist attractions along the way that we decided to skip, such as a wax museum and a Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum, and a Rainforest café, etc.

We were walking along the dock, and I stopped to look at some sea-lions that were playing in the ocean by the boats and was getting my camera out when a guy to the left of me seemingly jumped out of a bush and literally ROAR’ED at me.. well my brain processed it all, but it was so unexpected that I screamed and jumped, and then I hear a bunch of people laughing (including Jim)….


Ahhh entertaining homeless people are so strange… This guy had a bunch of branches in front of him and was sitting on a bucket waiting for tourists to walk by so he could “jump out” at them and startle them. It gave everyone a good scare and made a lot of the people laugh. I thought it was weird, but I have to admit it was kind of funny to watch people’s reactions.

the bush guy that scared me

There wasn’t really anything to do at the Fisherman’s Wharf other then eat seafood and shop for tacky souvenirs. It was about 1 pm by now. It was lunch time so we were a little hungry and thought we would grab a bowl of clam chowder in a sour dough breadbowl at the Boudin Bakery we had seen nearby.

I didn’t know until reading in my guide book, that sour-dough bread is a San Francisco invention, along with Fortune cookies.

The bakery was cute, it smelled of sour-dough and had baskets of bread going around the room on their tracks.

We went outside and ate our meal, though it was a little windy so it was a little hard making sure all of our napkins and things didn’t blow away. I was surprised at how chilly it was in San Francisco.

Our clam chowder in bread bowl

a shrimp louis salad

Our lemon bar

After our meal we walked back to our hotel room and relaxed for a while. We took a small nap and watched some weird cartoon on tv.

Our luxurious accommodations

but it was clean and had the essentials

our beautiful view

 

[Mary626]

At about 5 o’clock we both felt refreshed and re-energized so we headed back out to explore “Pier 39”. Along the way I stopped to buy another jacket, I was cooooold. I bought a really arm jacket for only 12 bucks, I was happy! They had some break-dancers and other street entertainers along the way.

the happy crab statue

look how happy he is

There was a bunch of tourist attractions at the wharf, but nothing really that they don’t have near us in LA like at the santa monica pier, so we didn’t really want to do anything. They had some virtual reality things and a carousel, etc. Well, I did want to watch the Sea-lions at least, so we headed over there.

Pier 39, it was kind of lame

Alcatraz and a few sea lions in the background

They had some seats available for just sitting and watching the sea-lions, so we sat and chilled for a while and talked about what was going on with the sea-lions, and named some of them, and watched one sea-lion kick off another sea-lion off of the dock, so we had a whole back-story as to what had happened between their friendship and what was going on with them.

san Francisco and the Transamerica pyramid in the background

There were also a lot of seagulls around. After about twenty minutes sitting there, Jim said something like “have you ever had a seagull crap on you, isnt’ that the worst feeling in the world, you just want to go home…” I was like “yeah I know..” .. well, I kid you not, this is no exaggeration or anything, thirty seconds after he said that, a seagull crapped right on his hat and shoulder. I could NOT stop laughing. It was disgusting but sooo funny. It’s like the bird heard him.

So we walked back to the hotel which was luckily five minutes away. I kept trying to maintain my distance from Jim because it was really disgusting, but he kept getting uncomfortably close to me just to annoy me.


We got back to the hotel, washed off jim’s shirt and hat as best as we could and left them there to dry.

We went out a little while later, around 6 or so, and got some food from subway for dinner. Jim said he wasn’t feeling well. I figured he was just tired. There was a lot I would have liked to have done, but I didn’t want to push him and make him even sicker the next day, so we just stayed in our hotel room and watched TV. For some reason we watched “the school of Rock” because it was the only thing on tv. The bed in our hotel room was extremely uncomfortable,, but you get what you pay for.

We went to bed really early so we could wake up early and head to China Town. Our plan for the day was to ride the Trolley to China Town, explore the place.. then head to the car rental place to get our convertible we were renting and were going to drive over the golden gate bridge with..


I'm not sure if I'll post anymore tonite.. I have it all written just need to plug in a few more picture links.. not sure if anyone is still reading, but I figured I would finish up my complete honeymoon for posterity sake and a sense of closure! So if anyone is still reading... there's a little bit more to come, and I'll post it either today or tomorrow. Hope I haven't bored anyone with the mundaneness of life outside of theme parks!

Coming up: Trolleys, china town, killer hills, convertibles and bridges... napa valley and my "wine tasting" and more.. Then the honeymoon will be over

 

[kaw1218]

I don't know about anyone else...........but I'm still here!!!

Your wedding was beautiful...loved everything....the dresses...pictures....place.....well, everything!

 

[karentan]

the confused look on jims face in the video was priceless!!! great surprise!!! laughed out loud at the bit where he's mouthing "i have to pee!"

 

[rxlowry]

I've read and enjoyed the whole thing. A fabulous trip report!!! I found it from your posts on the Disney Restaurant Board "food porn" thread!!
San Francisco food pics!!!
Congrats on your marriage!!!

 

[BeckWhy]

I think it is soooooo funny that your hotel at Universal has a scale in it. Who wants to see how much weight they put on vacation?!?!?

 

[starseed]

Ok, I mentioned in your other thread that my DF is a big Marvel fan. So I asked him about "Murdock & Nelson - Attorneys At Law". Without a moment's hesitation he said: Daredevil (and continued on to tell me all about it... at which time I tuned out! )

I'm still here and really enjoying your TR. I can't wait to hear about what the two of you did for your birthday!!

What am I going to do once you're done?!? (You will have to write a TR about your move cross country!! )

 

[RadioFanatic]

NOOOOO - don't tell me it's almost over - I'm devestated!

My dh is a comic book hero fan too - his favorite is Captain America - he has every tshirt, book, etc. at Universal. He even has Captain America Breathmints! He got is picture taken with CA last time and was very happy.

Also, thanks for including the SF portion as I'm going there for the first time in November (my first trip to California - yeah!). Would you recommend where you stayed? Do you mind me asking how much it was? We're spending 2 weeks in California and SF is our last stop so I'm sure we'll be counting pennies by then!

 

[angel*lady]

I'm still hanging in too! Enjoying the SF part of your trip.

 

[heatherlynn444]

still here and I keep telling myself it's not almost over.......

 

[ItGirl753]

I'm still here too! It's still a great report, Mary. I've enjoyed every post and picture. It feels like I almost know you guys! Thank you for all of your time and hard work.

Good luck at your new college. Have you said what your major is?
Nicolle

 

[Marty Moose]

I'm still here and still lovin' it!

The SF portion is really crackin' me up (I grew up in the Bay Area). Yep, Fisherman's Wharf isn't all it's cracked up to be...and "homeless theatre" is always a treat!

I have to say I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do with my time once you are done! I may actually have to WORK at work...bummer.

BTW, BART = Bay Area Rapid Transit

 

[JJClemson]

I am still reading and enjoying your TR

By the way, pineapple quesadillas? Oh my goodness, those are my 2 favorite foods! I have to try them!

I love the picture of your dog. Sorry he was mad at you. Is that a Mickey pull toy in the right corner?

 

[wasabi girl]

Thanks again for your great reports! I think you may have to start a blog so all your fans can their TR fix!

 

[AnimalPrincess]

Hi Mary! I have actually been following your trip report the whole time now and i just love it!!! Sorry that I haven't responded earlier, I am a bad dis memeber. anyways I am from San Fran so I just had to tell you that the buy hiding with the bush is called 'The Bush Man' and he is always there and is actually quite famous (in the area and cult legend) ahh I miss SF....Anywho thank you so much for the wonderful report, I agree with everyone else I have just loved it. Congratulations and the best of luck!!