Sunday, July 19, 2009

Escape From Responsiblity! Happy Birthday to Me!

When Lacy sent out a quick text message to let us all know that she was going to be taking Lynne, my amazing Mother In Law, to San Francisco to see Wicked for her Bday, I didn't think there was ANYWAY I would be going. Darn it all! We had just gotten back from California and this would be in just a week and a half! How would I justify?!


No need! Ryan took care of that for me! YAY for a hubby that LOVES me! For my Bday he decided that I would be joining the trip! I couldn't wait! Lynne, Lacy, Me, Jana (another of my sis in laws), Brendy & Dez (Lacy's friends) would fly out on July 8th and return on July 11th. Not long enough for us, however, I have a feeling San Fran had had enough of us! I mean seriously, LAUGHING?! Smiling?! EYE CONTACT?! Who were these crazy women?!


{Me, Lynne, Lacy, Dez, Jana & Brendy}


Oh, the Cheesecake Factory! Were it not for the endless walking all over the dag-blasted city (mostly due to a confused tour guide...uh hem, JANA!) you might have thwarted my weight loss efforts, but alas...I had my cake and ate it too! Chocolate Coconut Cheesecake Heaven that is! MWAH HA HA! Twice we ate there the first day! With a 17 page menu...how could we go wrong! Never mind that I had the same thing both times! I don't care! The BBQ Chicken Salad is to die for!


I must now state that I was a bit out of my element. Poor sheltered PG born and raised, now live in small town Idaho, never been in the heart of a bigger city than Salt Lake (well, except for a very short stint in Chicago) girl! My eyes were wide with amazement! My face SCREAMED tourist! I didn't care! I was soaking it all in!


Street performers...REALLY?! There really are people that do that?! LOVED IT! I couldn't get enough! The break dancing, steel drums, guitar player in the subway station, singer to those waiting in the trolley line. All amazing and really fun!

We could not get enough of giving Jana a hard time! She had a map and got us off the subway at the wrong stop, OH THE WALKING! It was so much fun! We were totally lost, but having a blast! We walked forever to get to the botanical and Japanese gardens only to arrive just 20 or so minutes after closing! JANA! I'm just sayin.... :)


Honestly, who needed it! We were laughing so much and just having a great time. We were able to squeeze in the back door of the botanical garden and wander around for a bit. There is some crazy stuff in there!


Like Lacy and her sign. It says something about how all plants have been embedded with GPS tracking chips! GREAT! Cause you know we wanted to dig a tree up and haul it out with us!


Look at the size of that leaf! HOLY SMOKES!



My favorite thing about this picture is that if you know Jana, you totally know what mood she was in by looking at her face in this picture! There was plenty of fake British Accent uses of the word "RE-BUUUTHING" (Re-birthing) I don't even know what that was all about, just that it was killing me! SO FUNNY! Lacy referred to this Jana as High School Jana! Jana says it is "Vacation Jana" and I just say it is Favorite Jana! I got to share a hotel room with her! Oh how I love Jana! We would talk and laugh until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore from total exhaustion! I could do this monthly, AT LEAST!



Ok, well, this is humbling! :) AND FUNNY! Let me just say that within 3 days I rode on an airplane, the subway (muni), a ferry, a shuttle bus, a taxi and a trolley! I had NEVER been in a taxi, trolley or subway. So I was a little excited about it! HAHAHAHA!


Lynne & Lacy on Muni


Ok, I have something to say about San Fran! See the guy behind Brendy's head throwin back a pint? Yeah, well, this was a lucky shot. I just hoped to get him in the picture...actually I tried to make him think I was taking a picture of Brendy, which he totally believed, or must have, because he totally started chuggin MORE of his "Brown Bag Mystery Drink". When we first got on I saw him take a drink. He saw me see him. He laughed and said "Shhh" and then pulled a bottle of vodka out of the bag. Seriously, like anyone thinks you are hiding a bottle of Pepsi in that bag, sir!



So here's the thing. See the lady right in front of him? Well, he talked to himself and laughed LOUD the whole ride. Not ONE person looked his way! Well, except me! I couldn't take my eyes off him! I was amazed that the lady in front of him never shifted, never flinched, never showed reaction of any sort. HOWEVER....the 6 laughing ladies get a few glances! :) Kinda funny!



I am not good at not making eye contact with people. I just do! Then I smile at them....apparently that creeps people out!


The girlies on the ferry!


So here were a few of the highlights from the tour.....

The submarine and ship that I HAD to take a picture of only because my Ryan would find it interesting.



The San Fran skyline! WOW! This picture doesn't do it justice! It really is impressive!



And then onto the Golden Gate Bridge.


Did you know that winds can get up to 100 mph out by the bridge and it is designed to sway 27 feet in a wind storm?! Yeah, totally would hate to be on it during that!




It really is something! It was built in the 30's! Only 11 people lost their lives during its construction. 9 of them in one accident. That is amazing considering their lack of equipment and the size of this thing!

Alcatraz....when you are floating by you can FEEL the hopelessness. Crazy!


We had planned a tour through the prison itself. However, it fell through. Lynne was NOT going to accompany us. Too much negative energy. I am sure she is right! Just the mug shots and books in the gift store were enough for me!


There is a shot of the entire island from a lot closer to the bay. I have a sudden desire to watch "The Rock".



Oh the Trolley! What a fun little adventure! The views up and down the streets were amazing! Straight out of a Rice a Roni commercial!



Oh hey! Look who we saw on our ride! See the head of that guy right over the top of that silver Toyota? You see, there are A LOT...I mean A LOT of homeless people in San Francisco! All of them shaking their cups and asking for your change. This certain guy met us on the corner as we walked across the street the night before. He was asking for money and we continued past. He was all sugar and sweet while asking, but as soon as we passed! OH THE VULGARITY! He yelled the worst of expletives at us! I turned around, shocked! He repeated them! YIKES! That was interesting to say the least! :)


This guy caused a bit of a chuckle! See him in the red? How would you like that to be your work uniform?! I do have to say it totally made me curious about the hotel! I wonder if they are all dressed like that?!


This was our break guy on the Trolley! See that thing about eye contact? I kid you not, my camera was about a foot from his face! He didn't even look! :) He was actually really nice! We were glad to have a change from the guy before him....ORNERY! Let me tell you!


This picture actually make San Francisco look really pretty! So many people! So many cars! So many honking horns! Our taxi driver on the last night pulled right up to someone in a cross walk and started honking and saying, "STUPID". Holy smokes! That is a lot of negative energy to live around!


AND THE CROWN JEWEL OF THE ENTIRE TRIP.......
WICKED!
Oh, I mourn the Wicked! I miss it terribly! It seems so unfair that I can't see it whenever I want! At least until 2016, which is when the rumored movie of Wicked (which according to rumors will star Kristen Chenoweth as Glinda! WOO HOO!) It is supposed to start production next year!
Yeah, this is Lace & I and our corny copycatting!


{Lacy, Jana, Me & Lynne}


The show was unbelievable! I loved every second of it! So worth the expense to get there! I have had the songs stuck in my head since watching it! Mal & Jake are really into listening to it with me now! I was totally captivated! We all were! Defying Gravity.....NO WORDS! Oh the goosebumps! For Good....totally made me cry! I can't wait to go back again!


Lynne got the tickets for us to see the show for our birthdays! THANK YOU SO MUCH LYNNE! We had amazing seats! It was all so wonderful!
The show plays all the time in San Francisco. We are for sure headed back with hubbies asap!


Thanks girls for one of the funnest weekends ever! All the laughing and playing was good for my soul! It was a much needed break that I didn't even know I needed that bad! :) From the endless walking, to Wicked, to shopping, to trying to set Lacy up with our SO FUN flight attendant who turned out to be not interested in the female gender...DANG IT! Every minute of the trip was a blast! Probably mostly because I love you all so darn much! I hope you know that!

If I could figure out how to get my software to work again, I would upload a video of some SWEET break dancing, but alas....a little "Re-Buuuuthing" will have to suffice......Oh and you are going to want to pause the music, so as to get the full effect of our crazy Jana!


DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAYS BELOW!

2 comments:

Kara said...

Looks like you had fun. And look at you little miss skinny thing. Looking good=)

Lombardo Family said...

Happy Birthday my friend! Looks as if you had a blast!

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