Our (Kind of ) Vacation

A few weeks ago, Casey and I went to San Francisco for a math conference. The conference was four days long, so rather than leave me at home to pine for him, my sweet husband took me along and we did some fun stuff while we were there. Katherine's saintly grandparents watched her (for which we are eternally grateful!) while we were away and it sounds like she had about as much fun as we did.

I hadn't planned on posting anything about our trip because it wasn't that exciting (no Elvis sightings or anything), but interest from my family prompted me to post some of the photos. So Enjoy, you know or whatever.

Here we are, totally lost in the Magowan's Infinite Mirror Maze on Pier 39. Totally worth the $5!

Arr! I'm a scary Alcatraz criminal. I got thrown in the joint when I failed to turn in my audio tour headset after I was done. Actually they're really serious about that. They have what looks like a metal detector on the dock that you have to pass through before you get on the boat so they know you didn't steal the MP3 player thingy. And you know that cool old movie with Clint Eastwood, "Escape from Alcatraz"? You know the one where they make papier mache heads and escape through the ventilation system. Well, apparently it was based on an actual escape. I always thought it was fiction. Except in real life, they're not sure what happened to the escapees. No one ever saw them again.

Some of the last remaining sea lions at Pier 39. There used to be hundreds of them everyday, but a few weeks before we got there, they decided that they'd had enough of the area and just left. No one can figure out why. The weather's been normal this year and there's nothing wrong with their food supply either. Weird.....

At the Exploratorium. Casey said it was a little weird and gross to drink out of a toilet, but he's a good sport and did it for the camera.

At the Exploratorium again. Casey created an icosahedron out of Velcro triangles and is showing off his masterpiece. I made a something out of pentagons, I think it was a dodecahedron, but I can't remember my high school geometry.

Outside the Exploratorium. Apparently the building was built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition and then later (1969) turned into an interactive science museum that resembles a giant Mr. Wizard lab.

A submarine at Fisherman's Wharf. It wasn't very large but that thing used to hold 80-ish crew members during WWII. Sorry Dad, I don't remember what the vessel was called.

Lombard Street. Lots of swanky houses and squealing tires...and tourists.

.

There were some other things we did that I failed to photograph. We ate some good food, saw a free magic show, saw Golden Gate Bridge from the beach and from Alcatraz, ate WAY too much taffy, rode a trolley, rode a circular escalator (I really should have taken pictures of that one), bought hairspray at THE CREEPIEST convenience store I have ever been in, and visited the Musee Mechanique, which is more or less a really old-fashioned arcade. We watched a carnival diorama come to life, listened to old old old music boxes, played baseball and had the kiss-o-matic tell us if it was true love (according to that reliable device, we were "cold fish" or something...sad!)

.

Word of warning: I found one of those old view finder things that said "Secrets of the Unknown--For Adults Only" or something like that. I thought it was a joke and expected corny old photos of 5 legged donkeys and stuff, but that is NOT what is was. They weren't kidding about that adults only thing. Just do yourself a favor and don't go near that one. Shudder....

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was our trip to San Francisco. The end.