Anniversary/Thanksgiving Part 2

Tuesday morning Darren and I went and did a session in the Oakland Temple. The temple is right off the freeway, but we still had to pass twice before we found it. Darren blamed the navigator and I wondered why the man who can see a deer from a million miles away couldn't see the golden spires... Anyway, the temple was beautiful -- Darren enjoyed the beautiful wood and I was thrilled by all the rock they had used.

After our temple session we drove into San Francisco. The Bay Bridge was so cool. Okay, I'm going to admit something right now that I realized about myself on this trip: I don't like to act like a tourist. I'm sure I don't totally assimilate into places we visit, but dragging a camera around and clicking at every little thing makes me cringe. It is fine when we are in the car, but when we walk around I seriously dislike carrying a camera. Unfortunately, that means I don't get as many pictures of the fun San Francisco places we visited.

For instance, the first thing we did (after checking into the hotel and parking the car) was get a three day pass to ride the public transportation. Our first trip was down to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf were we walked around and saw the sea lions, ate sea food, and checked out the shops. Ultimately we ended up taking cable cars everywhere, but the only picture of a trolley we got was a painting we bought.

We visited Alcatraz on Wednesday and this is the only picture I took.

Cool story behind it, but that is another story. No pictures of the cells, of the granade broken cement, the beautiful gardens that were open because the day was so nice, or of the mock escapees...

Before Alcatraz on Wednesday we did get the chance to walk around the Piers again and I got some pictures of the San Francisco sites. Here is the Bay Bridge:

The city from this great pier we found.

Telegraph Hill.

We stayed on Nob Hill, which, you guessed it, was a hill and very steep, but we only had to hike up the hill two blocks to catch the trolley. We rode the cable cars a lot and I decided I could definitely be a public transportation person. And, yeah, I'd be one of the ones sitting there reading. After our full day Wednesday, before we caught the trolley home from Fisherman's Wharf, we ate In-and-Out Burgers and got shakes for the way home. Does anyone else (outside of California, Arizona, and Nevada) crave In-and-Out?

More later... Keep smiling and remember to be happy.