and on to san francisco . . .

the fog in san francisco truly is unbelievable.

these photos were taken around 2:00 p.m.

i always have a sneaking suspicion

that they pump it in

just for the tourists.

stef was tired of driving,

as she had just held our precious lives

in her hands,

as she hugged tight corners

around gigantic cliffs

that dropped off into the ocean,

so she offered the wheel to the rest of us.

annie bravely volunteered--

on lombard st.

if you've been to san fran,

you know just how heroic this was of her.

as you wait to go up the street,

you must keep both feet on both pedals,

or you will inevitably roll into

approximately 50 cars behind you.

terrifying.

and then we went down,

which is way more fun than going up.

here you see the bay--

the golden gate bridge,

alcatraz, etc.

take note of the curves.

i'm always a little startled to find that

alcatraz sits so close to the city.

there it is, lurking in the bay,

just at the end of this street.

weird.

after dropping off our car

and checking into the hotel,

we went to the haight/ashbury district,

which is known as the hippie part of town.

it's where we boulderites feel most at home.

however, i felt very uncomfortable in this store,

loved to death.

i can't even begin to describe what we found in there.

so disturbing.

(shauna in front of the red victorian)

after walking around for a bit,

we found a nice little coffee shop

and played speed scrabble for a bit.

the locals were very curious about this "new game"

we had created.

also, annie read some poetry.

we then went back to the hotel

where annie & shauna had a little dance party.

on our way to dinner, we stopped by the pier to see the seals.

at first, they seemed cute,

then we smelled them,

and then we watched them a little more closely,

and eventually came to the conclusion

that they are disgusting.

our dinner was lovely.

niles suggested a fantastic italian restaurant

in the marina district.

we all (particularly annie)

were slightly annoyed that we were unable

to take one sip of water

without the water boy filling it right back up again.

annie voiced her frustration

by drawing this cute little girl,

who begged them to end the refills.