Brewers vs. Giants in San Francisco

I was back in the same spot as I was yesterday when I took a picture of me with "Ol' Goldy", or the Golden Gate Bridge to those of you who are friends with it. See, me and "Ol' Goldy" are so close now that we have nicknames for each other. I'm not going to reveal what she calls me, because that's our little joke. Maybe someday. Ask me when I'm drunk, as I seem to reveal all sorts of personal information and body parts while under the influence. Let's just say that neither the CBS 58 News Team nor the other people awake at 530 am this past July 3rd will ever forget that sight. But I took another picture, and thankfully I did or else you wouldn't have been treated to that story.

Everyone knows how steep the streets of San Francisco are, but it's really hard to get a grip on just how steep they actually are until you climb them hanging out of a moving vehicle. When we drove up and down them in my Dad's car 4 years ago, our brakes we failing, but we still felt safe because A - we didn't know that they were about to go out, and B - we were inside a metal object that includes crash protection devices like airbags. On this cable car, if I let go or got sideswiped by another moving vehicle, I would go barrel rolling down the hill until the laws of physics or God herself allowed me to stop. Chances are that I'd be dead by the time that it happened, so luckily I didn't let go.

The cable cars pass so close by each other that I was not allowed to wear my backpack on my back, I was instructed to wear it on the front of my body. I don't know if you've ever tried it, but the reason it's called a backpack is that it was designed specifically for the back. From juggling the backpack sliding off of my front, to taking pictures and holding on to the car, it is a miracle that I am still alive.

Home

Ok so I lied. Riding a cable car wasn't really one of my childhood dreams. In fact, I never really wanted to do it until I saw the movie 'The Rock'. The cable car operator is without a doubt my favorite minor character in the movie, cause he flips out after Sean Connery's character knocks the cable car off the track during the Hummer chase scene. His reactions and dialogue are priceless, which inspired me to see if cable car operators are really that sweet. They aren't.

I was really looking forward to riding a cable car. I mean really really looking forward to it. Like a kid looks forward to Christmas morning or a teenager looks forward to the night after prom. In fact, I had written it down in my journal as something that I had to do in San Francisco while I was there in 2005, but for some reason we never got around to that. This time around, 4 years later, I vowed not to leave the city until I rode a cable car, and the City by the Bay made it happen because she needed me to leave. Could you imagine if I was allowed to continue this mischief on a daily basis? Milwaukee is the only city that has allowed me to do that, which is why I've never left that land.

I was too busy concentrating on not dying, so I apologize if these pictures are lousy. I missed out on some of San Francisco's most famous landmarks, including the pyramid shaped Transamerica Building. I had plenty of opportunities to snap some pictures, but I was clinging on for dear life. I have a video on the next page featuring footage of my cable car ride. I don't feel like my camera did it justice, but at least you get a pretty good idea of how I lived life on the edge just to fulfill one of my childhood dreams.