San Francisco & Michelle's Wedding - Day 2

 

We sat down for some lunch and naturally got some seafood eats. When you are this close to the ocean in a place that is well known for entrees from the sea, you relish in the opportunity and enjoy the feast. I have no idea what anyone else ate because I was too busy getting down on my crab chowder in a bread bowl. I'm a real big fan of soup. But I'm a bigger fan of being able to eat the container it comes in.

Jenny and I bought another beer from one of the pier vendors and took a picture with them. We weren't prepared for creepy background guy on the phone with the photobomb. What a weirdo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's so much easier to take a video of me doing cannonballs than it is trying to take a self-timed picture. With a video you can just hit record and fix it all in post production. Editing a video is easy. You just cut out the parts that you don't want. Taking a perfect self-timed picture when you are in mid-air plunging into a body of water is the hard part. The pictures above were a result of a lot of time spent with set up, timing and precision. In the video to the left, I just hit record and jumped. It's really just that easy. If only all other things in life were as easy as pushing a button and jumping into a body of water. If things were truly that easy, I would have been doing this for a long long time. But if you think about it, I have been. This website is built upon timing, execution and sheer will. I wouldn't have it any other way. This is my life as I prefer to live it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took a panoramic picture of the San Francisco Bay and I think it turned out alright. I think it pretty much sums up how the day was going today. Despite the weather and toils it took to get to the West Coast, we were just happy to be here.

Dad and Kathy rented a car and drove out here from Wisconsin. We left the hotel to meet them in downtown San Francisco. Aunt Linda, cousin Tyler, Jenny and I grabbed an Uber and went to Fisherman's Wharf. It was a long drive and the Uber driver presented us with some fun facts about the city of San Francisco. When we got down there, we met up with Dad (to throw our luggage in his car) and then walked around to check out the sights. I've been to San Francisco twice before (once in 2005 for Craig's Wedding and again in 2009 when I went to see the Brewers play the Giants) but it's always nice to be back. This truly is a wonderful town to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tyler is about 14 years younger than me and and about 10 years younger than Jenny. Despite it being 2015, he was still not 21 years of age, so we technically couldn't have been drinking with him. But thanks to Wesley the Bartender and us buying him drinks, both of us were drinking with Tyler on this day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though the Travelodge was a shady side of the freeway hotel, it did have a pool. I have no idea what kinds of dangers and diseases were festering in this pool (not to mention the amount of bodies drowned in said pool), but none of that mattered to me this morning. The only thing that mattered was doing cannonballs while the people waiting for the airport shuttle watched. I spent a good amount of my morning taking these pictures. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to self-time the perfect cannonball picture. It's an art form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Pier 39 (which is one of the premier tourist attractions in the city of San Francisco) you can see so many of the sights. Depending on which direction you face, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge, the Coit Tower and TransAmerica Pyramid, Alcatraz Island and various other local attractions. There's so much to see/do in this town and not enough time. That's why I keep coming back.

The first thing that Jenny and I did was find a place to grab a beer. We were on vacation after all. Of course if we weren't on vacation we would have still done that anyway. But this time we were joined at the bar by Aunt Linda and Tyler (who wasn't even 21 at the time but the bartender gave him a beer anyway).  We had the Racer 5 IPA from Bear Republic Brewing Co. (located just North of here in Healdsburg, CA) and Wesley the Bartender gave us a couple of free shots. I think I really like this place. They treat me well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home

 

John Patrick Mason may be upset that The Rock (Alcatraz) has become a tourist attraction, but Jenny and I were not. Although we didn't tour it like we did in 2005, we still took selfies with this once inescapable prison. On this trip we simply didn't have time to do it again. I would like to someday if I ever make it back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jenny and I found this topless Sailor Man and had to grab a picture with him. Not only do we both love topless dudes (what?!? No!) but we noticed that he kind of looked like John Smith in Disney's Pocahontas. That shouldn't be a reason to take photos with a statue, so we just did it because we have problems and we do what we do. Deal with it.

 

 

 

I love trying local beer. I have made it known on numerous occasions that it is one of my favorite things about traveling. When I tried Anchor Steam Beer, I fell in love. When I found out that I could also get this back home in Wisconsin, I settled down with her and had some very weird looking half-human half-beer bottle babies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fisherman's Wharf is a very touristy place, but it is a nice touristy place. Although I could do without the scores of people who inhabit the place during the business hours of the local markets and shops, I kind of like it. Every time that I've come to San Francisco I've visited this area and had myself a real good time. I can almost guarantee I'll come here again next time I visit this fine city on the bay.

 

 

When we were out here in 2005, we ate at Bubba Gump's. While walking past the restaurant I saw this t-shirt and immediately thought of Jenny Reck. She definitely can be classified as special.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a lot to see and do in the city of San Francisco, which is perfect for a couple of weirdos like me and Jenny Reck. We just wandered around until we found the next thing that piqued our interest. As you've already seen here (and in countless other pictorials), it doesn't take much to entertain us enough to stop for a picture or to screw around for a few moments.