I left my heart in San Francisco...

Maybe not, but we sure had a fun time! We came home LATE last night, and I went to work after a couple of hours of sleep but ended up going home after about four hours. I wasn't feeling all that great this morning. I sure hope tomorrow will be better...

We left our home around 5:00 on Thursday morning and met up with our friends in "the big city" -- spent the next 12 hours or so in the car. The weather was gorgeous -- not hot at all. We stayed in a condo (thanks to our friends) in Windham. We spent Friday and Saturday in San Francisco, then spent the rest of yesterday (Sunday) riding home in the car.

The first day was spent walking around the city. We visited a few of the tourist spots -- the Aquarium by the Bay (where we had a "brush with fame" when we saw Dr. Rey and his cute family), we had a boat tour of the bay -- which was windy and fun! And of course, we rode a trolley.

Most of the second day was spent touring the DeYoung museum -- where my husband got to see one of his FAVORITE works by Thomas Hart Benton, the MOMA, and the Exploratorium. We had the best lunch at the DeYoung Cafe, although very expensive. The Exploratorium was pretty cool -- we were surrounded by fish. I was wishing that my two favorite roommates could have been with us because they would have been THRILLED by all the sharks and fish floating around in the gigantic aquariums.

The MOMA was quite boring. My favorite part was the floor with the exhibit of photographs -- most were taken from the 40s & 50s. Historical photographs usually keep my attention and by the number of people on that floor I am certain that most of the other people in the museum shared my opinion. I didn't quite "get" the stupid painting of "blue pigment on a wall", or the plaster of Paris casts of the insides of boxes, to name a few of the modern art pieces that were on display on the other floors. *yawn*

I will admit that I feel pretty comfortable in my small-town life. I haven't spent a lot of time in a large city, and the amount of beggars absolutely amazed me. Because of the type of work that I do, I tend to think that most of the beggars are doing that for a career. For example, one guy was begging for money at the stoplights. When the cars were stopped, he was walking along with a "limp". By the time the cars drove away and after someone had given him some cash, he started walking along just fine. Another person had come up with one of the funnier things that I have seen in a while. Instead of a mere "cup" for the change, he had attached a cup to a Pringles can and something else -- he didn't even have to lift his arm in the hopes that some sucker would put money in his little contraption.

We stopped and watched a bunch of kids break dancing. They were performing for money, of course, but at least they were interesting. Another guy came up to us when we were looking at a map of the city. He was pretty helpful -- told us to make certain not to walk a couple of blocks to the west from where we were because it was "not a good neighborhood". Our friend gave him some money because he was so helpful and all.

On the way home, we stopped in Reno for a late lunch. I'm sure it looks better in the city, but we could tell that they tried to go for the "feel" of Vegas but everything just seemed run down and old. The buffet at Circus Circus was pretty tasty, though, and I think it was a bit less than we would have spent at the Vegas counterpart... I was wishing Journey was in town, though. I would have stayed overnight in a heartbeat! ;)