Well, well, well. Look like the masses have gotten demanding after only ONE DAY of blogdom. So sorry for the delay, but we are busy and important people! Never you fear, though - the blog was on our minds all day, and I am now revving to place a post.
Well, Natalie and I went down into the city yesterday. I was the navigator, and she was the driver, which worked out really well because I like maps and I'm afraid of driving in the city. Maps. So fun. So anyway, we decided on trying out the Japanese tea garden. Had a bit of trouble getting into Golden Gate park and actually FINDING the place, but once we got there it was fun. There was this gigantic bridge that you had to climb up onto (because it was a very narrow half circle - you had to climb it like a ladder) and just nice pretty flowers and koi ponds and all of these things. Then, disaster struck. We decided that we were IN the Japanese tea garden, and so therefore, should drink tea. We gazed at the Menu.
"Oooh, oolong," said I.
"Ew. Oolong? I like Jasmine," said Natalie.
"But we've never tried oolong before," I said pompously.
"But...Jasmine...whatever, fine."
And thus, we drank the worst tea known to man. POLICY on Oolong tea. It really tasted like NOTHING but left a really gross feeling in your mouth after you drank. And since we had spent $6 on the tea, we felt obligated to drink the whole godforsaken kettle - which was not a fun task. Sadly, we walked back to our car, and set off to the marina for our Alcatraz tour. We drove to the marina by way of Lombard Street - the crookest street in the country (or something like that). As we were approaching it, the hill just kept going UP and UPP and it was like a roller coaster or something. Natalie drove like a pro - I was very impressed. It was a cool then. So we got to Pier 39, got robbed on the cost of parking, and got some burritos before getting on the boat. We saw the sea lions while we stood in line. It was kinda dull, actually, they were just lying there all up on each other, but it was still neat. The boat ride was cool, and by cool, I mean cold. Natalie was bundled up so much you could barely see her face (get pumped for pictures of THAT!). Our tour went around the island, then pulled up the dock - it's amazing how small it is (the island, not the dock). We got a cool tour on the way up from some British dude with weird hair, then went in and had a guided tour with an audio tape. It was a very cool place, as Annie said when we got home, "A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." Crazy to think about the kind of things that people had to do to get there. Apparently you were sent to Alcatraz after you had already served time and caused trouble at another prison - so it was like THE prison. Kinda like AZKABAN. Wooo. So the tour was cool - saw Al Capone's cell, the solitary confinement cells, the cells from which people broke out...very cool. After this tour, we looked around a bit and then joined another tour guide, Jim, for a tour on the breakout in the 60s before it closed. Jim had very unfortunately sized teeth, but still gave a good tour. Apparently these guys made fake heads, widened the vents in their room, and crawled out through pipes. Their footprints were found all the way to the water's edge, and then....they have never been heard from again. Natalie and I think they're alive. Our tour guide said he likes to think they come back once a year for a tour...ha! I bet he's right. Sooo, we got back on the boat (I tortured Natalie by making her sit outside again) and then we made some phone calls and left some voicemails, basically bragging that we were in San Francisco. We wandered around Fishermen's Wharf, went to Ghiardelli Square (and got a S'more Sundae to share...mmmmm) and then walked back to the car. I wanted to go to Sunset Blvd, which was way out of our way, but Natalie said it was all right. When we GOT there, I realized how stupid it was, and it was in THIS moment that Natalie decided to inform me that the REAL Sunset Blvd is in LA. That information would have been handy BEFORE we took the massive detour to get to the road...but whatever. Kyle gave me a call and hated on my blog for awhile (BLOGS ARE COOL, OK?!?) but it was nice to talk to him. We cruised back to Skyline Blvd, only got lost once, and visited with Annie in her cute little house. Molly (her dog) was HYPER. I kept throwing this little deer for her and she only stopped once she ripped the ear of the deer. She was into it. Annie made us rice cakes with almond butter on it, and made HOMEMADE APPLESAUCE right before our very eyes - with lemon and ginger in it - AMAZING. Anyway, then we realized Eric wasn't coming over and was actually going to bed, so we made the very scary hike up to Eric's apartment and hit the sack (literally, I was sleeping in a sleeping back! HA!)
Well, we're off the Berkeley today, where I'll visit Starr King, and get to hang out with some hippies. Good times. More later (we promise to be more prompt next time, Jack...you're so demanding.)