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Day 5

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Chinatown was in the plans today and although I had walked there last time, we decided to let our friend take us. As with every place else, it was hot and crowded as well as dirty and stinky. We walked around a little and bought some fortune cookies at the Golden Gate Cookie Company. That was enough for us and our little friend picked us up to go back to the hotel where we all took a nap. We decided to have an early dinner and walked down to Pier 39 to The Hard Rock Cafe because none of us had ever eaten at one. I thought it was overpriced and nothing that spectacular. We probably should have taken a Waymo somewhere further away. After dinner we went into a t-shirt shop I had been to last time. Everything was 2/10.00 and the quality is really good cotton material. After that, we took our hot selves back to the hotel and ate cookies.

Day 4

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During the night I had a slight sore throat but just thought my mouth was dry. By the time I got up, it was hurting pretty bad. Faith and I went ahead with our plans to go to The Presidio and let Tony have a rest day. We had planned to walk an easy 10 blocks to catch a free shuttle there but those dang hills got to us and we missed it, so took Waymo instead. Once we got there, we did grab another free shuttle to see the south side of the park. It was a rough bumpy ride and we should have passed because it was just OK.  We started walking and went everywhere through the park, across the marsh to Chrissy Beach (not much of a beach imo), then walked the path to go through Chrissy Field and back to where we started. It's the closest we got to Golden Gate Bridge. I kept questioning her navigation skills because it seemed like we were walking forever. We finally made it back to the visitor center, enjoyed a cold drink and a snack (and fed a one legged bird) before we Waymo'd our way

Day 3

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It's still hot-97! We planned to go to Salesforce Park, which is probably the coolest place I've ever been.  It's a 5.4 acre park (4 blocks long) built on top of the Salesforce Transit Center downtown. There's a path that's 1/2 mile long and goes completely around it. There are 600 trees and 16,000 plants arranged in 13 different botanical areas. There's an amphitheater, children's play area, and a bus fountain which runs almost the full length of one side. It shoots up when busses pull up on the street. I think this park would look great in any season, and we probably took the most amount of pictures here. But how we got there was pretty cool too. We had seen an unusual car by our motel the day before and had to look it up. Meet our new friend, Waymo, a Jaguar driverless car! I tried to insert a video but it wouldn't work. It was so much fun! It's a very smooth, comfortable ride and we felt totally safe. We used it a total of 6 times while we were t

Day Two

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After breakfast at the hotel, we got an Uber to take us to the other hotel on the wharf and were there by 11. luckily we were able to get to our room right away. After unpacking a bit we headed to Pier 39. San Francisco was having a heat wave, breaking a 102 year old record. It was so busy but we still made our way through the crowds to shop a bit and look around.  This was a cool little coffee shot, where robots made all the drinks. I should have taken a video because it was fun to watch. Faith and I went into a Christmas store, lots of cute things and we did buy one ornament. I loved these Italian Santas. This Ferris Wheel was moved from Golden Gate Park awhile back. I'm sure the view would have been great but we didn't partake. We walked slowly through Fisherman's Wharf to Ghirardelli. It was uphill of course and it was slow going, but we made it.  One good thing about Tony's walker is that we could use it to hold all of our stuff. Finally we were ready for an early

Travel Day

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Our plane ride was pleasant and uneventful. After we landed, I swear the walk to baggage claim was about a half a mile! The even harder part was trying to figure out where the hotel shuttles pick up passengers. That was another long walk. We had just missed one so had to wait until 7:30 for the next one. It was dark, hot, and we were hangry. Tony had a small anxiety attack although he won't admit it.   Finally it arrived and they can't park for more than a minute so we had to throw our stuff in the back and get in as fast as we could. Each shuttle stops at 3 hotels but they're all pretty close so it didn't take long. Arriving at the motel about 8:00, we were wiped out. There is no decent restaurant around so Faith and I walked across the lot to a McDonald's. It was gross but we were desperate. They were so busy that it took a half-an-hour to get anything. I didn't really trust any food that had to be cooked so I got fries and a shake. Great low carb meal right t

Storm Before The Calm

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September was a very busy month for me with a total of 7 nights with Romeo, 5 nights with Teddy, 8 nights with Kodiak, and 5 days of drop ins for Julie's cats! Most were back to back, with only 5 days off the entire month. I was grateful, although tired, to keep busy and will make tomorrow even more satisfying. We're flying to San Francisco a day early because it was a better flight option. We'll stay the first night near the airport, then head to our final destination the next morning. I won't have my computer so will probably wait until we get home to do another post because I know you will be so excited to see if (and how) we survived.

More New Art

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One thing I've always wanted to try is watercolor painting but it seemed so daunting. My mom always wanted to try too, so I thought I would make a go at it for both of us. It's very different from acrylics and since that's what she mostly did, it may have been harder to make the switch. Me? I know nothing about either so that didn't make it any easier.  I watched A LOT of videos on Instagram and Pinterest, which only made me want to do it more, but also frustrated that I couldn't do it. I started small because I wanted to use them for my Art Abandonment and didn't want to waste large pieces of paper by having to throw them away; which I did plenty of. It's all just a bunch of doodling and practicing techniques. I did pay for one small course and I've finished one session so far; night skies. These are 8x10. I've already discovered that I need more brushes, larger palette of paints, and patience. The last one is what I need the most of.