so much fun whipped cream shoots out your nose

I finally got THE FIRST DAY of my San Francicso trip written. Dang, I'm slow.


Wednesday night Meridith was given a challenge by Clarke: To have so much fun that whipped cream shoots out her nose. Hahaha. He also started a bet: Be the first person to get a gay man to compliment your clothing - especially saying the word “fabuluous”.

Thursday- We left Orem at around 5:15 a.m. After checking in our bags, getting our boarding passes we went through security. Clarke had to throw away a swiss army knife-style manicure set because of the file on it, Meridith had scissors in her backpack, but was allowed to keep them because the ends were dull, and Dad later found he had his Leatherman (? Giant swissarmy style thingy with a big knife, pliers, etc on it) in his carry-on, and they hadn’t found it.
We hung around the SLC airport for quite a while because our plane was delayed. after walking down a huge freezing corrider we boarded the tiny plane. We sat there for quite a while (I hear) while the plane was de-iced. I quickly fell asleep. I woke up long enough to get an orange juice from the flight attendant, then fell right back to sleep.
After landing in Oakland we got our baggage and piled in a bus. We transfered from the bus to the BART train that took us into San Francisco.
We walked (me in platforms) for quite a while then found out we were going the wrong way entirely. We finally got to the hotel (The Marriott) a bit later, after having gotten two blisters in the top of my foot from my shoes rubbing as we walked that freaking long way.

After we had lunch in one of the restaurants in the hotel, my dad, Meridith, and I walked over to the giant Lowes Theather next door. We checked out movie times and decided there was nothing good to see right then. We wandered through the stores, including the Jelly Belly store where Dad bought Mom a bag of black licorice flavored beans...typical.
We each got an ice cream cone (Dad- Rum Raisin, Mer- I can’t remember, Me- Pumpkin Pie) and watched an insane pigeon with a hurt toe waddle around a tabletop outside. Then we went back to the hotel.

We all walked down to the streetcar turn-around spot thingy by the giant GAP. We rode the streetcar up to the top of Nob Hill (which Clarke called “snob hill”, bright) where the Fairmont Hotel is. My dad played bass with The Lettermen on tour in the '60s, including a two week (?) stint at the Fairmont. He wanted to show us the room where he played.
We then went up to the Tonga Room for an early dinner. It was Happy Hour, so they had a buffet rather than a dinner menu. It was fun. I had a virgin Pina Colada. :)
After dinner our waiter was giving suggestions of what to see. He told us that Lion King was in town.
We went down to the concierge. He said they release extra tickets right before the show starts, then he suggested we grab a cab. So we did.

That was my first Taxi ride in the U.S. (Though I don’t think it differs much from the taxi drivers in Germany. Neither speak much English, hahaha!) Our taxi driver was this 20-something dude who came from China 7 years ago.

We got to the Orpheum Theatre, got tickets and got in our seats (balcony, nearly the back row, middle. Could see everything perfectly.)

Ok, so I saw the Lion King at the Pantages Theater in L.A., when I was on Orchestra Tour in 2001. But we had driven from UT to CA all the night before, went straight to Disneyland (no stopping at the hotel or anything, drove from the high school to Disneyland) then stopped by the hotel for five minutes to change into nice clothing and went to the theater. We were exhausted. We all kept falling asleep through the play.
So, watching Lion King this time was practically like seeing it for the first time. I had missed so many little things, as well as entire scenes. (Including the bare-chested male dancers during “Be Prepared”...Wow, Disney meets Chippendales!)

We walked to the hotel from the theater, which was slightly freaky. I’m definitely sheltered here in my little Happy Valley bubble.