On Valentines Day, Saturday February 14, 2004, we flew out at 6:10 AM on United Flight 337. There was a bit of a mix up at the Pittsburgh Airport when we where checking in. Bill had already been checked in. The lady had given Bill's ticket to Todd. So we had to find Todd to straighten things out. But the scary thing is that we had to show ID and prove to the lady we were who we were! WOW! They planes were seated by the Alphabet. So we had to fight to get seat together. We were on the plane for about an hour and a half. Then had a layover in Chicago for about 30 minutes and departed at 8:00 AM on United 885. The plane ride was about three and half hours.
We arrived in San Francisco at 10:25 AM Pacific Time. The Airport was very big and confusing.
After finding our entire luggage. Bill's Front zipper on his suitcase was broken. We went outside to wait for our coach tour busses. They came about an hour later and from there we went to Stanford Shopping Center and enjoyed lunch there and got a chance to look around at the stores.
For lunch we had Hot Dogs with Ketchup on them with. Bill had a lemon cookie and Kelly had bread pudding with fresh fruit on it. Bill Bought Kelly a beautiful red rose that is still living and smells wonderful!!! We loaded busses and went to the Intel Museum that was all about computers and technology.
We departed from there and drove though Chinatown.
Chinatown was a very crowded place with a lot of Chinese people and fancy Chinese buildings. We went to Pier 39 for dinner to shop around a little. We stopped at the San Francisco Hard Rock where Bill bought a black tee shirt.
For dinner we ate 2 slices of pizza.
We got coffee on our way back to the busses.
We left there and went back to our 1st hotel the Best Western. We got ready for bed and went right to sleep because we were so tried.
Sunday February 15, 2004, we woke up around 6:00 AM and ate breakfast at the Brass Elephant. It was a buffet. Bill had a lot of bacon and other stuff and Kelly had a lot of fruit and little bit of other stuff. We went to pier 41 to go on the Alcatraz Tour. Walking over to the pier there was an area in the bay where there were at least 100 sea lions. They were all laying and making loud roars. We took a boat over the bay to the prison on the island.
We first watched a 12 minute movie, and then we walked up some steep hills to look into different buildings and cells. We got a tape player and ear phones listen to our own tour.
We then took the boat back to the pier and we walked around and looked at all the stores and walked up to see the cable cars.
We got a quick lunch at a hamburger palace where we both got chicken sandwiches. We then loaded the busses to go Ghirardelli Square. It started to rain very heavily!!! We went into a chocolate store where they gave out free samples. And we just all shared a small pizza to past the time since we didn’t want to walk around in the rain. We went loaded the busses and went to the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove over it and then stopped at the tourist site, where we took many pictures. We drove back over it and headed back to pier 39 to eat dinner at Bubba Gump’s.
At the tables there were license plate signs that could be flipped to say one of two things. “Run Forrest Run” or “Stop Forrest Stop”. When the sign was flipped to “Stop Forest Stop” a waiter would see it and come to the table to offer us assistance.
For dinner we each got salad to start with.
Kelly liked the salad and even liked the dressing which is rare for her. Bill didn’t like the salad, but never does like salads. We had fries, mashed potatoes, barbeque chicken, ribs and shrimp all served to our table in one big plate. Bill and Kelly both had fries, mashed potatoes and chicken. For dessert we got ice cream with chocolate syrup and cherries in a cup. One of the very loud waitresses asked us trivia questions about the movie Forrest Gump. Kelly’s grandma and Kerri both won a button for answering the question correctly.
The button was a smiley face that said “Stupid is As Stupid Does”. (This waitress apparently knew what she was getting with these folks!)
After that we went back to the hotel. Kelly was so tired that she went to sleep almost as soon as she had gotten her shower.
Monday February 16, 2004, we woke up around 6:00 AM and went to breakfast again at the Brass Elephant.
We checked out of that hotel, and we drove a while down the coast.
We took a 17 mile tour drive through the famous landmarks Pebble Beach Golf Course, and the Lone Cypress, and Bird Rock. We got to get out of the bus and climb down the rocks to go the shore line of the ocean.
We drove a long way to the Hearst Castle. We went into an auditorium and watched a movie about Hearst himself and his house.
We got a quick pretzel to eat before going on the bus, we took a bus up to the castle and on the way there were animals in the fields. We got to the top and we walked around with a tour guide.
We looked at the outside pool area and all the expertise statues. Then we moved inside where the changing rooms were for the men and women. Then we saw the guest bed rooms and bathrooms. The ceilings in side were so pretty and were lots of carpeted wall hangings. We saw the big party room and the dinning area along with the pool room and the movie theater and the indoor pool. The floor was made with real gold. The guide told us that he had many parties at his house and he also held an open zoo with man different animals.
We took the bus back to the down the gift shop. We departed for dinner at the Hometown Buffet in San Luis Obis Obispo we ate a lot of food there, we were very hungry. We walked over to our Embassy Suites Hotel. It was a very nice hotel. We went swimming in the indoor heated pool for about 30 minutes before it got to crowed. Then we got ready for bed.
Tuesday February 17, 2004,
We woke up around 6:30 AM and went down for breakfast. There was a chef preparing omelets any way anyone wanted them, but Bill and Kelly don't like eggs so they got bacon and fruit. They gave Bill a bunch of extra bacon when he asked. There was a strange sign we saw while waiting in line.
(the sign says: "All monies in the atrium fountains will be donated to local charities" - not sure why this was strange)
We checked out and loaded the buses with our luggage. We began our journey to Solvang, a small Danish Village. We walked around in Solvang and had a mountain dew.
Kelly bought a 20th birthday angel that she has collected since the day she was born. Bill found a list of Danish Kings and took a picture of Herald Bluetooth, the King that the wireless technology "Bluetooth" was named after.
We got back on the buses and continued our journey toward Hollywood. As we arried in Hollywood we stopped at the Hollywood Bowl, that was under construction.
We got on a new bus to take a tour of Hollywood and Beverly Hills. We got off at the Chinese Theater and walked around for a while.
We saw the handprints of movie stars and the famous white Hollywood sign. We ate at the Steak and Potato Company and had buffalo chicken sandwiches. Kelly got her picture taken with Elmo before we left.
In Beverly Hills we saw Rodeo drive, Johnny Depp's Nightclub, and Marilyn Monroe's House.
We left Hollywood for Newport Beach.
We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe where Bill ate a cheeseburger and Kelly had alfredo chicken pasta. Bill bought a Blue hard rock shirt there. We got our picture taken in front of the Hard Rock Guitar. We drove for a little longer and finally arrived at our last hotel, the Best Western in Orange County. We had to wait for a while as our rooms were assigned. We found a new drink in the Coke machines there called Cactus Cooler. It was an orange/pineapple carbonated drink. After we got our rooms we got ready for bed and went to sleep around 10:30.
Wednesday February 18, 2004,
We woke up and went to breakfast and it was very different from the past 2 hotels we had been at. At this hotel we could only pick from one of two choices for breakfast. Bacon, eggs, and toast, or eggs, sausage, and potatoes Bill asked for just bacon and toast, but they only gave him two small pieces of bacon with his one piece of toast. They cut the Danishes and fruit in half also. The portions were not very big at this place, but we had to be on our way quickly anyway. We left breakfast hungry. We loaded the bus and went to Disney Land. Bill and Kelly got their picture taken in front of the Mickey Flower face, and with the computers they were able to put Tinkerbelle in our hands.
(I posted the pic on FB)