Picture Day is just like Rice-A-Roni!¹

When we left Las Vegas at the end of August 1993, we continued heading west into California. The first place we stopped was Bakersfield, about which the less said the better. I'm sorry, Bakersfieldians, put your town was unkind to us. It was ugly and dusty and hot, and the camp site was evil. It looked pleasant enough, and it was completely empty, and we set up under a nice big tree. Then the camp site administrator came over and told us we had to move because the site we had chosen was reserved. Reserved for whom, we wondered aloud, noting that it was after six o'clock in the evening and nobody was around. He told us that people from L.A. (stupid Angelenos!) reserve the sites for a week around Labor Day but don't show up until that weekend. We said that we were just staying the night and would be gone very early in the morning, and the people from L.A. weren't showing up that night. He said it didn't matter. So we had to move. Stupid camp site ranger guy! Then, the bathroom was filled with spiders. Filled. It was like a horror movie. Krys has a huge spider phobia, so she didn't want to shower, and even though I think spiders are cool, it really freaked me out. Horrible. So we fled Bakersfield and drove to Interstate-5, turned north, and drove through a ridiculously boring stretch of California. Seriously - those readers who have driven that stretch (we've done it twice) will know how amazingly boring it is. Then we reached San Francisco, where we stayed with an old college friend of my mom's, so that was great. A real house! With a pool!

We went into San Francisco, which is a marvelous city, although it's far too expensive for us to ever live there. We spent a very nice day there. It's cool.

First we have a very nice quintessential Frisco view. That's Golden Gate Bridge in fog. Just perfect.


This is Alcatraz. We didn't go out and tour it. I don't know why - maybe we didn't have time, maybe they weren't running that day. Beats me. It's still a neat place.


This is the tower on Nob Hill. I can't remember the name of it. Can anyone help me?


Since we were in San Francisco, we had to go through Chinatown. So we took some pictures. I just wonder what the difference between a regular pharmacy and a Mandarin pharmacy is.


It's very hilly in San Francisco. I just wanted to prove it with this picture. In case you didn't believe it.


Finally, it's a cable car. Riding the cars is pretty fun, and when it reaches the end of the line, they turn it manually. As you can see, it draws quite a crowd.


So that's San Francisco. A very nice city. We headed north after this, and a few days later, we reached Portland. That's where we will be next week!

¹ Because we're in San Francisco. Get it? Get it? Oh, never mind. Sheesh. You people.