so many hills so little time....

As mentioned previously, waking up in the ghetto was cold. Actually, this isn't true, but it sounded funny so we kept it; the room was really cold, but it wasn't the ghetto. How do I know? There was a Chile's across the street. Some people did, however, think that this was the ghetto. How do we know that? It was written on hotels.com, which we checked for reviews on the Budget Motel in San Bruno Ca. We only thought to do this after we checked in and walked to a Starbucks, our new first choice to find free wifi, which was not provided at the seedy motel. Actually, we should have known this because hotels.com, from who we ordered the room, never said it did. It did, however, say that it had free breakfast AND free coffee which, momentarily, angered Alyssa enough that she contemplated calling and complaining and attempting to get free things for our trouble. This aspiration was soon abandoned when she realized that she would actually have to call them in order to do this. Anyway, we awoke, repacked our bags because they weren't weighted quite right the previous day, and set off for Golden Gate Park in San Francisco by way of the coastline. We made it two hills and three to four blocks from the motel when the reality of how hilly San Francisco was set in; also, this just happened to coincide with locating a Starbucks. After some morning coffee and a few games of Mahjongg, during which two hours passed, we set out again renewed, with lower expectations of our accomplishments, and a new route. Of course, this did not avoid hills. Honestly, I knew there would be hills, but there are a lot and are very steep but thankfully, not too long. Even though there are many steep hills, it is still unbelievably cold. I really can't believe it. Here is an example of just how cold it is: I started the morning in jeans, a t-shirt, and a wool flannel. By the time we got to Starbucks, I knew the flannel wouldn't cut it and changed into my new waterproof double-layered raincoat and a t-shirt. This was ok, but only after we had climbed a rather long hill. After the sun came out around 2:00, I was able to change back into the flannel. We eventually found a thrift store where we both sought to buy new warm clothes. In Alyssa's words, "We can just buy warm clothes and send back all these useless t-shirts." which we plan to do. Alyssa also made the point that at least we won't have to worry about all the bears, which my mother informed me were very hungry, since "they're probably all hibernating now." I say all this only to try to convince all of you that, although I personally hate the cold, this is not a matter of preference; it's empirically frigid here. Thats enough about the weather though. San Francisco is pretty cool, and would probably be sweet if it was experiencing a little ice age. We made it to the Pacific Ocean which I saw for the first time ever, and the hills mellowed out as we approached San Francisco. We ate a snack while waiting for our host, and found yet another Starbucks to start writing this blog. Right now we have just ate some delicious tacos and are watching a man absolutely shatter the record on Super Shot at the bar. It is seriously a sight to behold. He come from the kitchen to respond to a challenge by his co-worker and was one point from the high score which earned him a free game. On his subsequent try, he, at one point, had made over 20 baskets in a row and tied the high score! Thats all I have for now, we're due to meet our host anytime now.

-Alyssa and David

photos from our trip! check back often, it will be updated with the blog :)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2229088&id=39105848&l=0f558c7ef7