(Events of Sunday, April 26th, blogged Thursday, April 30th)

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and it was a glorious morning! And I still had to drag myself out of bed, because man am I getting tired. And I wasn’t the only one in no hurry to rise and shine…

But rise we must and shine we better, because we have a day chockablock of San Francisco treats ahead of us! First a little spin around the motel property to get our bearings, and tend to our morning ablutions.

There were loads of colorful flowers everywhere, along with the world’s most patriotic sewer grate.

Our lodging was just a quick stroll to the Palace of Fine Arts. The Palace was originally built for a big World’s Fair type exhibition in 1915, and though it was only ever intended to be temporary, it was so loved that the people demanded it be preserved. But to what purpose? Since then it’s been home to 18 lighted tennis courts, used for military jeep storage, served as a telephone book distribution center, and even housed a Fire Department!

A shortish stroll from there brought us to Crissy Field, a gorgeous and huge dog beach with an excellent view of the Golden Gate Bridge!

I pointed out Alcatraz Island to Annie and threatened to ship her off there if she didn’t cool it with the BARKBARK, but she just laughed in that way that says: “Mom, I could so break out of there before the locks were shut!” And I wouldn’t put it past her.

Annie even had a brief romp with a chocolate lab, it was a near perfect morning in the sunshine with my toes in the sand and my best girl by my side. I wondered what more we could ask for…

And the answer was a random market entirely filled with free giveaways including Kind Bars and lip balm and dog treats?! And a tote bag to carry it, and any other goodies I might find, around in? I was so excited I almost did a woogle myself!

Feeling energized, we decided to keep waling to Fisherman’s Wharf. And walk, and walk, and walk we did. We even had to stop at one point and refuel with some of our newly acquired free snacks. And yes, Annie readily agreed that these bunny grahams were indeed her dearest friends.

At last we made it to the beginning of the wharf, with a great view of the bay, and looking back at the shining city on the hill.

There were loads of boats milling about on a picture perfect Saturday afternoon, including this one which appeared to be leading its little baby boats behind…

There were even people SWIMMING in the bay (along with at least one rogue seal I was never able to get a snapshot of).

After some MORE walking, we made it to the heart of the Wharf area, and it was PACKED with people!

It was packed and noisy and there were street performers and dumb tourists and blaring music coming from every direction. And then I realized I was having a “shoulda had lunch” moment, when my blood pressure drops, and my energy sags, and I am done. So I’m trying to find a restaurant to accommodate us for lunch, but we’ve made it to Pier 39, which mostly has restaurants with indoor seating only, and this is where the seals hang out, so we can’t leave here without seeing the seals, and by god we are going to see some seals!

Seals seen. Check. LUNCH NOW! Luckily, I spotted a dog boutique and the lovely fellow running it knew just where to point us for lunch. And it was some of the tastiest Dungeness Crab (and the sweetest Diet Soda) I’ve ever had. The waitress even fashioned a water bowl for Annie out of a to go chowder cup.

Side Note: almost every restaurant, convenience store, gas station, and taco stand on the West Coast served Diet PEPSI instead of Diet COKE, which is more de rigueur amongst the more discriminating palates of the East Coast. I am so sick of Diet Pepsi I could wail. Add that to the list of things I will be most excited about on my homecoming.

We were duly refreshed, but still tired, and with a long walk home (we did around seven miles that day, in full sun, which for the two of us is a lot!) We made note of the local floralized fauna and were on our way.

I could tell we would fit right in here, because even the TREES had outfits!

It was only 4pm once we got back to our suite, and at one point I entertained thoughts of venturing out again for dinner. Or anything. But it was not to be. Stick a fork in us-we were DUN!