Home again, home again, jiggedy jig

Written by: Craig
City: Brisbane, Australia
Weather: Sunny, warm, humid; my head is soggy again

Well, the jetlag is starting to lag, so it must be time to write the last entry of the trip. So let's GIT IT AWWWWN! We last joined our heroes, high in the air above California, ready for their whirlwind last holiday destination, a return to San Francisco...

We landed in San Francisco around 8pm, and were met with a flurry of hugging arms that belonged to Crystal's cousin, Diane. Diane is the sister of Barbra, who you might remember introduced us to Bikram Yoga in San Diego and reduced me to a puddle of sobbing goo all over the floor, like the Wicked Witch of the West. Here's the reunion photo:

Diane and Crystal, San Francisco airport

We traipsed our luggage over the BART railway system and through the streets of San Francisco until we found the hotel YESITWASTHEHILTONBITCHES and then went out for a beer and some dinner near the good ol' Moscone Center (have you got 'We Built This City on Rock and Roll' out of your head yet, coz I sure haven't). It was when we found ourselves falling asleep in our Guinness that we realised we needed to call it a night, despite the costumed St Patrick's Day celebrations happening around us.

Next day, we finally hit some tourist sites in San Francisco. We caught a tram that was painted like a Louisville (LOO-AHH-VOO) tram down to the markets at the Fisherman's Wharf, got some Huevos Rancheros, and saw the Bay Bridge. Just like how it appears in these photos:

The Bay Bridge. And Crystal and Diane

Craig takes a photo of his armpit (only available on the Director's Cut of this blog)

Fiddler on the Wharf

We were really lucky with the weather too (for the whole trip, really!) and had groovy sunshine on our last day, even though the forecasts called for rain. So we had a pleasant tram/walk down to tourist central, Pier 39. And you wouldn't believe it: we took photos. I KID YOU NOT!

Escapees flee Alcatraz

Pole dancing classes finally bear relevance to our holiday (and hey, does it show our age that we actually got motion sickness from a merry-go-round? Yes. Yes it does.)

Seals lolling about at the pier

Diane and Crystal. For the love of God, someone throw them some fish!

We found a memorabilia shop. Does it show I'm a nerd that I wanted to hug the Spider-man statue? Yes. Yes it does.

You wouldn't believe how close I came to buying these lightsabers off this guy for about $400. My willpower is weak, old man.

Awesome breadshop. We grabbed a massive olive bread loaf and smuggled it on the plane home. Oh, how we laffed! And ate bread!

Wouldn't be a San Francisco trip without queueing for half an hour to hang out the side of a cable car. Cool fun!

And really, that was kind of it! We wandered the hills (working our glutes again) and saw a church, then cable carred again and narrowly missed smashing through a car stuck in an intersection, then we grabbed our luggage and were GAAAAWN!

It was off to the airport!

An iPod vending machine at the airport. "You want anything from the iPod machine?" "Oh, grab us an iTouch, I'm feeling peckish. Better grab a Shuffle too, it's a long trip..."

And then we were on the plane! We actually slept for a lot longer than we thought, but still squeezed No Country for Old Men in over dinner (great film!) We had some bumpiness along the way to Auckland, then we had someone having a heart attack on the plane to Brisbane (seriously... they were asking for anyone with medical experience, the plane was rushed to the airport, paramedics came on board as soon as we landed, it was full on. The person involved was going strong when we left the plane, we assume and hope they're still fine).

And then Crystal's mum, Lidy, picked us up and took us back to her place, but not before grabbing supplies from the supermarket...

Exhausted at a supermarket in Queensland. The sweet, salty, black taste of home!

And that was that! What a great holiday we had, packed full of awesome cities, awesome people, and great memories. It's really hard to pick a favourite place -- each one was great, for different reasons. Hyeppy thaaames!

Okay, we'll sign off now. Thanks again for reading, hope you're all having a rockin' time, wherever in the world you are. BOOYAH!

Cheerio,

Craig & Crystal