Oh. dear god...

Starting on the Sistine Chapel.

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I just can't decide...

...which picture I like better. In the second one, he's yelling at me to hurry up and take the picture, already! This stop was courtesy of Roadside America, a wonderful website filled with interesting and offbeat attractions. This is the Giant Nude Woman, and she's basking in the entrance to a shopping center. Only in California, eh?

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Loading issues...

...and I think we're out of order now. Well, it was already out of order so Jennyway...

On the evening of the 4th, we ate at a pizza place as I mentioned before. Chris suggested I order the Philly cheese steak because it was the closest thing to what I wanted to eat that night. Now, these guys were Brazilians and before you ask why they're making pizza, remember that nothing else was open in Mill Valley and we were getting hungry. My "Philly" was on an awesome roll, but made with one Steak-umm laid out flat, covered with a small, neat pile of onions. On one side of the roll was mozzarella cheese and underneath that was... spaghetti sauce. It was a meatball sub... made with a Steak-umm. They should call that sandwich "The Steak-hmm?"

So while we were waiting for the fireworks, I decided to take no chances on breakfast. I googled "Mill Valley best breakfast" and came up with the Toast Cafe, and it was best breakfast, indeed. I would make a special trip to eat there again.  Mmm, Toast.

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Nice picture

Accidentally caught the bridge in this picture.

I have this blogging app, but it piles all the pictures at the top, so I'm making multiple entries.

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Hiking down...

...to see the fireworks, Chris got this picture with his phone.

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Graffiti...

...is not as prominent as you might expect- it looked as though it is regularly painted over. Further over to the left of this gem is the word "piss" and an arrow down to the corner of a doorway. From the smell it's clear that many, many people have followed orders.

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West...

...of the Golden Gate Bridge is the remnants of an old military base. It seems like a waste to ammo igloos and missile launchpads in such a scenic place, but it makes sense strategically, of course. We toured through and spent a lot of time breathing through our noses because we could for once. Ah, ocean air.

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Finally

The fireworks were fun. We walked down to the water and sat on the concrete lip with our feet on the rocks. There were lots of people, but they were spread out along the shore so it didn't feel crowded. As we all waited for the show to begin, a group behind us started singing The Star-Spangled Banner. Some people joined in, but everybody cheered at the end. There was one show at Tiburon that started a bit early, so we got to watch two shows. San Francisco's show was set up on two barges and synchronized. It was awesome, of course, but the news from San Diego makes me more appreciative of the work that went into not just the whole show, but especially the synchronization. Afterwards, we hiked back up what felt like 4,000 steps and I am still feeling that.

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Almost time

We're waiting to brave the cold until it's almost time for fireworks. All the cool little restaurants were closed in Mill Valley except pizza places. Why pizza? We drove through Sausalito and through some neighborhoods in San Francisco and looked at the houses. I found my favorite so far: white with spicy orange. I love the expectation of wild colors. It doesn't look crazy when everyone does it. Every house is different and interesting.

For now we're hanging out in the car in a park next to the bridge. Our breath has fogged up the windows, making the bridge look... well, like it normally does. In a few minutes, armed with sweatshirts, we'll head down to the water to check out two sets of fireworks- maybe more!

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It's nicer on this side anyway.

I let Chris stand on the outside.

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It's not like they're going to see the fireworks through the fog.

The fog is too thick to see the Golden Gate Bridge from way up here at the top of the hill where we could find a parking spot, so instead we took a nice scenic picture against the rock. People are looking at us like we're crazy.

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Bye!

Have fun!

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...

...and I find myself asking the same question.

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At the airport

All that rush and lack of sleep and we're here early- Dad would be proud. Chris is operating on the least sleep of all so he is the crankiest. Ant is tired but still totally capable of being a pill. Ten minutes ago, Chris turned to me and asked if we were allowed to beat him. I told him he could last one more hour until Ant gets on the plane.

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One Skill Among Many

Helping Ant pack for his trip gives me the warm fuzzies, and not because I'm an asshole. I have spent the last 5 years teaching him how to pack. We started out with me choosing what he needed, and have graduated to him packing his own stuff with very little supervision. For Topaz, he's got it down and rarely messes that up anymore. I'm still heavily involved in the packing for the annual trip to Grandpa's, but only in a consulting role. Ant decides what he thinks he'd like to wear and I only help him edit rather than do it myself. Maybe this seems trivial, but it goes on my running list of things that I have taught him. This skill comes from me.

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