Last City Day- Homeward Bound

 Ty and I kicked back today after the hospital and hung out in the hammocks. We read out books and enjoyed the sunshine. It could be awhile before we get some good warm sunshine. It's only getting colder back home. We haven't taken time to just enjoy our little hotel yet and this was the perfect opportunity.

 After packing up our stuff we headed out for dinner. Tyler decided for Halloween he wants to be a CRAZY GIANTS FAN. So we hit the town to find his costume pieces.

 I think the cable cars are a favorite of Tyler's. He needed one more trip around town before heading out. We jumped on the newest cable car and took off down the street. We figured it would take the same path that the last one did we jumped on a few days ago. This one went down to Union Square and we hung out with the other baseball fans. By this point the score of the game was already terrible though so most everyone had headed out for the night. There was still a band playing on the square and people milling about. We jumped off the cable car at the end of the line and found a bus to bring us back to our Hotel Del Sol.

 Ty wanted to eat at our favorite Silver Moon Restaurant/Bar that has the awesome chicken tacos so we ran in just before closing. You can't beat a $3 chicken taco.

Here's Tyler's costume! He's ready win or loose to be the Crazy Giants Fan for Halloween. We have seen enough of them in the last two weeks he should know the part well by now. We are both packed and ready to head out of here tomorrow bright and early. One more morning at the hospital and then we are heading home.

Ally called me today from school crying and asked if Byron could come and bring her home. It took awhile to coax her into telling me what was wrong but she was missing me and just wanted to see me. We chatted on the phone and made a few fun plans for when I get home and she was ready to head back to class. I called her this evening to check up on her and we talked for another thirty minutes then skyped for thirty minutes. Byron got home and took over from there. It's a good thing we are heading home soon, everyone is ready for this trip to be OVER. It has been fun San Fran but we are ready for North Salt Lake.

Blazing Saddles- You're Not Kidding

Tyler and I finished up at the hospital today- things went well- and we headed for the bikes. I hadn't given much thought to the name of this bike business. Blazing Saddles. About a mile up the trail we decided it was well named. By the time we got to the bridge we wished we were getting off our saddle but still had another two and a half miles to the city of Sausalito. We made it but are both suffering from a serious case of- we never ride bikes and have sore bottoms.

 The bridge is pretty much amazing. It was genius to paint it red. Ty and I took it nice and slow. There were a few serious hill climbs but we made it without much trouble. We didn't even crash or anything. There were a few close calls.

 Ty and I still smiling while on our bikes. We had made it across the bridge at this point and were heading downhill into Sausalito. We heard a seal barking and pulled off the path to get a look at the cute guys. There were two of them wrestling in the water. Ty and I decided it would be cool to jump off the bridge and on the way into the water morph into a seal so we could swim around like the seals for a while.

 We ate pizza at a great little restaurant near the water and headed for the ferry. Unfortunately we just missed it, or I should say, there were more bikers than space so we weren't allowed to load. We had to wait for an hour for the next ferry. We sat and read our books, Ty was happy, and watched the sun set over San Francisco. It was fun to see the lights all come on and the skyline take on it's night time glory.

Ty in the ferry with the Bay Bridge as we were heading back towards San Francisco. I was proud of Tyler. He was a trooper. We had to bike clear back to the night garage check-in which was no easy task in the dark. He followed right behind me, stayed in the bike lane and was cheerful and happy the whole time. I could hardly sit on my tailbone by this point. Tyler said after that he liked it, it was hard but he liked it. Then he realized that the reason he liked the ride was because it was hard but he did it anyway. He's such a cool kid. It has been fun hanging out with Ty for the last two weeks. He doesn't even complain about my obsession with HGTV at night. His favorite is Property Brothers. That's my guy! Only two treatments left. I think we are going to make it through this. 

Another Day in San Francisco-Three treatments left to go...

 Another day has come and gone here in San Francisco. The hospital went well this morning. I should probably be taking more photos at the hospital but it is the fun touristy adventures we want to remember not the hospital. I do have to say though, we have had the nicest nurses. Sara, Raquel, Jeanie, and Erin have all been fabulous. They are so kind and patient and always asking if we need anything. They have all been great. If anything Tyler would prefer to stay at the hospital after treatments to he can play on their gaming systems that usually don't open until after we have left.

So today after our time in the hospital we headed to the California Science Center. It was more aquarium than science but we fully enjoyed it. I somehow managed to get the times for church messed up. I thought we could go to the 1:00 sacrament meeting but they don't have a 1:00 they have a 12:10. We were to late leaving the hospital to make the 12:10 meeting so we skipped it. The science center was pretty awesome. They had a cool earthquake room which let you experience the 1983 and 1908 earthquakes they have had in San Francisco. I wouldn't want to be in either of those for real, but it was neat to feel them simulated. They said 500 blocks burned in the 1908 earthquake.

 Tyler wanted to prop himself in this window and read his book. He has become a prolific reader this trip. I can hardly get him to put a book down for long enough to look around.

 This is on the top of the roof at the science center. We enjoyed the view. We watched a movie on Dark Matter. I had a good nap. I just have a hard time in the planetarium/dome theaters. They turn those lights down low and start talking science talk and I just slip away into nap zone. Tyler said it was a good show but he couldn't explain to me what dark matter was even after having watched the movie. He did talk tell me about the big bang theory and how they think that was the start of our universe.

 Ty spotted this cool reading bench outside the science center yesterday when we walked by. He made me promise he could sit and read for a few minutes after the science center closed today. I gave him ten minutes on the bench because it was essential we be cleared out of the Golden Gate Park by dark. Fun happy go lucky park by day, not so awesome by night. He enjoyed his time and was happy to walk briskly out of the park with me before nightfall.

Here we have Tyler reading while waiting for the bus. We both pulled out our books once we got on this bus and were so engrossed in our literature we missed our stop. What? Carter will laugh when he hears this. He and Tyler have done the same thing taking the train home from school. I had to drive up to Farmington to get them one day. We didn't overshoot by to far and just cut through the junior high schools field to get back to our hotel.  

Giants won again tonight Series is 3-2 with Giants leading the Royals. Next game moves to Kansas and this city is going to go nuts if they win. They play on Tuesday. I'm glad we will still be here. They better win on Tuesday so we don't miss all the excitement. We will be flying home on Wednesday during game time and won't know how it ends. Worst of all we will miss the street party we have been promised will occur by all the locals.

Big Win for the Giants

 Tyler's treatments at the hospital went well this morning. We didn't have any blood work so just the premeds, benadryl and ibuprofen and then straight to the treatment. We met another weekend doctor today. He will be taking care of us tomorrow so our regular doctor Gidilman can have a break. Tyler felt good this morning, his stomach had gone away and his appetite was back so on we go. Tomorrow we will have the blood work and everything so it will take longer on Sunday.
Once we were let free to roam as we will we headed for the aquarium. There is a little aquarium down on Pier 39. It was a fun little adventure. I was surprised how small it is being right by the bay and everything. It was fun though. They had a moving sidewalk that took you through the shark tank enclosure and the bay area enclosure. They had a very impressive octopus. Old and gnarly and beautiful.

 We found this cool musical staircase so Tyler practiced the piano. His teacher would be so proud.

 We ate strawberry and banana crepes. Those are like little mini pieces of artwork.  Tyler was willing to share with me so I tried not to eat to much. We enjoyed shopping at the Pier and picking out a souvenir for all our people back home. Hopefully they will like what we got. We are pretty confident.

The funnest part of the day though may have been when we stopped at Silver Cloud, the corner restaurant/bar on our walk back to the hotel. We grabbed a few chicken tacos to go but while we were waiting the Giants went from a score of 4-4 to a score of 4-7. The fans at the bar were going wild. Ty and I were laughing so hard. We were happy to take our food and hit the road but it was fun to see and feel the excitement of the home team. With any luck they will win the World Series while we are here. Wouldn't that be fun! Go Giants.

Japanese Tea Gardens and Golden Gate Bridge

 We are kind of sick of touring. I had a hard time talking Tyler into doing anything today but we made it to the Japanese Tea Gardens and got him off the bus at the Golden Gate Bridge stop. He did not want to walk across it though. I thought when I got him close enough he would give in and want to go see it up close. Not so. Ty said we do a lot of walking around here and what he misses most about home is our car. Can't say as I blame him. I miss my car too. Especially yesterday morning when the lady across from us on the bus threw up in her lap. That was a new low point for our trip. I did have a few kleenex's I handed over to help her but eww. Just ewwww!

 The Tea Garden was fabulous. I wish my garden could look like this. Loved the shaping of the trees and bushes the most. Everything has the bonsai look to it. It was phenomenally well done.

 Ty propped himself on the top of this very tall bridge and said he was going to read his book while I finished looking around. I figured I would take his generous offer and did just that. The gardens were not terribly large so I was always fairly close at hand and he is eleven. He enjoyed his time on the bridge and is in lots of photos from fellow garden lookers.

 We were headed home after the Tea Garden but the bus happened to go right by the Golden Gate stop so I begged Tyler to just get off to take pictures with me. He was nice enough to agree. We walked around the gift shop and the main landing area near the bus. Took a few photos and then hopped back on the bus. Well after waiting in the wind for twenty minutes.

Here we are! Ty is a good sport humoring me with all my touring wants and desires. We stopped in the corner restaurant/bar to eat dinner on our way back to the hotel. I ate lots but Ty didn't have much of an appetite. He complained of an upset stomach tonight as well. Poor kid. I hope he gets feels better soon. Tyler finished up his book Peter and the Shadowthief this afternoon on the bus. We are going to need to get him another one tomorrow. This is his third book he has finished on this trip.

Thursdays in Jail- Alcatraz that is...

 Our morning in the hospital was faster than usual today. They didn't need to run the normal blood work today so we cut an hour off our visit. Ty had a good night and they ordered premeds and then went ahead with his medicine as planned. We were able to slip out by 12:30. It felt so early! We were happy to hit the town. Coit Tower is off to the right of Tyler up on the hill.

 We took the fairy over to Alcatraz Island for a little history lesson today. It was an incredible tour. They have a guided ear set that leads you through the jail. Explains about the riot and the attempted escapes. You get to see the actual jail cells where the inmates dug their way into the ventilation pipes. So interesting. We learned today the first Lighthouse on the West Coast was on Alcatraz Island. Back in the goldmining days of California they put in a Military Presence to retain control of the Bay, including a lighthouse.

 This is Ty with his tour headphones on listening intently. We were both enthralled. They had sound effects of prisoners fighting, gun shots, the whole works. It was kind of like watching a movie but being there on the scene.

 This is the hospital wing that they don't usually let visitors go into. This was by far the creepiest part of the prison.  They had an art exhibit going on in the hospital wing, the A-cells and the large work building. Ai Weiwei was the artist on exhibit. He is a social activist artist from China that has in the past been thrown into prison for using his social status to speak out against the government. Ironic that his exhibit would be in a prison in America.

 This was porcelain flowers Ai Weiwei had made and filled the sinks, toilets and tubs in the hospital portion with flowers. Not sure what he was thinking with this but I am sure it could be construed as being anti China and therefore he should be thrown back in prison. No really, not sure what the statement is meant to mean. Flowers coming out of all the plumbing.....water....water being the source of life....I'll have to keep thinking about it.

 Hopefully Tyler is considering all the life choices he will make in the future that will help him not end up behind bars.  You can see just how old the prison is. All the paint is peeling and cracking, walls are tumbling down as you walk by them. Okay so little pieces are falling off the walls. It really is slowly being reclaimed by the earth. The prison was only up and going from the 1933-1963 as a prison.

 Three levels of prison cells. Impressive place. This is a photo of the oldest portion of the prison, not usually on view to tourists. Cell block A.

 We ran across this little fellow in the garden eating off fuchsia plants and making a noisy racket for a hummingbird. He was chittering away for quite a while.

 Another portion of the Ai Weiwei exhibit. Chinese dragon with very long body and looking amazing.

 Additional art pieces. These lego portraits are all people who have also been imprisoned for being social or political activists in their home countries. This large room was filled with them.

 I love this shot of Tyler. This whole tour really just gets your brain thinking. Here he is looking and thinking. It is amazing what people go through in the search for a bit of freedom.

 You can kind of see her how many portraits they put together for this exhibit. I guess they figured out a computer program that digitizes portraits and translates them into lego language. Pretty slick. They it only took 90 volunteers to put them all together.

 Heading off the island. We were lucky to be heading off as the fog was rolling onto Alcatraz. It was getting a little bit to spooky for me.

 On our walk over to dinner we ran across a Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum with a mirror maze and a laser room. Of course we had to go in and take a look around. Tyler laying on a bed of nails. I tried it too and it really wasn't all that bad. The head part was uncomfortable where it felt like two nails were holding up the weight of your entire head but the rest of the body was pretty comfy.

This is our leftover lunch. We didn't have time to grab lunch before loading the ferry to Alcatraz because we were buying Tyler a sweatshirt so he wouldn't freeze on the ferry ride over there. He left his sweatshirt home this morning. We grabbed a loaf of bread and nibbled it while we waited in line. The bread was great but I just love the packaging. I thought the bag was pretty so I wanted a photo of it. It ended up being a beautiful day out on the ocean. I didn't even feel any motion sickness which is a big deal for me.
So, great day today. Tyler did well at the hospital, got lots of math done this morning. We are both experts at prime factorization. It had been a while for me but we figured it out and are both pros.
We ate at In'N Out Burger for dinner, Ty's choice. With all the great food at our fingertips I couldn't tell him no to a standard old hamburger. He is being so good with all this hospital stuff and never complains. Let the boy eat a hamburger if he wants. Fun day. Time for sleep.

One week and counting - China Town and Cable Car

 Treatments went well this morning. Tyler's energy level is up. He was gung-ho to get out after we finished in the hospital today. It is nice to see him feeling better. It is interesting to compare the Tyler today with the Tyler of a week ago. He is excited to get out and see stuff. Last week I was wondering if he would ever want to leave the hotel room.  So we hit up the Exploratorium first thing and it is awesome. We spent four hours in there and barely scratched the surface. It really is a great place, we will probably go again while we are here. We were playing with a sand spinner in the photo above. I could have sat there for at least an hour. Below is a infra-red sensor light. Nice selfie.

 Ty got a turn at the drawing pendulum which was super cool. It was mesmerizing to sit and watch the pen draw while the platform rocked around. I could have fallen asleep. Ty got to pick the marker color and get the pendulum swinging in a pattern he liked. Then they uncapped the marker and let the motion draw.

 We were heading to Chinatown but the F-train was stuffed with people so we decided to walk up the hill. We ran across the cable car so hopped aboard. We rode it from one end of the line to the other. At the turn around point we switched sides of the cable car and rode back down to the Chinatown stop. It was a beautiful day to take in the sights of San Francisco.

 I love me a tea pot and was so excited to see these cuties. They were quite pricey so I took a photo instead of purchasing. Loved them though.

Tyler and I in a giant red throne chair at the Chinese Restaurant we ate at. I think it was called The Red Dragon. We shared some yummy sweet and sour chicken, hot and sour soup and won tons. Delicious! Luckily the bus ride home was uneventful and we scooted right back to our hotel without any problems. One more day down.

Day 6 - crookedest street in the world

 Treatments went well this morning. I asked them yesterday to give Tyler a lesser dose of Benadryl as he seemed to knocked out every day. They did today and he had much more energy to play after his meds were done. We spoke with Dr. Gilliman and had a physical exam. Things are going well for Tyler.  We had fun touring around today. We are a little more city savy every day. Today we found the F train and the N train. The N train even went underground.

 We stopped in for a treat at Ghiradelli's today. We found the best seats in the house right by the chocolate makers. We both ordered the chocolate brownie Sundae but Tyler wouldn't share. He wanted his own so yep, dinner it was. We are chocolate sundae's for dinner. I couldn't even convince him to get soup from a restaurant later.

 This was an impressive waffle cone dipped in chocolate. The hot fudge was also amazing.

 We walked on up to Lombard street to see the crookedest street in the world. It was impressive and crooked. I especially love the hydrangeas! Beautiful landscaping on this cute street. You can see Ty's cool dragon coin necklace he bought today. A street vender was using a little metal saw to carve out designs in coins and dimes. Pretty sweet.

Fun day! Happy boy.