Day 12: San Francisco
** We are very aware of the current situation in Yosemite and we will be making a detour to avoid any smoke. For this reason we will be completely dodging the affected area. We will be staying north of Yosemite and will be at a much higher elevation.Safety is our main priority on this trip and we are staying true to that value. Also this next day service is very limited but we will post the blog ASAP! Thank you for continuing to check in with us each day. We are truly having the time of our lives this summer!
Hello!!! The Sleepys welcome you to our very last day of
blogging.
Today was a very
exciting seventeenth birthday for our very own Ashlyn Rhyne.
We woke up today at 6:30 at Lakeside Presbyterian Church in
San Francisco, California. Everyone was excited for the fun filled day
ahead. It all started when we loaded the
bus and vans and headed to Cliff House. Chef Kevin greeted us outside the
historic restraunt. After taking several
group pictures, we made our way inside the restaurant to the dinning area. Here
we were offered orange juice, water, and popovers (pastries) with strawberry
jam and orange marmalade. After we engulfed the delicious breakfast, Chef Kevin
gave us a great tour of the
restaurant and explained that it had burned down five times and been built six
times. On the back section of the building we were able to take multiple
pictures with the ocean as our backdrop. We thanked Chef Kevin and headed on
our merry way to Fisherman’s Warf.
We arrived at the foggy area of Fisherman’s Warf to discover
loud and obnoxious, but satisfyingly cute, sea lions. We had another group picture taken and listened
to three lovely presentations. Sianna
delivered research on Lombard Street, Ainsley spoke on the Golden Gate Bridge,
and Harrison and Leslie trivia battled over the Cliff House. After this, we
gathered for another group picture under the Fisherman’s Warf sign (you’re
welcome Mom and Dad). Once this was all
done, we were set free to explore San Francisco!
Some participants stayed around Fisherman’s Warf while
others ventured deeper into the city. Lunch today was “Buy Your Own”. Popular lunch options consisted of In-N-Out
Burger for fast food and local seafood restaurants for clam and crab chowder.
After lunch, many people rushed to the Apple Store while others continued to
explore all the San Fran had to offer.
Those who traveled around the city discovered Ghirardelli Square,
Chinatown, The Painted Lady, Lombard Street, and the Chinese Park where swing
jumping competitions took place. One of our own Sleepys, Harrison Parrott, went
on a three hour hunt for his water bottle which ended up on a for sale rack at
a tourist shop. Another group (including Brandon Cool, Madison Price, Virginia,
Ben, Peyton, and Vivian) went into a unique store containing artifacts from
various eras and locations. He taught the TWB participants that came in to
appreciate art in a brand new perspective. Street performers also attracted the
attention of participants such as Genevieve, Holly, MC, Kendrick, and Chris.
When four o’clock rolled around, we all met at Far East Café
in Chinatown for an early Chinese dinner.
We feasted on chicken fried rice, lo mein, sweet and sour chicken, and
Mongolian beef and broccoli. When we
finished our meal, we opened and ate fortune cookies before being released to
finish venturing the streets of San Francisco.
At 5:45 we met back at the bus, minus a few stragglers who
arrived twenty minutes late, to head to the one and only Golden Gate
Bridge. Once we arrived at the bridge,
we all joined hands and walked 23 steps to finalize our lifelong
friendships. After this, we continued
across the bridge and took pictures.
When we finished walking the bridge, we all gathered and sang Happy Birthday
to Ashlyn!! Most of us reloaded the
vehicles and headed back to Lakeside Presbyterian Church while the new
cooks (Dopeys) headed to Safeway to get the food for our traveling breakfast and lunch
tomorrow. They were in and out of Safeway in 15 minutes so they could get back
in time to shower. Next, we caught up on research presentations. Gillian Walter
described Cannery Row in Monterey. Payton Dyksterhouse and Carsyn Parrott had a
research battle of San Francisco. Lauren Pollock presented on Chinatown. Our
birthday girl, Ashlyn, told us about the Golden Gate Bridge. Then after our
showers at the YMCA we received our freshly pressed laundry (yay! We don’t
stink anymore), and got settled in our beds for another cozy night in the
chilly San Fran city.
Thank you
to Penny and Jerry for allowing us to stay in this unique church in the heart
of San Francisco. Without you our experience in San Francisco would not have
nearly been comparable.
So the Sleepys are signing off for now and switching jobs to
become dishwashers. Thank you everyone for viewing, see ya when we get back!
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Harrison Parrott and Leslie Coffey research battling over the Cliff House |
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Ainsley Butler told us about the Fisherman's Wharf |
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Sianna Gutschick had an amazing presentation of Lombard Street. |
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Joseph made a Krispy Kreme/In-N-Out Burger! |
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Some of us had local chowder (YUM!) |
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Lombard Street |
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Playing hacky sack in the park |
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Chinatown! |