San Francisco

So It's been awhile since we've updated, but about a month ago we went to San Francisco- I had never been. Most of our objective in going was to see both the Oakland A's and the Giants play ball at their home parks. So we studied the schedules and found the only weekend both teams would be in town. So we booked our tickets on Delta and looked forward to watching the game in Oakland which started at 12:30. Our plane left Denver at like 6:30 or something awful like that- actually it was supposed to leave earlier than that and that is where the trouble started. To make a long story short, our plane left late, our connecting in SLC left early and we did not make it to Oakland Coliseum until the 9th inning. This is still tragic and a point of anger. I tried to take a lot of pictures to make it look like we were there more than an inning. There was hope because when we finally got to our seats the game was tied and I was desperately hoping for extra innings. But of course an RBI single wins it for the home team.

Here is our family picture (from left to right) Jared, Travis, Joseph and Leigh Anna Buck. (Travis is number 6)

Proof that we were actually there!

There's our boy Matt Holliday who's hitting a healthy .238 at the time of this posting, bet the $100,000,000 the Monforts were offering doesn't look so bad now does it pretty boy! (We'd still take you back)

Joseph "enjoying" the game, scratch that, inning

Fortunately, the A's play in the dumpiest stadium in baseball, though some vote Dodger Stadium is worse Jeez. After about 30 minutes at the game (including the time it took us to walk around the empty stadium) we went to get some food. Oakland isn't exactly the best part of town so we went searching for authentic, slightly dangerous Mexican food, which we found. We got 3 tacos, a cheeseburger, fries and a soda for like 6 bucks- not bad. Then we went to see the Oakland temple while we were there- Giant temple with golden spires which we assumed was a stupa but ended up being the temple. No Moroni made it difficult if you didn't know the temple already. Afterwards of course we could always see it.

HA! Finally got a smile!

Hugest Snail I've ever seen!

The next day we went and did the touristy stuff on the Wharf. Pier 39- overrated. Ghiradelli's square- lame. Everything was expensive and touristy. But we saw some cool stuff as well. Went and played at the beach for awhile, even though it was freezing cold. Actually, this was the only cold day we had while there. We went in some cool shops, including the International Spy Shop which we assumed would sell cheapo magic gimmicks but actually sells hard core spying stuff that can be used to spy on your wife and track them and bug their phones and stuff- fascinating but creepy as well. Just as the sun was setting we made it to the bridge and got a few shots.



There will come a day when Joseph thinks his Parents are no longer cool- this is proof to the contrary!

Do your parents hang with Spongebob?

Next day we were driving and realized that Emeryville was on the way from Dublin (where we were staying) to SF. So of course we had to stop here.

And here.

Then we made it to the bridge and decided to save some money by not parking at the meters and parking at this little park. We walked down to the Golden Gate State park and walked up the beach and onto the piers, got some snappy pictures. Then I talked Mommy into walking across the bridge. She said I've already done it so I don't need to. But she was a good sport. While crossing the bridge, we noticed the suicide hotline phones and wondered about a documentary we heard about which we watched when we got home. It's called "The Bridge" and it is a fascinating yet shocking delve into suicides from the bridge (24 in one year!!).

After that was the highlight of the trip for me- Oakland A's vs. San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in SF. I read rankings of the baseball parks and there were only 2 parks ahead of Coors Field and this was one of them (Pittsburgh was ranked #1) We got there a little late (but before the ninth) and we didn't watch all the game because there was so many fun things to do at the stadium. There was a mini baseball park that Joseph played in and that Coke bottle is a pretty fun slide. We missed a few innings checking it out, but I would have to agree that this stadium is right up there with Coors among the best in the bigs.

The last day we went to Santa Cruz, which made Boulder look like a normal town. It was weird and we didn't stay long because we didn't want to miss our flight, which was, of course, late. And the same flying nightmare all over again. But besides the traveling part, a good trip.