STAGE 8

HOUSTON to SAN FRANCISCO

It's been a long holiday and we still have a long way to go. We were up at 5am and left the hotel at 7am. We had a fantastic driver on the Shuttle to the airport. The Hotel in Houston was going to charge is full price for Jared and she told them "NO WAY!" She took us to the airport agency for the shuttle and we paid for the transport when we arrived. She saved us $14 for the trip! SO, since it was the principle not the money.... I gave her what we'd saved, as a tip. I'm the last of the big spenders... I appreciated her sticking up for us.

We had stacks of time before our departure so we had breakfast at the airport and managed to get in some shopping as well :-) Everything was fine as far as flights and assistance was concerned, that is until we got to Dallas (AGAIN) and Mum was transferring from the wheelchair to the airport shuttle train to the departure gate for San Francisco.

I was loading our carry on luggage on the back of the shuttle and this couple came along and pushed their way on the shuttle. The wife plonked herself next to Jared so by the time I loaded the luggage there was no room for me !! The driver, told her to get out and sit next to her husband! She said she couldn't squeeze in that space! Well, she was a 'string bean' and if she couldn't fit how the hell did she expect me to fit! By this time the driver was getting 'testy' and she ordered her to get out and let me sit with my grandson!! She had no option :-)

The plane was late leaving of course (so what's new) but we arrived safely in Frisco where we were met by an assistant with a wheelchair for Mum. She was great and saved us so much time because she knew exactly where to collect the luggage and where to take us for our shuttle to the Hotel. I guess she'd have saved us an hour of mucking around.

It was warmer in Frisco, about 60 degrees :-) We thought it was great! Well we arrived at the hotel and Mum took an immediate dislike to the place!! The shuttle driver hung around incase I'd change my mind. Mum was prattling on about what a dump it was... it wasn't... but it wasn't what we'd been used to. I figured we had to register because I was hoping Mum's medicine that Jason mailed had arrived. Well, she moaned and complained... no coffee maker... no ironing board... room too small. They told us that there was no parcel for us. BUT once we booked in the parcel miraculously appeared. Ten minutes later I rang reception and told them we would be checking out in the morning. It seemed to me if we hadn't checked in at all she would never have got her medicine.

We were to pick up the tour to L.A. from the Ramada Inn so I rang them to see if we could get in there. They only had room available until Wednesday and we were meeting the tour on the following Saturday. So they suggested we try the Holiday Inn around the corner. I was successful... and everyone was happy.

We had dinner at this first hotel, the soup was full of salt but we had ribs for dinner and they were tender and delicious. Thank God something went right. They didn't cater for children so I guess it was a good idea we were changing hotels otherwise Jared would have had no choice for 8 days.

I died on the bed fully clothed and woke up the next morning. We hadn't even opened the cases. I had a shower and put the same clothes on. I'd prepaid the hotel and had given them a voucher but they wouldn't refund the money. So I paid cash for the one night and got the voucher back so I could recover the money when I got home. After breakfast we headed for the Holiday Inn.

We were met by the Holiday Inn doorman, Dexter, who was just great. He gave us advice about walking around in San Francisco and especially in that area... the Civic Centre. The Bellman, who brought our luggage to the room gave us the same advice. I think they were concerned that we would act like obvious tourists and be an easy mark.

THIS IS DEXTER, HE WAS SO OBLIGING AND ALWAYS HAPPY.

Now we were settled in we got a bus downtown and picked up the Cable Car for Fisherman's Wharf. Jared was enthused... he could see lots of ways to dispose of copious amounts of Nanny's funds. I kept reminding him we only had suitcases and were only allowed so much weight on the plane and fortunately that worked most of the time :-)

We slept in the next morning, that was a pleasure! We had been into a camera store the day before at Fisherman's Wharf so I could get another Memory Card for my digital camera. I hadn't been able to find a place to transfer the pictures onto CD. Even the places that sold digital cameras knew of nowhere that provided that service. I couldn't believe that in the great United States there was no place to be found to burn my photos onto CD.

Anyway, while I was in there, I saw a small digital camera with an MP3 player which would be ideal for Jason. I also told him I couldn't use my video camera since we were in Orlando so he'd told me to bring it in and he'd see what he could do for me. We went back to the hotel to get the camera and Jared and I tripped back to Fisherman's Wharf. Not only did he sell me a transformer but also a wide angle lens! He saw me coming :-) After I made all the purchases he promised me that if I went back into his store at any time he wouldn't sell me a thing! At least I now had my video camera operating for the rest of our holiday.

We'd booked for a combined Muir Woods and City Tour the next day and when the bus came to pick us up to take us to the Terminal I questioned if we were on the right bus. He assured me that Greyline were the only ones doing that tour. I got on and found out when we got to the terminal that they DIDN'T do a combo tour. We weren't even booked with them in the first place. By this time it was too late to go to the other agents and I couldn't even remember their names anyway! So we booked for 2 seperate tours that day.

We did the Muir Woods/Sausalito tour in the morning and it was just as I remembered it from 25 years ago. I bought Jason a beautiful sweater in Sausalito and held up the bus while I was paying for it :-)

The city tour in the afternoon was terrific and we got back to the hotel around 7:30pm .... exhausted. Thanks to George (at the camera store) I took lots of video film. I found a place (in the Yellow Pages) that would transfer my digital photos to CD overnight. Things were looking up!!

The next day we found a skating rink for Jared and spent a couple of hours there. He was a bit shakey at first but it came back to him quickly. He made friends with anyone who would stand still long enough to chat with him. His accent helped I think... they knew immediately that he wasn't American.

Then we headed for Pier 39 to see the seals that had moved into the harbour. They were smelly and noisy but delightful :-)

Discovered that I'd left the sweater I bought for Jason on the tour bus. I rang Greyline and said I'd left it on the Muir Woods tour bus... OF COURSE it hadn't been handed in. Amazing that! Since we were the last ones off the bus and the ONLY ones left on the bus who went back to the terminal to catch the afternoon tour!

Much as I can't stand this country any more, there's one thing I will say for it... if the same thing had happened here in Australia I'd give myself a 99.9% chance of getting the sweater back.

Anyway we got the ferry to Sausalito and bought another sweater exactly the same as the first one. Of course we visited Alcatraz. Mum was sensible, she waited for the little train to take her to the top.... NOT ME!! Was I sorry!!! She passed me 2/3rds of the way up! I thought I was going to die :-)

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