Day 5, our last day in San Francisco. Having recovered from the previous night’s entertainment we decided have a late breakfast and then explore the Marina district, effectively the last suburban built up area before the Golden Gate Bridge.
Coincidentally while we happen to be within walking distance of the Exploratorium, a science museum that was the brainchild of Frank Oppenheimer, on the one day of the month that they hold their After Dark events. Given this good luck and timing we decided to attend. At the very least it’s always funny watching a museum full of adults playing with the museum’s vast array of hands on experiments.
Notable discoveries include finding the sign that read “Don’t drink and climb. You might get hurt… or even spill your drink!” near a geometric climbing thing with more than a few drink wielding adults on it.
I also managed to find an exhibit powered by a Macintosh SE. Of course about a minute after sitting down at it I decide to see what would happen if I hit the multifinder menu. Let’s just say the application they were using didn’t do proper screen redrawing and I left it a little more incomprehensible than before.
By this stage it was getting quite late and we had an early morning flight to Seattle so we left and went back to our hotel for our last night.
Day 6 started early. Far too early. Six Thirty alarm to make it to the airport by 8 o’clock, and we didn’t even have any transport organised (because I’m that skilled). Fortunately transport problems are easily solved with the application of American dollars. Our flight was with Alaska Airlines who have something of a dodgy reputation, online at least, for quality of service. Unfortunately my already low expectations were missed when, upon checkin in, we were told we had to pay an additional fee just to have luggage on our flight. There’s only so much you can argue a point with the front line peons and I eventually conceded defeat and coughed up the extra fee.
One mercifully short flight in the most cramped aircraft I’ve been in yet and we were in Seattle. Once again our transport issues were solved with the strategic application of money and we were finally at our hotel.
It was now midday and we were getting hungry. With only a vague idea of what was out there we set off in search of food. Our random wanderings through downtown eventually took us to the Crab Pot, a seafood place (Shocking, I know) that featured on Man Vs Food. While they do have a normal menu their drawcard is their Seafeast; an assortment of seafood like Crab, prawns, Clams, Mussels combined with Corn on the Cob, Red Potatoes and sausage which is cooked with spices and served on a sheet of butchers paper. You are armed with a fork, a mallet and your wits.
Our lunch started and thus ended rather late. By the time we got out it was quarter to five (we both have no idea how this happened or where the hours went). The rest of the day was spent exploring the area and getting an idea of where our hotel was located relative to other attractions.
As it turns out our hotel room has a great view of the Space Needle.
