SF Trip - Sunday

Once again, we took our time getting up after a great night's sleep. This bears repeating: That was one GREAT bed. Hmm, I wonder what the staff would think if they saw us carrying a bed out through the lobby! Anyway, we got up slowly, took our time over breakfast, took our time packing and finally got around to checking out around noon.

After checking out, we had a couple of free hours, so we decided to take a ride up to Twin Peaks. At the hotel, we got one of those city maps in a pamphlet. Unfortunately, the map was not correct. Twice we followed roads that were supposed to lead us to the top of the hill, but actually dead-ended well before the top. On the other hand, it allowed us to explore some nice residential areas. We saw some very impressive houses that were clinging to the side of the hill. Eventually, we made it to the top of Twin Peaks. The views of the city and the bay was very dramatic. When we arrived, the sky was semi-foggy, but most of the fog lifted in the next 20 minutes or so. Even so, the view was well worth the trip. Amazingly enough there was hardly anyone there on a summer Sunday afternoon. We have been to Coit tower several times and it is always mobbed and the view is not nearly so nice. Go Figure! Some day we want to go back when the sky is completely clear. More of my photos from Twin Peaks can be found here.



A few weeks ago, we decided that we wanted to see a play on the Sunday afternoon of our weekend in San Francisco. We were looking for a funny, light-hearted play. I came across the "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" which got the Chronicle's highest rating. Here is the first paragraph of the Chronicle's review: "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," which opened Wednesday at the Post Street Theatre, is as smart as it is silly and as sensitive as it is blithely satirical. It's as up to date as its comedy about varieties of modern parenting -- from absentee enlightenment seekers to the two-dads model -- or the prison parolee doing community service as a "comfort counselor." But it's also surprisingly meaningful and unexpectedly moving." Sounds pretty good, hunh? I quit reading after the first paragraph. I did not want the review to ruin the play for me. I had also read that the play had won a Tony Award from it's run on Broadway. So we decided to get tickets to the play. Mid-last week, I discovered that they forgot to mention one important thing in the first paragraph of the review. The play is a Tony Award winning MUSICAL comedy! Oh Nooooo, what have I done? I am not a big fan of musicals.

In spite of the dreaded format, we both really enjoyed the play. It was wickedly, laugh-out-loud funny. The cast was great and the songs were not too obnoxious. In fact the Mercury News has the following line in their review: "In the cheeky-fringe tradition of "Avenue Q'' and "Urinetown,'' it's a musical for people who usually detest the genre." (Don't tell anyone that I said this, but the music was actually very good and every member of the cast has a excellent singing voice.) Maybe the best thing that I can say is that everyone had a big grin on their face as they were leaving the theatre. Including us. The play's website can be found here. Both the Chronicle's and Mercury New's (and other) reviews can be found here.

After the play, we had a quick dinner and headed for home. We had a great weekend.