Maddie and Grandma do S.F

(A guest post by Maddie) After Grandpa came to town, I had the good fortune to get to return with him to California and stay for the weekend. The drive from Provo to Piedmont was filled with lots of Beach Boys hits, pasties, and conversation about cars, construction, and, well, all sorts of things.

Grandma and I stayed overnight at a hotel in San Francisco. The weather was abnormally sunny and clear, as you can see from the pictures. Everyone was outside enjoying the beautiful "hot" weather (it was only about 80 degrees)

Here I am with the Palace of Fine Arts. This pavilion was originally made out of paper for the World Fair when it was held in San Francisco, but it was so well loved that it became a permanent building. You can't really tell from this picture, but there was a wedding being set up inside of the pavilion. And while my dear father the professor would be gushing about the neoclassical architecture, I'll just say it was beautiful and leave it at that.

After the Palace of Fine Arts, Grandma took me to the exploratorium. It is a museum built inside of a warehouse and it is basically geek heaven. All of the exhibits are hands-on, with things like a large spinning wheel covered in sand to make patterns on (which I am doing here) to turning the gears on a motor, to hugging a tornado, to drinking out of a toilet (that one was to prove how the human brain has certain mental blocks forced on by society. Über cool.)

But the most spectacular exhibit of all had to be the tactile dome. Inside of this dome (which is not very big, as you can see from the picture) is a little crawlway of tunnels that you climb through with the lights out. Each space has a different theme, and as you go through you feel the walls, ceiling and floor, trying to figure out what they are covered with. There was a room with shoes on the wall, a slide with men's ties hitting you as you slid, chains, astroturf, a rope ladder you had to climb, all sorts of awesome stuff. It was very exhausting, though, and the tunnels were often so small my shoulders were touching both walls and my back was against the ceiling. And everything was pitch-black. Not for the claustrophobic or faint of heart or limb.

San Francisco, in all its beauty

Here is a shot looking up Lombard street, a.k.a the most crooked street on earth. It zig-zags down the hill and has a great view (see above picture of S.F.) It is absolutely wonderful, unless you have to get somewhere fast.

After Lombard Street, we headed to Chinatown. This was an excellent chance for me to try out my Chinese, and realize just how useful it is. Who knew Hello/I've been learning for one year/provo high school/thank you/goodbye could come in handy?

This is Tadich's, where Grandma and I had dinner. The Halibut I had was perfect, and it's plain to see why they've been around for over 160 years.

The next day, we went to the golden gate bridge. It was here where my dad proposed to my mom, and it was awesome to be able to walk across it. It really is pretty, with the blue sky and the red bridge.

Grace Cathedral, where we went to church.

Here's the view from our Hotel room. It was so much fun being with my Grandma in San Francisco. I love the city, but it wouldn't be the same without her.