The Wharf, Driving Aimlessly, and Charlie Brown; Part Four of "San Fran: Oh Man!"

This was a pretty fantastic aquarium on Fisherman's Wharf, as you will see in the next couple of pictures. This was Thursday, June 25th. How this place was set up was, first, you go in; it's right there, on the ocean, you get your tickets, and the first room on the first level, are these sea urchins in a tank, and then a tank of stuff found in the ocean, kind of an introduction. The tank with stuff found in the ocean was disgusting. There was a frisbee, I think, a toddler's trike, an old television set from the 50's - just your normal ocean-junk of course all safe and incorporated in to coral by now, but it was just awful treating the ocean like a dump. I'm sure they've found weirder shit out there; that's just despicable.








Once you are out of the area with the sea urchins and that sort of thing, you take a brief trip outside, before entering an elevator with an elevator-attendant awaiting you and your party. Elevator-attendant is not exactly the right vernacular for these people; they were ecological something or other, but their main focus was operating an elevator...I didn't get that. Okay, I go work for the Smithsonian, but all I do is raise and lower you on the elevator, so my title obviously is, HEAD OF MUSEUM-EXHIBIT RESTORATION. I have no prior education in history or theatrics, I was brought aboard to work an elevator...I don't know, maybe she DOES have a degree in oceanography, but mainly studied the importance of keeping our oceans clean, which is how she got in to ecology, beats the hell out of me, but it just amazed me that she was stuck in an elevator most of the day, and not doing something important.

She took us down to the bottom level, and that's when you start entering the tubes. These were glass enclosed hallways where you walked under the ocean and sea-life drifted on the sides of you or above you, their choice. Obviously, the picture-quality is gonna be pretty bad. Not only did I have to worry about reflection and low-light, but reflection, low-lighting, and subjects constantly on the move. I played around with settings, and finally decided that it was okay if a few things blurred. Case in point:





But see, I like that picture because those fish are one fish, to them any way - they follow the flock, and to have it blurred was bordering expressionism. Having that glare on the glass, though, ruined the shot.

Don't ask me how big these "tubes" are, I suck at dimensions, but let me tell you this, it was quiet easy to pass people not going my speed. Problem was, we were on tour ahead of a classroom of Spanish-speaking students and a group of mentally challenged individuals. A lot of yelps, cries of joy and exuberance, and then Spanish-gibberish which I could barely make out, although a semester of Spanish my junior year of high school should have more than qualified me for translation.








This big guy just wants a friend.

Now comes the best part, a video. And it starts out with the face of a very displeased soul.






Did he get a ticket outside!? Did he lose his wife in a shark attack!? If so, why would he come to an aquarium, if not to get over his fear of the ocean, and his hatred for sharks? What a sour-puss, YOU'RE UNDER THE OCEAN!!! Any who, you see him for a second, and then my mom got in the way, and then the fish, so enjoy. Maybe that guy should've used Preparation H...you might have to scroll to the beginning of the video to see him.





These fish were passing my view every couple of minutes, so each time I tried to get a different perspective of them. This one worked out the best.





They had video of an octopus catching crabs in a glass vase. Why they didn't have an actual octopus instead of the video was beyond me. It would lure the crabs over to its tentacle, like a fishing line, dangling it there like, "You know you wanna..." For crabs, they were smart enough to know not to touch that octopus' tentacle. The crabs knew the opening to the vase was too small for a big animal, like this octopus, to squeeze through. What the crabs don't know, and will never know because of their tiny brains, is that the octopus is a cephalopod, which in lamest terms means he can fit anywhere he wishes to. Needless to say, those crabs were shit out of luck, and that octopus got 'em.





A perfect little mid-meal snack for an octopus. These guys glowed! They look like shrimps...





The place with the octopus video and the glowing shrimps was in an offshoot from the underwater tubes. The next set of tubes we entered had us greeted by this gentleman.





More "exotic" ocean-life.




We made it out of the aquarium in one piece. Upstairs from the bottom level was more of a land-aquatic life, with a wading pool of different coral uchins and fish, as well as multicolored star fish. In glassed exhibits, they had tree frogs, turtles, and a pink-toed tarantula. She had just killed her mate, as he hung lifeless in a hammock of webs in the corner of the display, most likely expired from their wedding night. That was chilling.

Our next stop on the wharf was for lunch. Where to go for lunch? Hard Rock Cafe, fancy shellfish diners...oh wait, there's a Bubba Gump's Shrimpin' Company!! Yes, a restaurant themed off of the 1994 classic Forrest Gump. There were flat screens all over that seafood place playing the movie 24/7; it looped. Amazing! I would have loved to have played some ping pong with my FLEX-O LITE ping pong paddle! I still think Jenny II should have been in harbour...





After the aquarium and Bubba Gump's where I had a steaming Bubba's Bucket of Boat Trash, with lobster claws, shrimp, and fried snapper, we went for a drive around San Francisco, and here's all the pictures I could take from the backseat of a moving vehicle.








Here's a bookstore, with flapping, flying books suspended up on electrical lines.











If only I were cool enough to get in to this Segway Education Class...headgear, a device that prevents you from ever having to walk again, and AND a caution, reflective smock...SIGN ME UP! I want in this gang, fo sho! They all look like a bunch of rabble-rousers.






This is not made-up. Best thift store in San Francisco.





The men in this picture were walking down the street while we were driving, and traffic was dense for this neighborhood, so we were going pretty slow, enough where these two were in view constantly. Once they got to this building, where we were stopped, waiting at a light, the red-shirt went up the fire escape, followed by his jacketed friend. They climbed to the top, pictured above, and notice the red-shirt is climbing on the wrong side of the ladder. Eventually he realized this, climbed back down to that top landing, then reversed sides, and then they went out of view do to our car moving again at the green. I don't have the slightest clue what they were up to.


China Beach was our next destination. What's China Beach you ask? Here, come read all about it!





The view from China Beach:







The fisherman.

There's two other beach-shots, but I'm tired of posting pictures now. It's okay if I don't have them all.

We jettisoned back to the condo for our last night at Winsor. I got me the grossest thing I think I eat. It's not gross to me; why in the hell would I eat it if it were? They are little fish that you eat from a can. They are sardines, and I enjoy them. Preferably in Louisiana Hot Sauce. I had to get me at least two cans of sardines while I was down in California because the brand I eat come from San Jose. These were the freshest of the fresh. And they weren't hard on the wallet, either. I say this like they are fucking expensive; in Kansas, they're like two bucks a can, here, they're fifty cents a can. Huh-huh? A dollar fifty saved!

We woke up the next morning, packed everything of value and said goodbye to luxury. Today, we traveled to Santa Rosa, CA for a museum. A whole museum devoted to the cartoon strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. Here ya go!














This is of the lobby-area only. Photography wasn't allowed in the museum exhibit areas.











Even the bathrooms. It was great! The outside of the men's room, the figure on the door labeling it a men's room had a Charlie Brown shirt on. The little things...


Up Next: ALCATRAZ!! (Key thunderbolts and lightning)