A Christmas Adventure to San Francisco

I decided to front load our story here and let the pictures all follow, enjoy hearing about our adventure.

So here is our little Christmas Adventure Story. On Tuesday at 2:30 after already having a head over heels play date with Tyler, Isabel calls and we decide that we are going to ride the Bart Train with her and Sara into San Francisco to go to a Fancy Downtown Hotel and look at Christmas lights. In my life I have ridden Bart twice, once about 8 years ago to Halloween in the Castro with my friend Ona and a Second time to New Years Eve in SF at the Clock Tower with Joel, maybe 12 years ago. Besides that, while Holly loves trains she is also recently a little scared of them because once when we picked up Daddy from the Bart station, different from our normal station we went to the platform and it was really loud and she got scared. Since she doesn't want to get out of the car to pick up Daddy any more, but is always excited whenever we see Bart drive by. We plan on Meeting Isabel at the West Oakland Bart station at 4:00-4:30ish where there is supposed to be easier parking and no transfers.

Well first hurdle, Holly says she does want to ride the train, but only with her Headphones, which the day before i realized were missing. I think they are in the truck of our old green car but that is at the Ashby Bart station and Joel doesn't answer the phone to tell me where it is parked and I don;t have the keys with me. We finally make it to the truck and it is not there. So I desperately look everywhere I can think and then call Home Depot to see if they can sell me new ones, of course no one knows what I am talking about and they want to give me either 6$ ear plugs or 89$ wireless electronic Noise Canceling ones. By 3:30 I finally find a pair at Osh and they have then in stock and in the parking lot before I go in I decide to check under the seats of the new silver car. Did I mention I also Called Julia Morgan where we recently saw the Nutcracker and the Berkeley YMCA to see if we left them at either place, as those were the last time I remember having them. Hallelujah, they were hiding under the seat in the new silver car and we are good to go.

We arrive early at Bart and after like 20 minutes to find parking. Somehow we miss communicated with Isabel and she thought we were meeting in SF instead of at Bart, but that god she was just running late rather then already gone, otherwise we would never have made it on the train. We park and walk around the station, Holly iSpying trains as they come in and testing out her headphones and checking out the Saxophone player. Around 5:00 Isabel makes it and I am worried about crowds and rush hour commuters and the late hour, but I put my faith in her. She shows me how to buy a ticket and we head inside to find a broken Escalator, but we find the elevator, and through harsh warnings about not touching any surface inside we ride up to the platform.

Holly is excited to be with Sara and see her, and excited about the train, and though a little nervous holding up well with her headphones. The train arrives momentarily and we are off. It was a bit of a challenge finding a seat, but Holly and Sara were able to. Holly was a little subdued and anxious but mostly enjoying herself, excited to look out the window and talking about how we are going down under the tunnel and under the water where we normally drive over the bridge into San Francisco. She is excited to say she is going to San Francisco where Daddy works. PS I did not tell Joel about this little adventure for fear of him suggesting we don't go. We arrive at the Embarcadero station and we hop off the train, Up Up Up we go past the Muni Transfer, we see a cool band and then ride another escalator all the way up to the City.

First thing out of the passage Holly says, look Big Buildings, so Big. She remembers them from watching Monster's Vs. Alien's when Susan roller skates through San Francisco using a Taxi Cab, and Holly comments on this, looking for the Giant Alien. The Hyatt Regency is right ahead and walking over we see a Trolley, one of my favorite things! Then we head into the Hotel. There are Giant Nut Cracker's which Holly adored, I hadn't realized the impact seeing the Nutcracker made on her until she ran up to him and gave him a giant hug and tried to do Ballet with him and said, I love him. We get to ride two more escalator's up and into the lobby and it is beautiful.

The lights were amazing and it was so totally worth the trip and the wait. Holly was wearing her "Princess Wedding" Dress, which she is also into because of Susan from Monster's vs. Alien's and matches the Decor beautifully. There is a Giant tree, more Nutcracker's life size toys, water fountains, dangling showers of lights, and sparkles and trees and the girls have to much fun running and dancing and exploring. There is a panel of Elevators that look like space ships when they rise and they are made of glass, so we sneak on waiting for a Guest to swipe there key card and ride to the 17th floor where we can look down on all the lights.

I call Joel to surprise him (Now that I know it has all worked out so Beautifully) and he agrees to come and meet us after work (one Bart station away) The girls make friends with other kids and while we are playing it even starts to snow. This is the same snow my parent's set up at this hotel was it last year, or the year before? Holly danced in the snow on the rocks among the trees. Later when Daddy arrived she showed him around and they Danced at the Royal Ball. It was a lovely evening. Around 7:00 we headed back to Bart, with Daddy, Sara, and Isabel and headed home. It was a lot of fun, and we will definitely take another Bart adventure soon.