| You know what they say, "The coldest winter I ever spent was my summer in San Francisco." And it's funny, really, that Matt and I had to travel to California to see what Seattle was lacking in the winter of 2003: rain. Lots of it. |
The morning started just as we'd planned. Well, except for me. I'd planned on a decent night's sleep. Apparently, however, the Fisherman's Wharf Sheraton had sinister plans of their own, as they replaced my bed with a Queen size concrete block and the equivalent of a couple of sofa pillows. My neck hurt, my back hurt, my head, my feet. EVERYTHING hurt. Cripes. |
| But it was OK because by the time I'd gotten my Banana Walnut Muffin ("voted best in the world!" said the cafe owner) and green tea, I'd walked it out. We then progressed to our "Adventure USA" tours. We spent 3 hours in the pouring rain learning about The City, taking pictures and enjoying the sights of the Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate Bridge, Old China Town, New China Town (there's apparently a Middleaged Chinatown, too), Twin Peaks, Haight-Ashbury, and plenty of SF architecture. Our tourguide had a Ph.D. in film history, but he might as well have one in San Francisco. He knew EVERYTHING. Plus he used to live in Spokane and Seattle. What a world! |
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After the tour, we ate at the exalted and revered In 'n' Out Burger. I was not impressed by the girth of the meat patty. But fresh is best. Then we went to Alcatraz, and spent two hours taking a ranger-guided tour and an audio tour of the cell house and general area of the island. That night, we dined on fresh lobster at Franciscos on pier 43 1/2. Afterwards, we caught the Hyde Street Cable Car (Incidentally, all day he had been holding on to his KOMO 4 coat as if his life depended on it, saying things like, "Don't let me lose this coat! It's a very special coat to me," and "I think today is going to be a day we remember for the rest of our lives." I, of course, am logically explaining these things away and am thinking nothing of it. Duh). |
| After I got on the cable car, and had changed out the film in my camera, Matt disappeared. After a few minutes, I craned my neck and saw him in a football-like huddle with the cable car conductors behind the car and thought Ah, jeez...he ditched me to go talk about the mechanics of these freakin' cars with those guys. Whatever.Then he comes back wide-eyed and clearly excited announcing that they DO in fact stop the car at the famous Lombard (Crooked) Street so we can take pictures. And off we went. |
| At Lombard, the car stopped in the middle of the intersection where we effectively blocked a Mercedes' left turn. Leonard, our conductor, proudly announces the stop and encourages people to get off for a quick view and some pictures. Matt was off the car like it was on fire. So as I was getting up to follow, good ol' Leonard offers to take a picture of us as he takes my camera. So pretty soon I find myself walking toward Matt while Leonard is taking pictures of my back. I get to Matt and he goes, "Wow, what a view." Then we take a picture of the two of us all nice (By the way, there was no view because it was dark out). Afterwards, Matt goes,"Now would be a good time for me to give you your Valentine's Day present." As he turns awayfrom me he whips out a little something. I'm leaning over his shoulder, trying to see what it is. Then he turned around, simultaneously opening the box and |
| saying, "Have I ever mentioned I want to spend the rest of my life with you?" I started to cry and shriek, and from there on out it all was in slo-mo. And he goes, "No, no, it's OK, here give me a hug." So I did. And then he went down on his knee because he'd forgotten to in the first place and asked,"Lindsey, will you marry me?" I cried again. But he speaks Lindsese and knew what it meant. Finally, some guy on the cable car yells out, "WHAT'D SHE SAY?!" Then we all had a good clap and a hearty laugh. From that point on everyone in the car was givin' shouts out for love, congratulating us and wishing us a good life together. Even Leonard said, "I can't believe it! Today is also my 18 year anniversary." |
| Let's just say that I'd been wondering when this was going to happen, so I'd figured out how I could be movie-scene-suave with my response. Well, as shown by the pictures (if I can ever get 'em posted), I was NOT. Not suave! Never even made it past my brain stem. |
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