Day 6 - Rest Day

Today was the bike's vacation. For a rest day, today didn't involve a lot of rest. I slept in a little, finished blogging from yesterday, then went to town to search for a Halloween costume and run a few errands.

There's a party store very close so that offered the obvious choices. And there was one obvious choice that will suit me fine: Wonder Woman. Typically in years past, I've enjoyed the self-made, more creative options. Nah, this year it's okay to be standard. I won't have to change my hair much, though I should work on the make-up. This costume is a little cuter/far more comfortable than the real Wonder Woman's: it has a skirt. And I'd love to use this costume as an excuse to get another pair of knee-high boots, but it comes with boot covers that are too tight the way it is (are my calves just that big? In my dreams.) So a cheap pair of dress shoes should suffice.Funky plant. A rhubarb plant on steroids? The leaves were very hard.

I headed into San Fran for some touristy activities. The first stop was the Exploratorium. I could just hear Mom and Dad tell me how disappointed they were in me for being in SF for so many days and not going. So I went to be able to tell the tale. And I'm glad I did! The Exploratorium is packed with interesting exhibits--all hands-on. Kids, of course, must love it, but big kids (like me) can almost enjoy and appreciate it more. There were very few people there today (oooh, it was raining: everyone, stay inside and dry YOU MIGHT MELT). Though it was raining, it was surprisingly warm. I only wore a sweatshirt and I found being rained on was pleasing to my senses which are so much more alive since I can pay attention to them (note: stress levels are at an all-time low).

Back to the point, the Exploratorium was well-worth the visit. Next time I go, I'll plan to spend the day. Another side note, there was a part of me that didn't want to go to this place where I expected to see hoards of kids. Typically, I try to avoid any kid-like thing not because I don't enjoy kids and not because they annoy me (they don't) but because I'm afraid that I'll start to want one of my own. I'm afraid of that thing (whatever it is) that will make my biological clock start to tick. I fully expect it to someday, but it isn't allowed to start now. I am happy to report that I made it safely through the Exploratorium, learning a lot and the only thing it left me wanting was someone to play in the magnetic sand with me and to discuss the science behind some of the more obscure exhibits. It would be a good date place. I digress.
This was a dancing chain that had quite the personality, for a chain.
Demo of how a steam engine works. And they even had an engine from a Toyota Land Cruiser! Cool stuff.
And this was just too weird. You're looking at a mirror reflecting the bottom of a clear tank of water. My hand is in the water & there's an air pocket in the palm of my hand. But see how it looks like my hand is dry & I'm holding water?

Yesterday evening I broke one of my self-imposed rules and that is to not buy a book until I'm done with my current book. In this case, I am currently reading two books and, therefore, I should not have been allowed to go in the bookstore. So I went in with the intention to only look but not touch. But then I saw a book that has had me curious, I've heard good things in the general way, but nothing about the "plot." The book is entitled "Eat, Pray, Love." I bought it out of compulsion, maybe, and since I was looking & not touching, I didn't read the cover, just picked it up to purchase it.

Turns out the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, has become my travel companion. Only she is in Italy and taking the reader with her through her life's woe's as well as on this 4-month trip to Rome. But I can relate to her in many ways and I'm finding that it's helping me vacation effectively--since it makes me slow down and find a place to hang out where I can relax and read. And do nothing else. Funny, though, all of the fun books I've read in the past couple of years have all been armchair travel books to Italy. At least she'll also visit India and Bali, so my world "travels" can start to include more countries than just Italy.Lucky find: an organic restaurant, this was the most wonderful beet, goat cheese, walnut & fennel salad. Just what I was craving. Hopefully this is where I can eat next week during the conference. (It's a bus ride, though.)

And here's the steepest/twisty-iest street (Lombard & Hyde).

After all of this touristy stuff, it was time to hunt down a bathroom, which was eventually found in Macy's. I would have gotten home an hour earlier if I could have been patient.