DAY 3 - Family Heritage
Before we left the room, I was scrolling though Facebook and I came across a Disney podcaster from a series that I listen to religiously who had an extra ticket for the Eyvind Earle event at the museum at 1:00. Based on my perception of the timeline, we would probably arrive at the museum at 12:00, but knowing the nature of group touring, our group's track record for punctuality, and the fact that he only had one ticket, I declined. But still, I was hoping to have an opportunity to at least meet him...
This morning's meeting was a leisurely 8am and finally everyone was on time. We did a little bit more city touring by bus. This was one place where I think AbD really missed an opportunity. There is a cable car line that runs California to Van Ness. I think they should have gathered us at a cable car stop and transported us to Van Ness that way and then grabbed the bus. I feel like cable cars are such an integral part of what makes San Francisco awesome and this would have been an appropriate time to add them to our trip without really sacrificing anything, even if we would have met at 7:30 to accommodate for the extra time it would have taken.
Regardless, one of the topics of conversation this morning was "Summer of Love", which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, so that was a fun coincidence. Anne and Eleni had gotten each of us a ring of flowers for our hair! And of course the morning's music was all 60's all the time. It was most enjoyable. This little side show happened on our way to the Golden Gate Bridge, where this time, Karl the Fog was snuggling up to the bridge, so it's very cool that we got some close up photos that were both fog-free and fog-full.
On our arrival at the Golden Gate Bridge, we learned that this was also an anniversary year for the iconic structure and that 2017 marks the 80th year of the bridges operation. I love opportunities to think back on historical projects like this. 1937. The same year that the first animated feature film was released, this engineering marvel welcomed its first guest across. This was before we had built any sort of reasonable computer. It was before automobiles were commonplace in every American household. It was before we attempted to launch things into space. Some guys with a whole lot of guts decided to risk life and limb to string metal pieces together in arrangement that was strong enough for vehicles to cross. Unbelievable. In fact, here's a cool thing. Cars drive over the bridge every day with no thought to whether or not the bridge can sustain the load. For a celebration (I forget which one), the bridge was closed to vehicular traffic and the density of the pedestrian traffic was so great, that the weight of the people standing on the bridge caused it to bow in the center. I don't think this is a unique phenomenon because i feel like I've heard this about other bridges, too, but it's really cool to think about the fact that massive vehicles can traverse the bridge safely and mere people can actually change the shape of the structure. Amazing.
From the bridge
Anyway, we got to walk across the bridge. We didn't walk to far because I was taking pictures and live streaming the experience. Also, it was cold again and we wanted to reserve some time for the gift shop. The shopping experience was frustrating once again. We have 15 minutes after the visitor's center opened until we had to be back on the bus. There were only 2 cashiers and a bus full of 31 people plus other visitors trying to purchase their tchotchkes. The first cashier was held up by members of our group for almost 10 minutes (I have no idea what they were doing), leaving only one cashier working on the rest of the line and then that cashier got someone who was doing something complicated. *sigh* Eleni was there telling everyone to have their payment ready and be prepared to run back to the bus because the ferry at our next stop would not wait for us! Fortunately, we were finally all able to check out and we made it back to the bus, but I lost my flowers in the process. 
We were only about 5 minutes late leaving and we literally had 15 minutes at Tiburon before we even boarded the ferry, so I'm not sure what all of the panic was about. Anyway, Tiburon was a cute little village with a nice row of shops and restaurants. It reminded me a little bit of the area near the Menemsha Fish Market on Martha's Vineyard. Tiburon was in better repair and much fancier, but it had that same kind of vibe to me. We had an opportunity to meet Maggie, the owner of the Tiburon to Angel Island Ferry who was a 4th generation ferry boat captain. She told us a story about how Al Capone ended up spending some time on Tiburon. He had been running alcohol on a nearby island that was very affluent and the law enforcement on that island had informed him that while they didn't intend to prosecute him, his type of "enterprise" was not acceptable on their land, so he suggested that he move the enterprise to Tiburon. 
That's a roll of stickers that Maggie is holding--not a roll of toilet paper
Maggie's house on the dock
The ferry ride was chilly and uneventful. I really wanted to go up on the deck, but since I figured that we wouldn't be in cold conditions for too long this morning, I gambled and wore shorts. That was a mistake for sure. We reached the Angel Island where is was about 10 degrees colder than Tiburon had been...and Tiburon wasn't having any sort of heat wave. Fortunately, Anne and Eleni, being their amazing selves, had blankets for everyone! We boarded the tram with our blankets, prepared to be wowed by an amazing story of the triumph of a plucky group of immigrants.
Well, that's what I like to think that the story was about. I have no idea what the real story was because the tram was loud; the audio was not. The speakers were crackling and you couldn't begin to hear the story. So not only were we all freezing to death, but we didn't even know why! Mom and I were sitting with the other mom & daughter on the trip who were from Miami and they looked like they were about to start losing toes to frostbite! 
Poor dear girls. You know that scene in Christmas Vacation where Audrey can't see the tree because her eyes are frozen. Yep. That was our friends from Miami. We finally arrived at the "monument", half of which was burned by a movie production company who had been filming on the island, the other half of which was outdoors. The tram driver told us that a museum would soon be open in the last remaining structure, which didn't do us a lot of good. There was a bell and some plaques and from reading the plaques, I started to at least get some idea about the struggles of (particularly Asian) immigrants who were processed through this island, especially during WWII. Then the tram driver took us back to the dock and we took the ferry back to Tiburon. While it wasn't the best tour experience, I am glad that we had an opportunity to stand on the island because actually being in such a cold, desolate place definitely gave you a sense of what the immigrants who were detained on the island--some for years--must have gone through.
Somewhere on these brown hills is Skywalker Ranch.
Back in Tiburon, we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant whose name I can't remember. If you go there, it's the only one, so it isn't hard to find and the food was really good. I had the flautas and mom had the taco salad. We got a group of about 10 people together and one of our group mates picked up the tab for lunch! I was glad I hadn't ordered something super expensive because it was so sweet of him--I'd have hate to have felt like I was taking advantage. As we left the restaurant, we learned that it had been a popular choice. More than half of our group was in the restaurant! This was a place where we actually had too much time. I would have preferred to have had a lunch together with a set menu and have gotten out of Tiburon an hour earlier so we would have had more time for the afternoon activities. After lunch, we found a candy store and the Asian influence on Tiburon became clear because the one aisle looked like it was straight out of the candy store in the Japan pavilion at Epcot. Hi-Chew, Pocky, etc.
On the bus ride to Lucasfilm, Anne fabricated a story that she needed to stop by her houseboat because she had forgotten to pack her underwear for the following day. In reality, it was a ruse to give us an opportunity to see the houseboats up close and get better pictures than we could get from the bus window. It also bought Anne some time to stop and pick up the "real San Francisco treat" for everyone--It's It ice cream sandwiches. It's a disc of ice cream sandwiched between two oatmeal cookies and coated in chocolate and it is amazing. We had the vanilla, but it also comes in strawberry, pumpkin, green tea, chocolate...and a few other flavors. I enjoyed this treat so much that when I got home, I tried to figure out how I could buy a box and have it shipped. I thought the $22 for a box of 24 was pretty fair, but the $65 shipping stopped me in my tracks. But then I thought about it and the ingredient list didn't seem too complicated, so last week I made a prototype and it turned out pretty tasty. I currently have a new batch of cookies baked and waiting for assembly.
After Sausalito, we boarded the bus for the Presidio. When we arrived, we went directly to the Letterman building where Industrial Light & Magic is housed. After group photos at the Yoda fountain, we were allowed to enter the lobby of Lucasfilm. I've heard mixed information about this. Some people have said that if you go on your own, the only thing you can see is the fountain. Other people claim that they have been allowed into the lobby. Our group was allowed into the lobby and this is billed as one of the AbD exclusive experiences. Now I'm not the world's biggest Star Wars fan, but over time, I have developed an appreciation and, dare I say it, a love for this franchise that is the center of Benn's universe. I was excited to see Lucasfilm and I was tremendously underwhelmed by this experience. Relative to Walt's Apartment on the Backstage Magic trip, this experience doesn't hold a candle. It doesn't even hold a match. The figures were cool and everything and we did get to access an auxiliary area that had statues of Boba Fett and one of the Michael Bay style Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Woo freaking hoo. This would be a cool experience if it was connected to a character meet & greet. It just has no life. I guess in a way, you could compare it to the statue room at Imagineering, but there were no stories connected with any of the figures here. There wasn't anything that is inherently better than what you can see at Star Wars Launch Bay. It just felt...dead. And maybe there were cool stories behind the figures or the books on the shelves...but if there were, Anne & Eleni missed the boat on sharing them. We did get our choice of several different styles of Lucasfilm hats as a free gift, so mom & I picked out two different ones for Benn.
The back side of Yoda!!!
Next stop: Walt Disney Family Museum!!!!!!! 
It turns out that my instinct to not take Michael up on his ticket offer was the right one because it was now 2:45, BUT the Eyvind Earle thing had just finished up, so I got to meet Michael!! I had tried to arrange to meet him at Disneyland when Benn and I were there in May, but he was actually at WDW that week, so it was an awesome and unexpected treat that I got to meet him at the museum. Totally not AbD related, but it was a big trip highlight for me.
So the museum is absolutely beautiful. The building is gorgeous. The content is amazing. The organization and documentation is superb. Surely I'm biased as a Disney fan and I haven't been to every museum, but it is my favorite museum in America. Some of the highlights are the original furniture from Walt's apartment, the Snow White Oscar (and others), the wall of every single cell necessary for like 10 seconds of animation or something ridiculous, the original menus from the commissary, the family photos pulled from Diane Disney Miller's personal albums, the interactive voice recordings, the model of Disneyland, the Griffith Park bench with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Olympic torch from the Squaw Valley Olympics, Walt's miniatures collection, one of the three real multi-plane cameras, the film posters from the WWII propaganda films...there are so many wonderful stories presented within these walls and the family did such an unbelievable job of using a variety of mediums to tell the story that they wanted to tell. It is such a treasure.
This is stretch & squish, the exact principle that we worked on at Animation 101 earlier in the year at Festival of the Arts
The finale room is very moving
We had a guided tour of the museum, which was very nice, but the guide was moving far too quickly and I really struggled to keep up. Once again, I was here in this fabulous museum and I was rushed through. At the end, we had 45 extra minutes and I was torn between going back through the museum, checking out the special villains exhibition by Andreas Deja, or shopping. Sadly, our tickets did not include access to the special Eyvind Earle exhibit. Since 45 minutes would not have been enough time to see EVERYTHING in detail, I opted for the villains (about a 5 minute experience--no photos allowed) and the shopping. In addition to some dear pins (Carolwood Pacific, a Merryweather, and the third pin of my 3-pin set from Once Upon a Wintertime that I had found at D-Pins and Collectables in Anaheim!!), I found a new obsession in back issues of E-Ticket Magazine. Each issue features the back story on a different Disneyland attraction. I picked up the one on Alice in Wonderland and the one on King Arthur's Carousel. The detail is fantastic! I also picked up two videos on Bob Gurr that I enjoyed rather well. Mom got a biopic on Walt Disney for dad, but she isn't giving it to him until Christmas, so I guess I have to wait until then to see it... 
(
We boarded the bus and returned to the hotel before dinner. I wish we could have stayed at the museum for longer, but it was closing. Still, how cool would it have been to clear out the day guests and let us enjoy some extra time at the museum or give us access to the Eyvind Earle exhibit after closing time. This is supposed to be an exclusive experience, right? Plus it would have shaved some time off of our total bus riding time. 
On the way to our hotel break, we received our departure information for the following day. After our break, we boarded the bus (again) for dinner at One Market. Walking into the restaurant, I was pretty jazzed up. There was a chef's table and everything smelled great. We were seated in a private room, which was very nice. We started with bread and salad of course and both were quite good. The waiter took the order for our table and made a remark to the effect that the chef was going to love our table because no one ordered their steak overcooked. Yet somehow, when our meals were served, there was a mix-up. The steaks were all mixed up! We sorted it out amongst ourselves, but that's not a mistake that a restaurant like this should be making. Next problem. The food quality was below average. The steaks had little flavor and they were tough. I had ordered my steak rare, but it was also cold--not cool, red center--cold. The mashed potatoes tasted instant and the spinach was just boiled. No seasoning, no creative presentation. Just boiled. For dessert, we had cheesecake and this was my fault, but I failed to request that mine be served plain. Instead, I forgot that I had read that we were having blueberry cheesecake. The "raspberry and chocolate sauce" that I took a bite of with my cheesecake was NOT chocolate. Gross. So not my ideal meal. I wish we had gone back to M.Y. China instead!
Sadly, this looks much better than it tasted.
On our first trip, we recognized all of the birthdays, anniversaries, and repeat visitors at the welcome dinner. This time, we did all of the pin recognitions at the farewell dinner. So I got my Adventure #2 pin! Yay!!! In May we'll be celebrating my birthday, so I'll get a birthday pin for that one and then when we eventually do the Danube River Cruise, we will hopefully do it near our anniversary.
After dinner, we had one more stop before returning home. We took the bus over the Bay Bridge so we could get pictures of the illuminated bridge at night. It was really beautiful, but it was getting pretty chilly again, so most people didn't hang out for very long taking pictures. On our way back to the hotel, Eleni passed out Ghirardelli chocolate squares. That was the end of the organized portion of our trip. We met Anne & Eleni in the lobby the following morning to receive our last pin and then we were on our own. More about our last day, journey home, and value analysis next time.
) to get a real boarding pass. This was only a big deal because I had decided to use my hip, cool AbD duffle bag as my carry on instead of a wheeled suitcase and it was heavy and I was tired. I joked with the TSA guy (who actually had a sense of humor 
) that I wondered if a company who couldn't master mobile boarding pass technology should be trusted to fly airplanes and I hoped that they didn't try to fly by flapping the wings up and down like a bird. 
