Port of San Francisco
We had a great day.
We're staying at the Marriott Bonvoy, where the square dancing convention is being held. They don't have a continental breakfast so you're on your own for breakfast. They do have restaurants in the hotel, which are B55 (Breakfast Buffet, Dinner and Wine/Cocktails), Mission Street Pantry ("Grab-n-Go") and The View (Cocktails & Bar Bites). They are expensive. Larry found out, that there was a McDonald's and Burger King close by.
After taking a shower and getting dressed we decided to explore downtown San Francisco. We walked around downtown for over three hours. We left the Marriott about 7:30 and didn't get back until 11:00. By the time we got back I had walked over 12,000 steps, which is five miles.
Entrance to the Port of San Francisco
Bay Bridge
Downtown San Francisco
A ferry coming into the port
Sue Bierman Park
Electric transportation in downtown
One of the fountains in downtown (bubbles make the water appear to go up)
My new friend (five feet and five hands)
Our first stop was Burger King for breakfast. It was a few blocks from the hotel. Larry had their french toast sticks, I had their Jr. burrito and we both had a bottle of orange juice. The front door was open Larry was cold so he closed it. The security guard told him they keep the door open otherwise people think they are closed. They tried a sign but the sign would be stolen. San Francisco must have problems with crime because everywhere we walked there were security guards.
As we walked around we saw some very nice statues and sculptures. The architecture of the buildings was beautiful and some was unique. We walked down to the Port of San Francisco to watch the ferries come and go. The entrance to port was very nice with a tall statue of a lady. They had a huge building, where you can buy food and go shopping. When we walked through the building the pastry shops were the only ones open considering it was about 9:00. Larry bought us a cinnamon pull apart. We sat there for awhile to rest and watch the ferries. I walked around and took pictures of the bay bridge, building area the port and the ferries. There was a constant flow of ferries coming and going.
On the way back to the hotel we walked through a couple of parks and saw a beautiful memorial of Martin Lutheran King. The parks were Sue Bierman Park and Yerbra Buena Gardens. At the gardens the Martin Lutheran King Memorial and waterfalls was located. We saw a beautiful old catholic church called St. Patrick Catholic Church. There were lots of people walking, running and exercising. We saw a beautiful carousel in a building called LeRoy King Carousel. Larry googled it and found out it doesn't open until Friday. We stopped by Target to buy items for some of our meals.
It was a little challenging to get to Target because we saw the sign but didn't know exactly where it was. We walked through a mall, that had a food court, shops to play games and a theater. We followed the signs to Target, but the entrance was roped off. Finally we asked a security guard, he told us how to get to Target. Come to find out the entrance was right across the street from our hotel. This was very convenient for us.
By the time we got back to the hotel it was time for lunch so I made sandwiches. We had the cinnamon pull apart for our dessert.
After lunch we went downstairs to sign in for the convention. On the way there we said hi to a few people we recognized (Tom from Liberty Hill's A dance, he's just learning A, Karin Rabe and Greg Moore from my Wednesday Zoom dancing and Michael from Ett's and Di's dances). We went downstairs to where the dancing was taking place and checked in. We went to the window where our packages were waiting. The gentleman was very friendly and excited about the convention. He explained how the convention worked because we were first comers. He gave us a bag, that had a booklet on the schedule of the dancing, a ribbon for us to put on our badges saying we're first timers, a couple of business cards for the tour and the beef banquet, a cloth and a pin to wear (Hitchhiking Across the Galaxy) to let us in the dances and other events. We got a small bag of jelly beans, a small bag of Babelfish ( like Goldfish) and a pair of dance socks because we're dancing on carpet and we may need them. Then we went back up stairs. We didn't walk we took the elevator because it was 11 floors. We rested until the dance at 7:00. Below are the gifts we received.
Booklet for the schedule of dances and activities
Micro-fiber cloth
Me and Larry
Larry and Robin
Di and me
Terry and Di
At 7:00 we went down to the basement to dance. They had so many squares I couldn't count them. The dance was for three hours. Dayle Hodge and Michael Kellogg took turns calling each tip. The format was SSD, Plus, SSD and A2 and each tip had a singing call except the A2 tips. I danced almost all the tips because during the SSD tips someone always needed a partner. SSD is beginning square dancing. In between the tips we visited with people. We met some people, who zoomed with us. We met Ett McAtee, Gail from LA, Ann from Canada, Doona from Australia (Doona didn't remember me because it's been over three since we danced with her on Zoom). Larry introduced himself to Betsy Gotta and Jan from New Jersey, they didn't remember us because they had danced with us in a long time. We had a super time dancing to Dayle and Michael. Overall the dancers were good.
Dancing to Dayle and Michael
Karin Rabe (blue blouse) and Greg Moore (in black)
Dancing SSD tip
By the end of the day I had done 16,500 steps. I played the event, which was Event: Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 54, 17 seconds to complete, which put me in 34th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.
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I would love to hear friendly comments on anything at all. Ruth