The Eagle has Landed...in Philadelphia

I made it East Coast yesterday evening... boring ass flight... no TV entertainment, my iPod battery dies with 20 minutes of battery life in my laptop... boring, I slept though ... went to a few bars last night and had a few beers.

Today had a lazy mornin' in bed I didn't get up til like 11:30 before goin with Tim to get some groceries in the Reading Terminal Market, for dinner (Tims makin' it right now) smells good too. We drove past 'Capogiro' an ice cream/gilato place that I went to last time I visited and it was in today's newspaper and mentioned that Michelle Obama (America's First Lady/President's Wife) and her daughter ate ice cream there last week .. maybe I'll meet my first celebrity in Philly? anyway It is wet so we went to the movies and watched Julie and Julia. Its a 'nice' movie perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Tomorrow I go to Washington DC I'll maybe see the president. I'll say Hi from you to him.

I left my heart in San Francisco.... But I know its in good hands

So yeah as the saying goes it does happen. I can't believe it. I fell in love with the San Francisco insane. I love it miss and made some incredible friends there. I think I've covered everybody in previous blog posts but theres one person that still needs a lot of gratitude.

Tony's been my support and anchor throughout most of my year here in San Francisco. He's helped me grow in so many ways that I could have only imagined before. Times got rough for both of us and we stuck by each other. Most of my time in San Francisco was spent with tony and I cant wait for him to come to Ireland. He helped me to the airport (with all the crap I have) and when I got into line for security, I was gurnin' like a baby. Thanks for everything Tony, I really will miss you and the Ewok memories and amazing times that we shared will never be forgotten. I'll be back :)

As for San Francisco, I am keeping my heart there … that way I do have to return to such a beautiful city. I'm not done with it and its not done with me. See you soon San Francisco!

Discovery #901 – If you visit Discovery Kingdom you'll need more than one pair of undies

Well as it was my vacation, Tony and I went to Discovery Kingdom. A theme park outside San Francisco, in Vallejo. We took the Bart to El Cerrito Norte, and then had to board another 2 buses ... took us what seemed for ever to get there but we arrived at Discovery Kingdom about an hour and a half later ... I was shit scared (sorry for the swear word but if you saw 'Medusa' you would be too) … well now I normally chicken out when it comes to Roller coasters like that one. I get all excited then, I start to bail ... not possible when you go with tony … he had me on nearly every roller coaster. 'Medusa' was the mother I was scared most for it so I tried to procrastinate this one … with every other roller coaster, First we did this 'white water rafting' ride and we waited about an hour in line ... (waste of time to be honest, i did want more thrills) 'Boomerang', 'Kong', Roar and I even managed to squeeze lunch in there too. Then it was time... I couldn't procrastinate anymore, and 'the line's too long' doesn't work with tony. ANYWAY this roller coaster was nuts... I did go on it... peer pressure but BOY did it get your Adrenalin goin'. The first drop was longggggggggg but it was great... I probably could have went on it twice if I wanted to wait in line. It was a fun day, the park itself isn't just rides and roller coasters. It also has animals, kind of like a zoo but they put on animal shows, one in particular I was busting to see was 'Odin's Temple of the Tiger'. It was obviously a tiger show but to see these animals was unreal the size of them, and to see them swimming and eating in the water. The pictures are below ...

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Went to Santa Cruz Beach Board walk... pretty cool place... kinda like Portrush. Arcades, tickets, amusements, rides, roller coasters (an 85 year old roller coaster at that), candy floss, ice cream, funnelcakes (yum) ... Infact its better than Portrush. Took Caltrain from San Francico to San Jose then took an easy ride on the bus. Anyway the pictures pretty much say it all... fun fun fun ... !

Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Alcatraz

Last weekend, which was Jo's last day in San Francisco, I thought it was finally time to visit Alcatraz Island. Jo, Dave and myself all went across to the penitentiary prison and of what fun we had. First off, for those who've never heard of Alcatraz is an island, located 1.4 miles from San Francisco. We took a ferry across to the prison. It was cool, you could just walk around the grounds and see things like what the prisoners did when they where bored etc. It was also great to see what you saw in the movies, got you geared up to watch 'em too like 'The Rock' and 'Escape from Alcatraz'. There was an audio tour which guided you through the cell blocks but wow was it intense it was realistic with sound effects and you walked around the cell blocks hearing a range of different stories that went on in that very room ranging from crazy escape attempts to mad prisoners rioting ... it was an unreal tour and I could probably do it again! Anyway enough blabbing on ... here's some pictures ... check out the view of the bay ... and the solitary confinement.