Wild and Wonderful Wednesday, Part 1: Showing the NY Girl Around

And soooo tired!

Let's see how much I can blog tonight before passing out from pure exhaustion.

Yesterday, of course, was a crazy-super-fun day, in which I drove to San Francisco and met up with my Keane friend Annie (from New York, New York) for a day of fun and an evening concert of epic awesomeness. It ended up being a Wild and Absolutely True day of fun, celebrity sightings and good times.

My original plan was to wake up at 6:00 and leave by 7:30 or so, arriving in the city at 9:30 to 10:00 or so and meeting up with Annie. I woke up at 3:00, and after an hour of trying, decided I wasn't going to fall back asleep and I might as well get up. I putzed around, eating breakfast, showering and playing on the Internet, before leaving at 7:00.

Thanks to traffic, fog and getting turned around while finding Annie's hotel, it wasn't until about 9:45 that I finally pulled into the parking lot and found Annie waiting for me. We set off on our adventure, stopping to get Starbucks (by this time, I was seriously hungry again) and then heading off to Pier 39.

I showed her the famous see lions (she loved them!) and we walked around a bit, stopping for photo ops in front of Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Annie

Yours Truly

We wandered down towards Fisherman's Wharf, chattering and laughing and talking about Keane. We stopped for a photo op, copying a picture that Richard of Keane put on his photoblog during the US tour in July (the big arch picture). We laughed at the randomly-placed police line that you have to walk by to get to Fisherman's Wharf. Hilarity ensued, and I don't even mind posting a picture of my backside (how far I've come).

I showed her the Boudin bakery, and we wandered down to the old warship and sub that are on display, ending up in the docks, unsure if we should be there. I recalled Richard (Keane's drummer) once writing that he often just wanders into places with his camera and hopes not to get kicked out, so in that spirit, we got pictures of the fish traps and one of the BEST signs I've ever found (if you miss the subtle innuendo, you're not trying hard enough).

At about 2:00, Annie heard from two friends, Anna and Charlotte, a pair of Brits who, like Annie, travel far and wide for Keane shows (they've been to over a hundred; Annie's been to 32--she works for an airline). They were queuing at the Warfield, where the show would be. At that point they were the only ones waiting, but Annie and I figured we'd better snag our spots in line if we wanted to be up front for the show. So off we went...and I'll cover that in the third post, after a quick detour through the eyes of Mr. Swimmy.