Yay I'm on my way to Santa Barbara & blogging from my iPhone ... I have my baby back!!! (Is it wrong to be in love with a bit of plastic & metal???).

See bottom of page if you want to read my iPhone saga and read my vent - it's long winded but needed to blog & get it off my chest!!!

But the good stuff ... I knew as soon as we arrived in SF (San Francisco if you missed the earlier blog) that we were going to love it!

The city has more depth and character then the other places we've visited. It also reminded us a little of Melbourne with the cool climate, trolley cars (trams), historic buildings and areas like little Italy.

First up we stopped at Pier 39 for a Clam Chowder at Boudins, washed down with a Buehler - White Zinfandel ... Yum!!!

We then cut laps of the city in the Contiki bus - checked out the Golden Gate, Haights Ashbury, Lombard Street (most crooked in the world), and the houses and park that are in the opening credits of Full House :0)

Stopped to check into our hotel for the fastest shower, change & blow dry ever performed and then out again got a sunset cruise around the bay, sailing past Alcatraz & under the Golden Gate.

We were all very excited to realize 2 drinks and nibbles were included, so had a lovely sunset warm up session on the bay.

Next was Hard Rock Cafe, more cocktails, more souveneir glasses (we now have 4!) then onto a local bar for night caps ...

So much for the alcohol free day Tanya begged for when she woke and for saving ourselves for Alcatraz & Lovelution!!!

So ... Alcatraz was good. I reccomend not going with a hang over though.

We had to catch the Subway back to our hotel as the Lovelution Parade had started ... We come up out of the Subway into absolute chaos but oh so awesome!!!

I've never been to Mardi Gras but think this would be pretty similar. 25 themed floats with DJs on each and loads of semi clad people hanging out dancing on them.

Too hard to describe in words but I have some great vids :0)

The floats all head down to the Civic Centre and became stages.

Tanya & I headed to the shops to get some appropriate clothing ...

We could have saved ourselves the trouble & just dressed in our underwear and a pair of fishnets like a lot of people we saw but wanted something different ... Other popular fashion included brightly coloured see through tutus over the top of contrasting boy leg knickers & of course fishnets. Costumes of all kinds and there were quite a few fairies about - some people were even dressed like them ;0)

Fortunately Halloween is but a few weeks away so costumes were the easiest thing to find ... After spending about an hour trying on firemen, police & cow girl out fits I realised I didn't have the balls (or the right ego inflating substance) to wear a skimpy outfit in public so opted for some kitty cat ears, a tail, black gloves with pink latex paw pads and a pink collar with a bell - fortunately previous shopping included a black ruffled boob tube & a pair of knee high black leather boots to team it with, & had a black skirt I'd brought from home - outfit complete!

We headed back to our hotel through the craziness to realise the center of it all was just accross from our hotel - woohoo finally we hit the jackpot location wise!

I took way to long to get ready dragging out the process cringing at the thought of going public as a kitty cat and anyone from Contiki spotting us but finally after a few stiff drinks Little Red Riding Hood (aka no shame Tanya!) dragged me from the hotel room ... And of course we ran into people!

Outside though with chaos reigning I started to relax and by the time we were into the festival I was loving every minute! I have never seen anything like it - totally crazy & totally awesome!

I've never been to a rave so only have Livids & Big Day Out Festivals to compare it to but even those are nothing like it!

The attendance ususally numbers 700,000 which I'm guessing is at least 5 times bigger then our festivals. All outdoor and accross urban streets with a stage even set up on the steps of City Hall. All ages, people dancing in the streets, hanging off tradfic lights - absolute madness!!!

Oh and all for $10!!!

We met up with Roger Rabbit (Tanyas cousin Max), his sister Katherine, her boyfriend & friends.

Had an awesome night between hanging out at the festival, more drinks at the hotel, tequila shots from bowls at Katherines place in Haight, drinks at Molotov's Cocktail Bar (where people can have thier dogs on stools at the bar with them :0) ) and so on ... Way too much to blog so you'll just have to wait to see the pics & vids - if I let you that is ;0)

Sunday woke up feeling great! Tired yes but no hang over??? Maybe the secret is drinking more? Or perhaps I was still drunk?

It was Max's birthday and her Auntie & Uncle were also in town so had brunch with the family & friends.

Had some downtime after sorting out iPhone & insurance issues - Grr!

Then finally headed off the check ou the BlueGrass festival ... Took us almost 2 hours to get there as everyone was heading our way!!!  It was on Golden Gate Park and all free and paid for by a wealthy local.

Once again thousands of people were there but this time only 5 stages of Blues music.

Sort of reminded me of Panyiri with stages food stalls, picnic blankets etc but once again 5 times bigger and don't think people go round offering you special brownies at Panyiri :0)

Feeling tired we didn't stay too long ... Headed back for dinner at Bubba Gumps at Pier 39 - only one drink with dinner at a night cap at the hotel lounge after.

Woke after 7.5 hours sleep feeling invigorated again and at peace with the world!

Tonight is our last night with the Contiki group so sure to be a big night again - am prepping my liver today for the beating - poor liver :0(

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MIA iPhone Saga .........

The story goes is that I was charging my phone in the bus on the way to SF - when we got there we had 45 minutes to unload 50+ people, suit cases and work out room allocations before we had to be back on the bus and off to a sunset cruise and dinner.

I'd left my phone charging in the overhead compartment & the tour leader grabbed it but didn't bring it down again when we re-convened.

I checked the next morning and he hadn't left it at reception for me so slipped a note under his door as wasn't going to see him til the next night asking him to leave it at reception.

I kept checking reception - they kept saying they hadn't seen it - then finally ran into the tour leader who said he'd left it there first nite after dinner ...

Hotel then said they had no record of it, they spent the arvo checking the security tapes and told me tour manager never dropped it off - told them I would talk to tour manager again about it and would need to go to police after dinner to report it for insurance.

Dramas dramas dramas - especially seeing closest police were in Tenderloin which is the part of town you don't go to ... So would have also involved a taxi ride to a potentially closed station just to ensure I reported it within 24 hours :0(

All was averted though as was tracked down by restaurant staff at dinner to take a call from the hotel - seems they did have the phone after all and somehow was in the catering managers office who doesn't come in on weekends. Story didn't add up as why wasn't the tour manager on the tape etc ...

But finally at 11pm last night I got my baby back!!!

So no phone the whole time I was in SF but that was probably for the best after the weekend we had ;0)