San Fransisco

San Fransisco was a great shift from UT in the winter. It was warm enough to walk on the bay shore with no shoes on...that's warm enough for me. Being barefoot was great- and I was lucky enough to avoid stepping on any sand crabs. Chrissy Field is a great place to just walk and enjoy the sun. It is near the Exploratorium which is a very cool hands-on science museum. That was probably my favorite part of the trip. It was cool to experience all the things I learned in college up close.

They had a special exhibit about the mind. Nerdy neuroscientist that I am, I was fascinated by all those demonstrations. It was all stuff I'd learned about but for the most part had never experienced. It was especially cool because I knew all of the biological mechanisms explaining what t he exhibits were about. Lots of cool physics stuff as well. Take your kids there- they'll love it. I wish we had a science museum like that in UT.


We also spent some time at the famous Winchester house. Mrs. Winchester inherited her husband's fortune (the Winchester rifle fortune) and moved to CA. She says a spirit told her that to avoid death, she needed to build a house but never finish it. So, she did. The thing that makes this a tourist trap is that she used the most nonsensical architecture you've ever heard of. Doors that go to nowhere, stairs that go to nowhere. Cupboard doors with no cupboard behind, seonce rooms, 13 bathrooms, etc. Just weird stuff mostly. Yes, it's a tourist trap, but my friend wanted to go, so we did. And yes, this door is really a door on the second story that goes to absolutely nowhere, and yes, you can open it.

I also got to go to the Modern Art Museum while my friend went to the aquarium. (most of you know how I feel about fish...) Turns out, I like some modern art, I don't like some modern art. I learned that I go on vacation a lot like my Dad- I like to go and do and keep busy. I also have a navigational sense based on an internal compass instead of a road map. Basically I just aim the car in the direction I want to go and hope there's a road that goes there. My friend's idea of vacation was a lot more like my mom's- take it easy and relax.