I managed to drag my ass out of bed at a respectable hour this morning and then headed off on my bike.  I took 17th to Eureka to 18th to Valencia to Tiffany to 29th to San Jose to Wilder to Diamond to Monterey to Plymouth to Montecito to Eastwood to Westwood to Wildwood to Faxon to De Montefort to Ashton to Head to Holloway to Font to Lake Merced to Skyline to the Great Highway.  I came up the coast and went into Golden Gate Park at JFK and then followed it to the Panhandle.  Then I took Baker to McAllister.  This is the cool sculpture on the State Building at Van Ness and McAllister:

I continued on McAllister to Larkin to O’Farrell.  Apartment building like this are a very common sight in San Francisco.  This one is pretty and caught my attention while I was waiting for a light:

I continued on O’Farrell to Taylor where I saw this pretty mural.  I think it’s Chinese and it’s all shades of fabulous:

Me on Taylor:

I continued on Taylor to Post.  This building on Post at Grant is recently refurbuished and it’s so pretty on the exterior.  Me likey:

I continued on Post to Kearny to Bush to Sansome and into work.

I was a complete wreck in the morning because we’d gotten in so late that I just came down Market into work.  But after work I rode a little.  I headed off 2nd to Howard to 11th to Harrison to 24th to Treat to 26th to Valencia to Tiffany to 29th to San Jose to Wilder to Diamond to Monterey to North Gate to Upland to Manor.  This is the City College from Manor:

Me:

Pretty Spanish home with an enormous palm tree:

I continued on Manor to Kenwood.  This is the view West towards the ocean from Kenwood and West Gate.  You can see the sun peeking through the fog.  Pretty:

I continued on West Gate to Ocean.  This is the interesting Ingleside signs where West Gate turns into Cerritos:

I continued on Cerritos to Winston to Lake Merced.  I think these people are practicing for the Dragon Boat Races that are coming up this weekend and that you can read more about here. 

I continued on Lake Merced to Skyline to the Great Highway.  I came up the coast and took Taravel to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  We went to bed really early.  It was a looooong day.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                         28.4
Week to date                               28.4
Month to date                            647.1
Year to date                            8,275.6
Remaining to Goal                   1,724.4
Over (Under) plan                      816.6

Sunday rolled around and it was time to head back to San Francisco.  Huzzah!  I managed to get us a little lost getting to the airport (I blame the map) but we finally managed to get there.  Check in and security were both reall fast so ended up with a couple of hours in the A side of the terminal to kill.  The A side is connected with two satellites, Airside 1 and airside 2, that are connected by train.  I wish you could walk between them.  There’s a walkway but it’s closed.  Both airsides are under construction with Airside 2 being a little farther along than Airside 1.  I’m not sure which of these this is.  You can see the walkway they won’t let you use between the two sets of tracks:

Looking back towards the terminal

Jetblue coming in:

Southwest:

Delta:

Aircraft at the gate:

Oh Air Canada.  Must it be mint??

American Airlines 1315 Dep MCO 3:45PM Arr MIA 4:50PM 757

This was a very short flight with no drink service.  We departed and arrived on time.

I had a window so I could get some pics.  Orlando tower:

UPS:

I could see a storm brewing after we took off:

Coming into MIA

Cargo at MIA:

British Airways 747:

Virgin 747:

Iberia A340.  I don’t see a lot of these and we don’t get Iberia in San Francisco so this was my favorite find of the day.  I love Iberia’s livery.  It’s retro and modern at the same time.

Lots of American at MIA:

Storm rolling in ….

Fantastic terminal:

It was already raining by the time we got to the gate.  Pretty soon it was pouring rain and the airport was shut for I think two hours.  Ugh.  What a mess.  My flight was to San Francisco was delayed for three hours.  Luckily, MIA has had a lot of construction and the result is really pretty and spacious.  The roof leaks, but I’m not sure if that’s because they haven’t finished it yet. 

Reminder of Pan Am:

Pretty terminal D:

It wasn’t so bad to be stuck in.  People who had
landed later than us were stuck in their aircraft on the tarmac for two hours so I’m not complaining.  I think American did there best to keep it all together but they could have given us more updates and the electronic signs at the gate puzzlingly didn’t update with the new departure times which was kind of confusing.  We finally boarded our 757 at about 9:30 and then we had to wait on the tarmac.  They removed four passengers from the aircraft before we left for excessive drunkenness.  I think.  They’d been drinking for hours at the bar across from the gate and had been getting increasingly loud and obnoxious.  They actually seemed a little surprised that they were being removed.  Hint.  When the gate agent tells you to talk to her in the hall and to please bring your luggage, you aren’t going on that flight.  I wonder if they were rebooked on a later flight or whether they were just left to their own devices.  I’m guessing the latter.  One of their friends was not yanked from the flight and he looked like he just wanted to crawl under a rock and die of embarrassment.  I’ve been there, baby.

American Airlines 1817 Dep MIA 10:30PM Arr SFO 1:30AM 757

I’m guessing that it was as long and unlpleasant a day for the crew everybody was really nice.  There was a single drink service along with the crappy food for sale they had on the inbound but they also had sandwiches.  The flight attendants walked around with water the whole time and tried to be helpful but everybody on the flight was just wiped out because most of us had been up almost 24 hours by the time the flight landed.  And I couldn’t sleep a bit.  We finally got into SFO and then we waited for out luggage and went and got the car and headed home to see the dogs.  They were all very, very happy to see us.

I liked flying American and would connect in Dallas again to go to Orlando but not Miami.  Weather or no weather, it’s still a five and half hour flight from MIA to SFO and if I’m going to have to connect, I’d rather connect halfway in Dallas on American or Albuquerque on Southwest so that the segments are shorter.

Saturday, we headed off to Celebration which is how Disney envisioned small towns should be if they were meticulously planned and micromanaged.  It was a drive.  Which everything in the Orlando area is.  But we did get to see the wizard themed gift shop.  I heart it:

Celebration is architecturally interesting in that it doesn’t have a homogenous style but instead the buildings represent a progression as if the city was founded in the early 1800′s and slowly grew into the charming resort town it is today.  It reminds me a bit of Petaluma, CA in that it’s a little town with great architecture and lots of money:

We stopped for Pizza and this squirrel tapped me on the arm to get some grub.  Help a squirrel out!

The deco inspired movie theater is fantastic:

The view across the lake to the hotel:

Downtown from the far side of the lake:

Sign at the lake:

We got a little lost and it took us about 45 minutes to figure out how to get out of Celebration.  But we managed.  Then we headed home because Mr. Poe was making ribs.

We did nothing all day Thursday because Wednesday had been such a long travel day.  We managed to get out to the pool for an hour but that was it.  Friday, we headed out to look around a little.  We stopped at the village in my parents’ community.  Which is really pretty but with not much to do:

  

Then we attempted to go to the Nature Conservancy but it was closed so instead we went to the south shore of lake Tohopekaglia which is very pretty.  Bonus:  ass shot of me:

Hello gorgeous!

It was time to go visit my parents in Orlando.  This time we were taking American.  I haven’t really flown on American in a very long time but I got incredibly cheap tickets off of Expedia.  I think they were $240 round trip.  I’ll leave it to flgdavidson to extol the virtues of the offerings in various first classes, I like my tickets cheap.  Maybe that makes him a man of finer quality than me.  I think we knew that already. 

The original itinerary that I booked was pretty nice.  A non stop to Miami from SFO that continued onto Orlando on the same aircraft.  But then oil hit a zillion dollars and that flight was canceled.  Expedia was pretty much a pain in the ass with the entire change process and I’m never booking with them again.  They insisted on handling changes via telephone when online would have been so much more convenient because you could get some sense of your choices.  I think the whole point of calling you was to get you to agree to the choice they were giving you before you could really think about it because that was what was most convenient for them.  I think if I’d been dealing with the airline directly it would have been a lot easier and I probably would have ended up with a better return itinerary.  Also, when I logged in to Expedia, the itinerary that was displayed was wrong.  It had us departing from Boston and I had to call American to find out what flight I was really on and when it left.  Yuck. 

Our revised flight had us changing planes in Dallas and ending up Orlando at 9:30.  Not great given that my parents go to bed at 8.  OK fine so do I don’t judge me.  That was ok because Mr. Poe was renting a car.  We didn’t have to get up at three in the morning like we normally do when we head east which was nice.  We left the house at 8:15 and dropped the car off in long term parking and then went to the airport.  Check in was convenient and automated–  two things I like.  We didn’t have to pay the first bag fee because we booked before they were imposed.  Which was nice and kind of a surprise.  There wasn’t much of a line at security and we went right in.  Check out the cool thing hanging in the atrium:

There wasn’t fantastic spotting from Terminal 3 but I got a few shots.  You gotta love American’s iconic livery:

San Bruno Mountains:

Terminal 2 is finally under construction.  It looks like they’re gutting it.  I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s done:

I just missed a better just of Qantas coming in:

Still haven’t warmed up to United’s recent livery:

South San Francisco behind the traffic:

“The Industrial City”

I think these are both 757′s

United and Delta:

Delta 757

Air Canada’s mint livery. 

American Airlines 2090 Dep SFO 11AM Arr DFW 4:30PM MD80

We were on one of American’s MD80′s.  Probably 25 years old and, although not so efficient, quite comfortable.  There wasn’t any IFE but everything in the aircraft (carpets, seat covers, bins) was recent and spotlessly clean.  I like MD80′s.  I like the five across seating a lot.  Mr. Poe and I had two aisle seats (chosen by Expedia. thanks) so I couldn’t get any pics of the take off but here’s the cabin:

The flight was pretty uneventful. American’s in flight food offerings are really crappy.  It was a bunch of super processed bad for you snacks that were expensive as well.  I get that it’s not going to be cheap but Delta and United serve a lot more fresh food and I think that’s a good thing.  We finally landed at DFW.  Lots of American:

They’ve added a great train between terminals in the ten years since last I was there and it’s really nice.  It’s up above the terminal level and you get great views.  Here’s Mr. Poe.  Hello gorgeous!

Great views:

  

DFW tower:

A lonely looking United airbus:

Skywest:

British Airways 777:

I forgot to get pics of the DFW terminal.  It’s great 70′s design.  DFW wasn’t designed to be a hub airport so there are tons of baggage claims located right outside the gate.  The terminal itself is pretty narrow with limited seating which can be tough when a lot of flights are departing at the same time.  We headed onto out 757 to head off to Orlando. 

American Airlines 1744 Dep DFW 6PM Arr MCO 9:25PM 757

Aircraft was very dirty.  We’ve all had those kind of days.  We were booked in two middle seats (thank you again, Expedia) but when the door closed I noted a couple of empty rows at the back of the aircraft so we moved into one of them and I parked myself at the window so I could get some shots as we were leaving:

The sun went down so I put my camera away.  We arrived in Orlando and got our luggage without too much fuss and then headed over to my parents house and went to bed.  We got in really late.  The dogs didn’t even wake up.

I slept in.  Again.  Working on not doing that.  After work I headed off 2nd to Mission to 11th to Bryant to 17th to Hampshire to 26th to Bryant to Precita to Mission to 29th to San Jose to Wilder to Diamond to Monterey to Circular to Marston and into City College.  I came out Phelan and took Ocean to Lee to Holloway to Junipero Serra to Rossmoor to 19th to Eucalyptus to Lake Merced to Skyline to the Great Highway where I stopped for some pics.  Gorgeous fading sun:

Me enjoying it:

I continued on the Great Highway to Taravel to Dewey to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola where I saw the remains of an accident at Diamond Heights.  Ouch!

I continued on Portola to Corbett and home for dinner. 

Bike Mileage:
Today                                          28.6
Week to date                               57.1
Month to date                            618.7
Year to date                            8,247.2
Remaining to Goal                   1,752.8
Over (Under) plan                      952.1

I slept in and came down Market in the morning.  After work I headed off 2nd to Howard to 3rd where I couldn’t go any further down Howard because Oracle had the whole block cordoned off for their conference.  So I took Mission where I saw this incredible terra cotta clad gem.  It doesn’t deem like it’s in the greatest condition and it certainly isn’t in the best neighborhood, but me likey likey:

  

  

I continued on Mission to 11th to Bryant to Precita to Mission to 29th to San Jose to Wilder to Diamond to Monterey to Congo to Hearst to Foerster to Flood to Hazelwood to Greenwood to Plymouth to Wildwood to Faxon to De Montefort to Ashton to Pico to Urbano to Alviso to Estero to Lunado to Winston to Lake Merced to Skyline to the Great Highway.  I came up the coast and took Taravel to Dewey to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home.  We had dinner and then I walked the dogs and we went to bed.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                          28.5
Week to date                               28.5
Month to date                            590.1
Year to date                            8,218.6
Remaining to Goal                   1,781.4
Over (Under) plan                      950.8

Mr. Poe and I went to the Museum of Modern Art to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit.  It was interesting but she’s not my favorite.  There was some other cool stuff to see but they wouldn’t let me take pics so you’ll have to go and see for yourself.

The Contemporary Jewish Museum is now open and it’s housed in a renovated utility substation.  It’s a very striking design and I can’t wait to see what they’ve got inside.  The Mexican Museum is supposed to go in next door but it’s got such a tiny lot allocated I’m wondering how big it could possibly be.

  

  

This is the view from the 4th floor patio at the Museum of Modern Art.  You can see the snooze worthy new Intercontinental Hotel on the left:

And the horrifying Marriott.  That’s the big ugly building that looks like a jukebox and just keeps spreading out like a drug resistant staph infection.

Look at the cool thing that was on the patio:

  

The view up Third Street from the Museum of Modern Art:

After the museum we went to the public library in Civic Center.  Which is in a nice building and is well organized.  My only complaint would the stank coming of some people who are apparently living there.  Yuck.  Mr Poe looking for books:

Me:

The view up from the first level:

I had plans after work so I just came up market and went home.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                          29.8
Week to date                             182.6
Month to date                            561.6
Year to date                            8,190.1
Remaining to Goal                   1,809.9
Over (Under) plan                   1,004.3