Today is our last day in California. We woke up and let the girls have their coffee and smoke time. Meanwhile, we boys sequestered ourselves in a corner and hashed out our complaints with yesterday's contest-of-wills. In the end all was settled and we made up. (Awww!)
Then it we carted out all our luggage and started our last few adventures.
The girls had mentioned that they wanted to ride a cable-car as part of the SF experience, so we drove down to Market Street to put them on a car. Since Gay Pride is about to take off, there were rainbow flags everywhere. Garry, also known as "Mr. Advertise Much?", had to pose beneath one.
While they waited in line for the car, Damian dived into RadioShack. My favorite camera, the waterproof one that took all those great underwater shots and movies (not just on this trip, but on the ones for the last 5 years or so) started going insane. The preview window defaulted to upside-down making it near impossible to frame a shot. The camera still works, but it's wacky to work with. But that particular brand is--for some reason--carried in RadioShack and no where else. And there was a 'Shack one block from the cable car. I ran in, they didn't have a waterproof one, but an updated version of the camera in non-waterproof. I bought it, ran back, and the girls (and Garry as escort) were gone on their adventure.
We gathered up Garry and the girls and headed out. Russ's plan was to cross the Golden Gate bridge at noon and get pictures after the fog burned off.
Wouldn't you know it....the fog stayed around today...
We drove up north anyway, rounded the northern end of the bay and headed back down the east side (?) of the bay back toward SF. We stopped at a park for a view of the SF skyline and lunch.
Leftover sushi! Chips, muffins, and other bits we had to either eat or chuck. We ate.
Then off to Vegas! We left the 72-degree SF fog and landed in 109-degree Vegas heat! Arg! (Garry loved it.)
The girls immediately tried their luck in the Vegas airport baggage-claim area.
We then headed out to dinner. We stopped at Cadillac Ranch for a "you mean we get real food?" dinner.
Notice that on the table, propping up Damian's iPad is his Droid cell-phone...
...that's the last time we'll see that!
We drove into the city, and up the strip so the girls could see all the lights. Next we stopped at CVS for some basic supplies (Cosmo fixin's, cheap souvenirs, etc).
Finally we pulled into the resort, claimed our room, and unpacked.
That's when Damian discovered a lack of cell phone. I checked the bags...then the hallway and elevator...the lobby...the bellmen...the parking lot...the van... Nope.
We dashed back to CVS...Nope.
Back to Cadillac Ranch...Nope.
So we gave up, returned to the room, and collapsed. Tomorrow we begin our Vegas adventure!
----
(For the remainder of the trip we checked each possible phone-loss location when we passed it. We called the phone hoping someone would answer. Nope...no phone.
Some ass-wipe picked it up and kept it. Well...if they manage to get in to it (it's got a nifty lock sequence) I hope their eyes burned out from all the gay porn images I had on it. Then I called Verizon, reported the phone as lost. They deactivated it, then reached through the ether and "broke" it so the ass-wipe can't use it ever even if they do manage to unlock it. The insurance company was called and a new one sent to the house in Pikesville.
Meanwhile, it should be mentioned that Russ had lost his cellphone a few weeks earlier and I had given him a thorough berating for not taking better care of things. So of course I'd lose mine. Although the circumstances are a bit different, it still doesn't help much. And it should be noted that after finding all the things in the earlier parts of the trip---and returning them safely---that I'd be due for similar treatment. Nope. Karma means "dump on Damian".)
