Post-ride Day 1

Nice easy morning. After breakfast, I headed back down the hill (by bike, naturally) to drop off Dr. Chris’s headlight which he let me borrow so that I could get home last night. Afterwards, I was pretty much free to explore. I figured that I should head down to Ghiardelli Square to do some touristy things – like eat free Ghiardelli samples and have an ice cream sundae for lunch. I also checked out two boats open to tourists: the Balclutha, a square rig merchant vessel, and the Jeremiah O’Brien, a Liberty ship built in Portland, ME. Some cool pics. In the Jeremiah O’Brien, I saw the pistons used in Titanic (yes, THAT movie), and the volunteer tour guide was an 83 year old, Artie, who worked in the engine room about 50 years ago. So, he explained how the steamer worked – I kind of got a personal tour since I was the last one down there. I didn’t understand everything, and I’ll probably forget lots (so that I can make room for more stupid jokes)...but it was cool!

Onboard the Balclutha, I waited patiently for a tour guide. I’d have done as well just doing the self-guided thing. The guide ended up being maybe 18 or 19, but assuming he was out of high school – and that is a HUGE assumption – it wasn’t by much. He needed some work on the public speaking aspect – he tripped over his words a lot, as though he were trying to remember what he’d memorized, and just wasn’t quite making it. I listened to a part of another tour walking through the ship a little while later, and realized how boring mine had been. Still, the exhibit was interesting and I had fun exploring and learning all about the ship's history.