I might have to crack this open

I had been saying that I wanted a giant swirly lollipop for a while so when Elliot went to Disney he got this for me.

It's better than I ever could have hoped for.

My concern is that I'm going to have to dedicate several hours to this sucker (no pun intended) if I want to get through it in one sitting.  That's why I decided to save it for my road trip up to Sarasota in March.  Hopefully I can take photographic documentation of my progress through this lollipop.

I'm sure Daniel will be really excited about this project.  I'll try to keep my drooling to a minimum since we'll be in his fancy new car.  Thankfully I'll have Ben to do his own drooling and distract from mine.

spending the day with my friends

Daniel invited me to meet his new service dog Zeus, and his friend Garry for lunch.  Of course I jumped at the opportunity, as it meant I also got to visit all my other friends at the doggy park.  Some of the little dogs I knew, but this was my first time getting to meet this special guy:

We became best best friends.

I also came to really enjoy this one:

She spent most of our time together barking at me and giving me a suspicious side eye.  At some point I realized I didn't hear her incessant barking any more and I looked around to find her like this, half laying down, half standing.  She's nice.

I also really liked this special character:

Sitting in the fancy princesse bed just howling and howling for no reason.  It sounded like a cars engine revving up, so funny!

Haha : (

After I spent my time with the little dogs I got to go back and spend time with the big dogs, including the new special man Zeus:

Haha, Daniel in there for scale.  Zeus is a Cane Corso which is apparently a very big manly breed of dog.  All I know is that he's very very handsome and he's very very nice.

Look at that head!  He's a beast!  

After Zeus I got to see Yeti for a little bit:

before I got to spend time with the greyhounds, my favorite part of the day.

Haha.  Champion likes to grab things and hoard them in his area that he's claimed as his own.  He kept going for my cell phone so it was hard for me to take a selfie with him.  I got one ok one though:

It showcases his silly underbite.  I love him.

My old friend Humvee got the best picture in my opinion:

But I can't help but be partial to Ben:

I mean, it's a handsome name for a handsome dog.

I hate visiting the dogs because now when I drive to work and pass the intersection where I could go straight and get to work or turn right and visit with them I will seriously have to consider which to do.  I mean, I could scoop poop for nickels and just hang out with the nice doggies all day long.  That doesn't sound so bad...

doing stuff and seeing things

Ok ok, I'll say it, San Francisco is pretty great.  Congratulations Meredith, you were right all along.  

Yesterday will took me to breakfast at this crazy tiny restaurant perched along the edge of the Pacific: 

where we sat in the perfect corner booth.  That picture up top was the view to my right as we ate and this was my view across the table: 

Awww so nice.  

Apparently the craziness we were looking at below us is the remains of an old bathing house from back in the day.  They even had a picture of what it was like before it burned down:

My favorite part being the guys in the water: 

doing their daily calisthenics, good for the body and mind!  

Sadly all that remains are the remains.

Still pretty cool.  I was also astounded by the big rocks in the ocean.  I mean look at those things!  You don't get rocks like that in the Atlantic, at least not in my Atlantic.  We also don't have awesome sea caves. 

"Oh sure, you can wear flip flops" -Will.  

That black cave sand is cold let me tell you what.  But totally worth it.  

After breakfast Will took me to the legion of honor to see sculptures by Rodin among other things.  This also happened: 

By the time we finished the clouds had cleared and I was beginning to see what all the fuss was about with San Francisco.  We found out that our admission to the legion of honor would also grant us access to the de young, where we climbed to the top of the tower for this view:

If you look close you can see the golden gate bridge! 

We didn't end up spending much time at the de young looking at the art, mostly just looking at the views of the city.  Will did instruct me to take a picture of these crazy tumbleweeds:

Otherwise I was too anxious to get back outside and enjoy the nice weather.  Nobody told me that it's only summer for like a couple hour during midday, otherwise it's just bitterly bitterly cold.  But during those precious midday hours it is really beautiful.  

And apparently there are youths around every corner, ready with a choreographed song and dance routine for all to enjoy: 

And enjoy we did.  

In the evening Will and I parted ways and I had all my dreams come true by having dinner with Meredith, Peter, Amelise, and Ben.  I also got to see Meredith's apartment which was like some kind of dream. This is her view from the living room: 

And her precious angel dog Jolene: 

: (((( She's so nice!  It took almost the whole night, and about two sticks of string cheese, but we finally became best friends right before it was time for me to leave.  

But leave I had to, as Meredith had gotten me wasted on delicious margaritas at nopalito.  And yes, again, you're right Meredith, the mexican food is better in California.  

I've done so much but I still have so much more to do.  Headed out now for another day of San Francisco fun.  

the other one

She had seen this post I did about Ben the other day and was sad that she slept right through the photo shoot.  She made sure to position herself in the most adorable way ever so I would see her on my way out though.

That is the exact same face she made the entire time, from the moment I saw her.  I was walking past the room they hang out in and glanced in, not expecting to find somebody staring right back at me.  Apparently she was on guard duty as no amount of picture taking or reaching my hand out to pet her would distract her from her job of staring straight ahead of her and remaining perfectly still like a statue.

When I got home I asked the detective what he thought about visiting people and making them feel better.  His answer?

"Oh, no thank you"

we both found what we were looking for

After I dropped my grandfather off I was walking to my car when I spotted this handsome guy sitting all alone in an empty room just desperate for somebody to give him some nice pets.  I had to oblige.

I really like that his whiskers are all white, it's such a funny accent to his face.

Ben isn't quite as big a ham for the camera as the detective but his mannerisms were similar.  He did the ridiculous stretching and digging his claws in to the carpet, but stayed more active than the detective does.  I have tons of pictures that are just a big blur of cat because he decided he needed to get up and walk around a little bit before sitting down again.

He is clearly starved for attention.  Food not so much, but attention, yes.