Happy Mother's Day--Love, Hugh and Me!

How much do you love your mom?  Not as much as I love mine.  You might be asking me (or demanding me) to "Prove it!"  Alright, you asked for it.  Be prepared to feel like a slacker son or daughter after you get done reading this.  You have been warned.

What do you get the BEST MOM on the planet for Mother's Day?  Hugh Jackman.  That's right!  You read correctly.  It all started when I had a little down time at work the Tuesday before Mother's Day.  I was doing a little search on the internet and found out Hugh was doing a two-week concert engagement in San Francisco.  The tickets weren't outrageous, so I thought, "Why not just go see him?"  It didn't take much arm twisting or persuasion of any kind to get Mom to agree to go with me.  Before the end of the day, the concert tickets were purchased and the hotel and airplane tickets were booked.  The BEST MOM on the planet and I were heading to San Francisco to celebrate her for a quick weekend get-away!

We flew to Oakland and rode BART to downtown San Francisco.  We walked around Union Square.  We rode the elevators at the St. Francis Hotel (a tradition).  We could see all around from the top floors because the elevators were on the outside of the building.

We ate lunch at Sear’s Fine Food.  If you don't know about Sear's Fine Food, then you are sorely missing out on some AWESOME food!  We shared an order of Swedish pancakes-one order has eighteen pancakes.  The pancakes tasted delicious!  Then we worked off the calories by walking uphill for four blocks.  You've got to love a city that is one hill after another!

Then we rode the bus to our hotel.  We checked in.  Our room was on the 26^th floor in the corner.  We had views out of two directions because the two outer walls were all windows!  Our views consisted of Alcatraz, Coit Tower, and the Transamerica Building.  We could have seen the Golden Gate Bridge if some buildings weren’t in the way!

Enough of enjoying our great view!  We rode the bus to Pier 39.  It was very windy all day!  We watched the sea lions for a little while.  They were noisy!  I still want to be reincarnated as a San Franciscan sea lion!  What a life!   

We walked around Pier 39 and looked in some of the shops.  We walked along the pier to Boudin’s Bakery and watched bread being made.  They made bread into so many shapes-turtles, alligators, etc.

It was time to get ready for our night with Hugh.  We ate dinner at the Boudin's Bakery in the food court in Macy’s Cellar at Union Square.  I ate clam chowder and sourdough bread.  They tasted delicious!  We walked to the Curran Theatre and picked up our tickets for the evening’s performance at the box office.  We went up the many steps to the balcony and watched the Hugh Jackman in Performance concert.  With our binoculars in hand, it was as if we had paid the hundreds of dollars that people on the front row paid!  There was a seventeen piece orchestra and two pretty girl back-up singers.  Hugh sang, danced, and told stories from his life.  He was so entertaining!  The 1 hour and 50 minutes show went by too quickly!

As is our custom after a performance, we waited at the stage door for Hugh to come out.  By the time we got to the roped off area for people waiting at the stage door, the crowd was already about three rows deep.  The security guard saw me about three rows back and invited me and Mom to go in front of the ropes to wait for him.  Otherwise, I would have never had a chance to even catch a glimpse of Hugh.  I was the first one he signed the playbill for when he came out.  I also got a quick picture with him.  (He wasn’t stopping for pictures as he walked down the line of people so I think I was the only one who got a posed picture with Hugh that night.)  I loved it!  I don’t think I’ve been that ecstatic in a long time.  Mom got some more pictures as Hugh walked down the line of people, signing playbills.  Hugh stayed at an apartment building next to the theatre so when he got to the steps of his building, he waved to everyone, and then went in.  Unfortunately, I don't even qualify for the BEST DAUGHTER on the planet award consideration because I didn't get a picture of Mom with Hugh.  Dang!

 

 

 

The next morning we opened the drapes to our AWESOME view, and we laid around in bed and were lazy.  Mom opened her Mother’s Day cards and talked with my brother, her sister, and her mom on the phone.  We walked to church that morning.  We ended up walking uphill two blocks and then went downhill two blocks to the church.  The children sang a song (as they always do on Mother's Day) but it didn’t have anything to do with mothers.  The church we went to gave me and Mom each a small bag of cookies for Mother’s Day.  That was very nice of them.  We walked back to the hotel bypassing the up and downhill course we took to church.  We quickly changed clothes because we had to check out of the hotel.  We put all of our things on our backs and rode the bus to Ghirardelli Square.  We ate sundaes at Ghirardelli’s.  My peanut butter hot fudge sundae was delicious (when it was warm)!  After it cooled, it was just a big chocolate peanut butter conglomerate!  Note to self: Eat faster!  We beat the rush at Ghirardelli’s because when we were leaving the lines upstairs and downstairs were out the doors!

 

 

 

Mom and I rode the electric bus to the BART station and rode BART to the Oakland Airport station.  Then the hotel shuttle picked us up from the station and drove us to the hotel we stayed at that evening.  Mom and I ended up with a one bedroom suite.  It was big!  Our hotel room the night before (in the city) could have fit in the bathroom at this hotel!  We ate sourdough pizza from Boudin’s Bakery for dinner.  Yum!  I went to bed early because we had to get up early. the next morning for our flight and then I had to go straight to work.

The next morning I got up at 4:30 AM.  Mom and I quickly got ready for the day and flew home.  I was to work by  9 AM.  I had quite the commute (from San Francisco) to work that day! 
Mom and I had a great quick, last minute trip to San Francisco.  We ate great food.  We rubbed shoulders with celebrities.  Who could ask for a better Mother's Day weekend?