I is for “I Want You to Want Me”

Posted on April 10, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Hello A to Z friends. How is your week going? I have been trying to stop and visit everyone at least once during this alphabet journey but so far have only been able to keep up truly with my “regulars.” If I haven’t stopped by you yet, I’m sorry. If you are just making it around to me, this year I am again going through the alphabet via the artists we have seen in concert over the years. Occasionally, like today, I need to use a song title to help fulfill the letter.

“I Want You to Want Me” is a song sung by Cheap Trick. This is another one of those bands that I probably wouldn’t pay to see on their own but they have opened for a couple of other groups that we like so we’ve actually seen them twice.

The first time was in 2008. They were part of the show with Heart and Journey. They are one of those bands where you go, “Oh, I remember that song. Did they do that?” At least for me they are. This first show has made it into the scrapbook. By this time they had started using print at home tickets which are not really the same, are they? I had some background papers that I thought went really well with the set used by Cheap Trick with all the black and white checkerboards. I realize that I forgot to include a “selfie” from the Hooters yesterday! It’s kind of fun to see how we have changed over the years too.

The next time we saw them was in 2017. This time they were the middle act between Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience and Foreigner. Both of these were at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View.

I did a Facebook Live, something I like to do when I can to share the experience with my friends. Actually got part of “I Want You To Want Me.” Sorry for the poor quality but my equipment was not the best.

Still, you get the idea.

  • Date: 09/27/2008
  • Venue: Shoreline, Mountain View, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Cheap Trick
  • Setlist:
  • Hello There
  • 70’s Song
  • California Man
  • If You Want My Love
  • I Know What I Want
  • I Want You to Want Me
  • I Can’t Take It
  • The Flame
  • Surrender
  • Goodnight.
  • Dream Police
  • Date: 09/02/2017
  • Venue: Shoreline, Mountain View, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Cheap Trick
  • Setlist:
  •  Hello There
  • Just Got Back
  • California Man
  • Long Time Coming
  • Baby Loves to Rock
  • You Got It Going On
  • Need Your Love
  • Bass Solo
  • I’m Waiting for the Man
  • The Flame
  • I Want You To Want Me
  • Dream Police
  • Surrender
  • Goodnight.

They are actually going to be at Chase Center this September as the opening act for Heart. We haven’t gotten tickets yet but just might! What do you think? Shall we see them again?

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H is for Hooters

Posted on April 9, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Happy Tuesday my A to Z friends. Are you ready for another event at the Mountain Winery? If you wonder why so many of our shows are there, it’s because a few years ago they started doing a “Loyalty Club” program where if you see 4 shows a year you get the special benefit of advanced ticket sales for the next season. So of the 6 or 8 concerts we go to each year, at least 4 of them are there. In reality, the tickets are mostly within reason and so we can usually sit up close, which is where I like to be!

For the letter “H” I’m using the “Hooters.” If you ask me to name a song they did, I’m not sure I’d be able to right off the bat but they were the middle act between Tommy Tutone and Rick Springfield. Once they started singing, I did indeed remember them.

I love the way they use the lights on the trees above the seats. If you want, you can watch the show from that section and still see the beautiful lights of the city in the distance. The Mountain Winery is way up on a mountain top with a gorgeous view of the surrounding area.

Here’s “And We Danced,” which we did!

Definitely a great way to get the crowd going to welcome Rick Springfield.

The Details:

  • Date: 9/12/2023
  • Venue: Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA
  • Artist/Tour: The Hooters/I Want My 80’s Tour
  • Setlist:
  •  I’m Alive
  • Day by Day
  • Why Won’t You Call Me Back
  • All You Zombies
  • Karla With a K
  • Drum solo
  • Twenty-Five Hours a Day
  • One of Us
  • Time After Time
  • And We Danced

Did you know the Hooters? Recognize those songs? Like the colorful trees? See you tomorrow with “I.”

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G is for Gaucho

Posted on April 8, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Welcome to week two my A to Z friends. How are you all managing? I ran into a snag with this letter “G” and have had to juggle 3 letters around to make it work. I guess it would have helped if I had been more prepared and written more of the draft posts instead of just the headings! At any rate, I think I have it now so here goes.

As I mentioned in the Theme Reveal and have done on the last two editions of this theme, I will sometimes use a song title, or in this case an album name, to cover the letter. In my opinion it still counts! So for today’s “G” I’m using the album Gaucho by Steely Dan.

The first time we saw them was at the Mountain Winery. We went with another couple and it was very early in our concert experiences so when they had big signs posted all over that there WAS NO PICTURE TAKING, I actually followed the directions and didn’t take any pictures. Not even any pictures of us! I mean why didn’t I at least take a group photo or pictures of the scenery, which is beautiful? Anyway, I had to do something to be able to add the show in our concert album. I found some pictures online of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker and used them and the tickets to document the night. This was back in the day when they actually had tickets! Also early in my scrapbooking as this is kind of a simple layout.

I won tickets to see them again the next year. This was a radio contest but all I had to do was submit my email address. I was very surprised when I got the notice that I won! They didn’t have signs about no cameras here but it was an inside venue so the lighting wasn’t that great. Still, I managed a few. This one has also made it into the scrapbook!

This was a new to me venue, the San Jose Civic Auditorium. My husband didn’t feel like going so I went with my girlfriend and we had a terrific time. Don’t know why I didn’t take any pictures of us but I did get some of the venue. Back in 2009 I don’t think selfies were such a popular thing. Could I even take a selfie with that phone? Who knows.

I am glad that we were able to see them since Walter Becker has passed away. That’s one of the reasons we go to so many concerts. All our favorites are getting older and either not touring or are dying. I think Donald Fagen is still touring with some form of the band but I was reading there might be some legal issues with Walter Becker’s estate. I’d love to see Donald with Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald. They did a tour together called “The Dukes of September.” I’d have a lot of options for the alphabet with that one!

The Details:

  • Date: 7/24/2008
  • Venue: The Mountain Winery
  • Artist/Tour: Steely Dan/Think Fast
  • Setlist:
  • Everyone’s Gone to the Movies/The Fez
  • The Royal Scam
  • I Got the News
  • Show Biz Kids
  • Bodhisattva
  • Two Against Nature
  • Hey Nineteen
  • Godwhacker
  • Pretzel Logic
  • New Frontier
  • Gaucho
  • Black Friday
  • Parker’s Band
  • Josie
  • Aja
  • Love Is Like an Itching In My Heart
  • FM
  • Peg
  • Black Cow
  • Kid Charlemagne
  • Last Tango In Paris
  • Date: 10/21/2009
  • Venue: San Jose Civic Auditorium, San Jose, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Steely Dan/Rent Party ’09
  • Setlist:
  •  Teenie’s Blues
  • Black Friday
  • Aja
  • Hey Nineteen
  • The Royal Scam
  • Bodhisattva
  • Peg
  • FM
  • Pretzel Logic
  • Any Major Dude Will Tell You
  • Rikki Don’t Lose That Number
  • Do It Again
  • Love is Like An Itching in My Heart
  • Babylon Sisters
  • Deacon Blues
  • Josie
  • Black Cow
  • Don’t Take Me Alive
  • My Old School
  • Kid Charlegmagne
  • Reelin’ in the Years

Have you seen Steely Dan? Do you think I’m cheating by using the album title instead of the band name? Hope to see you back for “H.”

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F is for Fab Four

Posted on April 6, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

It would have been wonderful to have been able to see the Beatles in person but I never got the chance. We have seen Paul McCartney and although he was almost an hour late coming out, it was still a terrific show. We looked into seeing Ringo Starr and his All Star Band because they are playing at the Winery this season but the tickets are out of our price range.

A close second is the Fab Four, a Beatles tribute band. We have seen them four times and they really do a good job. The first time was in 2013 at the Fox Theater in Redwood City. We were sitting toward the back and because it was an inside event, they didn’t allow pictures so the few that I got aren’t very good. When the show was over they were in the lobby signing autographs, which was pretty cool. This one I have put in the scrapbook. I was excited that I had papers with the swirls on them which matched the background screen they used.

We decided to see them again when they came to, guess where? The Mountain Winery of course. This time our seats were closer and there was no problem with taking pictures. Do you remember when I mentioned Miles, the security staffer in my letter B? Here is my husband chatting with him before the show.

To introduce the band, they have an Ed Sullivan impersonator who does a really good job of warming up the crowd. For this performance they even had a woman doing the songs in sign language. She was interesting to watch. The boys do some quick costume changes and go through the many phases that the Beatles went through. When it came time for “Imagine,” the whole venue had their phones out to light the night.

While it is clear they are not the Beatles, with the costumes and their voices it gets close. They do make an announcement at the beginning of the performance that all the music you hear is the actual guys playing and singing. No canned or taped music.

The next two times we saw them were pretty much the same. This is 2018.

And the last time we saw them in 2021 I didn’t even take as many pictures because it was all pretty much the same. There were some folks who came in costume though and that was kinda neat.

I did get a short video of the start of the show. You can see “Ed” on the side. He really is a pretty funny guy.

The boys are going to be at the Winery again this year but we have decided not to see them. I think four times of the Fab Four is enough. The only setlist I found was for the 2017 show but you can guess that the rest of them were very similar. We would have preferred the whole version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” instead of the three song mashup but you can’t have everything.

  • Date: 11/30/13, 8/19/17, 8/17/18, 8/20/2021
  • Venue: The Fox Theater, Redwood City, CA/The Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA
  • Artist/Tour: The Fab Four
  • Setlist:
  • From Me To You
  • Please Please Me
  • All My Loving
  • I want to Hold Your Hand
  • She Loves You
  • Love Me Do
  • A Hard Day’s Night
  • Eight Days A Week
  • Can’t Buy Me Love
  • Yesterday
  • Help
  • The Night Before
  • Drive My Car
  • Day Tripper
  • Roll Over Beethoven
  • I Saw Her Standing There
  • Twist and Shout
  • Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
  • With A Little Help From My Friends
  • When I’m Sixty-Four
  • Strawberry Fields Forever
  • Yellow Submarine
  • Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise
  • A Day in the Life
  • Got to Get You Into My Life
  • Imagine
  • While My Guitar Gently Weeps/Something/Here Comes The Sun
  • Revolution
  • Hey Jude

We made it through the week! I hope you’ve been having a good time going to the concerts with my husband and I. We’ll be back at it on Monday. Who could “G” be?

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E is for Melissa Etheridge

Posted on April 5, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Hey there A to Z-ers! How are you enjoying the show so far?

This artist is not one that we would have gone to see on her own. We know very few songs that she sings and yet were pleasantly surprised to find that she puts on a pretty good show. Melissa Etheridge was the opening act for Pat Benatar at The Mountain Winery and we really enjoyed it. Our “selfie” this time included some friends that joined us. We usually start the evening off with a tail gate pre-event cocktail and snack at the car.

It was very cool how she played the drums during one song. She started at the drummer’s right side and played through to the left. Once again we had really good seats.

Because we enjoyed Melissa the first time, we weren’t disappointed that she was the opening act for Pat Benatar again in 2019. We WERE disappointed that Pat Benatar chose this year to request that no pictures be taken during the show. I was mad. I mean, I understand being obstructive or using flash but I do none of those things and I just want a few photos for the scrapbook, you know? I did manage to snag some. I may or may not have gotten in trouble for it.

I did get a bit of video from this show. Melissa wasn’t as fussy as Benatar was about taking pictures. She can pick those guitar strings!

I’m pretty sure she sang more than just four songs at the 8/24/16 event but I’m using SetList to find the listings and that was all they mentioned. It is not always updated for the Winery shows for some reason. I’m pretty sure it was closer to the setlist from the 7/23/2019 performance.

  • Date: 8/24/2016
  • Venue: The Mountain Winery
  • Artist/Tour: Melissa Etheridge
  • Setlist:
  • Born Under a Bad Sign
  • Pulse
  • I Want to Come Over
  • Come to My Window
  • Date: 7/23/2019
  • Venue: The Mountain Winery
  • Artist/Tour: Melissa Etheridge
  • Setlist:
  • Ain’t It Heavy
  • If I Wanted To
  • Lover Please
  • I Want to Come Over
  • Royal Station 4/16
  • This Human Chain
  • All the Way to Heaven
  • Chrome Plated Heart
  • Come to My Window
  • Bring Me Some Water
  • The Medicine Show
  • I’m the Only One
  • Like the Way I Do

One more letter this week and then you get a break for a day.

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D is for Doobie Brothers

Posted on April 4, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

It is interesting that even though the Doobie Brothers band was formed right down the road from me, they’ve never been in my top 10 favorite list. They do have quite a following though and we saw them as part of a huge “Day on the Green” type event a few years ago. There were five bands that played that day, Tower of Power, Steve Miller, Santana and Journey being the other four.

I wish that Michael McDonald had been singing with them but he wasn’t. Still it was a good prep for the rest of the show and got the crowd up and moving. We had some pretty decent seats on the field a little to the right of the stage.

As you can see, this show was from 2016 and it is not in the scrapbook yet! When I did the other A to Z music scrapbooking themes I jumped around in years and it is taking me some time to fill in the gaps. That’s why this time I decided just to go with what I had instead of trying to rush the scrapbooking. Next month I’m going to a scrapbooking weekend with my girlfriend and I’ll take the concert albums with me to work on. I think at this point I’m only chronologically up to 2011!

Not sure why but I have no video from this group. Maybe I was trying to conserve battery and memory space and I knew it was going to be a long day.

  • Date: September 4, 2016
  • Venue: AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Doobie Brothers/San Francisco Fest
  • Setlist:
  •  Jesus is Just Alright
  • Rockin’ Down the Highway
  • Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)
  • Dark Eyed Cajun Woman
  • Spirit
  • Sweet Maxiine
  • Eyes of Silver
  • Clear as the Driven Snow
  • Takin’ It to the Streets
  • The Doctor
  • Black Water
  • Long Train Runnin’
  • China Grove
  • Without You
  • Listen to the Music

“D” is done. Hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow for “E.”

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C is for Chicago

Posted on April 3, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Day three of the A to Z challenge brings us to the letter “C” and if you guessed Chicago yesterday, you were correct! First a side note to you my faithful followers. In profiling these groups I am not really going to give a history of the band or anything like that. I know during the A to Z some folks can write volumes about their specific topic and that’s wonderful but I also know that not everyone has time to read the whole thing, especially during the heart of the month so I’ve chosen to keep it simple and merely write about the show that I went to and tell the story mostly with pictures and videos I took from that show. The histories, if you are interested, can usually be found on the Internet somewhere.

Now for Chicago. I’ve mentioned that I won the tickets to this concert from a local radio station, no longer in business sadly. As you can imagine, the seats were not very close but the concert bug bit me anyway. I have scrapbooked that first show but the pictures are pretty bad because not only were we far away but my camera at the time was not the best. Still, it’s the memories, right? I can’t quite figure out what my husband was pointing to in that picture. My scrapbooking has evolved from those first pages as well.

I didn’t even get a setlist from that show and we didn’t take a selfie together. Honestly, Huey Lewis was the opening act and we thought he was better than they were. He came out and sang a few songs with them and that was the best part of the show. We actually left before the end. Not too many times we’ve done that. I think we really missed Peter Cetera’s voice.

In 2021 we were excited to get back into the concert scene after having to stay at home through the pandemic year of 2020. Since it was a shortened season at the Mountain Winery there were fewer options for us to choose from and we decided to give Chicago another try. We were significantly closer this time and it turned out to be a really good show. Their lead singer is still not Peter Cetera but he did a passable job and we enjoyed it much more than the first time. They played two sets with an intermission in between.

We decided to see them again last year and we weren’t as thrilled. We didn’t get up and leave early but it definitely made us realize we probably won’t pay to see them again. It may have had to do with the song selection. They were playing two consecutive nights and it seemed to us that they played a lot of songs that we didn’t know, which in reality is not surprising given the extent of their musical catalog. Still, it’s not as much fun when you can’t sing along!

Here’s a video from the 2021 show, part of “Just You And Me,” one of my personal favorites.

Show #1

  • Date: 6/9/2006
  • Venue: Concord Pavilion, Concord CA
  • Artist/Tour: Chicago
  • Setlist:
  •  ?

Show #2

  • Date: 9/5/2021
  • Venue: Mountain Winery, Saratoga CA
  • Artist/Tour: Chicago
  • Setlist:
  • Questions 67 & 68
  • Dialogue
  • Wake Up Sunshine
  • Call on Me
  • I’ve Been Searchin’ So Long
  • Mongonucleosis
  • If You Leave Me Now
  • Look Away
  • Make Me Smile
  • So Much to. Say, So Much to Give
  • Anxiety’s Moment
  • West Virginia Fantasies
  • Color My World
  • To Be Free
  • Now More Than Ever
  • Alive Again
  • Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
  • Old Days
  • Hard Habit to Break
  • You’re The Inspiration
  • Beginnings.
  • I’m A Man
  • Just You ‘n’ Me
  • Hard To Say I’m Sorry/Get Away
  • Saturday In the Park
  • Feelin’ Stronger Every Day
  • Free
  • 25 or 6 to 4

Show #3

  • Date: 8/29/2023
  • Venue: Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Chicago
  • Setlist: ?

I’m really kind of winging it this year. Although I had the bands in mind for each letter and did a draft with the titles, I haven’t added the pictures or written the stories yet. So far I’m able to keep up. Maybe this weekend I’ll try and get a little ahead. It means I haven’t had a chance to check out any new bloggers yet either but I promise I will! Any guesses for who my “D” will be? Hope to see you tomorrow.

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B is for Berlin

Posted on April 2, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Welcome back to day two of the A to Z Challenge where I attempt to go through the concerts we’ve seen. As I mentioned, we’ve been to close to 150 concerts, mostly since the year 2006 when I won tickets to see Chicago through a local radio station. As you can imagine, it is getting harder and harder to see “new” bands given that my musical preference is for the groups from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Also, since we’ve been to so many shows, a lot of performers we’ve seen more than once. This abecedarium is about folks we either have not seen before OR that I didn’t write about the last two times I used this theme.

For the letter B I’m writing about the group Berlin. Honestly, the only song I thought I knew was “Take My Breath Away,” from the movie Top Gun. Once they started singing, a couple others sounded familiar. I am not sure if I’d have paid to see them on their own but happily they were the opening act for Pat Benatar and Neil Geraldo, who we have seen lots of times.

It is always fun going to the Mountain Winery and this was no exception. Terri Nunn looked great and I loved her outfit! I’m all about the sparkles you know.

Wish it was a better quality but here’s “Take My Breath Away.” Another reason we like the Winery so much as a concert venue is that it is so intimate. Terri came down into the audience and walked around connecting with the crowd on a more personal level. If you see a guy with long white hair following her, that is Miles, one of the event staff. My husband has made friends with him, especially since his first name is our last name. Enjoy.

As I do when I’m scrapbooking, for each of the shows I’ll include the details:

  • Date: August 30, 2022
  • Venue: Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Berlin
  • Setlist:
  • Masquerade
  • The Metro
  • Touch
  • Animal
  • No More Words
  • Dancing in Berlin
  • Take My Breath Away
  • She Sells Sanctuary
  • Sex (I’m a…)

Pat Benatar put on a good show as well, just so you know. And that’s a wrap for the letter B. I may have given a hint as to who I’m using for the letter C. Can you guess? Make sure to check in on some of the other great bloggers doing this A to Z challenge!

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A is for Bryan Adams

Posted on April 1, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Hello folks. We are off on our alphabet adventure every day for the month of April, not including Sundays. If you’re new here, welcome. As I mentioned in my Theme reveal, this is my 9th year participating in this abecedarium. Once again I am going to merge my two favorite things, concert going and scrapbooking. Some of the shows I haven’t been able to scrapbook yet because we have been to so many and I am quite behind. The first time I did this theme for the A to Z I didn’t finish on time because I wanted to scrapbook each concert before I posted it and that put a lot of pressure on me. The second time I scrapbooked one or two pages for each one but that left me with a lot of unfinished concerts to work on and I don’t like that either. This time I’m not going to worry if the shows are not in the scrapbooks yet. I have pictures and videos and that will work.

Okay, enough chatter. Up first is Bryan Adams. He has always been a favorite of mine but we hadn’t seen him live before so I was excited when I saw he was coming to the SAP Center. We got tickets on the floor and I thought they were pretty good but about a week before the show I happened to see that there were a bunch of tickets closer for the same price. I contacted Ticketmaster because for some shows if you find better seats closer you can make an exchange. This is where we ended up.

As a scrapbooker one of the things that makes me sad is that most of the time tickets are sent electronically and are on your phone. That means I have no ticket to use in my album. For Bryan Adams, there was a commemorative ticket issued! The problem is the ticket was for our original seats. Still, you can see how much closer we got, from row 29 to row 9!

While waiting for the show to start we try to take a selfie. It is all for the scrapbook, you know? This was the “So Happy It Hurts” tour. All of a sudden a car started floating across the auditorium. There were no strings attached and at first I couldn’t figure out how they were making it float. Then off in the corner I could see a guy with a remote control. You can see him if you look quickly at the beginning of the video right before I zoom in.

When the car got back behind the stage it was time to start the show. Bryan and the guys came right out and started off with “Kick Ass,” which got us all up on our feet where we remained most of the night. At 64 he still has lots of energy and really seems to love what he is doing. He is a very personable guy and had a lot of stories to tell about the songs and went through most of his hits.

At one point he looked through the crowd and there was a woman with a sign that said she wanted to sing with him. He got down from the stage and went into the audience and sang with her. She wasn’t bad actually. Then he asked for song requests. A few folks shouted out some tunes and he sang them. The band sang a total of 29 songs for us and it was really a great show. Better because we were so close!

As I do when I’m scrapbooking, for each of the shows I’ll include the details:

  • Date: January 26, 2024
  • Venue: SAP Center, San Jose, California
  • Artist/Tour: Bryan Adams/So Happy It Hurts Tour
  • Setlist:
  • Kick Ass
  • Can’t Stop This Thing We Started
  • Somebody
  • 18 til I Die
  • Please Forgive Me
  • Shine a Light
  • Room Service
  • Heaven
  • Go Down Rockin’
  • It’s Only Love/The Best (Tina Turner tribute)
  • You Belong to Me
  • I’ve Been Looking for You
  • The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me is You
  • I Will Always Return
  • Here I Am
  • Thought I’d Died and Gone to Heaven
  • (Everything I Do) I Do It for You
  • Back To You
  • So Happy It Hurts
  • Run to You
  • Summer of ’69
  • What if There Were No Sides at All
  • When You’re Gone (with the fan)
  • Lonely Nights (fan request)
  • Cloud Number Nine (fan request)
  • Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman (fan request)
  • Cuts Like a Knife
  • Encore:
  • Straight From the Heart
  • All For Love (Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, Sting cover)

I’ll leave you now with one of my favorites from the evening.

Hope you enjoyed the Bryan Adams Concert. Come by tomorrow and see which performer fills the letter B. Make sure to stop by some of the other folks who are also going through A to Z Challenge this year. You never know what you’ll learn!

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Marching On – 2024

Posted on March 27, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

My daughter is moving to Idaho and won’t be around for Mother’s Day so she asked if I would like to do something special with just the two of us. I remembered when I did the A to Z of San Francisco that there was the Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf so I suggested that we visit that and then either wander Pier 39 or go up to Ghirardelli Square. She was game for that so I got discounted tickets through AAA (if you have that auto insurance, be sure to check your benefits too!)

We were surprised that there was no one else there on a Sunday afternoon but it was a nice day out so maybe everyone wanted to be outside. We didn’t mind as it allowed us to take our time going through. My daughter was taken aback a little bit by how real some of the wax figures looked. Here are a few of my favorites. Recognize them? I almost thought there was a real Steven Spielberg when I turned the corner and saw him there. Morgan Freeman’s eyes seemed to follow us as we walked around.

Some of them were not quite so convincing, in our opinion. Really disappointed in the Elvis and even Clint didn’t quite make it. Robert Pattinson was a complete fail as far as we were concerned.

There was an option for a photo tour where the museum will take your picture with different “celebrities” and I’m glad we didn’t pay the extra because since there was no one around, we could take our own. Was so excited to meet President Biden and VP Harris – LOL. When I stood next to Alfred, the sounds from the Psycho shower scene started playing. Freaked us out! George was very nice and the bike ride with ET was fun too.

After we toured the museum we walked up to Ghirardelli Square and walked around before coming back down to have lunch. I had to take some pictures of the sock store because my son always had fun socks to wear. When at the wharf you have to have some sort of fish so we had delicious crab sandwiches and shared a salad.

After eating we went to the “Worlds Largest Candy Department Store” and got some treats for the rest of the family.

There were definitely some old time favorites but a few that I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole! It is always fun to see the street performers too. We caught this clown juggling with a bunch of bubbles floating around.

We never made it to Pier 39 but that’s okay. It was a great day to spend some time with my oldest daughter before she makes her way to Idaho. Just so happened to be my birthday too so it was even more special.

Just a few days until the A to Z starts on Monday, April 1. Am I ready? No but since when did that stop me? What have you been up to? If you are doing the A to Z are you ready?

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