San Francisco: The REAL crookedest street and the Disney story

So, I spent the night in San Bruno...it's cheaper than San Francisco.  After negotiating a little rush hour traffic, I found myself in the quiet Potero Hill district of the big city.  You won't find many tourists in this area, but if you do, they're probably there to see the REAL crookedest street.  Yes, Lombard Street may be more famous and has more curves.  But, Vermont Street is steeper, and its five curves are...more curvy.  When I got there, I carefully drove down the street, then doubled back to take a few pics.  From my vantage point in McKinley Square Park, I also got a great view of the city.

After coming down from the hill, I drove to The Presidio to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum.  I had been there once before, but didn't spend a lot of time there.  This time, I wanted to leisurely take it all in.  This museum tells the story of the great Walt Disney.  From his childhood and family life, his early beginnings as an illustrator, then cartoonist, his animated and live action movies, and finally Disneyland.  Disney was a creative genius and an immense talent in almost everything that he did.

I was fascinated by Walt's actual early sketches of Mickey Mouse.  Conceptual art by other artists working under him were also cool to see...Ferdinand the Bull, Jiminy Cricket, World War II nose art for planes.

Walt enjoyed collecting miniatures, including tiny tools, guns and household items.  I thought the display about him liking Jello and canned chili was amusing.  Actually, Walt may not literally like canned chili, but he DID have his favorite recipe.  I ate lunch at the museum cafe and they supposedly had his favorite chili on the menu.  It was delicious!

Of course, no museum about Walt Disney would be complete without including the Disney parks.  There was a nice diorama of the original Disneyland, complete with the now non-existent Frontierland.  I had some fun operating the animatronic parrot, which is similar to what you would find in the Tiki Room.

After exiting the museum building, I heard a bird singing and looked up to see a white-crowned sparrow sitting on the edge of the roof.  He seemed to be very happy about something, chirping away!  Tomorrow, I'm planning to take a little boat ride.  It will be my last fling in the Bay area before I continue my drive north.