We decided this year to take a break from our European routine. I started a new job in May and felt obliged to be there for some time before taking what would be two weeks off for a long trip. Plus, Sophie would be, for the first time in her life, a paying passenger and we just couldn't justify paying 4 grand for airfare. Might have done it if we could have checked Sophie in our baggage but Delta doesn't allow checked kids. Go figure. So, we opted for a trip to San Francisco to visit Dan and Anne and then a road trip up the coast to Portland to visit Matt, Monica and the family. I marvel that this trip even got off the ground. I'm all about road trips and Anneka's all about getting from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time and with the least amount of discomfort. I don't think either of us realized just how far it is from San Francisco to Portland and that the average speed on highway 101 north is like 30 miles an hour. It takes many hours to get anywhere at 30 miles an hour. And, its so winding that if you added up just the east and west back and forth we did we'd actually driven as far as St. Louis or something.
The journey got underway with a rather inocuous flight to San Francisco on Friday afternoon. I am no less amazed this year as in the past three years traveling with Soph at the amount of gear it takes to haul that child around. As usual, Mom did an outstanding job packing for Soph, even downloading a few shows from a kids series called Yo Gabba Gabba. I prefer to call it "the show that shall not be named!" One can only take so much of childrens programming before you want to curl up in the fetal position with hands over the ears in order to muffle it. Next time you see me please refrain from saying the phrases: It's summertime, summertime, It's a party for Brobee or No cuts, no butts, no coconuts. I will be grateful.
In order to save some dough we flew into Oakland and stayed at a Marriott in downtown Oakland. Getting there from the airport you quickly realize why they give such good deals for folks to stay there. The views are a bit gamey at best. The smell of urine abounds and the nightlife consists mainly of the lights and sirens. But we weren't there for Oakland and despite its lackluster-ness, we were excited to see San Francisco.
We met up with Dan and Anne the next day at noon at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. At first glance it is hard to tell anything happened to Dan. I was thrilled to see him and of course Anne too. They became our awesome hosts and guides for the day. We brought a stewie (stroller) for Sophie and she saw and commented that uncle Dan had a stewie too.
On the first floor Sophie launches out of the elevator straight towards a low lying Alexander Calder mobile that she promptly gives a wack and sends spinning till it's tail feather smacks with a loud clank on its pedestal. I figured I'd have to do better and restrainer her since this was her first time being independently mobile in a museum. I had to re-remind myself of that as she climbed on a large outdoor bronze of a 15 foot tall spider and then again still later as she drove her green car up and down the canvas of a prominently displayed mid century artist.
This is the Calder that she smacked. I'm sure by the third run-in she'd had with the art that she was being tracked on all the little hidden cameras in the place...
I guess I didn't take a picture of the giant spider but here's Soph crawling around on its legs. This got her the second warning from the suits...
After the museum we farted around downtown just long enough to snap a group picture then head to a little place nearby that makes the most fantastic little cream filled puff pastries I've ever had. Note my previous experience has been those little Mormon wedding,frozen, mini puff pastries from Costco, so anything is better than those.
From there the trip took a turn to the bizaar! We went for a burger at the epicenter of the gay community in San Francisco. It just so happens that two rival drag queen gangs (non violent gangs mind you) were abuzz at the intersection just outside the restaraunt in a last ditch effort to seal votes for their drag queen for what we can guess is "drag queen of the year" or something. Anyways, they take their drag queens seriously. For my part, I don't think I picked my jaw up the entire time we were there. I mean, to each his own, but I kept thinking, do these guys have regular day jobs? It was a fascinating and eye opening experience to see the stereotypes and the flamboyance all played out in such an open and enthusiastic way. It was very trippy.
Where's Soph?
More of this post to follow. Too late to work on it tonight. But I'll slap one cute picture of Soph in just for a tease as to where we went the next day.
OK, so a couple of days have passed and I'm going to try to throw some more onto the blog. From the Castro district we meandered down towards the piers. I could imagine that parking in so large a city as San Francisco would normally be rather difficult. We did well though with Dan's handicap parking pass. You certainly don't want to earn one the way he did, but, now that he's got it it sure came in handy. We walked to the end of pier 39 then over to Ghiradelli square. It was amazing the difference in temperature between the city and area on the water. It was shrouded in fog and cold enough to see your breath. There was a carousel out on the pier and I'm a sucker for a ride with Soph. After dinner Dan and Anne went one direction and we took the train back to the hood.
Next afternoon when we got up we went back into town to wander through Chinatown. San Francisco's Chinatown, in my mind, is as close to the real China as you can get. Knowing Anneka's not likely to see China we thought it would be worthwhile to go to Chinatown instead. It's normally somewhat crowded but we landed on "Festival of the Moon" day and it was a packed house. I was proud of Anneka for going. It isn't really all that great, not her kind of shopping for sure. She's not much for crowds and it's got that Harbor Frieght plastic smell combined with sights of live chickens becoming un-live chickens, but she did it. We bought Soph a cheap plastic trolley car and another even cheaper little car and those seemed to keep her entertained. My britches kept falling off so I bought a belt for 5 bucks.
We re-connected with Dan and Anne in the afternoon and they took us to Coit tower. Dan and I went to the top for stellar 360 degree views of the city. Then we hopped in the car and took off for the Golden Gate bridge.
Dan said the bridge is great to cross in the day and then re-cross at night and hopefully to do the night crossing in a little fog since it just makes the whole thing glow.
All we got was fog though. It was wierd to hear the cars on the bridge so completely but still be utterly unable to see anything more than 50 feet in front of you.
We eventually ended up at a groovy little restaurant near where Dan and Anne live and enjoyed a hearty meal. We got dessert to go and ate it back at their apartment. Sophie was tired and got incredibly scared of their little furry critter's in the cage by the front door so after a lot of fun, laughter and amazement looking at Daniel-crash-aftermath pictures, they drove us all the way back to the hotel.
It was every bit a memorable day.
More later
