San Francisco has only one drawback. ‘Tis hard to leave.
Emily invited me to be a “guest” blogger so I could tell all about our great Labor Day weekend in San Francisco! It really was a wonderful visit, and ol’ Rudy is right, ‘TIS hard to leave!
In my case, it was hard to get there. Apparently there was fog at the San Francisco airport (really?) in which case they close one of the two runways because of their close proximity to each other, so I took off three hours late, which got me to Emily’s apartment at midnight PDT.
The reason for the visit was because Tyler was out of town for the week (out of the country, actually) and it was a great time to go spend some quality time with my little girl. As much as I love the South, I do find the summer heat never-ending, and I was ready for a little relief. Emily promised me temperatures in the 60’s, but warned me that along with that come cold drizzle, stinging winds, and gray fog. What I got were temps in the 70’s, bright yellow sunshine, cool breezes, and fog that stayed far out in the bay!
When I awoke Saturday morning I was able to fully appreciate how really adorable their apartment is. Tyler and Emily have done such a great job of making it a comfortable and welcoming home. I won’t lie, it is tiny, much tinier than it appears in pictures, but somehow they have managed to merge their two lives into this small space without it feeling at all cramped. It’s bright and clean and just perfect for them. If they can adjust to living with each other in such close quarters, they’re off to a great start!
After a morning climb for the view from the roof, we headed down to Chestnut Street just two blocks away to get some breakfast. Their place is in the Marina District which is thankfully flat land. The reason it is flat is an interesting, but terrifying, story. Apparently the streets of the Marina District were once bay bottom and marshland. After the devastating 1906 earthquake, a plan to revitalize the city was formed which included the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Rubble from the earthquake was used, along with mud and sand from the bottom of the bay, to fill in the marshland and tidal pools. Some rubble was even used to build the beautiful Palace of Fine Arts, which was only meant to be a temporary building but still stands today as a gorgeous testament to San Francisco’s resilience. So the Marina is flat. It is also susceptible to liquefaction which did occur in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that destroyed and damaged countless buildings in the Marina. This means that the earth doesn’t just move, it kind of squishes around. I tried not to think of this as I looked at the crooked door frames in Emily’s building. She assured me that although the building was heavily damaged, it fared well enough to be shored up and retrofitted so that maybe, just maybe, when the next big quake occurs, it will fare better. One can only hope.
Breakfast at the Squat and Gobble was delish. We began outdoors but moved indoors when a bee began coveting Emily’s orange juice. Cute little place. Emily showed me around Chestnut Street and pointed out their favorite restaurants, wine bars, shops, and their theater. Then a walk a few blocks in the opposite direction brought us to Crissy Field. So beautiful! The fog stayed at bay (get it, “bay”?) and we were even able to see the bridge. I really enjoyed the people and dog show going on down there. The dogs are everywhere and looooove playing in the water! Another stroll through the amazing Palace of Fine Arts and back to Chestnut Street, bought a Clipper card at Walgreen’s (do I sound local?) and hopped on the MUNI bus for a pretty ride through the Presidio to Laurel Heights. Let me tell you about Emily and the MUNI bus. She has the system mastered like it’s her job. She can tell you when, where, how far, how long, who will be on the bus, what they will do, how the bus driver will act, where the congestion will be, where to sit, how to sit, how to step down to open the doors, how to act, how not to act, and what that smell is. She knows all the little nuances of every bus route she takes. I was amazed. So after giving the bus driver grief for not pulling over on Clay Street, even though she pulled the wire, he let us off on Sacramento Street which she claimed was better anyway since it’s closer to La Tavola, her place of employment, which she was going to show me. So there, Mr. Bus Driver. We walked UP A HILL to La Tavola which is the cutest little shop filled with lots of gorgeous linens for rent for your most lavish soiree! Someday I want to go back when they are open! Then back to the bus, for a long trip up to Union Square for a visit to the Williams Sonoma to do a little wedding gift registering.
Upon arrival at Union Square, I thought we might have taken a wrong turn and ended up in NYC. There were hordes of people and lots of noise. We were hungry but were in no mood to search for something cute and trendy so we headed over to Macy’s and to something familiar: The Cheesecake Factory. Don’t judge. We were tired and hungry and were hoping to get an outdoor seat to take in the beautiful view. After an hour and a half wait, a little wedding gift registering at Macy’s, and me getting a little tipsy at the bar, we got that outdoor seat on the 8th floor terrace and it was beautiful! Unfortunately, we never did make it to Williams Sonoma before it closed. So across Union Square we navigated, got accosted by panhandlers, and waited with a crowd of others at the bus stop. Let me tell you about an experience with a panhandler. This man approaches us after being ignored by dozens of other people and asks us for money because he is “very hungry”. It just so happens that Emily has a doggie bag filled with half of her dinner and hands it to the man graciously. He asks, “Cheesecake?” and she replies, “No, leftover buffalo chicken bites”. He explains that he “ain’t got no teeth” and she assures him that they were soft to which he replies, “No, just give me some money”. We tell him we have no money and he grumbles and walks away. It seems he was must be on a “liquid” diet.
Another wonderful night of sleeping in the chilly San Francisco night and we woke up to warm sunshine. However, I kept hearing this strange noise outside that Emily didn’t seem to hear. Out we go with Ghirardelli Square as our destination. The walk was incredible, along Marina Blvd and the pretty homes, past Marina Green, the beautiful boats, and on to Fort Mason. We stopped for a while to admire and taste the fare at the Farmers’ Market. A few samples of this and that, like strawberries, hummus, pita, grapes, peaches, and cheese, and breakfast had been served! Emily had her first taste of stuffed grape leaves and now she’s hooked. She bought some! We continued up the hill along the ridge that overlooks the bay. So beautiful! Although we were in bright sunshine, you could see the fog hovering over the water like a levitating blanket. It obscured all but the bottom and the very tops of the Golden Gate Bridge, making it a very interesting image, like it was modest and clothed. We could see Alcatraz, the Bay Bridge, the Marin Headlands, and all the sailboats on the water. Then down we went and rested at the Aquatic Park, watching the swimmers in the cove, fighting the currents and amazing us with their stamina. On to Ghirardelli Square for lunch and the most amazing chocolate cupcake I have ever had. Emily kept telling me it would change my life, and she was right. Before Kara’s Cupcakes, I didn’t crave one. Now I do. Constantly. Thanks, Em.
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The weirdest thing happened while we were walking along Beach Street in front of Ghirardelli Square. From the top of one of the towers of the Golden Gate, we were blinded by a very bright light just sitting up there. Even as far away as it was and as sunny as it was outside, it was really blinding. Emily had never seen it before. Through the beauty of my iPhone, I googled “bright light on top of Golden Gate Bridge” and voila! I discovered this website: www.solarbeacon.org. Here is an excerpt from the website:
Solar Beacon is an art installation on top of the Golden Gate Towers that reflects the Sun’s light throughout the Bay Area, calling attention to the man-made structure’s 75th anniversary using the brightest natural light available. Observers of Solar Beacon will see two points of light, one on each tower top, that are bright as the Sun, but much smaller in size.
It seems that you can actually look at the schedule of when it will be pointing where so you can go to that location and see it. This is from the FAQs:
Can everyone see the light that I see?
No, only those in the expanding beam which is a half degree across. A half degree corresponds to 8.5 meters at 1km, 170m at 2km. etc. However, the beam can be pointed anywhere in the Bay Area that can also see the tops of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.
How amazing was it that Emily and I were at exactly the right place at the right time to see the mystery light? If you have time, read about it on the website, it is so fascinating.
So anyway, we caught the bus to Union Square so that we could finally get to Williams Sonoma. It was so worth the trip! This store is 4 levels! We had a great time there, finding fun things for Emily to register for and talking with a chef who was cooking up a storm to prepare for a class he was going to teach. Afterwards we went to Macy’s again and found Emily’s wedding shoes! After enjoying a great performance on the square by a Philippine dance company, we caught the bus back home to change into warmer clothes and head out to dinner. And there was that sound again. I figured it was a foghorn, but it was regular and never seemed to move, so it couldn’t have been a boat. Back to my trusty iPhone and I had it. Foghorns are installed on the bridge and it is an actual person’s job to turn them on and off when necessary. Oh it was necessary, alright. The ships know from the sound which way to maneuver their crafts in order to go under the bridge and not hit struts or other boats. Pretty cool. The whole weekend I had the Van Morrison song, “Into the Mystic” running through my head. “And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home”. By the way, Emily doesn’t even hear the foghorn.
Emily took me to Delarosa, a very interesting little Italian restaurant on Chestnut Street where I made a fool of myself by not being able to get on a stool at my table. It proved to be fortuitous though because we ended up at a little table right by the open window and it was lovely! I won’t completely bore you with my description of dinner, but suffice to say that the eggplant caponatina appetizer and the Margherita pizza with burrata were fabulous!
On Monday we gave my tired feet and legs a short break by taking the bus to Fisherman’s Wharf. It didn’t actually drop us off there so there was some walking to be done to get to the ferry for our trip to Sausalito. The ride across the bay was really nice! We went right past Alcatraz which left me to wonder, how can a tiny island with a prison on top of it be so beautiful? We literally sailed into the mystic as the fog blanket enveloped us. Coming out of it, we saw Sausalito, our destination, and the majestic towers of the Golden Gate peeping over the fog. After disembarking, we took a short walk around the cute little town and had lunch at Napa Valley Burger where I had the most delicious hamburger of my life. We scurried to get back to the ferry as we really didn’t know what we’d do for another two hours in Sausalito, and were eager to get back to Emily’s apartment to have time to relax. Up until today we had actually not spent any time there! We took a little touristy walk around Fisherman’s Wharf, laughed at the crazy sea lions, dodged the even crazier street performers and tourists, and made a quick stop at Patagonia where Emily treated herself to a nice little jacket. Back on the bus, a couple of quick errands (cupcakes, wine, an It’s- It, you know, the necessities), and back home where we threw open the windows, listened to the foghorn, and relaxed. We also went over the wedding menu and some floral choices, and called it a day!
Tuesday morning I was picked up at 3:45am by the Super Shuttle and whisked off to the airport. If you ever fly into or out of San Francisco and need a ride, call them. They are polite, courteous, prompt, and otherwise very nice. It costs $18 plus gratuity and they got me there in exactly an hour, even after picking up 4 people after me.
I was beyond sad to leave Emily but let me share a couple of thoughts. She and Tyler live in an amazing place and have really made a nice little life for themselves. The apartment and location are just perfect for them and they are able to stay active and find lots of things to do that they would never experience in Atlanta. That’s not to say that they don’t need to come back to Atlanta, and SOON! But I’m really happy for them. They are learning so many things about so many things! I have always had a whole thesaurus in my head of adjectives to describe Emily. Smart, funny, kind, considerate, beautiful, responsible, dependable, fun, joyful, faithful, (you get the idea, I think she’s pretty awesome) to name just a few. But I’ve added a big one since spending last weekend with her. CONFIDENT. This might be my favorite. She can do anything she wants and even though I’ve always known that, I think SHE finally does. Emily, I love your confidence! You amaze and impress me. I’m so proud of you!
So that’s it. I’m sure I left something out! Oh, I did! My trip was not going to be complete or as Emily described it, “authentic”, until I spotted and dodged a “dog smear”. On our very last walk of the weekend, it happened. I saw one!
I still hear the foghorn. I really do.
-Nancy
-Nancy
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