Golden Gate Spendor

Sunday in San Francisco rained as if celestial fire fighters were hosing down the city. We rented a car a block away from the hotel, and just that brief dash had our umbrellas turned inside out and our bodies drenched from head to toe. My dad's desire to rent a car turned out very fortuitously.

Japanese Tea Garden in the rain. Dad told us that the name was changed to the Chinese Tea Garden during WWII. As if you could just substitute one culture for another. At least the "freedom fries" of a decade ago weren't dubbed Swiss fries. Humans are interesting.

Dad tried heroically to get out and admire the roiling ocean in all its fury.

All the museums in SFO are, in my opinion, expensive. We accidentally found a loophole at the Legion of Honor when we went in to check out the gift shop. Dad and I got stickers on our coats to go in, then took the elevator from the gift shop to the wrong place, which put us right in the galleries. I was guilt-ridden, so I only stopped to mock this one painting. Why is the bow tangled in the bridge of the violin? That painter is going to be in so much trouble when he returns the props to the musician.

We drove through Golden Gate Park and the Presidio, braving the sporadic rain, praising each patch of blue sky that appreared.

Finally, the bay showed us its full splendor. We had walked to a spot with military ruins and walking trails, to admire the bridge, and we hit it at the exact perfect time. The rainbow emerged and was gone in the space of five minutes. We felt privileged to witness such majesty.

The other side of the bridge, the weather was warm! Ok, it was December, so we didn't strip down to shorts or anything, but the sun came out and it was beautiful. We had lunch at an Italian place in Sausalito where the water was from Venice. Another carbonara under my belt. 😊

Mom and Araceli didn't have much interest in Muir Woods, citing it as "you pay money and then look at tall trees." But we were right there, and my love affair with national parks won out. Thanks, Mom and Araceli! They waited in the dry car while Ruby, Dad and I paid money ($10 for all three of us with Dad's senior lifetime National Parks pass) and walked among the redwoods. It really is a spiritual place, where you can feel the primordial life force of the forest.

Sunday evening found us sipping hot chocolate at a little French bistro. Can you believe these bowls?

We had some fun with Photo Wonder, an app that makes you more beautiful. I'm sometimes taken aback at how homely I am in pictures. So we edited out the bags under my eyes. Then I just looked like an alien. I'm trying to come to terms with my aging because I do realize one thing: the human race is regal. This was brought to my attention in Chinatown. As I looked into people's faces, I saw exquisite beauty, time after time, in the wrinkles and crooked teeth and weathered brows. I began looking for the beauty, actually, and I found it every single time. More than once, I had this irrational desire to say to a person, "You are incredibly beautiful. You are perfect."

These two definitely are perfect. Time hasn't diminished their beauty at all, only enhanced it.  After returning the car, everyone was ready for a rest except Araceli, our intrepid shopper. She ventured out to Union Square on her own for an hour or so before we all met up at the Union Square Christmas tree. I love that she has the guts to take on the city herself. She loves the freedom, in fact.

Sunday night, our last night in the city, Ruby and I wanted sushi. We convinced Coco and Bill to take Araceli back to the diner she loves, so they wouldn't have to choke down any sashimi. :) The food was heavenly. Ruby and I savored every morsel and we're tempted to order more, but resisted.

I got a text from Dad saying to meet them at their restaurant. I didn't pay attention to the directions, choosing to rely on my tried and true method of finding things, which is trial and error. Scott's method is to study a map and become completely oriented to a place, so that he is confident of where he is and where he is going at all times. My dad's method is to squint into the distance, sniff the air, and instinctively know just where to go. He's uncanny. My MO is born of impatience and that debilitating optimism that everything will work out. It's "let's go this way and see if it's right." And that's how Ruby and I walked 8 blocks to get to a restaurant that was right around the corner from where we started. I texted Dad, "We're only 4 blocks away! We were 2, but we went the wrong way."
He replied, "Keep trying. You started out one block away." Made me laugh so hard! But see, everything was fine, and we met a very nice homeless man who gave us directions.