San Francisco Family Reunion

Tuesday April 9 Georgetown – San Francisco

I slept terribly –so worried about waking up on time.  We left really early (before 6) in case the sequester made the TSA lines long.  Instead what happened was we sat in traffic for 45 minutes on 71 because of an accident.  Only a few lucky breaks got us to the plane on time. The lady driver at Fast Park ask the dispatcher to let us go because we were late due to the wreck, and there was absolutely no line at TSA.  Our group was being called as we got to the gate.  Whew!  I worked on Henry’s interview on the flight until my battery got too low.

Walking the Coastal Trail in Outer Richmond

We got into SFO early and had little trouble finding the shuttle.  Boy was that easy!  Our plane landed about 9:40 an we were at Suze’s by 10:45.  Gwyneth and the kids were off on a walk to met their friend. She had left us keys and texted me with pictures of the hiding place.  Phil and I had breakfast and then set off walking.  It was absolutely gorgeous out – and the coastal trail was packed.  We ran into the family near the Legion of Honor.  Back home Gwyneth and I went to Fresh and Easy with Chloe to get stuff for lunch.  I called the dentist for mouth wash and they arranged to get my prescription to CVS. After lunch of risotto and mac and cheese, I took Chloe to the playground and then to CVS.  Then we walked to Ocean Beach and hung out.  Afterwards it was back to the playground with both girls and to the store for more food – tortellini, salad and watermelon..  Gwyneth had the kids and me go up on the roof to take late afternoon shots of the city.  I made supper and Luis and Suze came home.  Lots of video games and I was exhausted.  Suze had bought a new blowup bed at Target so there were plenty of places to sleep.  I was very cranky at bedtime but slept incredibly well.

Wednesday April 10 SF
I got up early as did Gwyneth.  I made coffee and then she convinced me to go on the roof with her to see the effect of sunrise on the view – it was spectacular!

Views from Suze and Luis' Rooftop

After Suze and Luis went to work and we took off for Lincoln Park to find a geocache.  We found it after a lot of looking.  Then we walked up to the Legion of Honor Museum  and walked down to the Lincoln Park Playground so the kids could show Gwyneth.

Legion of Honor Museum

We had a bit of lunch – hotdogs and leftovers and took the bus to Fisherman’s Wharf.  The girls got ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s.  We walked to Pier 39 to see the sea lions and a gull swooped down and stole Chloe’s ice cream!

Chloe's Heath Bar Ice Cream Stolen by Gull at Pier 39

We walked further to the Alcatraz Cruise place and after getting our tickets, had yet another snack.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a boat ride.  There was a lot of walking and it was all interesting.  We took the audio tour inside the prison and watched some videos about the Native American occupation in 1969.  We had an awful time getting a trolley to a bus – when we did get onto the tram it was more squished than I had ever been.

Views at Alcatraz

We caught a bus back to Outer Richmond, and ordered food from Pagan, a Thai-Burmese Restaurant around the corner. 

Thursday April 11 SF

A day without a real plan.  We went to the neighborhood playground and watched what was surely  nursery school field tip of three and four year olds holding hands and singing kids’ songs like  Twinkle, Twinkle – they were mostly Asian and adorable!  After Chloe was nearly played out there  we walked up hill forever to an overlook of the Sutro Baths and then we walked down to the visitors center.  It was sunny, windy and cold,  We went to the gift shop at Cliff House and then walked along Ocean Beach watching dog walkers handle up to 9 dogs each off leash!  We stopped for lunch at the Beach Chalet.  Gwyneth treated us for my birthday.  It was really good.  I had a meatloaf sandwich but didn’t like it, so Phil ate it and I ate his veggie burger.  He had a Riptide Ale – appropriate for the locale.  We had yummy sweet potato fries.  We walked back through Golden Gate Park, finding a geocache and watching the bison that were funded by Marissa Mayer.

View of Sutro Baths and Pics of Lunch at Beach Chalet

Back home we rested until it was time for me to take Chloe to see Suze play her first kickball game in Golden Gate Park with the Arup Ninjas.  It was a very lopsided game – Arup lost.  I had driven Suze’s car over and she drove back. We tried to find the extra special kids playground but never really saw how to get there and park.  Phil had spent a lot of time trying to fix the cats’ auto food dispenser.

 

Kickball Game at Hellman Hollow in Golden Gate Park

Gwyneth had bought a bunch of hors d'oeuvres for supper and we snacked before bed.  I never saw Luis because he had gone to Oakland to an ASHRAE meeting  and got back late.

Friday September 12 SF

Suze and Luis took off early to walk the 5+ miles to work on Walk to Work Day.

We took our time getting ready to go – took the bus to the Haight  Street corner of Golden Gate Park.  We walked to the Koret Children’s Quarter – the oldest playground in the US.  Chloe loved the climbing structure. 

Chloe in Crow'sNest at Koret Children's Quarter

Even Camille gave it a try.  The concrete slide wasn’t so big a hit, though. We were disappointed that the operator chose just the moment we approached to close the carousel for his lunch break.

We walked on through the lovely AIDS Memorial Grove to  the Academy of Sciences where Gwyneth and Chloe went in and to the deYoung Museum where Phil, Camille and Barb had lunch, toured the Girl with the Pearl Earring exhibit and then briefly looked at wonderful things in the permanent exhibit.  Because of the special exhibit which included a lot of Rembrandt era etchings (some tronies), the entire featured menu food items were Dutch.  Phil loved the pot pie!

A docent insisted that we go to the  Hamon Tower for a view before we left and it was special.

Golden Gate Park Ferns and view of and from DeYoung

We rested at Suze’s until she got home and she took the Buteras to their hotel.  We picked up Luis near Arup and headed back to Outer Richmond.  She left me off at the grocery and I got food for dinner.  I made Ritz Chicken, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.  Although it was a VERY late dinner it was really good if I do say so myself!

Saturday April 13 SF

Phil and I went to the Farmers Market at the Ferry Building.  We watched a cooking demonstration on veggie paella and wandered around the stalls.  We shared an open faced veggie sandwich and an odd Aztec tea. 

Veggie Paella Demo at Ferry Building

Gwyneth had taken Camille to Japantown to meet up with a friend and then G and Chloe joined us at the Farmer’s Market,  We walked back to G's hotel, stopping at a toy store.  Luis and Suze joined us there. We hung out at the hotel for a while and then off to Moscone Center (Luis and I found a geocache inside the California Historical Center) and then grabbed snacks.  Chloe, Suze and I rode the carousel and Chloe played in the playground.

      

Hanging out in Yerba Buena Park

We took two buses to Coit Tower – cool ride through Chinatown and then North Beach (Little Italy).  The bus took us right to the top and we walked down, seeing the Parrots of Telegraph Hill flitting about and squawking.

Back at the hotel we watched TV and Camille wanted to go to a shop which turned out to have closed early.

We left the Buteras and took a cab back to Outer Richmond where I got stuff for a pizza supper before Suze and Luis lef for a late party.

Sunday April 14 SF

We accidentally got into the finish line of an MS walk!

The four of us took the bus in to the Ferry Building to meet up with G and the girls.  We all ate a bit from different venues and walked the Buteras back to their hotel, stopping to look at a funky dress shop, Harajuku Hearts,  with Camille.

After our goodbyes, we headed to the Mission District to a Street Sunday event – walking up and down Valencia St.  Phil and I peeled off and geocached.

Street Sunday in the Mission District

Luis headed home and Suze, Phil and I walked to Mission Dolores Park and further up to Mission San Francisco de Asis.  We were convinced to wait outside for a woman, Edie Littlefield-Sundby, walking the missions in honor of her surviving cancer.  The mission and its associated basilica were fascinating.  We headed back to Outer Richmond.

Mission San Francisco de Asis -- Ohlne Indian hut and Statue

We ordered Mediterranean food and  had it delivered.  We ate while watching an old movie – The House on Telegraph Hill.

Monday April 15 SF

Not where the geocache is

Phil and I hung out and caught up with diary, newspaper, etc.  The weather was cold and forecast to be really windy and sunny.  Phil wanted to walk anyway so we headed for the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park.  We found a geocache near the Prayer-book Cross.

We then went to Stow Lake and decided to walk to the top of Strawberry Hill.  The park is so beautiful.

View from Strawberry Hill in Golden Gate Park

We ate lunch at the boathouse and made our way to the Gardens. The woman at the kiosk told us to concentrate o\n the California section because it was most in bloom.

When we got back we heard about the terrible bombing at the end of the Boston Marathon.

We took the bus back and we got steak and potatoes for supper.  Afterwards we watched a movie with Suze and Luis – Smoke Signals.

Tuesday April 15  SF-Georgetown

Suze began the wash before going to work.  Luis had left very early to go to physical therapy.  Phil and I packed and waited for Barbara S. to come visit.  She got stuck on the Oakland Bay Bridge but made it only 45 minutes late. 

Barbara S and Phil hold up the Golden Gate Bridge

We walked to Eagles Nest overview and then along Camino Del Mar in Sea Cliff to China Beach.  We stopped at Fresh and Easy for some supplies for lunch and back at the apartment had steak sandwiches.

View of Suze's Building from Lincoln Park

 The Super Shuttle came for  us at the same time Barbara was leaving.  We had a very interesting ride to the airport – to University of San Francisco and Bernal Heights.

The flight was uneventful but when we got to the parking lot, my front tire was flat.  It took over an hour for AAA to get there to change it.  Alas, we were really tired when we got home!

September travels

Coast to Coast and North to South

Pacific Coast Sept 1 in San Francisco; northern border Niagara Falls, Canada September 9, Atlantic Coast Plymouth, MA September 10 and Gulf Coast at Galveston, TX September 27

We began our car trip two days after we returned from California.  Our first goal was to get to Wauseon, Ohio for Barb's class reunion.  Most of the festivities were held at the Heritage Inn in Archbold, part of the Sauder Enterprise -- you may see Sauder furniture in high end stores like Wal-Mart
.


We also took some time to visit friends and places around Wauseon.

Phil at Fulton County Museum where we saw artifacts from my grandparents;; visiting  Jean and Dave in assisted living pictured with Jean's daughter-in-law, Bev; Barb's parents' grave in Wauseon

We headed off to Massachusetts but missed a turn in New York State and decided to detour to Niagara Falls, Canada.  We had a great time.  We saw Jay Cochrane tightrope walk from the Skylon Tower to the Hilton Hotel; and saw the evening colored light show.  We had a fantastic pizza at Johnny Peppers -- watching the owner roll the dough and bake the pizza in the wood fired kiln. In the morning we enjoyed walking through the commercial section of town and down to the lovely gardens and falls view.

Niagara Falls, Canada

We then went to Carver, MA where we had a grand visit with Phil's sister Belle.  We did lots of local exploring including a drive down to Cape Cod to Falmouth and Woods Hole.  We learned there that Paul Revere had cast the bell in the church on the Falmouth green and that Katharine Lee Bates who wrote America the Beautiful was born in Falmouth. We walked a lot in Myles Standish Forest, along the shore in Plymouth and around Carver. We ate a lot!  We had pizza from our favorite place Georgio's in Carver together with Steve and Gay.  Gay is a nurse and took everyone's blood pressure!  Crazy family!  We drove around looking at many places Phil and Belle had lived as children.

        The last evening we had a lobster cookout in Belle's backyard.

From Massachusetts we headed south for a few days at our cabin in Blue Ridge.  We did some hiking, resting, and geocachine plus Barb had 3 phone meetings and three paper reviews!  We headed to Decatur to celebrate our granddaughter Camille's birthday before going back to Texas.


The final leg of our trip was to Houston where Phil had some medical appointments at the Baylor College of Medicine.  A Trader Joe's had just opened not far from our hotel, so we had great food in our extended stay hotel room thanks to TJ.  We used the trip as an excuse to explore places on Galveston Island that we had not been to before. Before heading back home, we took a guided tour of Ima Hogg's Houston Bayou Bend mansion and gardens .  We were the only two on the tour and the guide, a chemistry/art history major at Rice was fantastic.

Galveston State Park Beach

Home at Last!!!!

San Francisco - Georgetown Tuesday September 4

Luis had to go to work but Suze took the day off to be with us.  She began doing wash and cleaning up.  We eventually walked to Golden Gate Park through the neighborhoods.  I had too much coffee and was thrilled to find a construction port-o-potty on the sidewalk!

We found a couple of geocaches (actually Suze spotted both of them) in the park.  Our goal was the free museum day at the de Young Art Museum in the eastern part of the park.  We did go in but only to enter the sculpture garden which was amazing.  We could have spent days in the two museums and gardens around them.  Another time, I hope.

We took two buses back to the apt. for a lunch of leftovers and final packing.  Suze found pictures for me to use in a newspaper wedding announcement.

We got in the car to go to the airport but I talked Suze in to driving by China Beach for a last look at the water and the bottom of the fogged in bridge. We saw the sun finally at the airport! We picked up sourdough bread for the Hulshizers in the airport and had an uneventful flight home.

See all the trip pictures

Labor Day September 3, 2012 San Francisco

I baked an apple pie using refrigerator rolls as bottom crust (not a good idea).  Suze, Phil and I walked to Golden Gate park, found a geocache and enjoyed being in the park even though it was a very foggy day.  We loved the vibrant Queen Wilhelmina Garden with its windmill. At the northwestern entrance to the park.  Just down the road was Beach Chalet with murals painted in 1936-37 showing only one tower of the Golden Gate Bridge which was then under construction.  We walked north along Ocean Beach to Cliff House and the Sutro Baths, so we have made a loop from Suze’s house, albeit on different days.  Luis picked us up and brought us back to the house. 

Once again we went to Fresh and Easy to get a few things for the “picnic.  We crossed a picket line at the store which was ironic as it was Labor Day! Luis did a lot of chopping and grilling for our feast.  Their tiny grill was down a flight of stairs in the yard but did a great job on fresh corn on the cob, eggplant, burgers, chicken and Italian sausage. He had also oven roasted new potatoes. We had our picnic indoors!

See all pictures from the trip

San Francisco Sunday September 2

Phil and I went to the store and bought supplies for a huge breakfast.  We had eggs to order, sausage, bacon, hash browns, melon, tomato, avocado, coffee, toast and juice.

The guys went back to the store for supplies for the Labor Day cookout.

It was incredibly foggy with the fog horns softly sounding in the background. We decided to head for the sunshine and the Marin coast at Point Reyes.  The Golden Gate Bridge was completely shrouded in fog.  We felt bad for all the tourists walking in the cold, wet across the bridge.

As we hit the end of the bridge, the fog lifted and it was a glorious day. We stopped for coffee and a geocache which we found next to a very dead deer! I love the changes from dry oak sprinkled hillsides to dark redwood forests.  We drove through the quaint town of Pt. Reyes Station and stopped at the really informative Bear Valley National Seashore Information station.  The ranger gave us maps and told us that the lighthouse would be in fog.  We decided to take the Limantour Spit Trail.  The 20 minute drive down to the beach was spectacular and the beach was fantastic.  We did take the trail along the estuary. Lots of birds and blue sky.


The trip back to SF was really pretty (until the fog and traffic at the Golden Gate Bridge.  Phil and I went to Fresh and Easy for supper stuff.  We watched Bernie II and enjoyed our meal.

See all pics from the long weekend.

San Francisco Saturday September 1, 2012

Phil and I woke early, ate breakfast and I worked on my pictures and diary. We found a cache near their house that was in Lincoln Park Playground (built over a cemetery that had been moved). Then we walked to a really cool hardware store narrow jammed full including a (long 4 aisle) basement, where we bought an ironing board cover to replace the ancient one on the built-in board in the kitchen.

 Suze led us on a walk up Camino Del Mar to the Legion of Honor Museum where we walked around the grounds and found a geocache. We then took the coastal trail out to Point Lobos. We ate lunch at Louis overlooking Seal Rock and the Sutro Baths. Great view but expensive $60 for grilled cheese, soup and a veggie burger plus a patty melt take out for Luis.

 Back at the apt. we got ready for the game and rode the bus and then Bart to Oakland. The seats were great and the Red Sox were awful! An older woman got hit in the back of the head with a foul bowl that ricocheted.

 

We were exhausted after the long trip back but pigged out on leftovers and watched the first episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King. I managed to break one of their wedding china bowls and so I ordered an additional place setting.

 See all the pics on Flickr

San Francisco August 31, 2012

Friday August 31  Gtown-SanFrancisco


Neither one of us slept well – waiting to get up to go to the airport.  Getting to San Francisco was really easy on JetBlue especially since we bypassed the long security line using American priority status.

The plane got to SFO early but had to circle because only one runway was open – a common occurrence in this foggy city.  Suze had circled many times in an effort to pick us up.  She got us to their house in good order.  Oh, my goodness, it is lovely.  So much room and so much light on a grey day!

We immediately went on a long walk.  Great outdoor trails and vistas are only a couple of blocks away from her apartment!  We first took a national park trail called Land’s End with panoramic views of the water and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Then we walked the other way in a VERY ritzy neighborhood called Sea Cliff.  Actually the border of Sea Cliff is just across the street from their apt. We saw what is reported to be Robin Williams house, across the street from China Beach where Suze was able to decipher the geocaching clue “Think Pink Floyd”. (The cache was in a hole in the retaining wall.)

From the beach we walked back passed her house to Fresh and Easy, a marvelous grocery a block away where we got fixings for lunch including their version of 2 buck Chuck – the Big Kahuna.  After lunch we took a short nap and then headed by bus to the other side of the city, the financial district.  I showed Phil where I had stayed in June, and we found a cache in a lovely park just across the street.  We met Luis in the Ferry building and with a few mis-starts, got the bus home.  Suze has either a cold or allergies so we went to CVS for medicine and then to Fresh and Easy for fixings for a late supper.  I made pasta, broccoli and salmon with a ready prepared pear salad.  Yum.

The cats seemed to like us and bugged us while in bed!

See entire trip pics in a slide show