San Francisco

It's official: we all three have fallen in love with San Fran.

Susie, whom I've already raved about, is a fantastic host. On Thursday morning, now that Leslie and Tiff have tacked on to our trip, we get up and go down to Chrissy Park. This is a park along the bay, which has a stunning view of both the GG Bridge and Alcatraz. Mel and I do a 2 mile run while Les, Tiff and Walt take a stroll towards the bridge. We eat along the water and then decide to walk the 4200 feet across the GG Bridge.

The bridge is currently being painted, so there are people in carts constantly zooming by us. Walter gets hit by a biker who is whizzing by, and turns around to apologize. "I'm sorry, man!", he says, as he throws his hands up in the air. Apparently, the biker mistakes his hand gesture as one of malice and yells something degrading back at Walt. From here on out, Mel and Tiff are his alert system for bikers. I think Walt just gets wrapped up in the conversations and forgets to look ahead.

Les and I beat the three of them across by about 10 minutes, so we sit on an overlook with a beautiful view and wait for them. We then head over to the headlands, which is across the Sausalito side of the bridge. We can see the Pacific from this view. As we walk through the tunnel, we come out the far side and Susie tells us that this is the battery. What she means by this is that there used to be a large gun (similar to that on a tank) that was housed in this tunnel to protect the West Coast during WWII. This fascinates me.

We head back to the house after a few minutes of this peace and calm. After showering and getting ready, we head out to explore downtown San Francisco. We hit up the Fisherman's Wharf for clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl (or chili, for those of us who aren't fond of seafood), and Pier 39 for the California Sea Lions. We then take a cable car - my favorite experience of this city! - from the pier area down to Union Square. We all jump on the right side of the cable car ("Do NOT call it a trolley, Susie tells us, Only tourists call it a trolley!"), on the step that has vertical rails to hang on to. I see the jealousy in the other riders' eyes as they watch the 5 of us giggle with glee. We carry on a conversation with the two people we are standing in front of: they are from upstate NY. When we are lucky enough to travel downhill on the cable car, it really feels like a roller coaster! It is SO much fun. We sing the Ricearoni theme song and Walt and Tiff get through at least part of the Full House theme song. The trip lasts about 15-20 minutes.

We stop in at H&M, Urban, and Forever 21, but few of us bother to buy anything since Mel, Tiff and I have bags exceeding 50 pounds - the airline limit. I kid Tiff because she's come out for only 6 days and her bag is as heavy as my bag for a year. She just nods and laughs. She's the same one who brought 4 bags to Miami when we went to hang out with Marcus for less than 24 hours...

We stroll through Chinatown and head down to Rogue, a local pub that Susie has recommended. Susie meets up with us for dinner around 7, and we all order delicious burgers, except Mel, who has Fish & Chips. We have a game of 'close the door', because the beer garden porch is freezing, but they keep opening the door so that these patrons can get back inside. Finally, when it's my turn to be stealthy, I kick over the bucket and duck back inside, just to have the door shut only halfway. "Fail." I laugh to Leslie and turn back to close it. A cute guy from the porch is about to fully open it back up when I get there, so we compromise at halfway. We get applauded when we leave right at 8pm, because there is a group of about 20 who want to steal our table for trivia. We should have asked them for free beer.

The next morning, we head out to Muir Woods for a 'hike'. Mel keeps calling it a stroll in the woods, which is fairly appropriate. The easy trail, which we start out on, is concrete. Hardly a real trail. We walk through this forest of huge California Redwoods. It's beautiful. We all make jokes about Twilight because the scene is so reminiscent of the forest scenes. "How old are you?" "17." "How long have you been 17?" "A while."

We finally find a route back that involves an actual elevation and hiking trail.

Our next stop is Sonoma, for the winery. We head to Benziger, which is a family owned vineyard. We have a picnic lunch including: Strawberries, Apples, grapes, various cheeses and breads, olive tapenade, wine and chocolate. I love Susie for this idea. I can absolutely classify this lunch in my top lunch category, possibly even at #1. We take a tour of this winery, and find out is a biodynamic vineyard. Susie tells us this is very rare, that it's beyond organic.

As defined by their website:
Biodynamic-is the highest form of organic farming. It goes beyond the elimination of all chemical inputs. It incorporates the environment in and around the vineyard and works with nature to apply the knowledge of life forces to bring about balance and healing in the soil.

For example. they have an insectary. In this area, they plant trees and plants to attract the 'good bugs' that will be predators of the 'bad bugs'. The insects they attract also help to pollinate and other functions that are vital to a good grape crop.

The vineyard as a whole has an attitude to eliminate waste and utilize the environment to its fullest possibility, with efficiency being the goal.

We are all quite taken with this concept of a biodynamic vineyard. We continue down the road to Imagery, a sister vineyard, for a bit more wine tasting. We then head back to Susie's home in downtown San Fran.

Her son, Jonathan, meets us back at her place and we head to a local seafood place, Neti's Crabshack, for dinner. All I can think of is everyones' recent discussion of the Neti Pot, and I'm glad I don't like seafood. Walt and I split the beef brisket, Mel has crab cakes, Tiff ate clam chowder, and Jonathan had fish and chips. We wind up the evening with a hearty theological discussion on the Church's role in Christ's second coming - and walk back to our temporary home.

This is our journey through San Francisco. We have all professed our love and adoration for this city and its beautiful scenery, vibrant outdoor life, weather approaching perfection, neighborly residents, and fabulous eateries. We joke about moving here and sharing a closet (at least 4 of us, to cover the rent). Mr. Lipps tells us that the rent for a 1 bedroom studio in his area (certainly one of the most expensive areas, if not the most expensive) is roughly $2500. We all sigh and realize that we will probably never be lucky enough to call ourselves San Franciscans.

But we can dream.

After all, Australia was once a dream, and now is a reality.

We bid adieu to our favorite city of the trip and fly into LA this afternoon. Tiff was scheduled to fly a United flight mirroring our time frames, but she's stuck at the airport even now (4 hours later) because of mechanical failures.

We are here until Monday night at 11:30pm, when our flight will depart LAX for Fiji and then Sydney.

Part of me reflects on the oddity that we've only been gone for 6 days (this time last week, we were at Carolina's for her birthday, laughing at Mad Gab's ridiculous attempt at phonetics). We went to 4 different states (Nevada, Arizona, California) in our first three days here. It's been a whirlwind trip so far, and it's the very beginning. Relationships are evolving and transforming; conflicts have even arisen already. And yet I find myself sitting in this cozy living room near Sunset Strip, incredibly content and excited about the forthcoming days to be spent in a foreign country.

And so our LA chronicles will begin...