San Fran-tastic

Saturday, February 27. News about the earthquake in Chile and possible tsunamis as well as the sad news that Phil's mom had suffered a mild heart attack made it hard to decide whether to drive into San Francisco or not, especially with rain likely throughout the day. But after Phil had talked to several members of the family and learned that his mother was resting in stable condition in a hospital, we decided to go for it. Drew and Tony have visited San Francisco several times on their own and are familiar with BART as well as the MUNI mass transit options. Based on their past experience, we decided to drive in to the western part of the city near San Francisco State University campus and then take the MUNI into downtown.

On the drive in, the rain was hard and heavy, but Phil guided us through the torrents over the steep and winding Highway 17. By the time we got to the train, we had to get all our change together for the $2 fare ($8 for the 4 of us). A fellow passenger explained to us that we had to board the first car in order to pay the driver the fare and then it was smooth sailing all the way to downtown. Most of the trip was underground so when we emerged into the cold wind of nearly deserted downtown, it was a little bit discouraging.

Things heated up considerably once we got to Chinatown. There was a huge street fare underway in advance of the Chinese New Year Parade scheduled to take place that night. Throng is not intense enough a word to describe the masses of people shouldering their way up and down and sideways along the streets and sidewalks of a four or five square block area, happily queuing up to spin wheels of fortune for prizes large and small and grabbing fistfuls of handouts from vendors. I got a refreshing towel and the boys got festive red "good fortune" envelopes with free passes to a local horse race track. Everyone was enthusiastic and even giddy, and it reminded me of the happy anticipation in a public park on the Fourth of July.

Some of the Chinese restaurants were tempting, but all of them were packed, so we walked over to North Beach. Since we knew we were making a pizza that night, we stayed away from Italian restaurants and picked a small sandwich shop called Justa Bite. The service was attentive and the variety of sandwiches was surprising. I was a little distracted by a large monitor that flashed news bulletins every couple of minutes, but I enjoyed my avocado and cheese sandwich very much, and everyone felt fortified for a climb up Russian Hill. At the summit, we met a young Englishwoman who had just flown in from Richmond, VA the day before. She was as delighted with the clear blue sky and panoramic views as we were and got advice from Phil and Drew about using public transportation. Everyone was snapping photos like crazy except me because I forgot my camera and cell phone.

We continued on up Hyde Street to get a close up look at that crazy curving Lombard Street. Before we got there, we walked by a nearly deserted public tennis court with spectacular views of the bay and particularly the Golden Gate Bridge. Phil took several photos that he said he was going to send to a tennis magazine. We walked down the sidewalk beside Lombard Street watching the nervous faces of the drivers making the tight turns down the super steep block. One woman stood up looking out the sun roof of an SUV with her video camera. From the foot of the hill, I was struck at how the hedges along the road concealed the cars, making it look like a rose garden on a very steep incline. Maybe they should design all street in San Francisco like this.

Another four blocks downhill brought us to Fisherman's Wharf. Phil and I showed Drew and Tony the Argonaut, a former cannery building refurbished as hotel. We had coffee at a cozy coffee shop called Coffee Adventures, and then boarded a streetcar along the Embarcadero jampacked with riders. We got a transfer along with our $2 fare which let us transfer to the MUNI back to where our car was parked. So we practically circled the city for $4. Whatever else I have to say about San Francisco, its public transportation system is Fran-tastic. Even on a day snarled with traffic from the Chinese New Year Parade, we got everywhere we wanted to go quickly and easily.

We hit a couple of rain squalls and had a pretty scary skid on Highway 17, but Phil's nerves of steel got us through unscathed. We stopped at Trader Joe's for wine and some pizza fixings and the full moon beamed down on us serenely from a clear sky.

Retiring retirement and Good Times in Santa Cruz

Friday, February 26. Drew and Tony made it to Aptos safe and sound at about 9:30 Thursday night and we celebrated with some chocolate cherry soy ice cream. We discovered the flavor because Steve had half a carton in the freezer, and then we bought another so we had plenty to go around. Friday morning was cloudy and the weather forecast promised rain. We walked Dixie and then the four of us walked down to the Seascape clubhouse for a nice breakfast. The place was practically deserted because of the storms brewing.

Back at Steve's house, we kind of settled in. Drew and Tony decided to take the bus to Santa Cruz, and we promised to drive in and meet them for coffee later. The weather held for another hour or so, and Phil and I thought they'd made it to the bus by the time the rains came, but they missed the one they'd planned on getting and took shelter in a grocery store before making a run for the bus in a downpour.

Phil had an interview to transcribe, but I found myself at loose ends. It occurred to me that this kind of down time is something I'd need to get accustomed to as a retired person. No one waiting for you to call the shots, no one really affected one way or the other what you do or don't do. A humbling thought, but hey a little humility deepens one's perspective. I did a Sudoku, listened to my recorded book, and then curled up under Steve's cream puff of a down comforter and listened to the raindrops clatter against the bedroom window. Doing nothing can be just the ticket on a rainy day, even if it does cramp the ego just a little bit.

By the time we set out for Santa Cruz at 4 pm, the rain had just about let up. We had to circle the downtown area to get to the one way section of Pacific Avenue where Bookshop Santa Cruz is located. Undaunted by the rain, Drew and Tony had visited the Santa Cruz Mission and a few shops before they settled in for a good read at this exceptionally well stocked independent book store. We headed over to Lulu's at the Octagon. The building, on the National Register of Historic Landmarks, was built in 1882 and served as the county hall of records into the 1960s, and yes, it is a perfect octagon made of bricks. Now the shape makes for a cozy coffeehouse and the vacuum press coffee is dee-lish if somewhat expensive.

After the coffee, we headed over to Carpo's to pick up some sandwiches to take to Phil's aunt's house for supper. We had a good time joking about their hamburgers being so good that everything else on the menu tasted like burgers too. Very silly and very fun. Drew and Tony hadn't visited her for almost a year, so there was lots to talk about and lots of joking too. We were happy to see that Sammy the cat was not too shy around us and shared stories about our remarkable cat Fuzz and her unquenchable curiosity.

Good bye vacation, hello pretirement

Sunday, February 21. Wet, wet, and more wet. After Phil prepared a wonderful breakfast of raisin bread French toast, the rain really started to pour. The plans for a long run had to be changed to a walk, and when they got back Phil and Peter were soaked and had to change before we got ready to go to the airport. While he did the finishing touches on his packing, we put together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for him.

The grey grim weather made it easier to say good bye to Peter. After all, vacations quickly become as dreary as the weather, and the weather reports warned of lots of rainy day in the future. Phil and I drove away from SFO thinking that Peter only had only about an hour to wait before his flight back to Boston, but it turned out the plane was delayed because the crew got in late from Long Beach.

We drove back in the downpour and agreed that this rain was beyond anything we were used to in Southern California. There was so much water in on the freeway, the cars created their own little cocoons of spray as they sped along. Phil pointed out a minivan with a mattress and a box spring stacked on its roof at an alarming angle and secured with just one rope. The driver cruised along with this soggy load, zipping between lanes and casually chatting with his passengers like they were on a trip to the beach in a convertible on a sunny day. We laughed but I felt relieved when he passed the minivan. Better to be in front of it if that mattress began to slip.
That crazy minivan passed us a couple more times and became funnier every time it crossed our path. With tears in my eyes from giddy laughter, I thought what better way to switch from vacation to our brief experiment with retirement than a good laugh.

Back in Aptos, we quickly settled in to a quiet Sunday afternoon. Phil got his hair clippers and went right down to the bathroom to give himself a buzz cut. Now his hair is about a quarter inch all over. After the initial shock, we decided it looked kind of European and a little military. He's decided to grow a goatee as well. I'm tempted to cut my hair short too, but don't have the nerve to do it myself. Taking an extended stay opens the door to experiment with things you might not do at home with friends around that might be puzzled or even upset by radical changes.

The rain let up in the afternoon and Phil set out with his GPS hiking device and walked part of the golf course, measuring the holes and plotting the best way to shave a few strokes off his score. I went for a short walk with Dixie and came home to think about what I was going to do with the next two weeks. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and finished up some dark chocolate left over from Peter's visit. (We discovered that we all shared a preference for extra dark chocolate.) Later, we had a long Skype conversation with Drew and Tony back in Long Beach, sharing photos of our visit with Peter and their bike ride along the Los Angeles River. I began to see how easy it would be to become a couch potato in this comfortable home.