San Francisco - August 2006

This cartoon reminded me that I've been sitting on these pics from our California trip for months now and I never got around to putting anything else on this travel blog I started. It also made me laugh because it described our visit perfectly!

Mark lived in northern California for a few years in his younger days, but it was only my second trip there ever. The first time was in 1998 and we spent a few days in Napa Valley wine country. This time we actually took a bus tour through the city of San Francisco.


Warning - I am known to take photos of just about anything that grabs my eye! Here's the "San Francisco Still Life" I took when we stopped to walk around by the City Hall downtown:


Now you see why the cartoon made me laugh so hard! We were lucky to get on a tour with Tom, an Irish guy who has lived in SF for 20 years but still talks with a bit of a brogue. How he kept up such a colorful commentary while navigating the narrow streets and steep hills I'll never know, but he was an awesome driver! He works for this company, which I would recommend highly.


Follow us on our adventures!

Mission Dolores

This was another stop on our tour. You can read more about it here if you like. The inside of the church was beautiful but you couldn't use any flash, so we mostly enjoyed walking around the cemetery reading the tombstones and smelling the roses.

We had a gay old time!

Now we are not really "bus tour" people (except for the party bus trips we took in Germany) but we only had one full day in the city on this trip and we really wanted to see Alcatraz. For that we had to reserve tickets in advance, and it was only a few dollars more to take the full-day city tour package so we went for it. The mornings are usually cold and foggy anyway, so it's a comfortable way to see a lot of different neighborhoods in just a few hours while the sun slowly burns off the fog.


Not far from Mission Dolores is the Castro District.


This has to be one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the city. Even on the dreariest of days it's always colorful!


It's also home to the Queer Channel Broadcasting Center, which may be of interest to some of my old Army broadcaster friends. I wonder if they have a reverse "don't ask, don't tell" policy?!?!?

The Rock

This is definitely no paradise island. Even on a bright and sunny day in August it's still cold and windy out there, but it's well worth it to experience the place that's been the subject of so many books and movies.


Mark points out that this guard tower was obviously rebuilt since Clint Eastwood blew it up!


This is the view looking over toward Angel Island.


Looking back over downtown San Francisco, I think I spotted our missing conex on this passing ship!

Eat, Eat, Eat!

Did I mention how much we ate while we were in California? This is Mark's brother Rick, and the whole reason for our trip was his son's bar mitzvah. For those who have never been to one of these ceremonies, let me just say it rivals your average wedding here in the Midwest. It starts with a rehearsal and family dinner on Friday night, then a lunch for everyone at the synagogue following the Saturday morning ceremony. The party continues with dinner and dancing Saturday night, and then everyone comes to the house on Sunday to watch you open your presents and eat more food!






The bar mitzvah boy - very happy this weekend is over I think!


I also think I could adapt to living in California quite nicely, if I could make enough to live in a neighborhood like this.

Hummingbird Heaven

This was the courtyard area of the hotel we stayed in. The weather in the south bay area was much nicer than San Francisco, so we enjoyed pool time and watching these beautiful birds every day.