Blackout in Chinatown and A Bit of Pukey Cuteness

Jimmy and I went to San Francisco for Valentine's. It was also the celebration of Chinese New Year.
So we were casually driving down Grant Ave, watching all the people, listening to the firecrackers,
and enjoying the sights and sounds of a busy Chinatown.

We heard sirens coming towards us, and as we approached an intersection, we saw the big fire truck quickly coming down the road so (of course) we waited for it.
It turned onto Grant Ave. right in front of us, barely missing that black car you see on the left.

Then stopped, blocking the road, so we patiently waited till we could move. What else could we do? Then another fire truck came up behind us, blocking us in from both ends. A fireman from the truck in back came to us and told us we had to back out, but right at that moment, the front truck moved forward just enough for us to squeeze by, so the fireman told us to go forward.

After we got past all the fire trucks, I said to Jimmy "Dang, I should have had my video camera out instead!" So even though I thought it was too late, I still took it out and start taking video as we continued down Grant Ave. I liked the sounds of the firecrackers.

So, we're casually driving down Grant Ave. again, enjoying the sites and sounds of the city. Then suddenly...

Blackness!

Well, this time, I got it all on video:

then:

Kinda cool, right?

Afterward, we went to Ghirardelli Square for ice cream, of course. And being Valentine's night, the line was longer than we'd ever seen it, but it moved pretty fast. Every time we get ice cream at Ghirardelli, we get it to go and walk to the cable car turn around on Hyde St and listen to the street performer. Then depending on where we parked, we walk along the waters edge at Aquatic Park. It's really quite romantic at night. Yep, even after 19 years of marriage, we can still find romance.



I LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO (Tony Bennett)

The loveliness of Paris
Seems somehow sadly gay
The glory that was Rome
Is of another day
I've been terribly alone
And forgotten in Manhattan
I'm going home to my city by the bay.

I left my heart in San Francisco
High on a hill, it calls to me.
To be where little cable cars
Climb halfway to the stars!
The morning fog may chill the air
I don't care!
My love waits there in San Francisco
Above the blue and windy sea
When I come home to you, San Francisco,
Your golden sun will shine for me!
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Cool Like Dat

I'm usually self-conscious taking photos of strangers, but this time I couldn't resist. These 3 guys were so freakin' hip and I can only hope to be cool like dat when I'm their age.I know it's hard to tell in this photo, but both of the guys on the right are on their laptops. Sharing not only photos, but other miscellaneous technical information with each other. Sweet.

Jimmy and I finally celebrated our anniversary last weekend. We went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Palo Alto then headed to San Francisco for ice cream at...Ghirardelli Square, of course! We drove around the city for 4 hours, going to miscellaneous "Points of Interest" on the GPS, which included the Grateful Dead home near the corner of Haight and Ashbury, Billy Goat Hill Park - a park on the side of a high hill, new-to-us vista points in the Presidio, Alamo Square and the Painted Ladies, Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park and a lot more, finally getting home just after 2am. But if any of you notice the times I usually post my blogs, after 2am isn't late for us.

While we were in SF, we stopped by AT&T Park.We'll be back there all day Saturday to watch Supercross races. It'll be fun as long as it doesn't rain. I'm bringing my Kindle because I'll be interested for 5 of the 10 hours, but my mind will wander a lot, that I know for sure. I'm reading "The Lovely Bones" because I considered going to the movies to watch it, but decided to read the book first.
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18Nov "Today I am Thankful For"

...a beautiful afternoon in the city.

Jimmy had to go to SF for a quick conference, so I tagged along. While he was there, for a whole 32 minutes, I did some window shopping around Union Square. Got a few ideas for Christmas presents.

When he called to tell me he was done, we walked to Pier 1 and sat by the water, chatting and watching the ferries come and go. We were only "in" for a couple of hours, but as always, enjoyable.
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Halloween Recap

Hope you all had a bewitching halloween! It was nice having it fall on a Saturday, wasn't it?

Our annual block party and parade started at 4pm.There's always been a good turnout, but this year there seemed to be twice as many people as there were the previous years. I'm sure it's because it was the weekend and more people were home rather than still at work.

The parade was lead by the 12-and-under costume winners. Of course, 2 of them were Starbucks cups. Any guesses how many Starbucks we have within a 1/2 mile radius from our house? 5.This year, we had 2 bands!

My favorite - the Tall Flags:They hold a spot near to my heart because in high school, I was part of Tall Flags:Now if that doesn't send you into a fit of giggles, then you've got a broken funny bone. Head to the ER, stat.

After the parade, we went to the parentals for dinnerand helped hand out candy...as well as eat some, too.

On our way home, Jimmy suggested going into the city. Of course, I'll never turn down a trip into SF...even if the Bay Bridge was broken. Since we were coming from the parentals, it was the bridge we needed to go in. So we took the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge instead and stopped at Fort Baker to enjoy the orange views.then headed to Twin Peaks for a mountain top view of the city lights.It was the clearest of nights and surprising warm, too - It was 1am and half the people were in short sleeves, and short costumes, too. lol.

The night wouldn't have been complete without a drive through the Castro on Halloween night. Halloween in SF is a Big Deal and the biggest parties are in the Castro. Unfortunately, a few violent shenanigans have happened in the past, so they've canceled city sponsored events and increased official presence, which seemed to keep the crowds calmer. By the time we drove through, it was around 1:30a.

There were still lots of people, but most seemed to be heading home and there was no evidence of any shenanigans of the unhappy kind. You can't end Halloween without at least one Elvis sighting. You saw him, didn't you?
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Friday in the City during Fleet Week

Last Friday I went into the city with a friend who had moved away 13 years ago to what she calls her Azkaban - Tucson, AZ. I can understand why she calls it that, growing up in the Bay Area and having to move to the hot desert in the middle of Arizona.

We went walking along one of our regular spots before she moved - Lands End, where the rocky cliffs meet the ocean, on the north western part of the city. And on a day like Friday, clear and sunny but not hot, the views were spectacular. Rosemary, this is the view from the trail, right before we walked up the stairs to see the USS San Francisco Memorial. With all the fog we had a month ago when you were here, we couldn't even see the ocean much less the bridge!

Last weekend was the celebration of Fleet Week where Navy ships come to the city and the Blue Angels perform to a crowd of over a million people. They come a couple of days ahead to practice and serendipitously, we were on the trail when they were practicing.
Two fighter jets high about the Golden Gate.

A single jet (the speck by the 1st tower on the left) approaching the bridge, flying between the two towers. Can you imagine if you were driving on the bridge, how thrilling/exhilarating/scary that would have been? In reality, he was probably above the towers, but it certainly looked like he was below them from my viewpoint.

Diamond formation flying over the Presidio.

I felt very lucky that we caught their practice run. In fact, they had to call off the show on Saturday due to low clouds and fog. It was still cloudy on Sunday, but they were able to perform. I think I got the best show of the weekend with the sunny blue skies.
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Rosemary!

It's an awesome feeling when you finally meet someone in person when you've "known" them for a couple of years already. I've been reading Rosemary's blog for 2 years. Rosemary isn't afraid to pour her heart out in her blog, and it's why I've always been drawn to reading what she has to say. She's passionate about what she has to say, whether it's the freezing cold winters to her childhood in Southern California to her beloved family, including her fur family. She can be witty, sarcastic and sincere all at the same time. I love it!

She and her wonderful husband, Steve, are in San Francisco for a few days and of course, when I knew she was coming, I knew we had to meet. I knew that we'd just click...so much so, it was like being w/ family. It was so easy, it really was like we've known each other forever. Jimmy and I shared a few of our favorite spots in San Francisco, showed them where we dream of living in the Presidio and froze our butts off near the coast, trying to glimpse views of the Golden Gate Bridge...too much fog! We easily chatted about family, books, pets, growing up in California, Idaho...conversation just came so easily. We hung out for a short 4 hours, it went too quickly, before we had to head back to San Jose. While I wasn't surprised how easily we clicked, I was surprised at how sad I was when we had to leave them. It felt like saying good-bye to family, especially since we have no idea when we'll see each other again. Hopefully since her gson is here, they'll be able to make annual trips to the Bay Area. I already miss them! It was a great GREAT day. And one of these days, hopefully, Jimmy and I will find ourselves in Idaho to visit them, too.

Love you Rosemary! That's from my heart!
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Conclusion of our SF Bay 'Cruise'

I never finished writing about our boat ride in the bay last month.

There isn't much more to say, but this weekend seems like an appropriate time to finish the story because the Bay Bridge, which travels from San Francisco to Oakland, will be closed this whole Labor Day weekend.

As you can see in this photo:

much still needs to be done. You can see the old bridge in the foreground, the new incomplete bridge behind it.

This'll be the 3rd, maybe 4th year they've closed the Bay Bridge for the entire Labor Day weekend. They even post signs in Los Angeles about the closure, just in case any Los Angelenos drive up here, at least they'll have a heads-up on the traffic nightmare that could ensue. We've wondered why they would close the bridge on a busy travel holiday weekend, but it's seemed to work in the past.

I won't even guess when the expected finish date is. I did a quick look on their website and found nothing committing a date.

Getting back to our boat ride on the bay, we stuck close to the bridge and stayed in a little inlet around Alameda. Alameda is an island next to Oakland, separated by the small inlet of water.

Alameda is where many of the cargo ships load and unload their goods. I have really crappy video of it, if you're interested in watching.

You may already know that i hate hate hate cranes. I have an unexplainable phobia of them. But these cranes don't bother me. In fact, I was quite intrigued watching the process. I think because they are so big and perpendicular rather than tilted, I feel safer. You wouldn't catch me walking under it though! The other cranes, I can't even barely look at them, especially when they are in use. When a building goes up and cranes are involved, I never see the process. And whenever there is road construction and cranes are involved, I have a simple process that I go through where I can avoid eye-contact with the crane and still keep my eyes on the road. I just pull down the sun visor, close whichever eye is closest to the crane, turn my head slightly away, and keep my one eye on the road. Weird, I know.

It was quite lovely being in the boat in this inlet. Calm, smooth water.

We were able to enjoy the views at a leisurely pace:

Downtown Oakland. My SIL works in that tallest building.

Kincaid's in Jack London Square. Kincaid's is a favorite special occasion restaurant for the Retzlaffs.

Colorful house boats.

Coast Guard Island.

I hate cranes. I hate cranes. I hate cranes.
It took a lot for me to photograph this.
and post it to my blog.
I'm trying to work though my issues.

funny bridges that go into Alameda. (Oakland to the left.)

Cal Berkeley rowing crew practice and compete in this inlet.

Oracle Stadium where the Oakland Raiders and Oakland A's play.

...then back out into the big bad bay.

It got really ugly after that last photo. We stayed as close to the shore as possible, but by the time we got back to the dock, I was completely drenched. The waves were coming up and over the boat, completely soaking us to the bone. I pretty much kept my eyes closed the whole time and had to meditate to not lose it...as in...break down in tears. That wouldn't have gotten us home any faster.

So, would I do it again?

Yes, but differently.

I never want to cross the Bay ever again. If we want to explore near San Francisco, we'll launch the boat in San Francisco. If we want to explore Oakland more, we'll stay on that side of the bay. We'll try to go on a warmer day. But now that I know our tiny boat survived, I have more confidence in it.
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This was the calm and smooth section

Here's a quick (17 seconds) video of our boat ride in San Francisco. You'll have to read my previous post 3 Hour Tour to understand better, if you haven't already.

You may notice how much the boat is rocking up and down? This was nothing, in fact, this was the calm part. It was a lot worse on the way into SF as I, eh hem, alluded to a yesterday.
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A 3 Hour Tour

Last week, Jimmy and I decided to take out teeny tiny itty bitty boat into the Bay. This was the first time we've taken our boat into the Bay because there are a whole lot of extra precautions required when you take a vessel into the big blue ocean. And essentially, the Bay is the ocean, especially in San Francisco.

We launched the boat from the San Leandro Marina, which was a good 13-15 miles as the crow flies to San Francisco. In the the map below, it's the the starting and ending point on the bottom right.
You may have to zoom out to see our full tracks.

View Larger Map
You'll notice with the bottom line, that we headed directly Northwest towards to San Francisco, moving diagonally across the Bay.

It may not look very far, but in our teeny tiny itty bitty boat, it took us an hour to get across the choppy water.

And the water may not look very choppy, but the boat was bouncing up and down like it was being dribbled by Michael Jordan.

I've never really referred to our boat as itty bitty teeny tiny till this adventure. Because our 15' boat is perfectly sized for us and a few friends for our typical lake adventures near the hideaway. But being in that big body of water made us feel really itty bitty. Especially when we got closer to the City and we went by the big shipping cargo vessels.

I have to admit that during the hour it took us to get from San Leandro to the City, I was not having a good time. I was scared, cold and with each bang of the boat up and down against the waves, my back and neck felt like they were going to break. The waters felt so rough, I was afraid the motor would fall off. And illogically, I even envisioned the boat breaking in half, it was slamming down that hard.

But when we finally made it across, I calmed down and enjoyed the views. We pulled into McCovey Cove and ate lunch. McCovey Cove is named after the Giants first baseman Willie McCovey and is the small water cove next to the Giants Stadium. During a game, non-motorized boats and kayaks gather here at the chance of scooping a home run ball. There have been a total of 49 "Splash Hits" into McCovey Cove since the ball park opened in 2000.

After lunch, we puttered around the Bay a little bit. It was interesting looking at San Francisco from a different perspective.

This is South Beach. It follows up the Giants Stadium along the Embarcadero to the Bay Bridge.

...speaking of the Bay Bridge. :)

Here's a glimpse of the Downtown Financial Center as we're just about to go under the Bay Bridge.

The Ferry Building welcoming us to The Port of San Francisco. Coit Tower in the background.

Another view of the Ferry Building and the Financial District.

This guy wasn't messin' around. GET OUT OF HIS WAY!!

Oh look! A big huge cruise ship, the Dawn Princess, was getting ready to leave for New York City via Mexico and the Panama Canal that afternoon. And another shipping vessel, probably from the Orient, just arriving.

In the map, you'll notice that we barely went around the northern edge of San Francisco. That's because as soon as we rounded the bend, the winds got even worse. We originally wanted to go all the way out to the Golden Gate Bridge, but I knew we still had to go all the way back in that choppy water. I had to call a timeout and tell Jimmy that if we didn't turn back now, I wouldn't get home in one piece. Don't get me wrong, I was loving the views and enjoyed seeing them from the water, but the weather, around 60 degrees, with the wind, just wasn't cooperating with me.

So we said quick hello and goodbye to the sea lions at Pier 39 and headed back, hoping that the wind would be at our back and push us gently back to the marina.
to be con't...
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10 legs?

We had no idea that a crab had 10 legs. Sure we've seen this Fisherman's Wharf landmark dozens of times, but I never counted the legs. Jimmy however, did. We initially thought they made a mistake. Then we saw restaurant sign w/ a crab photo, yup, 10 legs. So when we got home, we had to look it up. It's so funny the completely obvious things you learn 41 years later.
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A Better View

So after watching the sunset at the San Leandro Marina, Jimmy surprised me by actually going into the city. We got ice cream at Ghirardelli Square, got it to-go and watched the cable cars line up at Hyde Street, listened to the street performer play Pearl Jam and Pink Floyd songs and watched the people enjoying their drinks at the Buena Vista. Then we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to Fort Baker get this cool view of one of the most photographed structures in the world.
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How 'bout now?

Maybe that other photo was too dark...can you find the Golden Gate Bridge in this one?
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