San Francisco

We drove up Highway 101 from LA to San Francisco, through the remains of the fires that had raged the entire time we were in LA. It was so smokey that we couldn't see the sun set over the Pacific and you could smell the smoke everywhere. We drove through the area that was burned north of LA and where the students at a private religious school huddled in the gym while the fire destroyed several dorms and faculty housing.

Anita is walking, talking a blue streak and is generally a really sweet grandchild. We met her nanny, who speaks Spanish with her, and Jason, the other child she cares for. Anita understands the Spanish completely, though she won't speak it. While Alice and Jens worked, Bob and I took various excursions. Bob played disc golf, we visited Berkeley, we rode the ferry from Oakland to San Francisco and walked through the rehabbed Ferry building which is now filled with upscale food stores. Jens gave us a tour of downtown Oakland and all the urban renewal projects he has been a part of. Mayor Jerry Brown wanted to create housing and move 10,000 people into downtown to revitalize it. That has generally worked, though the condo frenzy has resulted in overbuilding and rental of apartments instead of sale of condos. Along with housing, big new buildings have also been constructed. Among them is another Catholic Cathedral on the edge of Lake Merrick. It is very modern; made of alabaster on the outside and wood wings/panels on the inside. The image of Christ is created by holes drilled through steel and the light that comes through them. It also is a very striking building. Both these modern cathedrals are partly funded by the sale of spaces in the mausoleum below them.

While Bob played the disc golf course in Golden Gate Park, I took a walking tour of China Town. I had been wanting to do this for years. It was really interesting. There were six of us; 80 year old newly weds from Phoenix, a land use planner from Portland, a young man doing his PhD on the sociology of the language used by candidates and politicians related to "green" and "renewable" energy and his dad. The women who guided us grew up in China Town. The Chinese came over during the Gold Rush and then worked on the railroads. Shortly after their arrival, immigration laws prohibited any more Chinese from coming in so the male:female ratio was 27:1. Until 1952 Chinese could not own property and were concentrated in China Town. This pagoda was actually the first telephone exchange in China Town. The operators knew everyone in China Town and you didn't need to know the phone number. If the person didn't have a phone they would send one of their children to deliver the message.

We also stopped in an upscale tea shop where we tasted wonderful tea and saw how it should be brewed (the leaves are quickly soaked in hot water and then drained and then new water is added to steep; only a small quantity is brewed at any time and the leaves can be steeped multiple times while small cups of tea are sipped). The prices were amazing too (up to $380/pound), though a pound of tea will last most of a year. We stopped at a fortune cookie manufacturer (at the request of the elderly couple).

This was a temple to the goddess who is the counterpart of Buddha. The fruits are offerings.

This is an example of a tong, or family fraternal organization similar to the Italian mafia. We finished with a lunch (delicious but not very adventurous).

In addition to visiting Alice and Jens, we went out to dinner with a bronzesmith that Bob met in Guatemala and his new Polish wife who is a painter. He showed us his workshop which is certified green even though it is a manufacturing facility. He makes wonderful things for very high-end clients. We also looked for Markus' passports which he thought he had left in Berkeley (we didn't find them).

On Thursday November 20 we headed up I-5 towards Ashland and a quick visit to the Elizabeth Robinson B&B. We really wanted to get home, but spent a lovely time with Elizabeth who treated us royally (chocolates on the pillows). We arrived home Friday mid-afternoon.

It was a great adventure. The United States is beautiful (even states I never would have thought of as being beautiful). People are wonderful, particularly when you can spend enough time with them to talk and really get to know them. I don't think we will ever again travel for 6 months at a time unless we are living abroad, but there are many places we want to go back to and explore further. In reality we didn't camp that much because we were visiting family and friends and staying in their homes. As a result, I came home with a lot of the food I had left with. We discovered that we could live with very few things, though I am glad to have more variety in my clothes. The space in the house is wonderful, though there are a lot of things that need to be done.

Thanks to all who hosted us along the way.