My Perfect Husband

This is my 4th layout for the Type + Writer class. I used the words that Doug said to me a few months ago. The photos are from our recent balloon ride in Napa Valley. Doug has just climbed out of the balloon basket in the top photo, and the bottom left photo is while we are up in the air.

Weeds and Wildflowers Loving You papers; Jessica Sprague Type + Writer template; fonts: Jane Austen, Fertigo Pro, Parma Petit

Day 295: Saying Goodbye

Now came a very hard part of our trip: Saying goodbye to Scott. He had us bringing him to an alley in what is known as the Mission area of San Francisco. A very nice alley, I thought.

Or maybe it's not an alley, but the front? I couldn't figure it out, but there were these really cool sunflowers planted about in small little spaces.


With inspiring signs and quotes. I KNOW Pat will agree with me, but I could swear, even with my limited botanical knowledge, that this is a sunflower and not an apple tree!

And Scott, whom I'm sure loves us dearly, probably felt it was time for us to go, already, (and cease and desist with the photography!) after the wonderful 8 days we got to spend together. We made our way back to Grand Forks, via Minneapolis. Scott made his way to his naval assignment inVirginia Beach, Virginia after a few more days in San Francisco with friends. It's just wonderful, though, having him back in the US, with Verizon connection to us!

Thank you, everyone, for the nice comments on all the photos, and coming along photographically, on this trip with us! I'm going to have to shift my lens now to what's available to me locally. Maybe I'll head out to that buffalo farm and catch a photo of the buffalo with a nice, fall sunset in the background. . . I haven't pestered them in awhile, and they haven't managed to move far away from me!

PS. I just got my November issue of Atlantic Monthly, scanned through it, and noticed an article on blogging. The author says "As you read a log, you have the curious sense of moving backward in time as you move forward in pages--the opposite of a book." And "Logs require a letting-go of narrative because they do not allow for a knowledge of the ending."

Huh. It's true. When I think back to what I wrote here in January, February, I had no clue, other than the broad strokes, of what would come about in my life in the year to come, the things that would sparkle to the surface that I'd want to put on my blog.

Day 294: Last Night of the Seattle/SF Extravaganza Trip

Just outside Ghiradelli were these ships. I thought it looked like a painting! I might have walked closer to get a more tightly framed photo or two, but I was pretty tired of walking, and extremely cold! I was really wishing I'd at least brought a jacket or sweater with me!

In fact, we were all freezing, so we headed off to a nearby Macy's, prompted no doubt by my whining, and searched for jackets that wouldn't cost a fortune. I really like the jacket Scott ended up getting and Doug and I were mainly focused on "warm" and "cheap." When did basic sweatshirt type jackets start costing $70?

Scott's "list" next directed us to the Gold Dust lounge.




We basically zoned out in our own little worlds; Scott with his Blackberry, me with my camera and eavesdropping on the nearby patrons, and Doug tuned into a sports update.


Wish I'd combed my hair a bit before I let Scott get a photo of bedraggled me.



For the trolley, we stood in a long line about the size of our city before turning blue and giving up. We decided it would be not much more to pay for a taxi than the cost of 3 trolley fares, to get to the downtown area and closer to the BART station. (Especially if you factor in 3 funerals for frozen people.)

And taxi drivers are. . . strange. I say that with all due respect, having been one once when I needed to learn to drive. I can't help but wonder about mental status exams, listening to the drivers, laughing, talking in non-sequitars, and discussing what the other drivers on the road are about to do to them, and the things they've seen over the years. But mostly I was just very happy to be sitting down, not cold, and not driving on the mountain roads (with the taxi driver.)

This is how tired we were: after we got back to the hotel, we realized we'd never eaten dinner. And didn't want to. (Remember Ghiradelli's? That might as well be dinner!)

Day 293: The Chocolate-Lover's Dream Stop

Now was a stop that I could get really excited about!

I really regret, though, not taking a picture of the incredibly chocolatey Sundae that we each ordered! Highly gooey, caloric, most likely extremely bad for us . . . but I rationalized that we were walking off piles of calories, thanks to our Drill-Sergeant Tour-Guide Scott!

Day 291 Fisherman's Wharf

After Alcatraz, we headed to Fisherman's Wharf. What's a visit to San Francisco without seeing Fisherman's Wharf?

And I could have looked at these noisy fellows all day long! They just crack me up!

My family was very much "on the move", so I didn't get a good chance to get the perfect positioning of a cable car, but I liked this one well enough.

Scott was trying to track down an apartment to move into, and was becoming quite familiar with his new Blackberry as we walked along.



We ate at the famous Aliotos . . . overpriced, cranky waiters, not particularly good food . . . . but a great view of the Bay, and we got to sit down!

Scott's guidebook next sent us off to Jack's, some kind of microbrewery with lots of beer, or something like that. I was holding out for the next stop. . . .

Day 290: Alcatraz & last vacation day

These photos are from Friday, the last day of our vacation. I thought I could post all of the photos from the last day at once. . . . but what was I thinking????!!!! So I'm breaking the photos down into a few sections. . . and not as many sections as there were for Thursday, the Endless Day! (I actually filled three 2 GB cards on this trip!)

We took the ferry to Alcatraz. . . a pretty predictable touristy thing to do. But actually, I was quite impressed with the National Park Service! What a way to capitalize on the National Park Service--take an old prison, call it part of the park system, and charge admission!

I liked Crater Lake's accommodations much better than this!



Here you can see Golden Gate bridge in the background. What a way to add to the misery of prison life. . . glimpses of a beautiful city, but you're trapped on a cold, inhospitable, rock-prison!



See you tomorrow!

Day 289: And the end of the day, at last!

Oh, Scott was not done with us yet, oh no! Next we passed (and note the emphasis on "passed") this adult bookstore, which, by the way, had a back-to-school discount for teachers.

Then we stopped at this coffee shop, in which the part of the screenplay for "The Godfather" was supposedly drafted.


And we NEEDED that caffeine, because Scott had us climbing and climbing, for blocks, to get to the top of a hill to overlook the Bay. I gave up, got this photo, (and it was beautiful) but wished I had a tripod with me.

Scott SPRINTED the rest of the way to the top of the hill.

And then we realized that we had only 30 minutes to make it back to the BART station, and back to our stop at San Bruno, in order for the shuttle to pick us up at 11:30 pm to bring us back to our hotel. Thank God it was downhill. . . all 20 blocks! We tried to get a cab to pick us up, but no luck. . . Scott finally took pity on us elderly middle-aged, exhausted parents, and apologized the whole 20 blocks for NEARLY KILLING US ON VACATION!!!!!


But my shutter finger was still operative!

Day 288: And there were Still more hours in the day!

Next on our agenda, after dinner, was to continue our walk through downtown San Francisco, and head to Vesuvios.

We headed inside for a drink, but for me the appeal was to take all these colorful photos!







City life in San Francisco is definitely different from "city life" in Grand Forks, ND. I was struck by the ambulances, "at the ready." (eta: as in "impressed", not run over!)

I think the sleeping EMT had it right, but rest was still not on our agenda as Scott shepherded us off to our next stops. . .

Day 287: Endless Vacation Day

Our endless vacation day continues with a ride on the BART from our hotel to China Town in San Francisco. Doug and I followed Scott, and I got a little leery when he led us down this alley. He really did know where he was going (as he always does!), and Doug and I just scrambled to keep up.


And then he led us into a Chinese Fortune Cookie Factory! Such fun! It turns out that I'm a Photo Thief; I didn't see this "Pay 50 cents" sign until I got home and looked at the photo.

Next we were led off to Brandy Ho's Hunan restaurant! It was delicious, and I was starving! There was no room in the Vacation Commando Guide's plan for a lunch stop today, and we'd been on the go since 4 am!

Let there be no doubt: There is NO MSG in their food! There's another rather large sign outside attesting to this fact.


And this was just a cool little grocery that we passed in our endless walking and walking and walking. . .

Day 286: Muir Woods and Redwoods

Before we went on this trip to the west coast, I said to Doug, "Let's make this a relaxing trip. Let's not kill ourselves on this trip." (I know my family!)

On the 25th, starting at 4am, we took our balloon ride over Napa Valley. Then we visited wineries. Next we drove to Muir Woods (on dreaded mountain roads) and saw beautiful redwood trees.

A little tree gnome, no doubt.

And then after the woods, we drove across Golden Gate bridge, found our hotel, and took the BART into downtown San Francisco. More photos to follow!

Day 280: Crater Lake, Mountain Driving Terror, and more Balloon Ride Bliss

First, before I rant and rave about mountain driving, let me point out that after leaving my brother's in Graham, WA, on we stayed overnight in Crater Lake, Oregon, on Monday, Sept 22. Crater Lake National Park is described as "the most under-rated National Park in the U.S" by 1000 Places to See Before you Die. I'm not planning on dying soon, but driving in mountains makes me feel like I might, or might want to.

Anyway, we stayed in a cabin, no TV, no computer, no phone, no cell service. My son and husband, who are clearly not Ludites, practically lost it! Until Scott realized he could still plug-in his computer and play the movie (excellent) Darjeeling Express on it. Personally, I missed having a hair dryer. So this first photo is of my family "roughing it."

Crater Lake is truly beautiful. It's 1943 feet deep, and rests inside a caldera formed approximately 7700 years ago when a 12000' tall volcano collapsed, following a major eruption! Water temperature is 38 degrees year round, and the lake is 4.5 miles by 6 miles across. Beautiful, but you have to drive up mountains to get to it, and walk along look-out points.






Balloon Installment # 4

Yesterday, I posted photos of our launch, and today I'll show you a few photos of us up in the air. This first one is of Frank, our pilot. Both Doug and I independently and unbeknownst to each other, prayed for his health.


These are not technically great photos, but look at the look of bliss on Doug and Scott's faces. That perfectly describes what it felt like up in the air--not intense, but blissful.

This is an aerial (balloonial?) view of a vineyard from our basket:


Another blissfull look, this time on me:


See you tomorrow!