Ca-Li-FOR-ni-A! (It’s a Nation State)

San Francisco is not that big – 46.9 square miles per Wiki when in comparison the San Fernando Valley is 260 square miles. That’s a huge difference.

But check out all those neighborhoods. Every few blocks you’re in a new area with its own very distinct identify.

(internet pix)

I stayed an extra day because I wanted to check out the de Young Museum.

The museum opened in 1895 and has been housed in various buildings, this current venue opening in 2005. Check out that viewing tower. Very cool.

(internet pix)

January 18

La Taqueria, as they say: The Best Tacos & Burritos In The Whole World.

…we went for an entertaining walk…

Roger and Sandy and I, after visiting at their home, enjoyed a delicious lunch at La Taqueria on Mission and then…

…along Mission and along Valencia.

From inside the ticket plaza.

Views from the tower, the Golden Gate Bridge peeking out from the other side of the Presidio.

A nice feeling for San Francisco neighborhoods. I haven’t had one single hour of cloudy or foggy weather in the past week. Amazing, and lucky for me.

And the hills, which I am feeling for the walking around, oh yes.

This is an Irving Petlin painting called The Burning of Los Angeles, 1965-1967. I’m surprised to have not run across this during the year of Pacific Standard Time. Maybe they just kept it here.

A big and irresistible-to-me reflect-o work by Josiah McElheny, a small portion shown here, called Model for Total Reflective Abstraction (after Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi), 2003.

Right around the corner from my hotel is another hotel, many hotels actually, but this one is called Marine’s Memorial Club & Hotel.

The view from The Leatherneck’s Restaurant .. copied from their website: “Originally dedicated as a “living memorial” to the U.S. Marines who served in the Pacific during World War II, the Marines’ Memorial Club & Hotel has been an outstanding fixture in San Francisco’s Union Square since 1946.

“A classic 1920’s Beaux-Arts hotel with an inviting atmosphere, the Marines’ Memorial Club & Hotel blends traditional décor and modern comforts with rich history, honor and pride. Our extraordinary staff displays an unmatched level of commitment to both the Club and its members and our other esteemed guests.”

The restaurant – it was fun with a piano player who never took a break and an hors d’oeuvre tray made up of olives, carrots, celery, and radish, just like my mother used to put out.

January 17

Yesterday morning I showed you the cat that joined me for breakfast. Today the dog stopped by too.

I drove out to Novato to visit with Bob and Desda, but I didn’t take any pictures .. oh no. So instead I collected some recent pictures off the internet to tell about what they’ve been doing.

Bob (on the left) and his band The Fibrillators. Check them out at thefibrillators.com.

Desda’s BOOK! It’s big and beautiful and available at amazon.com.

And we walked, and ate, and visited for the whole happy day.

I spent a great day wandering around the Presidio.

January 16

It’s my morning complimentary coffee and scrumptious warm fresh almond croissant offered in the hotel’s sitting room where I am joined by the hotel’s cat.

Here kitty kitty, mascot and logo of the Golden Gate Hotel.

First stop Crissy Field. What a fantastic place and I’ve never been here before. It was totally wow with plenty of trails and packs of dogs running free.

Every dog-walker in SF must come here. Each walker had 5-8 dogs and I was quite impressed with how it all worked. What looked like certain chaos was actually very much under control.

And the parking? Plentiful, and Free!

Copied from Ms Wiki: “In 1994 the National Park Service took over the Presidio, and Crissy Field was declared a ‘derelict concrete wasteland’ by the NPS.

“Due to environmental concerns about the former airfield, the NPS and the Environmental Protection Agency used funds to monitor the area’s chemical, biological and physical variables.

“The NPS eventually worked with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy to revitalize the area and the Crissy Field Center was opened to the public in 2001.”

It’s really great, with a carefully protected estuary, great lawns where the airfield once stood, and refurbished buildings from ‘back in the day’.

Fort Point is around the corner from this picture.

There are tons of walking trails all through the giant Presidio…

…and biking opportunities galore. There are many companies that will gladly rent you a bike.

Hi cutie.

I had another nice walk along the Land’s End trail. One of the destinations from the trail…

…the Legion of Honor museum specializing in European art…

…and opening with one of the about 28 castings of Rodin’s The Thinker. You can drive of course where there is plenty of free parking, although the admission is dang high.

More walks, this one beginning above the Sutro Baths.

A nearby view of the Great Highway where I spent the first five years of my life in one of those ten foot wide three stories tall houses that front the Highway.

There’s even a picture of me on this beach which is why I ‘remember’ it.

Ah, The Cliff House, a classic. Parking? Plentiful and free, along the road.

The Cliff House sits there above the Giant Camera.

You don’t have to spend the big bucks to enjoy the Cliff House. There a lounge, a bar, and a café as well as the white table cloth restaurant.

Going into Chinatown, I remember the gate as being fancier, but all the internet pictures are the same so it must be, and we are not at all surprised are we, me remembering it wrong.

January 15

Nancy and I spent some time with the family today and then in the mid-afternoon I dropped her off at the airport and checked into a charming little place – ‘classic’, ‘historic’, bathroom-down-the-hall accommodation a few blocks from Union Square, Chinatown, and Nob Hill.

And I got a complimentary upgrade, my bathroom is now In the room and Not down the hall.

Around the ‘hood.

I put this picture here to remind me of the pleasures of travel. I went in because from the outside there were fine huge stained glass windows facing the street but from inside you couldn’t see them.

I asked a guy who was walking out what the story was on the windows and he said although he’d been going to this church for many years he had never noticed. I said yeah, I’m a tourist and he said yeah, fresh eyes.

I said thanks and continued on. Several blocks later this same fellow hurried up to me to tell me the answer. He had chased down the priest to find out and didn’t want me to leave town not knowing the story of the windows. We should all be so kind to tourists.

A view.

Neon and Chinatown lamp posts.

The Chinatown area seemed in pretty good shape meaning the shops were all open and full of goods and the restaurants too were lively.

Half way up and down the blocks in both directions of the main street were lit and active too.

Back at the gate.

Then we bought round-trip tickets to Sausalito riding the catamaran out and the boat back. Coincidently this picture I got off the internet has our exact two boats.

(internet pix)