A Whirlwind Tour

The hustle and bustle of the big city of San Francisco was a bit of a shock to our rested, nature-centered spirits at first.  We tried to ease in slowly by stopping at the Marin Headlands to catch a glimpse of the Golden Gate and stop in at the Visitor's Center for a Passport Stamp - that was familiar territory...  The fog was rolling in across the bay and over the bridge, but we welcomed the sunshine and warmth.  But then we took the kids for a short walk out onto the bridge itself just to give them a sense of scale and let them feel what it's like to have the traffic whizzing by...Whoosh!  Ka-thunk, ka-thunk.  Whoosh.  Whoosh.  You can feel it in your very bones.

It took us a bit to get our feet moving to the pace of the city.  We checked out the Palace of Fine Arts and the Presidio first.  LucasFilm Studios (George Lucas) are headquartered in the Presidio, and outside their main lobby is a statute of Yoda of Star Wars fame with a fountain.  Isaac has just recently become very interested in all things Star Wars...so we made a surprise stop in to see Yoda, and were even able to catch a glimpse of Darth Vader and Boba Fett in the lobby (through the glass).  Pretty cool surprise for a six year-old boy...all smiles from ear to ear.

We wandered the city doing lots of stereotypical San Francisco tourist things like riding the cable cars, eating ice cream sundaes for lunch at Ghirardelli Square, walking through Chinatown and Little Italy, going up in Coit Tower, and of course...touring the Gallery at One Market in the Autodesk offices.  Matt comes out to the San Francisco offices a good bit, and the kids wanted to see where Daddy "works."  They are convinced that all he does at home is stayed holed-up in his office talking on the phone and typing on the computer...  so now they know a little more about what he does when he's working - even from home.

Riding on the high from playing with legos at Daddy's office, Isaac managed to get a little too rambunctious at the plaza fountain just across the street...and...he fell in.  He somehow stepped in between the concrete squares you are supposed to walk on - and then proceeded to blame the design of the fountain.  "Why did they put those spaces there?" he asked as he was dripping wet.  I think we were really just lucky he didn't break his leg in the process.  Clothes and shoes may stay wet for a while, but they dry out eventually.

As our tummies began to rumble for dinner, we ate at a wonderful little Thai restaurant on Washington Square.  Isaac had never tried Thai food before and was convinced that he wouldn't like it, but he managed to find one or two things he could tolerate...chicken satay and peanut sauce, particularly.  It hit the spot for me as we had been talking about eating Thai since the Badlands in South Dakota.  Abby (our adventurous eater) even decided that she preferred our Panang Curry to her "bland" Pad Thai.  That's my girl!

The evening was put to rest at Crissy Field - the kids played in the sand while Matt and I watched the sunset over the Golden Gate.  We watched the boats and the sailboards out on the bay and, once again, counted our many blessings...

Tracy