Trip Report Part II: San Francisco

The weekend in San Francisco was exactly what I needed. The cool temperatures coupled with the disconnect from the day-day grind of the past few months was a welcomed relief. The oppressive heat in Texas this summer has really put a damper on a lot of outdoor activities. Afternoon/evening golf is brutal, more than a mile or two at Town Lake is all I can handle, and the worst part of all is that Lake Travis is so low only one boat ramp is open — The Strickland’s place has been unnavigable since May. (As of July 9^th, Lake Travis is at 614’, 27’ below normal for July).

The ability to walk around San Francisco with a sweatshirt on and marvel at the awe-inspiring views was without a doubt the most enjoyable part of the trip. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the visit to Sonoma County. I am now a self-proclaimed wine connoisseur due to the fact I can affectively articulate why 2007 was a much better year for California wine than 2008. I also enjoyed the Astros/Giants game, even though the Astros failed to show up for the second day in a row. However, the faint autumnal chill in the San Francisco air makes you suffer a moment of vertigo, a feeling that you are intimately involved with the turning of the Earth, the orbiting of the moon and of the planets. It is almost too beautiful to bear. It almost makes you want to stay forever.

Almost all the people you meet in San Francisco, it seems, have come from somewhere else. They are the seekers, the adventurers, the people dissatisfied with things as they are. Most have brought with them something of the '49ers' spirit, the crazy optimism of the men and women who traversed a continent in covered wagons questing for gold, then kept going west to transform a small, rough seaport town into a fantasy of elegance, opulence, and eccentricity. All the clichés—the cable cars, the foghorns, the celebrated restaurants—are here for the taking. But this jewel of a city is also a place of exuberant rebelliousness where nothing is accepted merely because it has been in the past. It is a place where the inhabitants keep trying out new ideas about health and nutrition, hidden human potentials, spirituality, and sexuality in the laboratories of their lives, then spread these ideas to the nation and the world. The results are a wee bit o' heaven for everyone: But in a city that is so beautiful, exciting, and cosmopolitan you’ll always find something that fits your taste. My advice: Just go!