BART buddies en route to Danville to see our friends the Willardsons!
Lunch with Valle at an organic cafe in the artsy part (which may describe the whole town, for all we know) of Danville. The waiter seemed offended when Valle asked for a diet coke. They only serve organic foods. I guess the fries were organic too.
Checking out "Batman's car" (per Gayle) parked outside the organic restaurant.
Photo op of the Porsche Carrera.
Three former Mexico North missionaries, 38 years later. Tom Willardson, Gary Redford, and me, in back of Tom's house in Danville - just prior to the cookout at poolside.
The table's set and we're ready for a "Tuscany" meal.
Gayle took this "real life" photo (as opposed to a "still life" painting) of one of Valle's front windows because it resembled a painting. No wonder Valle's car vanity plate says Val Gough (get it?). She actually is an interior decorator. Gayle took numerous shots of the interior because she was in awe.
Standing in front of a fountain sculpture in the Embarcadero district across the street from the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. The weather was gorgeous for SF.
A boat scene from one of the piers at Embarcadero near the market.
This is the restaurant atrium near the lobby at The Palace Hotel (in the financial district) where we stayed and where I later attended an industry meeting.
"Roses are red, my love"...but not as sweet as you! In the hotel lobby.
"I Left My Heart in San Francisco." OK. Enough of the cheesy song references. (Gayle says, "unless we think of any others.") This is at Union Square, where an Indonesian concert was taking place.
What looks out of place in this photo? Actually, nothing. This is San Francisco, after all. (Note: click on the photo to enlarge to appreciate the full effect. You can enlarge any of our photos, by the way.)
Flashback to Woodstock? No. This is a jazz festival in Washington Square. We stopped by and enjoyed a few acts (and watching the people). There are a lot more people behind us, spread out in the park. See the snippet of a video below for a tiny feel for the ambiance. We call this clip "man in hat grooving to the music."
All ages attended. We couldn't resist sharing this photo of a toddler in front of us trying to look a dog in the face. Excuse the man's knee in the foreground.
Of course a visit to Fisherman's Wharf is nearly obligatory. We went out on the pier to see Alcatraz and the seals on the docks. Needless to say, by late afternoon the wind picks up significantly.
After an Italian meal, we went to Beach Blanket Babylon at Club Fugazi. The show is known for exaggerated hats and hairdos (see the program above). Afterward we walked back to the hotel. Since the cable cars were quite crowded, with long lines, we hoofed it everywhere that day, from the hotel to the squares, to the wharf, to dinner, to the play, back to the hotel. With the hills, we got in some good cardio-vascular work.
Sunday morning the usual SF marine overcast rolled back in. We strolled back to the Embarcadero district and caught the line-up for The Church of the Homeless weekly free breakfast to the homeless. Here's one of the regulars.
Gayle on a pier with the bay bridge and Treasure Island in the background.And here's what I wrote on July 28th --
Friday, July 25th, Gayle and I left early for the SLC airport. We flew to SFO and caught the monorail over to BART (bay area rapid transit - train system). It reminded me of my trip to Tokyo last December, and schlepping luggage all over Japan on trains - except this was not nearly as crowded or confusing. We took the blue line to the last stop - the Dublin/Pleasanton station, where Valle Willardson met us, eventually. She went to one side of the tracks and we walked out to the other. What did we do before cell phones? We took the scenic route to their home in Danville, past wild turkeys and even a deer. After a nap, I took a run part way up Mt. Diablo, into the park area. When I got back the ladies were tanning next to the pool and I took a swim with Max, one of Valle's grandchildren. The Willardson's were gracious and let us stay in their guest house. The whole place was awesome. We even enjoyed Madsen, their dog. That night we had a cook-out next to the pool and Gary (another former missionary companion, who happens to live in the Willardsons' ward) and Marsha Redford joined us. We later watched a few things (like a James Bond chase scene and some Neil Young) in their luxurious home theater. I forgot to mention that we got a royal tour as well. We particularly liked the mounted pictures on their wall from our Mexico trip last fall. They were a gift from Tom's brother, Bruce.
Saturday a.m. we all (Tom, Valle, Max, Gayle, and I) went over the bridge to the Embarcadero district and took in the Farmers' Market. We had a late breakfast/lunch at Taylor's and enjoyed sight seeing. We tried to get tickets to go later on an Alcatraz tour, but they were sold out for more than a week ahead. We swung by a theater and I bought tickets for "Beach Blanket Babylon." After the Willardsons dropped us off at my hotel (we came to SF because I am now attending a tradeshow) we checked in and got ready to walk the town. We stayed at (and I'm still at) the Palace Hotel on New Montgomery Street. It's a great location. Gayle and I took off and visited a botanical garden near the Moscone Center. We walked over to Union Square and took in a bit of an Indonesian band's performance (with a cute and talented female lead singer). Then we walked next to China town and over to Washington Square and sat down to watch part of a jazz festival. It looked a bit like Woodstock. Did I mention that the weather was unseasonably nice, clear, and temperate? We next walked downhill to Fisherman's Wharf and "people watched" (and seal watched). Then we backtracked to an Italian restaurant for dinner. This left us just enough time to get to the theater early enough for decent seats for the show, which was a lot of fun. It has been running 34 years, but they keep it current with political spoofs. They took shots at McCain, Obama, Hillary, and Bill, among others. I confess, as good as it was I was fighting keeping my eyes open near the end simply because we hit the late showing, and we had missed several hours of sleep over the prior few days.
Sunday we took the morning easy, reading the Ensign for our "church" services. It turned out to be a cool, overcast day (what a surprise for SF!). We headed down Market Street back to Embarcadero where we just observed and enjoyed. We did happen across The Church of the Homeless, where the Minister (a Harvard educated pastor, who is an ex-hippie) and his wife and others serve breakfast to a long line of homeless - I think each Sunday. They read from the Bible to folks in line, and have a trumpet player performing hymns. It really is a good work they do. Later I saw Gayle off as she boarded the Airport Express to head to SFO. Then I went upstairs to set up the exhibit for the Williamsburg Bioprocessing Foundation's "Single-Use BioProcess Components and Systems" meeting (how exciting sounding) held in this very hotel. I won't bore with details of the meetings so far, except to say I did give a presentation today and I think it went well. Thankfully, our main competitor, who was to present after me, had flight problems, so I had extra time and got more attention.
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