Wednesday, 15 May 2019
our last day in California. we’d already been to Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia National Parks. today, we were spending in San Francisco. my oldest daughter had never been so we explored a bit: went over the Golden Gate bridge, walked around Fisherman’s’ Wharf, etc.
it’s funny but it just really hit me that this diary entry will not be about Muncie. we were out of town on this day so it will be about Muncie-ites traveling elsewhere and our reactions to that.
we enjoy San Francisco in particular and California in general. getting away from “middletown, america” is always a good thing. IMHO, Muncie is okay but it can’t beat California’s (northern CA) weather, people, landscapes, and culture. you can’t see ephemeral, snowmelt waterfalls here nor quiet, green, dark mountain rivers, sequoia, sugar pine cones as big as your head, dolphins in the bay, orchards of oranges, pistachios, and almonds, the best sour dough in the world, the smell of bay laurels, etc., etc.
so, we were in San Francisco this day with all the kids. partly a graduation present for two of them and partly an anniversary present for my wife and I. we had visited Coit Tower the night before and watched the animation lights on the Bay Bridge from there. we ate breakfast at a boulangerie we had found on a previous trip, lunch at the Boudin on the Wharf, and dessert at Ghirardelli’s. we watched the sea lion colony at Pier 39 and shopped lots of quirky places on the pier, too. we played antique games and kinescopes at Musee Mechanique. buskers and other street performers were not to be seen because of the rain. too bad. we did see loads of snails oozing all over some landscaping though.
finally, we had to head to the airport to catch our flight. we grabbed a bite at a sushi place and then waited. We tried to sleep on the plane but that’s always difficult even when you’re very tired.
one of my take-aways from San Fran and California in general is that culture differs and as nice as midwesterners like to think they are, they are not. to provide just one instance of many, we pulled into a gas station to fill up the rental. the station was tight and we were going to have to either wait for the person in front of us to leave or hope we could back out and turn around. the pump in front of us freed up, I finished pumping, and a pickup truck started to pull in to the empty pump. I watched the driver look around, assess the situation, and make a choice. he stopped, backed up, and rolled down his window.
“you leaving?” he asked.
“we are!” i responded.
“thought so. I didn’t want to block you.” faith in humanity restored somewhat.
“thank you so much!” i said and drove out.
I have never had anyone in the midwest be so alert to their surroundings nor so considerate of their own power over others.
the thing that has made more of a lasting impact with us, though, every time we come back, is the landscape. it’s so very flat and small here. it’s surprising how quickly the human mind can become used to things. we spent days and days in the mountains where the sky was so far above you had to crane your neck and the trees so tall you had to do the same. their boles were bigger around that many cars and some houses. back here, the trees are small (even the ones we used to think were big) and the ground flat. the buildings, of course, don’t rise up very high either. travel broadens the mind for sure and makes you yearn for more.