The end of a journey

I always have mixed emotions at the end of a journey. On the one hand I'm ready to be in my own home again, surrounded by comforting friends and known things. But on the other hand, I'm sad that a journey I've invested so much time and energy into is over. And there's also the overwhelming realization that there's a stack of bills needing to be paid, and appointments needing to be made, and countless other things that an ordinary routine requires of a mom. The end of a journey is the end of something big and there's a sadness in that knowledge.
So today, the last day of our month long journey, is upon us and we soaked it in for what it was and what it meant.




We began our day after actually having slept till 7:30 am. Amazing for a jetlag weary family. We headed over to the Ferry Building for a breakfast and Blue Bottle mocha--probably my favorite coffee company, anywhere. The Ferry Building is great for its variety. We got some Argentinian empanadas from a local Argentinian vendor and we sat outside on the water and literally soaked in the amazing San Fran weather. I don't think I've ever been to San Francisco and had this good of weather--especially in the summer. But this has been perfect weather and it's been a lovely way to end this trip.












Then we caught a cab to the Exploritorium, a museum for all ages that describes itself as a museum of art, science and human perception. It's hands on and is really about the intersections of how we experience reality in relation to art and the sciences. It's housed near the water in the old Palace of Fine Arts--an ornate building purpose built for the San Francisco World's Fair in the early years of the 20th Century. The inside housed all the fine arts on display from all over the world. But now it's the Exploritorium.




This is a picture of the interior of the building before they built it out as the Exploritorium.




Sorry for the blur. This is what it looks like now.




There are so many hands on displays and experiments here that it's actually a bit overwhelming. Declan in particular really loved the displays and learned all about things like color perception, vortex, light spectrum, partical accelerators, zoetropes, wind velocity, probability, magnetism, simple pulleys, gears, and on and on. I think we may have done about a fourth of all there was to do here. But at some point we just petered out and our brains had hit max capacity. Do you ever experience this at museums. It's also how I experience art museums. I feel brain fatigue after a few hours. So we grabbed a very surprisingly healthy cafe lunch here (I say healthy because after all, this IS San Francisco).
































And after we'd had our homeschool field trip, we decided to walk over to the beach next to the old Crissy Field airport, which is now just an open field with buildings from the time before WWII.




This is the only beach I've ever been to in San Francisco. This part of Northern California is known more for rocky beaches than real sand ones. But today the weather was amazing and we were going to make the most of it. Econ Man had a little shut eye on a barrier wall, and the boys did what little boys do best--build things in the sand.







(That's Alcatraz on the island in the distance.)




Dash practiced his Kung Fu with a fighting stick (after being in Asia my boys are REALLY into Kung Fu moves).




When we wanted to leave we couldn't find a taxi, which seems to be a problem in this city. It's the only city I've ever been to where taxis are really hard to come by--unless you are very near a true tourist zone. We called two cab companies and waited for a little over half an hour for one to arrive. We finally returned back to the hotel in time to head out for dinner at a little Southern comfort food hideaway near Union Square and Chinatown. We all toasted an amazing journey's end and ate our hearts out on true Southern food prepared by authentic Southerners. And then Tess and Dash fell asleep, and Declan drew this picture.




We returned to pack and then Econ Man took Declan out for some daddy time at the Cheesecake Factory while Dash and Tess and I had mommy time.




Tomorrow's departure comes early. We'll be sad to leave but so happy to once again sleep in our own beds tomorrow night. As they say, the best thing about going away is coming home.
Who knows, maybe when Tess is 3 we'll be crazy enough to try this around the world thing once again...




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Tuesdays with family

Thanks to my genius husband we had salami slices to eat at 5 am when we all woke up groggy and hungry with no way of returning to sleep. We hovered around like a wolf pack, each member awaiting their turn to feast. It was like we couldn't feed the kids fast enough. And I really needed a coffee. But our favorite coffee place--Blue Bottle--didn't open till 6:30. So we changed clothes and headed on a hunt to find their location nearer our hotel. Using our iPhone map app we followed the route through a not so great part of town known as the Tenderloin. We kind of skirted its edge actually, but enough for me to count on both hands the number of crazies, drunks, and strung out. This is a rough part of San Fran very near Union Square and you wouldn't usually even go near it unless you were headed somewhere in particular. And like all reurbanized locals, the Tenderloin is dotted here and there with the truly visionary and courageous artists who see in the area an opportunity to make beauty out of cow poop. So here and there are evidence of a new urbanism where one day lofts will stand where once was abandoned burned out buildings filled with prostitutes and drug users. Today I was tightly holding hands as Declan stopped to stare at a crazy man yelling at passers by. This gave us ample conversation topic at coffee.








Just at the edge of the Tenderloin is the old building of the San Francisco Mint. Now abandoned, the city has earmarked it as a future museum of minting and money. It's just across the alley from The Blue Bottle Coffee shop so as we awaited the doors to open for the day, we parused the Mint building.




This is a picture of the Mint just after the 1906 Earthquake that decimated much of San Francisco. It's such a beautiful building. It's amazing it survived the quake when everything around it was turned to rubble.




Us waiting in the opening cue for Blue Bottle Coffee.




Inside Blue Bottle Coffee








The most amazing Mocha anywhere.








Later we headed over to Pier 41 to rent bikes to bike over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. It's become a tradition with us that whenever we are in San Francisco we bike the bridge. It's really a lot of fun and given we are still jetlaging the exercise will do wonders for our brains. Once we got past the really unhelpful and unfriendly bike rental agent, we were on our way--Declan on a ride-a-long with me, and Tess and Dash in a bike trailer with Dave. Declan was really nervous about the ride-a-long, but kept telling himself to find his courage. It was very cute. And once he did find his courage he did amazing and really began to enjoy himself. He kept telling me how much fun he was having and that he just loved biking with me and that his friends would be so impressed that he biked from San Francisco all the way to Sausalito.
















And no trip by bike over to Sausalito would be complete without eating at Fish on the marina. By far the best seafood around these parts.








Dash was so tired when we got there that he crashed on the bench.












They have the most amazing crab rolls this side of New England. I think I gained 5 pounds just looking at it.








We walked the marina and Tess found a 50' sail boat she really liked, so I told her daddy would buy her a sailboat one day. (he he he!)








That's San Fran in the distance.








While we waited for the ferry to take us back to Pier 41, we stopped for some fresh made ice cream at Lapperts. Really divine ice creams.








And from the ferry we could see Alcatraz. I told Declan all about it. I always thought that as far as prisons go, you couldn't have asked for better views in all directions.








When we returned to the hotel Dash and daddy had some daddy time together while Declan hung out with the girls.




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