San Francisco--Haighted It the last day--Day 4

A QUICK MORNING WASHDOWN!

Sunday Morning at home is usually started early sitting outside at Pipe's Cafe in Cardiff having morning coffee and lots of carbs, while reading the Sunday paper. Farley's was an excellent substitute, and since our landlord was gone for the weekend her Sunday Chronicle was just laying there on the stoop looking for a reader! I was standing in the doorway at the top of the stoop looking out, mouth agape, wondering what was going on! It was pouring rain! Here at last was the kind of weather that would make our day in the City something much different from all the sunshine we saw day after day in San Diego! I told Nancy that we would have to drive to Farley's if we wanted to stay dry, so we dashed across the street to the Volvo and drove the 2 blocks. By the time we got there, the rain had let up, and in another 15 minutes the Sun had begun to peek through the clouds. It looked like it would not be the slow paced, wet, misty day we had been looking for all week.

While we absorbed caffiene, we planned our last day. Our plane would take off just after 4 pm, so we had a good part of the day to tour around as we desired. Matt had never made it to Cal State SF, so we thought we should take a ride over that way so he could see the campus. The trip to that side of town dictated that we cruise the Ocean Beach area, drive through Golden Gate Park, and hit the Haight district for brunch and shopping.

When we got back to the apartment about 9:30, both Matt and Sara were up and about and were talking about where we could go to eat! We shared the plan we had devised at Farley's and decided to pack up everthing in the car so we did not have to come back before heading to the airport later in the day. Nancy left a nice note for the landlord and hoped she would look kindly on us and let us return sometime in the future! To that end we left the place in immaculate condition!

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH SARA

The designated driver headed us down 16th street westward in the general direction of our first destination, which was either going to be Golden Gate Park or Cal State SF. For a moment I forgot myself and actually had possession of the map, noting what I thought would be the best route to take. I was given an opinion reminding me of my rightful place in the back seat, while the designated driver and her mother discussed the way to go. Earlier in the week, they had made a trip to Haight and I presumed that they knew the right route.

We passed through Harvey Milk Plaza in The Castro , and headed west past the Panhandle towards Golden Gate Park. The designated driver had been to a concert there recently so knew her way around. There was a mob at the park waiting in a line for something to happen, which Sara surmised must be a free concert since it was near the area where her concert had occurred. I wistfully thought that perhaps, since it was a younger crowd, they were in line to have a demonstration of some type, since the park was very close to Haight and to three universities (USF,UCSF, & SFSU). That would have been a great way to spend some of Sunday, carrying a protest banner in the park in San Francisco!!

MATT'S TOUR!

We headed south towards SFSU to give Matt a view of the Campus, since he had missed his college friend and his anticipated tour. It was a a nice campus, institutional looking, with alot of student housing apartments in the area. It was next to a big park and only a few blocks from the beach. The most exciting aspect of the campus was that it was right across the street from Harding Municipal Golf Course, which has an excellent reputation as one of the best public courses in San Francisco! I think I will encourage Matt to attend!

We took the Ocean Beach route past the Zoo and back towards Golden Gate Park. It was a sunny morning, but a bit blustery. Not many people appeared to be at the beach, although it was difficult to tell since there were big sand dunes between the road and the actual beach area. Even on a sunny day my guess was that the water temperature was probably 10 degrees colder than in San Diego, which did not make the air temperature hospitable for sun bathing, but was probably great for a brisk walk along the shore! We didn't stop, although I had the urge to say something. It was obvious, however, that the designated driver was moving on to a destination which had a possibility of providing an opportunity to quiet the growl in Matt's stomach.

We reached that famous intersection, Haight and Ashbury, and Sara turned on her parking radar, driving around the streets looking for the one open space in the area. It turned out to be a couple blocks south of Haight St, and as usual, after a couple tries, she successfully paralleled the Volvo into the space.

LOVE THAT HAIGHT!!

The Haight commercial area is about 4-5 blocks long. The west end butts up to Golden Gate Park and ends with the famous Ameoba Music store. The Ameoba is a San Francisco force in promoting the music business, has been there forever, and is a cavernous space filled with new and used records, including old LPs as well as new CDs. Rollingstone Magazine calls it "The World's Greatest Music Store". Sara bought a jazz CD by someone I had never heard of!

It was almost 1 pm, and the street was very busy with mostly a younger crowd shopping and looking for brunch. We walked the length of the street past all the psychadelic shops selling tie dyes, and smoking paraphenalia, some old record stores, and a wide variety of eateries, serving crepes to tacos. Matt and I browsed through a big music/instrument store which specialized in guitars and drums. Nancy and Sara shopped for shoes.

THE PORK STORE!!

After looking in the windows of most of the prospects for eating establishments, Sara and Nancy decided that we should stand in line at a joint called "The Pork Store" which obviously had been there for a long time and had a line out the door. I looked in the window and saw huge plates piled high with omeletes, hash browns, and biscuits and gravy. It looked like my kind of place, and based on the amount of food to consume, I thought a better name might be "The Porker Store"! In about 20 minutes we were in and seated at an "A" table in the front window! Nancy ordered an omelet and hash browns, and I ordered the biscuits and gravy, and we split it all between us. We managed to clean our plates! Matt and Sara each ordered a pile of carbs also, and Matt got rid of his growl! A picture on the wall from a century ago showed a butcher standing in front of the storefront in an apron. The sausage gravy on the biscuits I had eaten was probably his recipe.

FINIS!

We took another walk up and down the street, and decided there was nothing wrong with getting to the airport a bit early. So off we went, the designated driver once again in charge of our destiny. It turned out that to get to the airport we had to go back through the Mission District to the Potrero District which was where our apartment was located, head south on Potrero Ave and connect into the freeway going south to SFO. As we passed through Mission I noticed another small old storefront with a sign that said "The Pork Store". It must have been a chain! Sara asked if Nancy wanted to drive around and try to find her ancestral home since we had some time and had no luck with our earlier effort! Nancy decided that she would find it on her next trip. I think she wanted to have a good reason to return in the future!

Sara left us off at the terminal with hugs, and headed back to Santa Cruz. We went to gate 90 and plopped down to wait for our boarding to be called. The plane was full--it took an hour flight time to get home. The Sun was bright and there was a gentle ocean breeze as we got off the plane. We stopped at El Indio in Old Town to get some Mexican take out to eat at home, as we had done many times over the years.

And went back to the old routine.