San Francisco, Day 3

The Wise and Bearded One had one objective for our trip: he wanted to see some redwoods.  The Muir Woods are only a few miles north of the city across the Golden Gate Bridge. I must admit, my knowledge of California geography prior to moving to the west coast was pretty sketchy.  It still is.   It wasn't until we were actually in San Francisco and I was looking at the map that I learned that the town of Sausalito was also just across the Golden Gate Bridge.

You may not know this, but I have a MAJOR crush on Heath Ceramics.  This little company has been producing beautiful functional ceramics since 1948 in its factory in.....yes, indeed, Sausalito, California.  I immediately added another item to our itinerary.

As the sun came out, we head across the Golden Gate Bridge in our rental car.  We grabbed brunch at a coffeeshop and then mapped our way to the Heath factory.  I'm thankful for the mapping function of the iPhone or I'm not sure we would have found the humble factory tucked in an industrial park.

Although the building wasn't spectacular, the contents were!  The factory shop sells a well-curated collection of design books, housewares, and Heath.  I admired the clean lines, eggshell glaze, and perfect shapes of Heath's dishware.  Since I can't quite justify spending $33 per plate, I only have a few small Heath bud vases that have been given to me as gifts.  Lucky for me, the factory shop sells all the "wups" Heath pieces at a significant discount.  And even luckier for me, they ship it to you for cheap!  I restrained myself to a modest purchase of dinnerware, but I'm already plotting a return trip by car to fill the trunk!

Only the Sprout's restlessness, kept me from whiling away the rest of my day in the Heath shop.  Visions of a toddler temper tantrum in the middle of an expensive ceramics shop roused me to move on. 

Since she was losing her cool, we drove around the coastal areas for an hour or so to accommodate a "car nap" before we ended up at Muir Woods. My two treehuggers were thrilled to be back in the deep greenery so similar to our Oregon trails.  The trees were just a LOT bigger!

 And then as the day was winding down we drove back to the Golden Gate Bridge.  It really is a stunningly beautiful bridge.

San Francisco, Days 1 & 2

Even though the Sprout has logged a lot of air miles in her three short years, I still wig out a little bit every time we plan a trip.  I have great dread of being the mom of That Child on the airplane who screams the entire flight.  Fortunately, my fears are unfounded (so far).  The Sprout is a good little traveller who is thrilled to go the the "Hairport" and fly on a "Hairplane".  As long as we keep her stocked in snacks and water and supplied with plenty of videos downloaded to the Ipad, she is a cheery seatmate.  She does like to turn up the volume extra loud on the Wonder Pets theme song, but hopefully the engine noise drowned that out for the passengers around us.

Travelling with a three-year-old definitely changes the way we travel.  She is so excited to see new things:  cars, boats, trains, cable cars--all forms of transportation delight her.  Museums, historical sites, shopping--not so much.   We spent a lot of time finding playgrounds and researching ways to get around San Francisco that never required walking for more than a mile at at time.  The Sprout will trot along happily for a good 3/4ths of a mile, then suddenly her entire body will go limp, her jaw will slacken and she will say "Mama, my legs don't work any more."   Then we use a combination of cajoling, carrying and bribery to get her the last hundred yards or so to our destination. I suppose we could have brought a stroller, but we never use one at home so I didn't even think of trucking it along.

The first two days we were in San Francisco, the Wise and Bearded One was down with a hellacious cold.   We slept in every morning, and he was happy to take afternoon nap duty in our hotel room with the Sprout.  She still a devout napper, generally out for two or three hours.  In between naps and bedtimes we rode the cable cars and scouted out the parks.  The photos above of the carousel and concrete slide are at the Golden Gate Park.  We also enjoyed the Yerba Buena playground downtown.  

Other than the cable cars, San Francisco feels a lot like Seattle to me.  It has the same west coast vibe--- the hippy leftovers, the hills, the older homes, the newer hipsters, and the emphasis on local sustainable food.  Plus it has the beautiful Bay and bridges that remind me of Puget Sound.  I almost expected to see Mt. Rainier on the horizon.  The fact that it was overcast and grey the first days we were in San Francisco only strengthened the comparison.

That's quite alright with me because Seattle is one of my favorite cities and I'll happily add San Francisco to that list.  We only scratched the merest surface of the city and have left much to explore for a future trip.

Break, Broke

Hey there friends!

I realize I am a terrible blogger when I just disappear for days on end with no explanation.  But, let me assure you, terrible blogging usually means that I am busy LIVING.  And we all agree that is far more important, right?!

Spring Break.  I don't know if non-teachers out there realize this, but right now professional educators are more than a little depressed.  We have weathered years of negative press that continues to tell us that we suck at our jobs on a daily basis.  (If I read one more headline about how "our schools are failing us" I may just move to Canada.)  We deal with stressed out kids and families on a daily basis who are losing their jobs, their homes, their safety nets.  And now most of us our worried about our jobs.   Class sizes are already large.  Cuts have already gone deep.  Will our schools survive until the economy recovers?  Will the attack on the unions continue?  Will we even want to be teachers anymore if the conditions become too unsustainable?

I'm not trying to get all political here on this blog or be all depressing, but this is where my mind is at these days.  And Spring Break.  It's a necessary time.  A time to catch up on sleep, rejuvenate, clean your house in broad daylight, hug your long-suffering husband, chase your precocious three-year-old and just remind yourself that life is good.  Really good.

At the last minute, we planned a 5-day trip to San Francisco to meet up with some of our dearest friends who were also in California on vacation.  Rod, Nathalie, Kai, Sheldon, Ericka, Andrew--they are part of a group of friends we've maintained over the years.  We all grew up in the same community, in the same conservative Mennonite religious tradition, and even went to the same schools.  Now we live all over the country (and the world) and our thoughts on faith and religion are about as varied as they could possibly be, yet we've found ways to stay friends through the years.  Hanging out with them is like a glass of cool water on a hot day.

And then spring break was over and we came back and plunged right back into the thick of things at work again.  And I'm trying to hold onto that rested feeling, that cool water.  Perhaps if I share photos from our trip over the next few days, I'll hold onto it a little longer.