Trip to San Francisco

FRIDAY
Mom, Dad and I headed to Seatac airport for our short flight to San Francisco. The purpose of our trip was to pay a visit to Dad's Aunt Rosy Beelman, who is the sister of his father and to help her celebrate her upcoming 83rd birthday. I hear that she is an incredible woman and my middle name is inspired by her.

After an uneventful flight, our good friends Deb and Lance Logan were kind enough to meet us at the airport and take us to a great place for lunch called the Beach Chalet, right on the edge of Golden Gate Park. It was 82 degrees and wonderful watching the big waves pound the beach from below our view.

Next up was checking us into the Kensington Park Hotel right at Union Square. Deb and Lance belong to the Elks Lodge that is located in the hotel, so they secured us a discounted rate. The hotel is old and a bit funky, but you can't beat the location! And for the cocktail crew, you can't beat the stiff and cheap pour you'll find at an Elk's Lodge. After 3 rounds here, and one more at neighboring Farallon, Deb and Lance headed back to Marin to prepare for their early departure to Florida by car. They are nuts.

By this point we were all pooped and looking forward to a mellow night in our room. Daddy ordered delivery pizza from North Beach Pizza and we all watched TV. I suffered a bit through the night as the air in the room was INCREDIBLY dry and I had a hard time breathing.


SATURDAY
Today started early with a brisk stroll down Market Street on our way to the Ferry Terminal Plaza at Pier One. This was a favorite hang of Mom and Dad when they were living in Oakland. Each Saturday hundreds of food vendors set up shop around the building selling everything you can imagine that is raised on a farm. There are also some prepared food vendors... Mom and Dad go a bit nuts for the Mexican joint, especially when they are offering carnitas. We picked up some macaroons and a miniature banana-cream pie from Miette, a bottle of 2001 Rockland Petite Sirah from the trusted owner of the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, an amazing floral bouquet for Rosy, and some blood orange infused olive oil from Stonehouse Olive Oil. This place is great... I can't wait to come back and try out Taylor's Automatic Refresher!!

Next up was a visit to Great Aunt Rosy's place at Bay and Franklin, right at the gate of Fort Mason. She's been living in her apartment for 33 years. Wow! I think her rent, with garage, is about $680 per month. Hanging out with her was so great... She's so sweet and has so many amazing stories. It's hard to comprehend that she's lived all over the world: South Dakota, Oregon, Michigan, Germany, England, Korea, Morocco, Japan, and perhaps more. She got Daddy to fix a lamp and repair a door jam during our visit. She's a hoot.

After our lengthy visit, we just headed back to the hotel and chilled out to some prime time TV while Mom and Dad ate the leftover pizza. What will tomorrow bring?

SUNDAY
After another tough night of drier than Sahara air in our room, I was understandably cranky. Mom sent Dad on a Starbucks run while she put my act together and supplied me with a bite to eat. After getting packed and checked out of the hotel, we bopped over to Great Aunt Rosy's before heading to the Fog City Diner on the Embarcadero for brunch. Actually, we were a bit early for our rendez-vous at her house, so we played in the sun at Crissy field in Fort Mason until it was time head to her place.

The Fog City Diner is a cool place and it was fun to people watch: Bentley's, Carerra's, lots of obnoxiously loud Harley's, and some snooty people behaving badly. The food here was great and it was fun to spend a few more minutes catching up with Great Aunt Rosy before we headed back to Seattle.

We're going to be down in the area again in June for the King and Great Grandma Joan's 50th wedding anniversary... I hope we can find a moment to say a quick hello to my dear Great Aunt Rosy. Great trip!