San Francisco, Part 1

In Which Knitterguy Goes to the Land of The Prius

(There's a shortage of good pictures, because I forgot to take them. As usual.)

The trip started just after the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat in May 08, when Stephen and WonderMike thought it would be a great idea to hold a similar retreat for male knitters (and crocheters/spinners/etc) on the West Coast. I'd been wanting to go to the San Francisco area for several years, so thought that combining the retreat with some days as a tourist would be a great idea.

My flight into San Francisco International airport was uneventful, arriving just before noon on Nov 6th. I navigated from the airport to the Bay Area Rapid Transit station (BART). Signage isn't fabulous, by the way; I ended up taking a detour through a parking garage. Purchasing a ticket for BART was not entirely straightforward. Fortunately, the person about 4 places behind me in the queue realized that I was staring at the machine in total confusion and --entirely altruistically, I'm sure-- stepped me through the process of getting a transit card and loading it with money. (I was trying to figure out how to buy tickets or tokens.)

Kevin, who I'd met at Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp in 2006, met me at the opposite end of my ride. We stopped at a few shops in his neighbourhood to pick up some lunch, and then spent time in the afternoon settling in. (The neighbourhood bakery has very good bread pudding.) Kevin, his partner Jeff and I walked down some hills to the local greengrocer and butcher to pick up fixins for supper. After supper, we took a drive up hills to Twin Peaks and looking over the city to The Bay, the guys pointed out landmarks so I'd get an idea of where things lay.

Kevin and Jeff live in a quiet neighbourhood. The back deck of the house looks up a hill.  (It was foggy in the morning when I took the picture.)

They've converted the backyard to garden. Not at its best, but then it's November. They were still cutting roses for the house, though.

And they could have been cutting dahlias, but the plant is 2 stories tall. The blossoms are a bit beyond reach.

Early Friday afternoon, Stephen rolled by in his Prius, and we headed over the Golden Gate Bridge, into Marin County (pronounced "mer-IN", not "MAR-in", as I thought) and up to the Point Bonita YMCA Outdoor and Conference Center. Our route took a winding, twisty road, with lots of places to pull off and look back over the ocean to the city. Click the pictures to embiggin. You can see Alacatraz smack dab in the middle of the first.

 

We found our meeting room in the complex, helped Michael do some last minute set-up, and waited for the rest of the guys to arrive.

(I saw a lot of Prius in San Francisco, causing me to wonder whether it had been declared the official state car. I don't think I've ever been any place where 1 car is so obvious simply because so many are on the roads.)

Comments

[Mel]

We actually have quite a number of Priuses (Prii?) in our neighbourhood here in Maine, though I'm not sure if the density is as high as in SF. I think my next car, however, will be a smart.

[Christy]

Part of why there are so many Priuses is that there was a push to make hybrids (and really fuel-efficient cars) eligible for the HOV lane (Carpool lane), even with a single person in the car.

That extra 20-30 minutes not spent in bumper to bumper traffic drove a lot of hybrid sales.

[JoVE]

When we were in Victoria about 18 months ago they were also very noticeable, but mainly because the big taxi company had invested heavily in them. Makes me wonder why taxi companies other places haven't done the same. You'd think it would be to their advantage financially.

[Susan]

The garden of my dreams....roses and dahliahs in November.... makes me chartreuse with envy. This is what you can have without a Canadian winter..* smile
I have never seen dahlias so tall. Oh to have such a garden to sit in and knit away the hours.

[WonderMike]

Holy Toledo!!! That garden is amazing. I'm speechless.

[Helen]

Wow. Roses in November. I'm in Scotland, the only thing I grow in November is gills. Beautiful garden, that's pretty much how I would like mine but (not wishing to cast aspersions on your horticultural knowledge) are you sure that's a dahlia? It's HUGE!

[Duffy]

What a lovely garden. We don't get ten foot dahlias here in Oregon. Not enough sun. We do have many Priuses running around the streets though. Makes me wonder how they find their cars in the parking lot.