San Franciscan Adventures

December 12, 2009 to January 11, 2009

The Photos

San Francisco itself is an awesome area and I know we did NOT do it justice.  So sadly I’m just gonna give highlights...

Pocket Cave ~ Gregory and I did a ton of walking, across the Golden Gate Bridge; to and from Tantra classes; up, down, around and through both San Francisco and Berkeley; in and out of Muir Woods...  So much walking that I wish I’d had a pedometer just out of curiosity.  It’s true that at one point on the GGB (which was neither Golden nor Gated, but I digress) my knee hurt pretty bad, but that’s a low light and I’m focused on the highlight, which was walking hand in hand in pocket with my lover.  A most wonderful way to stay connected and to learn to read each other’s moods.  I am not sure how this translates in the warmer climes we are headed to, but I’m positive we will adjust and evolve.

Wicked Cool... but cooler than cool.  We arrived super early to the theatre on a Thursday night for the ticket lottery they have for each show.  After about 6 people they called my name, which meant we got to purchase ‘Limited View’ seating for $25 per ticket.  Wandered the streets to kill the two hours until show time, then found our seats.  Yep... when they say limited view... they mean Limited View.  Fortunately, Gregory the ninja, knows how to seat jump right as the lights go down and the curtain goes up.  This embarrassed me so completely that I sat there mortified, in the dark with blazing cheeks until the magic of the show took me away.  After the first act, the real owners of our seats showed up, so we booked back to our places to wait for the light/curtain tango and to seat jump again.  Clearly this is more about the experience than the actual musical, but what can I say... you need to see it to believe it because my words could NOT do it justice.  I’m pretty sure I found a rather large hole in the plot as compared to the L. Frank Baum book, which definitely makes me want to read Wicked and possibly other Gregory Maguire stories.  We did try to arrange for me to see it again with Gregory’s friend Brenna, but work overcame her and time ran out.

Muir Woods ~ Beautiful and breathtaking.  We bussed as far as we could to Mill Valley, then asked around for the trail leading to the park.  I’m pretty sure we missed a sign somewhere... not because we weren’t looking for it, but rather because I’m pretty sure it wasn’t there.  However, all was not lost as we hitched a ride from a gracious gentleman who deposited us directly at the gate.  Driving in with him, we realized just how much walking he had saved us.  Which makes it so disappointing for us that we can’t remember his name.  As for the woods, again it is the experience more than the woods themselves, but I will say I was initially underwhelmed as all the ‘trails’ seemed to be covered in walkways.  Eventually we were able to get off the beaten path and do some actual hiking.  In that trailing we eventually found a back way out (again with help... fools and small children... that we may be!)

Wandering down the Panoramic Highway to Mill Valley in the dark, we stopped to ask a man in his driveway how far the walk was, he informed us that 1) we had missed the trail head, that 2) it was still quite a ways and that 3) he or someone in his house would be heading to town shortly and could give us a ride.  The long twisty ride back to Mill Valley made me extremely grateful for the kindness of strangers as it had been a long day on my feet and I was beat.

New Year’s Eve ~ Our tantrika mentioned a clothing optional retreat in Middletown, CA called Harbin Hot Springs.  After researching their New Year’s Eve celebration we decided to go.  We rented a white cargo van, which we affectionately name Cracker (using both of our car naming systems in one swell foop!) and hit the road.  Regenerative is just about the best description I can use and despite missing the drum jam, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Talking with a lovely couple over breakfast, they suggested we head west to Badoga Bay and then north to find some Redwood camping areas.

...and the fun we had after ~ Badoga Bay was not that exciting, maybe it was the fact that it was New Year’s Day, or possible even that we wanted to see nature more than cities, and even more likely that by the time we got there we had absolutely no idea what we were supposed to be looking for.  Despite their best efforts we were not eaten by the Badoga Bay cannibals (possibly a story for it’s own blog, or perhaps you had to be there!)  We eventually ended up camping in the only open campground on the Avenue of the Giants and hiking just a little to find the largest recorded Redwood and the trees he hangs out with.

Standing among the Redwoods felt almost like home, a little colder than home, but very similar.  I could sense that I was among family, although extended family to be sure.  Giving credence to my thought that ALL trees are connected to each other through their roots, a collective conscience if you will.  Since telling Gregory, he has decided another of his goals is to help me find my home.  I’m not exactly sure what this means, other than maybe I am a tree nymph who has lost her way.

The rushed drive back to Berkeley was not nearly so nice as leisurely making our way to a place unknown, but we needed to return the van by four o’clock.  We made it just in time, even with doubling back two Petaluma exits to drop off our completely non-communicative hitchhiker.

What else... oh yeah, I ran into a tree.  Smacked my left Frontal bone right above the Coronal Suture where it meets the Zygomatic bone (read the outside edge of my left eyebrow!)

(not my actual skull!)

The streets of San Francisco ran with blood... my blood.  While Gregory laughed!  Those of you flick’ring and FaceBooking already know this.  But you all must be wondering how an intelligent girl like myself runs into a tree?  Well, it wasn’t easy.  Long story, still kinda long, we were riding the Muni, as it turned a corner, the bus disconnected from it’s electricity line above.  An intriguing situation to be sure.  Once we disembarked onto the street, Gregory and I began heading to the BART station we had just passed.  Still wide eyed about the bus disconnecting, I was watching Gregory out of the corner of my eye while watching with the rest of my eye as the Muni driver ‘flipped his reins’ to reconnect the bus, leaving no spare eye resources to watch out for stationary objects... like fully grown trees.

Obviously I have lived to blog another day, but damn did I feel stupid.  And as for Gregory laughing, I guess I’ve let you think him a callous cad for long enough.  He held me close, found me napkins to staunch the blood flow, procured antiseptic wipes to clean my wound and band-aids to cover it.  Which for some reason is not enough to remove the sound of his laughter from my traumatized mind.  Fortunately, I know his reactions well enough (and we have talked about it since) that eventually I was able to realize his laughter comes from his fear that I had done myself some real damage.

And so publicly I apologize for the terrible fight we had about the incident.  I love you, Gregory Haley, in my own way... now go make me a grilled cheese sandwich... please.

Next up... leaving San Francisco and possible doubling back on any events I’ve miss in the telling.