Day One: San Francisco Opens Its Golden Gates

This following program is dedicated to the city and people of
San Francisco, who may not know it but they are beautiful and so
is their city.

This is a very personal song, so if the viewer
cannot understand it, particularly those of you who are European
residents, save up all your bread and fly Trans Love Airways to
San Francisco U.S.A., then maybe you'll understand the song.

It will be worth it, if not for the sake of this song but for the sake of your own peace of mind.

The Animals
Intro to San Francisco Nights

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Well, we couldn't get tickets on Trans Love Airways, so we had to fly United, but we got here anyways. We have now been here 24 hours, and I am still waiting for a noticeable difference in my peace of mind. But maybe that's because I was pretty peaceful-of-mind when we left Sydney.

I can add, though, that San Francisco is indeed beautiful. Some of the people here are, as well, but I am not quite as quick with the compliments as The Animals were.

Our friends Jaki and Robert were waiting at the airport for us when we landed and within minutes we were laughing. It is really great to connect so well with people and enjoy them so much. We are spending five more days together (2 in the Napa Valley wine region and 2 at their house), so we'll see how we're getting along after that.

My concern is that I have had marriages that couldn't handle six straight days with me, and I really hope that doesn't happen with Robert and Jaki. Since they went out in advance of our arrival and bought a half-gallon jug of Johnny Walker Black for LK and Ketel Two vodka for me, I can assure you it isn't likely to happen on our side.

We brought them Akubras, those classic Australian bush hats. I don't know if either of them is a cowboy hat sort of person but we wanted to bring something that was sheer Aussie as a gift. Frankly, though, I think Robert would be much more likely to wear a green-and-gold motorcycle helmet that plays the Australian anthem. We'll see.

Yesterday was pretty much an eat and sleep day. After we checked into the hotel at Fisherman's Wharf, we tested the booze to make sure it hadn't gone past its use-by date, and then we walked down for lunch at a place on the water . Crab and shrimp sandwich with mayo and horseradish. Yummm.

The walk back was probably a mistake because LK wasn't wearing walking shoes and got a blister on her toe. Injured and jet-lagged, she crashed for a nap. I forced her to wake up at 6:15. And at 6:30, 6:40, 6:50 and 7:00. She finally got out of what I think may be the deepest sleep you can get without using the drugs Michael Jackson used.

After a shower, we met up with Robert and Jaki again and walked a restaurant. Linda had black cod on udon noodles and edamame. Robert and Jaki had Alaskan halibut wrapped in paper-thin pastry crust covered with sauce. I had ahi tuna grilled rare, served with wasabi and a nori roll. Yumm. Yumm.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel, went to the bar for a nightcap. Realized we were too tired and full to really want one and went back to our rooms. Major crash into bed. Deep sleeps for LK and me, and late rise this morning.

As I said, a simple first day to our adventure. Mostly eat, drink, laugh and sleep. Not a bad way to start the trip.