And Now, Back to My San Francisco Travelogue

Once we escaped the unpunctuated flier, the trip was fabulous. How could it not be? We were, after all, in San Francisco — the perfect place to escape reality, to distract us from the sad anniversary. We left humidity in the nineties for clear blue skies and the seventies, Southern traditional for northern Californian bohemian.

We've been to San Francisco many times, so we didn’t have to waste hours hitting all the tourist spots. We hung out in our favorite neighborhoods, hit our favorite restaurants. Just relaxed and had a good time.

Not to brag, but I am one of the all-time great travel companions. Once I leave the metro Atlanta area, I become this laidback chick. I’ll do pretty much what you want to and forgo my desire to wander the halls of the town’s art museum. Or maybe I’m just a wuss.

Wednesday

After checking into the hotel, we went down to Fisherman’s Wharf. We skipped the line of thousands waiting to ride the cable cars and just wandered around. I scored some major bauble booty among all the local booths, those stationed to relieve tourists of their heavy wallets — but I got some fabulous rings and bracelets for next to nothing.

Looking down the street next to Ghiradelli Square

Mama wanted to have dinner at Scoma’s, one of OM’s favorite seafood restaurants. Ridiculously expensive, but damn good. I inhaled a seafood cannelloni I'm still dreaming about.

Coit Tower and the Transamerica Building, from Scoma’s

We were both worn out from the long travel day, so we crashed early. And happy. We were, after all, in San Francisco.


Thursday

We slept well (eight sweet, straight hours of log-sawing!), in Mama’s version of heaven: in Union Square, looking down on her favorite Macy’s in the world.

Union Square at dusk, from our hotel room

If you’re staying in Union Square, there are three things you simply must do: Shop. Shop. Shop. And shop we did. I won’t list every store hit or bauble bought, but the Capital One got quite the workout.

I bought. The most. Fabulous. Pair of shoes. At Macy’s. For about 90 percent off.


These Anne Klein wedges be kicking out the jams at next month’s Georgia Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony for R.E.M., Gregg Allman, Jermaine Dupri, Dallas Austin, and Felice Bryant.

We had dinner at my favorite Chinese anywhere: House of Nanking. It’s a hole-in-the-wall (now doubled in size) that serves the best food. Even better: Sometimes you order an entrée and they decide to instead recommend and serve you a specially made dish, and Mama got that treat. My West Coast doppelganger (as a doppelganger, it makes sense that House of Nanking would also be her favorite San Francisco restaurant) recommended the fried eggplant appetizer, and it was amazing. (And yes, Dan, I slurped down and enjoyed every mouthful of their hot-and-sour soup). If you’re headed to San Francisco, this is the restaurant I urge you to try.

House of Nanking. Eat your hungry hearts out.

This was the one-year anniversary of OM’s death, so it was special to spend it together. We reminisced about him all day, retelling our favorite stories, laughing a lot, crying a little, and praying for him and us. I think we both got to the other side of the grief. But, damn, I still miss him.


Friday

We started the day at Starbucks, sitting at the window counter enjoying muffins, croissants, and the triple grande nonfat latte. Great seat for watching people. Brian Setzer walked by with his blonde wife and two beautiful blonde little girls; Mama thought he was dressed a little weird.

We spent the morning on Union Street, hitting the (now ridiculously priced) boutiques and enjoying the beautiful day out of doors, out of the office, out of state. We still found things to buy, though.

There was an old theater on Union Street playing Little Miss Sunshine, so we caught the afternoon matinee. Both of us laughed the entire time.

We ended the day over dinner at Trattoria Contadina, an Italian restaurant in Russian Hill our family’s been frequenting since 1994. We walked back to the hotel, enjoying the stroll through North Beach and Chinatown.

Mama in Chinatown, on the postprandial stroll from the restaurant.

I love the Transamerica Building, almost as much as the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s the landmark I watch for on the drive from the airport; once I see it, I know I’m there. I take way too many photos during every trip, but I always enjoy each shot.

The Transamerica Building, from Chinatown

And that covers the first part of the trip. Next installment: the wine country tour.

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