San Francisco sojourn, or " I Left my heart......"
30 August 2015
Sharon
Having driven or flown over the iconic SF bridge many times, we were excited to finally approach it from the Pacific Ocean on our own sailboat, threading our way through the channel with the city scape playing peek-a-boo behind the notorious bay fog. Our hearts pounding, we looked up in amazement at the massive girders as we passed below in churning seas, aware of the hundreds of cars passing overhead high above us. FINALLY, our destination, just in time for daughter Lauren's big "Oh no, I'm 30! “birthday bash. What relief! Had the seas been less favorable, we might have missed the big event, as I had previously feared during our bash up the coast.
We quickly settled into the marina at the edge of the city waterfront, where just last summer we had sat on the seawall and watched New Zealand sailing brilliantly to victory in the semi-final stages of the Americas cup (unfortunately, those amazing wins were not to be prophetic of the final outcome). A quick reunion with Lauren and Andy, then rapid airport exchanges ensued, as Josh headed to the airport to return home to Alaska, and Stacey and Ryan (Lauren's older sister and younger brother) flew in from Austin, followed by family friend, Eileen.
The birthday celebration took place in a unique cave-like bar setting in a downtown hotel, where we met many co-workers from Lauren's workplace. Beautiful flowers in stunning arrangements (provided by the creative handwork of her work friend, Jun) as well as delicious foods, wine, and music. We danced till midnight, then stumbled out through the streets of San Francisco, laughing loudly, carrying large flower arrangements and left over food, which we would enjoy on the boat for several more days.
Over the next week we had many excursions around SF Bay, Alcatraz, and under the Golden Gate bridge, taking a full load of Lauren’s friends and co-workers, as well as our own boat guests for day sails, enjoying the world class views as we sipped bubbly, and sampled San Francisco sourdough breads and artisan cheeses. The weather was amazing, warm and sunny every day (NO MORE FOG), as only seems to happen there in August and September.
After 2 weeks in the city marina, we moved over to an anchorage at the Sausalito yacht club, right next to the ferry landing. There was a lovely deck at the Yacht Club which overlooked the very European -styled Sausalito hillside and waterfront, with the San Francisco skyline in the distance, a picturesque and stunning view. We spent the days exploring shops and restaurants in the charming town of Sausalito, as well as circling the surrounding islands in our dinghy. Andy and Lauren would take the ferry over to Sausalito after work, for dinner on the boat. The last days of August passed by quickly, and soon our New Zealand friends, Paul and Lynne, arrived from their Europe tour to join us on the return sail to San Diego, with stops at Monterrey bay, Morro Bay, Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands, including Catalina Island. Lauren and Andy also joined us on the boat the Friday evening of Labor Day weekend, with plans to accompany us to Monterrey Bay for the weekend, returning to the city Monday morning, as we sail on southward. Next stop: Monterey Bay.