SF, I LOVE YOU…..
My longest love affair has been with San Francisco. It is a utopia of beauty, brains, and the right touch of craziness. It’s hard to find anyone who does not gush and ooze about the gorgeous city by the bay. The may find it incredibly bizarre and impossible to navigate with a few extra pounds riding on the belly, but they still breath deeply in the salty air and listen to the street cars and sea lions and homeless people yelling at everyone. Sometimes I can’t get enough of the sensory overload. Sometimes I wish my nose didn’t work and that I didn’t have see another beefy guy in a tutu and people would stop peeing in doorways.
But alas, SF has kept my attention and loyal devotion for 13 years. Sometimes I leave and travel the world for years at a time but I am always happy to see the pop-up city revealed as the plane comes in for a foggy landing at SFO.
Within minutes of landing I see SF in her bright and shiny in full regalia – flash cars everywhere, headsets, silicon valley money, hair of every color, punk, prissy, and grungy fashion and everything in between. I take a walk downtown and let myself go weak in the knees, wooed by her glittery sidewalks. I open my blinds in the mission and see tropical palm trees (if it’s not too foggy) and unique Victorians, sitting side by side like lifetime friends supporting each other. I hop on my Mary Poppins bike and power up a hill, rewarding my huffs and puffs with post card views and rock hard legs.
As if the city is not enough, the nature around is neverending – the sea, the mountains, the biking, the hiking, the water sports and the tiny towns to discover and explore. And the most important virtue of SF, its inhabitants. There are many other in love with san Francisco too. She attracts energy, brilliance, naturelovers, adventurers, travelers, liberals, gays, lesbians, bikers, homeless people, and immigrants. I could do without some of the mix but overall the people are magical and enthusiastic and eager to make the most out of the price of admission in SF (which isn’t cheap).