Summertime VI: If You're Going to San Francisco...

So, my sister-in-law Lora, who married my brother almost exactly 10 years ago, had never driven down Lombard Street, a.k.a "The Crookedest Street in the World". She'd never been to the Palace of Fine Arts. She'd never walked out onto the Golden Gate Bridge or seen the famous Victorian houses called "Postcard Row" or been to Coit Tower. WHAT?!?!? I had CLEARLY been remiss in my duties as her sister-in-law. She'd never had the Katie Tour--how is that possible? (To be fair, we were just beginning the Katie Tour with her parents in 2000 when my mom's car frizzed out and had to be towed back to Walnut Creek. The only sight-seeing we did that day was from, hands down, THE wildest cab ride I have ever experienced. We crossed the entire city of San Francisco and only stopped at two lights. But, I digress...)

We had planned to go to the Exploratorium, but upon arrival discovered that it was Free Day, complete with a million kids waiting to get in. So we saved the Exploratorium for another day and instead danced like children of the night past the Palace of Fine Arts. (Note: That's a reference to the movie "So I Married an Axe Murderer", in case you didn't catch it.) Oscar was an especially fine and willing dancer.

Look at those ladies! We didn't end up walking out onto the bridge because there was no parking and the restroom was closed (it was a major issue at that particular moment). Instead we drove across the bridge and parked on the Marin County side, where the parking and bathrooms were plentiful and the photo ops groovy.

My delightful cousin Maddie joined us for our San Francisco adventure--I drove a minivan packed with two adults, one teenager, and four kids (who mostly snacked and watched "Phineas and Ferb") all over the city. It had been a while since I'd last done a tour, but amazingly enough I could still get around pretty well. Driving around the city was one of my favorite high school pastimes, after all. We did have an incident with a street sweeper that Maddie will probably not soon forget--she was nearly abandoned in front of the house from "Mrs. Doubtfire".

Does this picture cause the theme song from "Full House" to run repeatedly through your head? Sorry about that. Those are some seriously famous Victorians, sometimes called "Postcard Row", sometimes the "Painted Ladies". They are lovely. The kids had fun playing "Red Light, Green Light" on the lawn at Alamo Square park, across the street from the houses. We really don't know WHAT Livy is doing in this picture, but it makes us laugh.

Oh, and we did drive down Lombard Street. If ever you want to visit San Francisco with me, I'll take you there, too.