Westward Ho

So, we hadn't exactly planned on doing another long trip this year. But we'd had a good time in England, and were a bit let down not to be planning another trip, and we've been trying to find a time to go to California for ages...we have both relatives and some good friends in the Bay area that we've been wanted to see, and we enjoy San Francisco. So when Jonathan found an airfare that was too good to pass up, we wasted no time but grabbed them and started making plans.

We'd thought that this would be a lower-key trip than the last one, but it's possible that 'lower-key' isn't something we do well. We started by booking a 5:30 AM flight out, the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend. This proved to be an excellent time to fly- we had lots of empty seats and room to sprawl on both flights. I dozed on the first flight and knitted on the second. Of course due to certain challenges inherent to doing math after getting up at 3:30 AM, I wound up frogging and reknitting everything I'd done, but I didn't know that at the time, of course.

We arrived in good time, and were met by our friends Victor and Lara, who whisked us away to their favorite taqueria for lunch. Then we took the BART down to the waterfront and walked and toured the Jeremiah O'Brien, one of the last surviving Liberty Ships from WWII. Fascinating to see- there are only a couple that are still around. It probably says something about us, that all four of us were fascinated by the triple-expansion steam engine that powered her. (Yes, it says, 'these are some total geeks!') Alas, no pictures. I blame the 3:30 AM start...I'd left the camera in my luggage.

We also visited an arcade museum filled with antique coin operated games of varying ages. I never frequented arcades as a young person, but I was amused to watch Victor play pinball, and Jonathan demonstrate his skill with an early Star Wars video game.

The next day we got an early start and met up with my sister-in-law and her family, who were joining us for a steam train excursion. Our two young nephews, Jack and Dash are pretty nearly as obsessed with trains as my husband was at their age. The Niles Canyon Railway was running one of their big steam locomotives (which they only do three times a year), and we had tickets for the trip. It is in fact an extremely handsome locomotive:


We had a nice visit, a lovely excursion up the canyon by train, admired trains, and ate lunch together, then split up, with promises to meet again later in the week.

And here's where I remember that I tend to ramble and break this into smaller posts.