I lived in Southern California for 9 years... The last two years of high school, summers and winters in college, and three years of law school, but I have Never been to San Fransisco. I know, I know, it's shocking, but SF was nine hours away by car and expensive by plane, and I never found the time, or the travel partners to get up there.
So it was with great excitement that we planned to make a 2 1/2 day stoppover in SF on our way back to the East Coast for vacation. Unfortunately, during the same time we planned our trip things in Cairo heated up. Now how, you might ask, do the protests in Cairo effect a trip to SF? Well, I'm glad you asked, see DH is a consular officer, these are the people in an embassy or consulate who issue visas, passports, and perform general American Citizen services. When things in Cairo went to pieces most civilized countries sent extra diplomats to the area to help their citizens in Cairo safely evacuate to another location. The US is no exception. DH volunteered to help process American Citizens in trouble, those who might need, visas for family members, or update passports, or birth certificates, or the like. He was gone for less than a week but missed SF altogether. In the grand scheme of things, not a tragedy, and generally speaking, I am capable of traveling on my own and having a perfectly grand time without him, but! And it's a big but! It IS a big deal when you are traveling to a new city, jet lagged, AND with a jet lagged 3 year old.
Even with all that, I LOVED SF. It feels like a newer cleaner East Coast city with the beautiful California skies and coast line. It's hard to say how much of my impressions of CA are colored by Chengdu. After months of gray colorless skies and damp cold weather, the pale blue skies of CA, the beautiful sparkling water, and the general greenery of the city were like music to my tired eyes. The people were also blessedly polite. I almost wanted to shop and by things because I found every thank you, every have a nice day, every smile to be a salve on the wounded veneer of my heart. I KNOW Californians are not that polite so I know at least this was due to the wretched grumpiness of my dealings with people in China.
But I loved it so.
