Around 35 minutes ago I returned safely from San Francisco. Although neither Satish or Amit (the two drivers with whom I traveled) will read this blog, I’d like to thank them for the drive to and back from the Bay Area. I’m also very happy to report that I slept comfortably almost all the way back, waking up only whenever we pulled over at exits. In fact, my only memories of the trip back are exits. My dinner for the day was a granola bar (donated by Paul) followed by 2 Fig Newtons.
When I got back, Conrad was still up and my “City of God” DVD was sitting on my bed. Remarkably, USPS delivered much more promptly than UPS.
It’s going to be very difficult to put together and entry that’s worthy of this trip. However, I feel very strongly that I must put my experiences down on paper. I have a fear my memories will slip away and the nuances forgotten. I can say without a doubt that I loved San Francisco and of the three major Californian cities I’ve been to (San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego), it is by far my favorite.
Now, before I left for California, Octavian Florescue stated that San Diego was “the most beautiful city in North America”.
I strongly disagree.
Perhaps in terms of weather and cleanliness yes, but San Diego lacks a…’soul’ that the much smaller San Francisco seemed to exude. Despite the fog, wind, overcast skies and the ‘big city problems’ like homelessness & garbage, I would choose to live in San Francisco over San Diego any day.
I’d also like to extend a big thanks to Paul Teehan who endured me for the past 3 days. He served as a great friend, co-explorer and tour guide and I’d be happy to explore San Francisco in greater depth with him sometime :-) Often its not just the sights that make the trip, but who you spend it with. We could sit back and laze life away…or we could live every day as fully as possible.
As I sit here finishing off this entry, I’m conscious of a sadness, of a depression that’s permeating my attitude. I mentioned this to Paul earlier as we waited for my ride home. Tomorrow (today I suppose) looks so dreary in comparison to the weekend I just had.
I guess I don’t want it to end.
Having just started work today, after a weekend in Montreal, I think I understand, at this moment more than anyone else we know, what the feeling of returning from what seemed to be neverending enjoyment, excitement, and relaxment(?) is. I think we both lucked out to have great hosts/tour guides/friends for this weekend, and I know how you feel now that it’s done.
But here’s what I think: cherished these memories. I’m going to do the same thing you did and write it down. Not just so everyone can see it, no. But so that it’s written down, and years from now, we can look back, with fond memories of these places that we visited.
Heh, my only memory of the trip back was driving for 5 hours (the first 2 someone else was driving) for the first time in a Neon, and whenever I entered a highway, I would say “Neeeeooonnnn” as the car accelerated, with the pedal to the metal – my cousing would say, “Neon, POWER!”. I’m used to the Contour I normally drive, with it’s V8 engines, it’s a powerful little car :)
I’ll be very interested in your Montreal entry :-)
Problem is…its extremely daunting to try and write up about SF. And I mean really daunting for me.