San Francisco, November 3-7, 2005

At the family reunion in July we decided to attend Nephew Patrick's
wedding last weekend. (Patrick was the general manager at Gary Danko
until maybe 6-9 nmonths ago.) Niece Patty fixed us up with the
reservations at the Carlton Hotel on Sutter. She chose that because some
of her business travelers stay at the Carlton and recommended it for its
reasonable room rates ‹ about 30-40% lower than the three hotels
recommended by the bride and groom. Less expensive had a lot going for
it.

We arrived at the hotel by taxi and were welcomed by the front desk
folks and the general manager, Herve Blondel. It's a nice place,
smallish and comfy - renovated a year and a half ago, we were told.
Angelo (aka Jello) put Rob and me in a room with a king size bed for the
same rate as their standard rooms. I like Angelo. :-) Then he gave us a
map of the city and marked off the area near the hotel where we should
not walk at night. During the day would be okay, but not in the evening.
It is not unsafe, he said, but we shouldn't be there, nonetheless.
Whatever.

Dinner time was upon us and we did opt for the Thai restaurant two
blocks from the hotel (down the hill) that was recommended by Patty's
travelers. Nice place. Dirt cheap. Good food. White tablecloth. Seated
maybe 40? One other patron. What's wrong with this picture? Whatever.

We ate well. I might (or might not) research for remembrance our meals.
We ordered basil chicken wings as an appetizer - wings in a spicy sauce,
topped with flash-fried fresh basil. Very good. Our entrees were less
than $8!

We headed back up the hill to our hotel and noticed a woman in high heel
boots, tight black top, and silver short shorts. On a cell phone. A
working girl. Whatever.

On Friday we did some sightseeing: We bused to Fisherman's Wharf, pooped
around Pier 39 a tad and then bought our tickets for the 11:15 boat to
Alcatraz. Very interesting tour. It was not on MY list of things to see
and I'm glad I went. After returning to the wharf area we walked over to
The Real Fisherman's Wharf in search of cioppino for Rob. It was his one
and only must do. We found it at Sabella & LaTorre for $22.50 for a bowl
of Crab Cioppino. Lots of crab in it along with shrimp and wee clams and
a white fish of some sort. Tasty. Not a spicy sauce. Lots of bread for
sopping. Rob was content.

We then decided to take the cable car back to our hotel - within walking
distance of it, anyway. Mother of God, the line for the cable car was
about 3/4 block long but there came the point of no return after
standing in it for 25 minutes or so. We either had to leave THEN or stay
for our turn on a car. We opted for the latter after some fiddledicking
about whether we should or should not. We were glad we did.

I'd forgotten what the ride was like and it proved to be great fun. I
stood next to some Brits who were visiting and learned that Nancy was
having her birthday that day, so with a "Hey, everybody, this British
visitor has a birthday today and her name is Nancy; lets sing to her!,"
I mustered the car in a rousing version of Happy Birthday to Nancy. With
that nice high harmony at the end, She has something to remember her
birthday by.

Along the car route we stopped at a couple of famous intersections - the
top of Lombard Street with its twistiness; a nice -- no, wonderful --
view of Coit Tower; and a couple of other brief pauses on the journey.
Then we got off the car and walked the several blocks back to our hotel.
We were pleasantly surprised by a gift bag from Sue and Patrick
welcoming us to San Francisco and filled with small treats, a visitor's
guide, and a schedule of events for the weekend,

We dressed for the cocktail party hosted by the bride and groom at their
home near the church where they would be married the next day. The bride
had moved in three weeks earlier and was hosting a party for 80 people
-- wedding party folks and their out of town guests. Ye gods! We did not
expect such treatment. Roast beast, baby greens salad with caramelized
walnuts and apple slices and a light vinaigrette, roasted veggies with
aioli, and some bars, plus whatever you needed to soothe your thirst.

I availed myself of a G&T and went in search of my beloved Niece C.
She's not much for big groups and was located in her truck having a
smoke. It was difficult to get to her due to a gate situation (more than
I want to take the time to explain right now) so it involved me crawling
through a railing. Long story shorter: I didn't see a concrete barrier
and slammed my sore foot into it. Hurt like bloody Hell! Rob was alert
and only about two steps ahead of me and kept me from a nosedive on the
blacktop. I didn't spill a drop nor tear my pants - both distinct
possibilities flying through my brain. The groomsmen were out there and
were quick to check on me. My lucky night. Matt is a paramedic and
offered some advise for treatment. He didn't think I broke anything,.
Ice and ibuprofen and elevation. No sightseeing for me the next day.

I'd sent a box of my jams, some Old Dutch Potato Chips, the 'real'
Minnesota Wild Rice, some Nut Goodies and Salted Peanut Rolls, and some
of my Gedney preserves for the bride's parents and my niece and nephew
and after experiencing their extreme hospitality, I am so very glad I
did. I also put together a couple of small photo albums of 'our' side of
the family - pics mostly from the reunion last summer but also some of
the groom's dad and some of our other sibs as children (before I was a
twinkle in my dad's eye). Oh, and a family calendar with all the
birthdays, etc. You should have heard me cursing my software over THAT
one!

During the course of the party, Nephew Patrick The Groom was so very
solicitous of us in general and me in particular. I believe that he was
touched that we would come from Minnesota for his wedding, especially
since he didn't grow up near us and doesn't really know us that well --
we hadn't seen him in 12 years since the previous reunion. One of the
things he mentioned was that he had checked out our hotel earlier in the
week and deemed it okay for us.

Pat explained how it is and instructed us to not walk down the hill (too
late - we'd done it the night before) but only up the hill. Whatever. .
.. . (where have I heard that?) Turns out that our hotel was smack on the
border of the Tenderloin district and, while generally safe, is host to
some rather unsavory types. Duh-us! It explained the "working girl" who
we later learned may well have been a working guy. Minnesota Innocence
Shattered. Sister Marge lived through it, though.

Pics are on my website, URL below.

Here Ends The First Part

Thanks for looking.
-Barb, 11-7-05, Home Again

*
--
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com, updated 10-20-05 with a note from Niece Jo.

"Melba's Jammin'" wrote in message
...
San Francisco, November 3-7, 2005

At the family reunion in July we decided to attend Nephew Patrick's
wedding last weekend. (Patrick was the general manager at Gary Danko

***snipped***

Sounds like a great trip, Barb. But now I've got a (short lived) '70s TV
theme song in my head. (About another Minnesota woman who journeys to SF.)

{ahem}
Who....makes....the....fog surrounding the Golden Gate simply....disappear?
(Barbara...Barbara.)
Who makes the warning bells on the cable car play The...Gang's All Here?
(Barbara...Barbara.)
Who charms the crabs at Fisherman's Wharf right out of their shells?
Who lights the lights of Chinatown just by walking in view-ooh?
crescendo Barbara! Barbara! Barbara! (It sure isn't you.)
(Sour look towards the camera.)

You didn't shoot a music video, did you? It would have been great!

Tschuss.
Pablo