"That's not so old!"

Sunday, July 20, 2008
San Francisco-Oakland, CA

Despite feeling unfinished, we left San Francisco this morning and headed across the Golden Gate Bridge. Neil and the kids enjoyed the view, but my impression of San Francisco traffic hasn’t changed since I wrote about it earlier.

Random bit of information that I discovered today – Robert Frost, New England’s poet (or so I thought) was born in San Francisco!

We went to Muir Woods National Monument this morning. John Muir was almost single-handedly responsible for pressuring the United States government to federally protect and create our National Parks (especially Yosemite). He created the Sierra Club, and he is the man you see on the back of the California quarter.

Muir Woods National Monument is the home of some of the last remaining Redwoods that used to live largely in the San Francisco area.

This cross section of a RedWood shows that this tree was born in 909 AD. Alex, who has not fully gotten in touch with his Spirit of the Woods self yet today, says in a rather loud voice (in a spot that requests you be quiet), "That's not so old. Why did we come here?" A very shocked Park Ranger close by unsuccessfully tried to rehabilitate Alex's frame of mind...

My Great-grandmother, my Grandparents, mother, and my uncle visited here in 1957. It was fitting for me to be here now, and on finding out about family circles, even more so. Seeing this sign (that I copied for you here) early on made this experience that much more important.

"Family Circles

Hundreds of years ago a single large redwood grew here. Then disaster struck. The trunk of the large redwood was killed, perhaps by repeated and severe wildfire. From here you can see the original tree trunk still standing upright, now a dead and blackened snag.

Despite such terrible damage, the tree did not die. Below the ground, its massive root system was full of vitality. Before long, hundreds of young, bright green burl sprouts began to come up around the circle formed by the root around the circle formed by the root crown of the original tree. Some of these sprouts have grown into the full-sized trees that today stand in a circle around the original trunk.”

You can't see the burnt tree that well in the photo, but it was there. And, so was the family.

Eleni took a piece of paper and a pencil with her through the park. She stopped at every tree and said, "I have to take notes." I want to be very clear here that I have not required either child to take notes!

Next, we had lunch at a great local restaurant, and I wish I had documented the name… I had my new favorite meal, Huevos rancheros. The best! Neil and I are adding Tabasco sauce to everything now…who knew?

We crossed the Richmond Bridge into North Oakland. I have a dear friend from high school who lives there with her partner, Chris. It is unlikely that I could adequately convey how much this visit meant to me, so I won't even try. However, they are both artists, and you should see a glimpse of the Art that mattered to my family...

Macy painted Eleni's fingernails AND toenails; this meant that Macy was Eleni's best friend for the next 12 hours.

Macy gave Alex the pit of the mango to eat. Bliss...

Macy's studio. She helped Alex create a book here...

Macy and Chris made a home-cooked meal for us. Our first in 3 and 1/2 weeks! More importantly, they opened their home to us (Macy even had fresh cut flowers next to our beds! Quite a contrast to our vagabond hotel life), discussed life and love, and trusted our children not to break anything!