It's Veteran's Day, and Jonathan has the day off from school. I dressed him in red, white, and light blue (closest we could get), but after some painting this morning, the shirt had to go. Of course, a red In-N-Out t-shirt with blue jeans is pretty darn American, too.
He painted with red, white, and blue.
The finished product--Abstract American Art.
Continuing the San Francisco Flashback, I wanted to highlight our trip across the
Golden Gate Bridge. No trip to San Francisco would be complete without a ride across the bridge, painted in its unique international orange. Just off of the bridge in the northbound direction is a visitor's center and tribute to the men and women who traveled through Golden Gate Strait and into the Pacific to serve our country.
The Lone Sailor statue stood against the wind, cold, and fog that marked the settling in of evening in San Francisco. Something about this statue moved me. I felt his strength, loneliness, fear, and adventure as he paused for one last look at the home he was leaving behind.
This is the plaque that describes the meaning behind the Lone Sailor. Click on the picture to see a large version and read the words. It gave me pause.
Speaking of pausing, I wanted to pause and remember those in our families who served in the armed forces. This is a picture of my mom's dad, Eugene, when he was served with the Marines. Other men who have served in our families:
K. Cohn
L. Rickey
R. Stilnovich
F. Holman
E. Ryner
Thank you, men, for serving. We love you, and appreciate your service to our country and to our families.
Here is what the sailor sees. The bridge heads south, toward SF, toward home. Just a few minutes north, the Bay opens up into the largest ocean in the world; home is far behind.
The semi-circular wall that stands at the southern edge of the visitor's center has a number of these plaques that point toward different sites around SF, like Alcatraz Island, Coit Tower, the Bay Bridge, Nob Hill, Presidio, Fort Point, etc. For perspective, the Lone Sailor statue is about 100 yards behind this wall and up a few steps. These are the sites that he sees.
One of the main towers, shrouded in fog.
Driving on water (i.e., the bridge) back to SF.
One tip for anyone who wishes to drive the Golden Gate bridge--it's free to go north, but there is a toll to come back south. They don't collect the toll until you've already crossed the bridge. On our trip back, we stopped at the toll both only to discover that we had five greenbacks between us. The toll was $6. The man in the tollbooth sat counting piles of money. "Do you take checks?" No. "ATM cards? Credit Cards?" No. Cash only. He didn't look up from his counting. We scrambled to scrounge up coins from around the car. In the lanes that flanked us on both sides, cars streamed through steadily, paying their tolls and driving on. We counted, trying not to notice the backup behind us. Five dollars and ninety-two cents. I said the number aloud, hoping for mercy from the toll booth collector. I cast a glance in his direction, and saw him calmly counting dollars. No mercy. No pressure. Just counting. Earlier in the day, I had given a huge pocketful of change to a young homeless man on the waterfront. Why?! Couldn't I have been generous another day? Christine thought that she might have some change in her backpack, which was in the very back of the car. She leapfrogged the seats, fumbled around in the backpack and found the last eight cents. Hallelujah! Out of curiosity's sake, I asked the toll collector what happens when people don't have the cash. He said that, based on the picture taken of a car's license plate when it drives up, the state sends a $30 ticket, plus the toll fee. So that eight cents could have cost me $38. If we couldn't have paid, I think I would have found the dude and mugged him to get my money back! OK, maybe not . . . but I would have considered it.
This was Jonathan's first trip to San Francisco, and the first time in several years that Christine or I had visited. It's such a beautiful and unique city, with its steep hills, interesting architecture, rich history, and colorful culture.
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