I took off in the pouring rain in Seattle and headed south to San Francisco for the second interview of the season and was treated with a lovely three days of sunshine and 70's! It was hard to get out of bed at 4:30 to get to the airport in time for the 6 AM flight but our homemade breakfast sandwich hot from the panini made it easier.
After a lovely morning nap, I awoke to the sun rising over the California hills.
Upon arriving in Oakland, CA I saw more evidence that I am traveling in 2015, not the 90's like when I was a kid (back when e-tickets didn't exist!). They actually had a section at the curb labeled for "smartphone app rides." And yep, I was one of them. I hailed an uber to get to my home for 72 hours.
I stayed with Tom's extended family. I had to google it to figure out just
exactly how he was related and I think the answer is that they are
his first cousins once-removed, Matt and Deanna. And their kids Nathan, Aiden and Gaelen are Tom's second
cousins...I think :). We met a few years back at the salmon bake at Jim and Marcy Dudley's home in Washington and we had been meaning to catch up since that time, but life got in the way. Who knew a residency interview would be what brought us together? Regardless of the relation, they graciously
opened up their home to me during their busy schedules. The boys are in 8th, 6th and 4th grade respectively and are all involved in sports. So, as you might have guessed having another person in the house and another ride to add into the schedule wasn't easy on them!
They live in Alameda, CA just across the water from San Francisco and near the city of Oakland. As such, I got very familiar with the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). I rode it backwards and forwards. In fact, on my first ride, I went the wrong direction at first and therefore got a glimpse of the Oakland A's and Oakland Raider's stadium. And yes, it was through a dirty window and I am biased, but I have to say that Century link field that the Seahawks play at is heaps and bounds more attractive than this stadium!
Once I got on the BART in the right direction, I made my way through the hallways to the main streets of San Francisco
I came up from the underground and was greeted by the bustling shopping region of downtown.
After buying myself a "clipper card" so I could "tap on" and "tap off" of the transit I was off and running.
I passed through the shopping district, through neighborhoods and up and down hills until I was profusely sweating in the 72 degree day. I had to grab a snack to refuel
I crested a hill and got a view of this church and I was taken by the odd architecture--it made me want to climb to the top!
I tried to think like a native or like a resident of the neighborhood. I wanted to see what the housing looked like, what was around the hospital where I could potentially be for the next four years and what kind of people and activities were going on around the hospital. Well, just beyond the edges of the hospital block, there was this adorable city park and ball field.
Once I made it to the hospital, I confirmed where I needed to go the following morning and then set off to be a true tourist. That meant I hopped on a bus to the wharf to grab lunch. Look at the view!
And, of course, I couldn't be a tourist down on the wharf without visiting a little place called Ghirardelli.
And, because it wasn't my first visit, I happened to know that there are two different shops you can go through and at each one you get a free sample.
So, that meant I could have one for me and one to bring home to Tom. The last time I was there they had unwrapped chocolates, but now they give out these mini's so I was able to put that in my carry on as a little trinket of my trip :)
I remember the chocolate mixers being much more impressive when I was there as a child, but it was still pretty cool to see.
There was a little boy in front of me that asked his grandmother if he could take a bath in a tub full of chocolate. Because, he figured, if chocolate can be this smooth and there can be this much of it in one place, why wouldn't you want to take a bath in it? I couldn't really argue with him.
I walked a little further down the pier to see the old ships docked there and took in the view of the golden gate bridge.
I gazed at the old ships and wondered what it was like to actually rely on these boys to get you places when I had just taken a 1.5 hour flight to arrive in a totally different state.
Hercules was my favorite
And it was warm out, but to me it was NOT warm enough for open water swimming, particularly without a wet suit! to each their own.
I had to take a photo of this, although perhaps I shouldn't have....because based on the proportions represented in the photo, I was in danger of a seed pod the size of my entire torso falling on me!
Around mile 3.4 on foot I stopped in for a quick bite at this adorable little cafe that had to have the blinds drawn because it was so hot in there--on October 26th!
A turkey-avocado sandwich later I was refueled and ready to round out my 5 miles of walking for the day.
It has now become a tradition to find my way to the botanical gardens in the cities I visit (thanks to Tom who texted me that this existed so I found my way to it!).
Over 500 acres of land with several distinct regions of plants to discover. This garden is famous for its "cloud forests." The mild climate of San Francisco mimics the climate in many different high elevation regions (7,500-10,000 feet) throughout the globe so they are able to grow these plant species for people like me to come and explore. As usual (if you've read the blog before) there's a long string of plant photos and comments that basically say "ooohhh" and "aaaahhhh" to follow, so feel free to skip to the end :)
I wandered through areas that allowed me to experience plants from South Africa, Australia, and East Asia
They beautifully crafted sitting areas and places to stop and enjoy the views. I can only imagine someone getting married here!
This was the moon shadows garden that was particularly peaceful.
I wandered through a redwood forest that smelled incredibly fresh and then found myself taken by these African flowers that were all so unique.
Look at how purple the undersides of these leaves are!
The Lilly's were particularly fragrant!
My favorite exhibit arrived at the end--the Fragrance garden! I didn't take pictures of it all but there were some incredible herbs with amazing smells. My favorite (that I didn't photograph) was the lemon verbena--it smelled like dish soap, except natural and wonderfully clean, not like chemicals!
The pineapple sage smelled just like it sounds and it made me want to try it out with some salsa or something
And with that, I was exhausted. I made it back home and was up again bright and early for my interview day that started at 7 AM. After my 1 hr + commute, I was ready to tackle it.
This is what I saw when I came above ground--it was still dark but there were a ton of people out for their morning jog. It was refreshing and inspiring to see them all.
As I said before, I wont go into the specifics of the interview for the sake of avoiding any spoilers about a program or my feelings about them, but I will tell you that by the end, I was happy and ready to change out of a suit :) I commuted by the BART back to Oakland to meet up with the family and I got totally side tracked by a young mother selling her homemade peach cobbler to raise funds for her daughter to go to "Singorama." I didn't intend on buying it but she knew how to hook me. I stepped off the escalator and she took the lid off of it and I got a smell of the cinnamon and sugar sweet aroma, I couldn't help it, I compulsively pulled out my wallet! It was a sweet ending to a long day.
To cap it off, I got to see Aiden (the one in 6th grade) compete in his co-ed volleyball game. He's there in the #1 jersey in the center of the screen. It was a riveting match where they came back from a big deficit to pull off the win! It was so exciting to see the teamwork and athleticism and pure joy of these young athletes.
San Francisco was good to me. Truly a treat. Yet despite being able to be in someone's home rather than a hotel, and being able to share home-cooked meals with a family around a table rather than an over-priced and overly-rich restaurant food, I was exhausted and very readily welcomed the sight of the emerald city as I cam back into town.
There's a lot more where that kind of thing came from. I have a bit of a lull this week before the storm really begins next week. I start with a home interview at UW next week and then it's off and running as I head out to Orange, CA, Providence, RI, Los Angeles, San Deigo, Baltimore and back to D.C.--and that's all before Thanksgiving!
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