The Bay Area is so beautiful, I hesitate to preach about heaven while I'm here"

~Billy Graham

And Friday was just the kind of day he was talking about. I haven't seen the city so beautiful in years. Normally I don't like going into San Francisco, the traffic and the tension of the drivers. Everyone in a hurry. My old roads are gone, me and San Francisco, we just don't know each other like we used to.

Friday though, San Francisco pulled out all the stops. The sky was so blue and clear, I wish I could have taken a million pictures just on the bridge. I love the symmetry of it. My pictures are not great, since I was driving AND taking photos (which I think worried Elizabeth just a bit.) But OHMYGOD can you just imagine how lovely it was? I mean seriously.

For the first time I could see all the new work going on to the right of the approach, I had only seen the new bridge on TV. I was just not in a good place to get a photo, sorry. I wonder if I will love it like I do the current bridge?

"Arrival in San Francisco is an experience in living"~William Saroyan

Ahh, the local lunch specials, nothing so colorful as the one a bit past this, "Lap Dance Lunch Special". Hmm, weird.

Russian Hill is a beautiful neighborhood. It isn't too crowded during the day and with a few trips around the block we managed to find a decent parking spot. Decent being neither up or down a steep hill. My only disappointment in the day was that my little shop, Brown Dirt Cowboy, was out of business.

Luckily all was not lost, there are still charming stores on the street and we went to this one. It was very cute. I saw some little felted gnomes and I thought they looked very familiar. When I did a little research back home I found that indeed they were from the imagination of the lovely Lucille. I've become familiar with her works through her good friend Angelina. All our lovely purchases in the city are Christmas gifts, so they are not to be revealed here.

During the ride back towards the bridge, the sun was shining and the bridge looked like it was clean and fresh. Sparkling. It was like seeing it for the first time. We drove along the Embarcadero, and without that freeway the whole view is open, the area revitalized. Post card perfect.

"San Francisco has only one drawback. ''Tis hard to leave"
Rudyard Kipling

It was a very fine day.