Warning:This might sound like complaining.

Happy Friday!  How was your fourth of July?  We had a very low key day around here.  Good thing  because  Wednesday was brought to us by the BARTocolypse... not familiar with that phrase? Well BART is our Bay Area Rapid Transit  system, and for the past week, the workers have been on strike.  Without getting into politics, because who needs that on this blog.. lets just say it's an inconvenience for the ridership, which includes Bret, my husband.

Wednesday I drove him into work after the main commute was over, around 10:30 am. I figure it would be a nice day to escape the heat out here in the Tri Valley and Frankie was free to join me for a day in San Francisco.

I'm not a fan of driving in the city at all, let alone in the BARTocolypse, tons more cars and people than normal and  tension.. exhausting.  As you know I love to drive but OMG people ... it was insanity.  Frankie and I wanted to hit Japantown first. And luckily there was room in the parking garage for us.  We wandered around and enjoyed the sites and the shopping.  I was a little disappointed in the Kinokuniya book store, not a big craft book selection. Looks like San Jose will still be our best spot.   Then we decided we'd head over the de Young Fine Art Museum. 

Passed these cute pastel houses along the way. 

Parking lot was crammed, and in fact the whole Golden Gate Park was chock full of people.  I was caught off guard thinking it was a week day, forgetting that duh it's a  TOURIST ATTRACTION. It was lovely weather there though.  Here's me trying to grab a shot of the darling shutters on this building while also trying to get out of an area that I shouldn't be in. 

More inspiration along the way.  I loved the side of this house, the brick foundation is cool with it's random large bricks, and the wrought iron trim.. fantastic.  I thought for sure there was some quilt inspiration in these photos, the shutters, the colors of the homes, the Chinese Pavilion. 

Anyway, we thought about heading out of SF but ended up over in Daly City.  Bret called and said he was ready around 4pm. Hahahaha, an hour and a half later we ended up back downtown in the financial district.  Creeping along.

We swooped down off the freeway and when I say swooped I really mean slowly crawled down at about 1/2 a mile per hour and grabbed Bret off the sidewalk and headed  back to the freeway and up the carpool lane to the bridge.  Which took ONE HOUR. I'm pretty sure it's l mile or less. 

And then we headed home. Once off the bridge everything opened up.  My car tells me the average speed for our trip, and from the time we left Daly City till we got home to Livermore, my average speed was 17 miles per hour.  And from the time we left the bridge till we got home we were doing the limit. 

BUT, all that being said it was a nice day.  We enjoyed our visit to Japantown and even though we couldn't get to the museum, we enjoyed the ride through the park.  We had a nice lunch out and then sure, the ride back to downtown was a pain but over all I give the day a B.  And best part, today my husband has a ride with some folks who have a parking spot! So in the end win win. 

 

Now, tell me how the fourth was at your place!  I want to hear all the details! xo

Update:
 The strike is over! Phew, back to normal!