Maxima

Blips had great directions for Twin Peaks. That is a very high spot in San Francisco. The view as we wound our way up the hills is spectacular but when we got to the top it takes your breath away. You can see the whole city, Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz and the bay. It is hard to see but just at the bottom of the curve on the street(Market Street) is the Castro District.This is where the main Gay and Lesbian community is. We met a California family and took pictures for each other. Here is the mom and dad, who are about to become great-grandparents. Grandson is about to set out on a 5 week trip to India. What a nice family to chat with.

It is behind a hill on the left but is called Haight-Ashbury. Named after the two streets that intersect. This is where my role models hung out in the 60’s…Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jim Morrison and the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead.  I got all sentimental to see the area that these people at one time called home. We had coffee at the Peoples Cafe and an ‘alternative, wonderfully addictive vegan cookie’. That’s what the wrapper says. I had Double Chocolate Decadence and blips had Pistachio Mystique.  The coffee was nice and strong. Haight-Ashbury is rather normal now with a Gap and Ben&Jerry’s. But it is still colorful and unique only to San Francisco. I did not have the address of where Janis lived so I picked out this house. It is actually way more purple than the picture shows. Can’t you just hear her laughing as she did at the end of “me and Bobby McGee”? Freedom is just another word for nothin’ left to lose. The first album I remember from her was Cheap Thrills.  It is a good thing I left Worthington for LA in 1968 instead of San Francisco. I never would have left San Francisco! I love it here.

We then drove along Pacific Coast Hiway. There is the ocean and beach on one side and Golden Gate Park on the other side.

 Suddenly we spotted the Dutch Windmill we had read about in a book. There we had a great talk with Samuel, (originally from China) and Susan, originally from Hong Kong. We had so much in common. Queen Wilhelmina Garden is absolutely beautiful. I noticed the flowers were red white and blue. The blue were just done blooming so do not show in the picture. A very peaceful relaxing and romantic place. And I noticed that mothers let their children run and play and have fun. Because of the design, they did not have to be too careful of the traffic.

We then met two people originally from Chile. She now lives in NY and he lives in SF. They stopped at Queen Wilhelmina Garden within Golden Gate Park to take pictures with their surrogate family. She is holding a brother (with the big mouth) and he is holding a friend(with the pink hair). The brother and friend could not make the trip. So, these are their stand-ins. We really regretted leaving monkey in the hotel room. A pic of monkey, pink hair and big mouth would be priceless

Ok, the pictures do not match the text but it is really late here, so you have to match them youself. You can play that game where you match text with picture. Have fun

Tomorrow Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped at a lovely spot on the hiway but it was getting dark. Here is one pic of the bridge far away.