Happy New Year in San Francisco

We spent the New Year's weekend in San Francisco, mostly revisiting old favorites, acquiring a few new ones, eating well, viewing the harbor fireworks, and resting up.

Amazing how this place has had its ups and downs; we like

seeing the vintage clothing stores, the Goodwill, all the

tourists our age or older; the clever T-shirt aphorisms, etc.

For a small donation you can take a picture of this "vintage"

van

After a nice Italian dinner in Cow Hollow, we returned to the

hotel, rested up, and then embarked on our long walk along

the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building; here, the baker at

Boudin's does his thing

A seasonally-ornamented rig in the harbor

near Fisherman's Wharf

The moon nearly colliding with Coit Tower

And our goal for the evening, and the weekend, the SF harbor

fireworks, one of the best anywhere; Happy New Year, all!

Rebecca had taken us to see one of these several years ago,

when she lived in SF; it has become one of our favorites

As long as you don't mind wading into and waiting among a

boisterous but good-natured crowd of 200,000, in the harbor

chill, right at the Ferry Building (south-side quay), it's a

pretty good show; the best fireworks we have seen

And, as you can see on the Ferry Building

clock, it's all over by 12:20; unfortunately,

public transportation shuts down in the vicinity

of the fireworks, so it's a long trudge back to

the hotel

Next afternoon, after lunch at Alioto's, we walked along among

the many sights; here, a seagull adds a splash of color to the

bow of the USS Pampanito, with The Rock in the background;

we toured the Pampanito in 1990, with the girls, on our first

summer tour in the Milennium Falcon...

Alcatraz; it was a beautiful day

In the (free) amusement museum, the Musee Mecanique, on

or near Pier 44, a collection of working old amusement park/

arcade machines, scores of them, plus a history of such parks;

Vicki scored a respectable 190 on Skeeball

Ah, the good old days...

Obligatory street scene, near Lombard

Obligatory bridge scene

And, for something new, we drove out to the Presidio; here, a

part of the National Cemetery there

And finally, on the way back home, Rebecca's

old apartment building on Divisadero at

Haight; thanks for a great weekend, Rebecca

and Jeremy...