We Left Our Baby in San Francisco!

 

Not unlike Jerry Sloan, our daughter Charity just woke up one morning last year and realized that she should live in San Francisco! When that girl gets something in her mind, there’s no changing it (not that we would try) so….there she is! 

This week we had 24 whole hours with her. We told her to plan the adventure and that’s exactly what she did!  She lives in a beautiful house in a room…just a titch less glamorous than a designer’s pad but hey she put together her own dresser, bookcase and desk. That’s pretty awesome! Plus she wakes up every morning to a spectacular view of the ocean and a squirrel running along the telephone wires. (Oops I cut off the view!)

Of course the world map is her oyster and it is carefully marked with all the countries she has visited.

I think she was especially pleased to have her dad in her room….at last!

After a tour of her FUN house full of terrific roommates we went down to Fisherman’s Wharf

and took the ferry under the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz, which she has always wanted to do but lacked the funds.  It was a splendid ride with a great view of that magical city on one side….

And the Golden Gate Bridge on the other…..

I thought she would explode with excitement as we floated under this American monument which is the second most recognizable landmark in the world (Eiffel Tower is #1 just to save you time on Google). 

Dad was pretty cold but luckily I had an extra coat and scarf from Charity’s closet!

 

Alcatraz was pretty amazing too. Not much hope for escape from that crazy place!

Charity chauffeured us around like a pro and we saw pretty much all the districts of San Francisco.

We even drove by this great house where she does most of her babysitting for a British couple in Haight-Ashbury.

We had some GREAT food. It’s San Francisco, what do you expect?  We also made it to one of Charity’s favorite spots on earth. It meant driving a short while and then running as fast as we could scramble to get there before sunset. This place is just twenty minutes from downtown is this amazing haven of glorious nature complete with a lighthouse and a gorgeous view of the ocean and the city in the distance.

 

 

The next morning we found a great place to rent bikes and rode through Golden Gate Park and down to an beautiful windmill and the beach.

At the end of our 24 hours Charity dropped us off at a car rental place and we were on our way….and she was on her way!  No grass grows under that girl’s feet! She has carved out a delightful life for herself…albeit she would love to replace her 6 part time jobs with just one reliable one! What an amazing child we have been blessed with!  She personifies the name of her blog…Dripping with Passion.  You can view it here.

We loved being with our baby but felt really good about leaving her…and our hearts…in San Francisco.