“The Bay Area is so beautiful;
I hesitate to preach about heaven while I’m here.”
– Billy Graham

“Blog Ideas” is a document where I keep um…well, I had a note in there to write about cool based on an article I read in the Chicago Tribune. Instead, I’ll write about it within the context of one day in San Francisco, a city where (almost) everything’s cool.

Day two of the odyssey began by resuscitating Barb with a Starbucks Triple Venti Latte. Her pulse restored, Barb was ready to seize the day. I was just ready for some breakfast. The place we found could not have been more perfect after a long day into night involving some great California wines. Adel’s Restaurant is on the corner of Wabash & Broadway, in Eureka, CA. It was so cool. It was Samuel L. Jackson cool. In fact, I was sure we’d hear Sam saying this before we left, but he must have been delayed with Mr. Wolf. After refueling on a breakfast that rocked the cholesterol Richter scale, we were off to the city by the bay (did I just quote a Journey song? OMG, I’m sorry…). I won’t get into a major retelling of the whole day, but pretty much everything we did ended with a “that didn’t suck.” Here’s the punch list:

It’s a tough call on what was the “coolest” thing we did on that particular Sunday. For me it was likely the return to the Legion of Honor museum. On my inaugural visit, I didn’t appreciate art the way I do now, so it was like seeing an old friend years after acquiring some semblance of wisdom and maturity. Fun hit it’s highpoint at Lou’s Blues where we made fun of the “Fleetwood Mac” type drama we thought we were seeing. It was pretty clear the bass player, think Art Garfunkel without the money, was “with” the female lead singer, and the completely disengaged guitar player um, wasn’t… anymore. It was such a contrast to see “Art,” mojo on, jumping around in “Krameresque” fashion while the guitar player played almost motionless, a blank gaze pointed out the window to Jefferson Street below.

By the time we sat down for dinner at the end of Day 2, I had a blank gaze of my own; one of complete exhaustion. Barb claims the waitress flashed her a couple “boy, he seems like a lot of fun” looks, but I didn’t catch those. I’d seen enough for one day.