Sunday, March 11, 2007

Love at First Sight

I'm a city girl. I love the energy, buildings, people-watching, pace, food, and shopping. Thanks to the Lord and the generosity of my parents, I have been able to visit some of the world's neatest big cities like Rome, Paris, London, New York, Athens, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and Chicago. And Houston of course. This weekend I scribbled San Francisco right above NYC at the top of the list. I got to fly out there with my mom, our friend Amy, and Jackson. It is the most beautiful city I've ever seen. And so clean! We make fun of Californians for being so over the top about the environment, but if I lived in a place like that I'd be passionate about protecting it too. It is spectacular. The glory of God is beaming out everywhere you look. Maybe that's why you-know-who has tried so hard to make it a place of his own renown. I thought so much about Romans 1:18-32.

Here are some of our more memorable moments:

-We had been shopping on the 4th floor at Bloomingdales, swimming in the sea of designer jeans, only minutes before the emergency alarm began going off. Keep in mind that my disaster awareness (anxiety) was very high being in San Francisco. Luckily, we were about 50 yards from the exit when it sounded. People were not moving fast enough for me. I thought, don't you know that the top floors could be ON FIRE and might CAVE IN on us ANY SECOND!?!? So in my eagerness to escape the danger I repeatedly rammed Jackson's stroller into the heels of the people in front of us. Yeah, I got some nasty looks.

-Sharing fish and chips with Jackson for the first time at Fisherman's Wharf.

-Getting se*ually harrassed by the elevator attendant - in a crowded, enclosed space for several minutes - in Coit Tower. Why didn't any of the men speak up for us? If my dad had been in there with us, that man would have had the tip of a Lucchese boot lodged in a place where the sun don't shine. And that was after we had to pay to use the ladies room.

-The ministry of chocolate at Ghiradelli.

-Visiting the Japanese Tea Garden. It was totally worth the $4.

-When some Asian teenage tourists took pictures with our tour guide/driver because they thought he was a movie star.

-Watching people surf under the Golden Gate Bridge.

-Singing to the Spice Girls with Rich while he drove us around town at night.

-Spending the weekend with my dear friend Amy who is like a big sister to me and Melissa. We had a blast!

-Getting to worship Jesus with 8,000 women at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco.

-Seeing a crazy lightning storm somewhere over San Angelo late last night on the plane ride home. And above it we could see thousands and thousands of starts. It was awesome in the truest sense of the word.

4 comments:

Kelly @ Love Well said...

Just had to comment on the incident in the elevator: I love many things about California, but it's not a state known for chivalrous men. That's one of the great things about the Midwest that's definitely lacking on the West Coast. But on the behalf of the Californians who care -- sorry that happened!

Pen the Tale said...

Had a laugh about the Asian teens and your tour guide. Growing up in Southern Cali, my brother and I would be stopped regularly by Asian tourists for a picture. Being blonde/blue-eyed, I guess we looked typical cali-fare. I remember a specific time it happened down at the wharf in San Fran. Sometimes I wonder how many photo albums we're in overseas :-)

simri

Vernon & Amber said...

oh YAH! i am so glad you had such a great time!!! San Fransico is on Vernon and I's list of places to visit...and this post made me want to move it up the list!

Janelle and Ella said...

I am so glad it was amazing! Sounds great! I am laughing out loud thinking about you and the emergency exit, combined with your panic that it's an earthquake! So funny. I have a really funny story about San Fran I have to tell you about next time I talk to you. It involves getting stuck in a disgusting elevator that lead down to the transit that I'm pretty sure had been peed in a few dozen times.