July 27: Seattle to San Francisco

This morning there was an early "rise and shine," as I had a 6:05 a.m. Alaska Airlines flight to catch from Seattle to SF.  It was a hard thing to leave Alexandra, especially since I had had such a good time with her.  I read and did some writing before arriving in SF at 8:15, and Maureen soon circled to the curb and we took off to a gorgeous day's accompaniment.  Our first stop was her condo, where I unpacked and we had a great breakfast of scrambled eggs with salsa, bacon, an English muffin, as well as orange juice and coffee, all of which revived me greatly, since I had started my day at 3:30 a.m.  Then we drove to the Dogpatch section of SF and did some exploring on foot, ending up at Marcella's, an Italian restaurant where we had salads, blood orange carbonated drinks, and chocolate and hazelnut gelato for dessert.  From there we drove to Bernal Heights Park, where we had some incredible views of the San Francisco skyline as we walked to a promontory on the hill.  Afterwards, we went on some quick errands to Target and Marshall's before returning to Maureen's condo for dinner.  She had cooked pulled pork, slaw, and beans for dinner, and for dessert we had a strawberry-rhubarb pie which was incredible.  We watched "Le Maitre de Musique," and Maureen really liked it.  Afterwards, having been up since 3:30 a.m., I made an exit for the bedroom at about 10:00 p.m.  Looking forward to a good night's sleep.