south

Lily and Andrea were so happy sitting in the waves at Kitty Hawk

Savannah

Savannah is worth seeing. 

the magical French Market in Savannah

The NC low lands were beautiful and full of critters.

This is Martins Beach that I mentioned a while ago. This is about 30 minutes from Half moon Bay.

Martins beach will more than likely go away in 2021 when all of the leases are up and the Denney family sells it off after 100 years in the family.

For the past three days we have been headed south. We found heat at Kitty Hawk but it cooled down at night and there was not much humidity. The moment we moved inland we found 97% humidity and heat and mosquitoes. I hate the heat and have always hated the heat. San Francisco and Pacifica are great places for me to work and live.  BUT we have appointments in Orlando, Fla. On the 21^st.

For me: My 44 year old son has been working for Disney at least 20 years and I don’t get to see him often. I will also meet his new wife and see my grand sons.

Andrea will meet her 2 sisters and celebrate Fran’s 50^th Birthday in the Disney Park.

We will have a hotel room for three nights because Andrea’s Mom has a membership in a hotel time-share and we get to spread out for a few days and use a real kitchen.

When we are done with Florida we start our westerly wanderings.  Lily has an event at the School of the arts in SF on Nov. 13 so we will arrive in Pacifica the Day before.

Lily met Montana, her 14-year-old Nephew for the first time and they were thick as thieves from the get go. We had a dinner last night with Marcel, Amy his wife and Montana. It was very nice getting everybody together and cooking on a slightly larger cook top.  Lily and Montana keep each other laughing and generally having fun.

On our way down here we stopped in Savannah, Ga.; what a beautiful city. From the moment we drove in we were all charmed. This was a good antidote after being depressed and assaulted by North Myrtle Beach. Va. (this place could have been the inspiration for Dante’s decent into hell.) In Savannah our spirits were buoyed by the human scale architecture and the sense of history in the air. We had a great lunch at Jacks on the River (amazing fried green tomatoes) and then wandered around the historic part of the city. We stumbled into a place called the French Market. I was looking for espresso and was told this was the spot. The bare wood floors and high ceilings were welcoming. The place was an eccentric gift shop that resembled The Tail Of The Yak in Berkeley. Objects that possessed strong identities filled the place. In the corner was an espresso bar. We got some coffee, cookies, sat down and let the place stain us. A good moment in a very nice town. Savannah feels like it is still has people as a primary concern.

 Sunday in Orlando. After 2 days of family stuff, I am having the luxurious experience of being alone for several hours in our apartment. I want to do nothing consciously. It has been good to see my son, meet Amy, Fran (Andrea’s Sister) and grand kids. Sometime over the next 6 months we will bring Montana out to SF for a weeks visit. We will try and get him surfing lessons.

One more family dinner tonight and then we hit the road headed west for New Orleans early morning.

53 days into our trip and I have lost track of time, don’t know what day of the week it is. My back feels pretty good and hasn’t needed attention, I have found a new hot sauce I really like (Texas Mikes) I don’t miss my phone ringing and I get along very well with Andrea and Lily. I have found that my professional life exists and does stuff without my pushing and prodding. So I will leave it alone and let it do what it does.

The one thing on the trip that has been consistent is the extremely common nature of the current upper middle class and upper class. The choices being made in housing all over the country expresses the fact that big is essential and bigger than big is better yet. Why bother with knowledge when scale and numbers are so much easier to understand. I don’t expect any of this to get better in my lifetime.

Infotainment has under-mind the value of intellectualism in America.

See what happens when  get a little time.