Settling into the foggy mountain kingdom

It seems that we live in the foggiest, dampest part of the city. I had heard about the summer fog and knew I was not going to be wearing shorts and flippy-floppies. I even bought Grace a summer jacket, but I was not really prepared. I guess I imagined it would be kind of like La Jolla during May gray and June gloom. Instead, I've been hunting down Grace's knit caps and bundling up in at least three layers to go outside.

When driving across the Bay Bridge, you can see the whole city spread before you. It's really quite lovely. You'll see the sun breaking through, warming the eastern side of the city and the valleys. Then you'll see the two highest peaks (have I mentioned the hills here?), still shrouded in fog. And that's where we live. Despite my shock at the weather so far, we love our apartment. We are surrounded by trees and the fog rolls by the giant windows and it's really quite cozy to sit by the windows and read, huddled under a blanket, listening to the howling wind. When we leave our place and head down the hill, it's often quite sunny or at least only overcast, so we've come to refer to our home as a foggy mountain kingdom. Sounds kind of romantic, right? And rather fitting for Princess Grace.

We've been trying to get out and find our way around our new home. There are some very neat neighborhoods nearby, at least I consider them to be in walking distance. San Francisco also has some terrific playgrounds. And I absolutely love to see Spanish architecture with red tile roofs and glorious arches on subway stations and libraries.

Here are some shots from our wanderings and explorations so far.

Outside the Ferry Building looking east across the bay, Bay Bridge in the background.

At Pier 39 with Alcatraz in the background (ridiculously excited to go there).

The Golden Gate bridge should be prominently behind that boat. Did I mention the fog?

Swinging and representing in Pacific Heights on a rare sunny day (it was foggy at our place).

This has nothing to do with settling into SF, but it does illustrate the seriousness of eating a chocolate chip cookie (and also introduces the question of what was Steve doing with three computers going at once. Does he work for Calit2?)

We walked from the Presidio to the lookout next to the bridge. It was gorgeous. When an oblivious tourist stepped right in front of me in the line for the restroom, I handled it so gracefully by saying nothing... I am a good ambassador for my new city.

Walking back through the Presidio. This is just before she lost that hat, probably the third time she wore it. This was during our lose something every time we go out phase that now means no toys in the stroller.

It's possible that we returned to California just because of that ocean and the spectacular coast line.