Attracting crowds

Sometimes, all it takes is a dog to attract a crowd.

San Francisco (Day 10) - 20 Days of Chill

As I stood there on the roof of the Franklin Institute, my mind wandered back to those trees in California and then it went to one of my favorite cities in the entire country, San Francisco.

I remembered the trip I'd taken there in July of the previous year.  Someone had told me that I needed to go there, just to enjoy the weather.  The weather?  In San Francisco?  It's cold and blustery there all the time.  What's to enjoy?  "Just go," the voice said. So I went.

Something compelled me to go to the Golden Gate Bridge.  

"Walk across it."

So I found a place to park on the southern side and walked with all of the tourists all the way across the bridge.  Now, the fear of heights has always been strong in me, but for some reason, I wasn't worried, even as I felt the bridge sway in the strong breeze.

I walked to the north side, took many photos, and then explored a couple of areas over there.  People were taking selfies with the bridge in the background.  People were getting in each other's ways.  I was trying to get the best spot possible for that shot of a lifetime.  The fog was starting to roll in and I wanted to get the clouds as they passed over the bridge.

I waited patiently, probably irritating many of the people around me who wanted my spot for their own photo.  I wasn't budging.  There, I got it.  I started to pack up my equipment, when I felt someone bump into me.

As always, my immediate response is to check for my wallet.  Nope, it was still there.  But, as I felt my wallet in my back pocket, I also felt the round end of something hard pressing into my right kidney.

"Listen.  If you want to see Herman alive again, you're going to take this ticket to the airport and get on the plane.  DON'T LOOK AROUND!  Just take the ticket and get back over to your car and drive to the airport."

Whoever it was pressed something into my hand.  Then, he was gone as quickly as he'd snuck up behind me.  I didn't even have a chance to turn around and get a good glimpse of him because of the crowds.  So I looked into my hand and there was the airline ticket...IN MY NAME!  Who was this guy, and how did he know Herman?  I guess I'd have to get on that plane and find out.

But wait, I don't have my passport with me.  This is an overseas flight.  I started to panic, but I knew that I needed to get on that plane.  So I packed up the rest of my equipment and started that long walk back across the bridge.  When I got back to the other side, I hiked down to my car, opened the trunk of the car and got another surprise.  There, in the trunk, was my suitcase, packed and ready to go.  Curious.  I reached into the front zippered pocket, knowing full well what I'd find there.  If whoever was behind this, had been able to break into my house and break into my car, I knew I'd find my passport where I always kept it. 

I reached in and felt around smiling slowly.  This guy was good.

Looks like I was going to Zurich.

To be continued.......

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Baseball

Now it's already fall and I really haven't written much about what happened this summer, so you're going to get a retrospect view of different things that happened to me this summer.

This summer was really a whirlwind type of vacation for me for the first time in a long time.  It seemed like I had things happening all the time and just when I was done with one thing, another thing got planned.  Not all the things were pleasant (most medical procedures aren't), but it's safe to say that I passed those with flying colors and am now moving on to rectify the things that were in the grey area, health wise.

Summer, for me, actually started Memorial Day weekend.  I went up to visit my daughter and her fiancé.  My middle son was up in the Bay Area that weekend as well, so we ended up taking in a Giants game at AT&T Park in San Francisco.  We rode the train in, barely making it to the station on time, but the ride worked out well as we had seats.  As we made our way closer to the ballpark, the train kept getting filled with more and more black and orange.  I felt like alien, this Angel fan that I am.

As you can see from the first shot, I didn't do a very good job of raising my daughter to be a local team supporter and so she's become a Giants fan.  Nothing much I can do about that as she's a big girl and can make her own decisions.  I blame it on TV.  Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Now hear me out on this one.  I'm not a fan of watching baseball on TV.  Whenever my daughter has taken me to games at Angel stadium, we always go early.  My daughter says, "It's like a religion to him.  He has to see batting practice or the experience isn't complete."  And that's right.  I like watching batting practice.  I like watching the players warm and and play soft toss.  I like to watch them stretch and loosen up.  It's all part of the game.

TV doesn't offer that.  For the most part, not all, but for the most part, TV presents a duel between the pitcher and the batter.  With TV, you don't get the pleasure of watching the players adjust with different pitches.  You don't get to see the center fielder shade a batter to left center and make subtle adjustments throughout the at bat.  TV doesn't cover baseball well in my opinion.  And so, because of that, I never watched baseball on TV and my daughter has glommed on to the Giants as her team.  Yeah, part of that is her fiancé's fault since he's a die hard Giants fan, but if I'd watched more baseball, she probably would be a better local sports enthusiast.

Now if you're going to talk football with her, she definitely has her passions, or at least she knows which teams to really hate.  Her fiancé has learned that if the Cowboys are playing well, it's just better to turn the TV off, because she really hates the Cowboys, just like her dad.  I couldn't be more proud.

The baseball game that weekend was a lot of fun.  I went to three games this summer, far more than I've gone in the past couple of years combined.  I didn't realize how much I missed the game.  I suspect that in the upcoming years, I shall be returning to different stadiums to enjoy games more than once every couple of years like it's been in the past.