It can't really be that far away

San Francisco skyline

 My wife can tell you that for years and years, California was one of the two places that I liked visiting the most.

My, how things have changed.

Age has got a hold on me and I am no longer singing, or humming, “California Dreaming,” the song made famous by the Mammas and the Pappas.

I don’t listen to Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” that much any more.

California just seems so far away now from my home on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.

The late 1970’s and the 1980’s were so enjoyable visiting there, what with experiencing new places and the really entertaining street artists down along Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square and the Cannery.

The cable cars were so exhilirating. There was one time, I believe it was on a full moon night, that when going “so fast,”  — what eight miles per hour— down Hyde Street past Lombard, it seemed like that moving part of history seemed to have gone airborne after just crossing an intersection.

View of Pacific from Louis

Those were the days: Long walks, city history, mild days and cool, if not downright cold, foggy nights. I just loved it.

And in a way, I guess, when I think about it, I still love the area.

Chinatown, Union Square, the panoramic views of the Pacific from Louis’ Restaurant and of course the Golden Gate Bridge. They are ingrained in my memory.

And it is disheartening to hear about the weather problems plaguing the area, first with drought and then with the heavy wind and rain the area is now experiencing.

One day, things will get back to normal, whatever that might be, and perhaps then, I’ll just look West once again and think, well it’s not really that far.

Next post: Feb. 28, 2017