Adam and I went to San Francisco for a long weekend—to get away, and to kill time while waiting for the sale of the house to close. (Thursday is the big day.) Unlike most people, I don't have a special fondness for San Francisco, but I like walking around it just fine, so that's mainly what we did. None of the art museums had interesting shows, but we had never been to the Legion of Honor, way out in Lincoln Park.
That's actually an athletic feat, as I'm clinging to the column, like a koala. Anyway, we stayed at the Battery, a private club with 15 or so hotel rooms. If you ignore the tech bros in the public areas—easy enough—it's pretty great. Then again, I may have been swayed by the free bag of Pirate's Booty in the minibar. I don't even like Pirate's Booty! That's just how powerful the goodwill is from an in-room snack clearly labeled as free.
The hotel gets a demerit, however, for window treatments that allow light to seep through—bad in any environment, but especially in a city, where light comes in at all hours. A trick I remembered from by Budget Travel days helped a bit....
One day, we went over to Berkeley, because Adam had never visited the town or the campus. And we both saw something we had never seen before: people playing quidditch, the game from the Harry Potter books. Attempting to play, I should say; flying seems to be an essential part. The young men and women standing and running with broomsticks wedged between their thighs, often clasping the front of the stick with one hand, was quite a visual.
I made Adam go out for a drink before dinner each night, because it's something we don't do in Santa Barbara, where someone always has to drive. At Stookey's Club Moderne, I was delighted by the little nut dish—always a good sign—when the bartender asked if we wanted any peanuts or cheeses. At least I thought she said cheeses, which sounded like supermarket cubes, and we had a big dinner ahead of us. But then I realized she must've said Cheez-Its. Cheez-Its!
And those are the highlights—that and not getting COVID-19 (if, in fact, we didn't).
P.S. I did come upon a good warning sign.