T-MINUS 26 DAYS TO VACA OR HOW THE FRUIT TREE BLOOMS

“Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it.”
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It is now t-minus 26 days and counting until The Big San Francisco Vacation.

This is my first vacation in over two years! This is the longest vacation I have taken in more years than I can remember - *two whole weeks*!!

Life has not been much fun in the last couple of years (see those boring details below in Saying Goodbye - The Tale of a Free Spirit).

Originally, this vacation was scheduled before all the crap hit the fan. Then it got re-scheduled twice when I still thought things might be okay. Ultimately, it got canceled when the stuff came down and I knew it wasn’t going to be okay until it was over. It was over in December, but then really over when all the business was finally, completely done at the end of May.

Now. Fresh start. New life. Forward looking, forward thinking.

The first time I ever set eyes on San Francisco, it was a business trip. Sadly, that was the best vacation I had ever had to that point, and it was the best vacation I had ever had for many years after that. Luckily, that has changed, and I have had many wonderful vacations in more recent years.

I have spent a lot of those vacations going to New York City, because I am in love with that city.

If my first love is New York City, then my illicit affair is with San Francisco. It is magical, mystical, haunting, beautiful. It is a place that has inhabited my dreams.

While I am there, I will do some of the things I love best: drive, walk, explore, photograph, research, write, eat, drink wine (oh yeah!), and attend an IndyCar race the last weekend I am in the area. I have everything all planned and I’ll be blogging about it - both pre-vacation and during.

I have now saved for this trip for over two years. I am going IN STYLE. I am flying first class. I am staying at a certain hotel noted for luxury and service (my fave in any city). I am eating at wonderful restaurants. I am doing this deal top drawer. It will be the experience of a lifetime.

I am going to re-set the “best vacation I’ve ever had” back to San Francisco. Instead of that crown going to some sad business trip, it will now be re-set to a fabulous getaway in the City by the Bay.

The lyrics of This Great Classic, sung by the inimitable Mr. Tony Bennett, could not better express my feeling for this Great City, and the spirit with which I approach my trip.

This is a trip for exhaling. This is a trip for exploring. This is a trip of discovery and re-discovery. The trick, my friends, will be getting on the plane to come back home...

Polla Filia,
J.F.