Day 17

Friday morning. Waking up in San Francisco’s “rock ‘n roll” Phoenix Hotel after a full day of riding my bike around this beautiful city. I wish I had more pictures to show you, but I forgot my camera charger at home.  Boo.  It was actually nice to not feel that obligation to capture images all day.  Taking pictures can sometimes keep you out of the present moment.  You’re already thinking about the future, and how you want to look back on this moment, rather than just being in this moment.

I got up early and biked down to the ferry, went over to Sausalito for breakfast, and thought I might cross the Golden Gate Bridge back into the city.  Um…I didn’t realize how steep the ride up to the bridge is in Sausalito.  My crappy little BMX couldn’t handle it.  I guess that’s why they suggest biking across from San Francisco and taking the ferry back.  I had it backwards.

San Francisco’s bike map is awesome.  The streets are colour coded according to how steep the hills are, so you can plan a nice route around the city, avoiding the crazy hills.  I ended up parking my bike in The Castro and walking for a few hours in the middle of the day.  What a beautiful city!

oh my god the redwoods

On the drive to San Francisco from Portland we stopped to hug some trees. California’s Redwoods are the biggest and most stunning trees I’ve ever seen.  After so many hours in the van, we jumped out and ran around like little kids – climbing, hugging, and walking through these giant trees.  I snapped a few cell phone pics, but they really don’t do it justice. The pic to the left is of a giant fallen tree that I ran across and climbed inside of.

By far the most amazing few minutes of this tour.

what’s next…

Since my last Friday update, we’ve played Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. Today we drive to LA, where I finally get to see Ali after two long weeks apart.  She’s flying in and we’re going to spend my 3 days off in LA, before I fly to Boston to finish off the last week of the tour. I’m so excited to see her that I might explode.

the last leg of Amy Millan’s fall 2009 tour…

11/04/09 – Cambridge, MA Middle East
11/05/09 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
11/06/09 – Brooklyn, NY @ Bell House
11/07/09 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
11/08/09 – Washington, DC @ DC9

Happy Friday!