Union Square

Our final day in San Francisco. And we were spending it staring at David Beckham in his briefs.

We were in Union Square, waiting for our double-decker tour bus to arrive so we could begin sampling the sights (though one might argue we already were). Beckham came courtesy of an Armani ad stretched across several stories of the Macy’s building in front of us.

It must have been the previous late night, and the excitement of the last few days, but as soon as our bus pulled up and we got on, Zoe’s eye lids began drooping. She struggled and struggled - nodding through Haight-Ashbury (probably best since in a more alert state, she surely would have asked: “Mommy, what’s a love-in?), blinking valiantly through the Presidio, head jerking up and down past Golden Gate Park. Finally, as the bus rolled onto that magnificent construction -Golden Gate Bridge - she gave up, lay her head on my lap and fell deeply sleep.

She woke at the end of the tour at Fisherman’s Wharf.

I had to break the news: Time to go home to Minnesota.

No! She yelled, suddenly wide awake. I don’t want to leave!

Ah, I told her, the best trips are the ones where you don’t want to go home.

What was your favorite part? I asked.

Playing with Sophie, she said. And staying with Ben.

Either my daughter is a born diplomat or she’s already figured out the secret of travel. The sights may be interesting, but it’s the people who make it wonderful.

~~~

Credits:

My husband Chris, for staying home in Minnesota with Maya

My mother-in-law Betty, who took them in for the weekend

Pui-Wing and Steve, for feeding and housing us and showing us the sights in San Francisco. Steve, for taking a day off with us just before a huge deadline at work. Check out his new computer game from the people who brought you the Sims: Spore.com

Sophie, for being Zoe’s Instant Friend

Ben, taking on two squirrelly four-year-olds

Unhei, for our lovely breakfast at Sweet Adeline

The cop on Market St, for Zoe’s “SFPD Junior Officer” sticker

Northwest Airlines, for thanking us for flying with them to Minneapolis-St Paul, “international headquarters of Northwest Airlines,” which only served to remind us that this will soon cease to be true.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 9:57 am and is filed under Holidays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.