California, Day One - Tiburon

San Francisco - Everything went fine with my flight from Atlanta, despite the fact that Delta stuck me in the middle seat. Five hours elbow-to-elbow with two strangers, but I arrived here safe and sound none the less.

From the airport, I rented a standard-size Kia and drove Highway 101 North in search of the Golden Gate Bridge. I had no idea that 101 wasn't a freeway all the way from the airport to the bridge, and instead, that it would drop me off into downtown S.F., where I had to follow street signs for "101" and "G.G. Bridge." But I found the bridge despite the challenge, drove into Marin County, called my sister, and arrived around 1:00 p.m. at her house in Tiburon.

This is beautiful country: rugged hills surrounded by water, beautifully built houses, and manicured gardens. The retail infrastructure is all low profile - none of the garish billboards and illuminated signs that blight Georgia. Out of my sister's back porch, I could see Mount Tamalpais, watch deer feed in the arroyos, and smell wild eucalyptus.

Technical difficulties: When I checked into the Tiburon Lodge, I found that the rooms don't have "High-Speed Access" like Hotels.com implied. This is being typed in the hotel's business center, where I'm being interrupted by others requesting to check their email, print boarding passes, and other urgent business. Also, I forgot to pack the USB line for my digital camera, so right now I cannot upload pictures to the Net (If you know where I can buy a USB line for an Olympus camera in the Marin County area, please email me).

Yesterday was mostly spent in the company of my sis, her hubby and their three-year-old. We cruised around Tiburon, with its beautiful views of the G.G. Bridge (every time I type that, I think of G.G. Allin, which is a whole different mind set), San Fran, Sausalito and Berkeley. We spent an hour at a toy store for the three-year-old (I bought him a bag full of plastic lizards, and he immediately memorized the names of every one - "Kimono dragon," "chameleon," "iguana," etc.). Kid's minds are like sponges.

Sis decided we needed time to ourselves, so we left her son with hubby and drove over to Mill Valley for a sunset latte.

Today, the forecast is for rain, so we scuttlebutted our plans to climb Mt. Tam, and are going to meet for brunch in a few minutes to make alternative plans for the day. I'll post again when I can.