Todo List
Started: 2018-05-22 20:15:00
Submitted: 2018-05-22 22:14:35
Visibility: World-readable
In which the intrepid narrator contemplates his list of things to do before leaving San Francisco
When I moved to San Francisco two years ago, I assumed I wouldn't live here forever, and that I should treat my time more like a very long vacation, emphasizing seeing and doing interesting things in the city, the Bay Area, and California. I didn't have a solid plan for how long I'd live here, but my vague estimates were five to ten years.
With plenty of time to spare, I divided my time between the city, the region, and elsewhere, including trips out of the state (and, occasionally, out of the country) to Scandinavia and Hawaii (and two trips to visit my employer's office in London); as well as trips around the state to Death Valley and Yosemite and Mount Lassen and several trips to Lake Tahoe.
My casual plans to explore the city I fell in love with two years ago came to a screeching halt in April when Kiesa accepted a job offer at Seattle Public Library.
With the end of my time in San Francisco in sight, I started to record my todo list: the list of all the things I want to see and do in San Francisco while I still can. My list includes whale watching, visiting newly-opened BART stations in the East Bay, riding a new MUNI train, running the Bay to Breakers, marching in the Pride parade down Market Street, and one historically-significant site that crosses over with my personal memory of growing up in the Bay Area: the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz.
I'm making headway on my list, but I'm beginning to worry that I'm adding new things to the list as fast as I mark them off. I may not finish my list before leaving, and I guess I'll have to manage that.
One of the first things I marked off my list was Edgewood Park, a San Mateo county park a half-hour south of my house on I-280, in the rolling foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains with views of the southern end of San Francisco Bay and the cities that make up Silicon Valley. I remember hiking as a kid at a park like this: I think I remember the trail crossing under I-280 (though in my vague memory it's a box culvert, not a bridge supported on concrete piers). I'm quite sure I remember the stretch of trail that runs parallel to the highway, nestled below a tree-covered bluff.
This, I think, will be the part I miss most about San Francisco: uncovering vague memories of my childhood and visiting places I remember.
