living 70 miles from my daughter in san francisco, i have given much thought, throughout the quarantine to what it is like there. i have been grateful that i do not live in a highly dense major city like that. my one quick trip into the city for a few hours scared me because it seemed like there were too many people and everyone was jumpy.
this weekend was different. with the prospect of record heat (in an already hot sacramento) and smoky air on a holiday weekend, we spent the previous week, like many others nearby, scanning our weather apps: we had pretty much narrowed it down to san francisco, yosemite or kirkwood (above lake tahoe at 8000 feet elevation). we had somewhat cancellable reservations in 2 of those places and tried to make reservations in the third.
last thursday night, we made the choice: san francisco it is. we’d go to our daughter’s place in the mission district (which she was vacating for other climes). if it seemed clear enough, we’d cancel our reservations in daly city (a city on the southern edge of san francisco) and save the money.
the weather forecasters predicted highs in the mid 70s in san francisco and lows in the 50s, cooler still over on the coast by daly city with highs in the 60s. so i packed my suitcase with long pants, t-shirts and even a hoody. that represented a 20-30 degree temperature drop for us (40 if you count the projected 110 fahrenheit we were supposed to get to in sacto).
the upshot it this: the weekend got to record heat in san francisco with highs in the 80s, which is almost unheard of over here (we all recall the famous mark twain quote, “the coldest winter i ever spent was a summer in san francisco”) but it was mostly clear air and we had a great time.
i’m giving the experience 5 masks because it turns out that a terrified dense urban area is a terrifically safe place to be in a pandemic. almost to a person, every single person on the street is wearing a mask or has it at the ready at all times. and for the most part, these are serious masks, worn in a serious way. very few people except for perhaps, sadly, those living on the street, had the ill-fitting mask or the mask below the nose or that sense that it was just technical compliance but wouldn’t protect anybody from anything.
honestly i would say that i felt much safer in the more crowded parts of san francisco than in sacramento. also, though in the commercial areas there are more people walking on the sidewalk than in sacramento, it was not like walking in manhattan or something. things were quiet. we took some terrific walks like to the top of bernal heights where you can get a 360 view of the area—even there on friday late afternoon and evening, didn’t feel crowded or unsafe.
yesterday, when the highs climbed into the 80s in the late afternoon, we drove to funston beach just south of ocean beach in south san francisco. waiting only a little bit, we got a great parking spot and joined the masked, spaced out dozens walking down the steep hill to the (technically dog but very clean) beach.
on the beach we sat far away from anybody else. we didn’t wear our masks most of the time while on the beach but many other people wore them all the time. it felt safe and cool and wonderful to be down there.
[note: there’s a good chance you don’t care or haven’t noticed that i’ve moved from a “snout-based” to a “mask-based” rating system during the pandemic. i reserve the right to revert to snouts at any time. at first i was just using masks for reviewing public in person things but then i realized, we also need to review our online content from a point of view of not only physical but emotional safety. so the masks are an indication that i highly regard the physical and emotional experience of what ever i’m reviewing from the point of view of me during this pandemic. plus the rating system]
