Another cool morning in San Francisco, and I’m enjoying some “my time.”  My grand kids are probably in the pool, and my ambitious wife is out making sales calls.  She’s off to Chicago tomorrow, while I finish my grandparent duties here in the city.  The kids have won my heart, but I won’t see them again for awhile.  Also, my wallet has really taken a beating, so it will be good to get home and regroup.  We’ll get some Golden Gate pictures today, visit the Presidio (I should have brought along my lifetime senior pass), and maybe go to Muir Woods and/or Sausalito.  My wife will join us for dinner tonight.

I just missed another re-connection at the ballpark last night.  One of my former co-workers was apparently in the house, but unfortunately didn’t catch his message until this morning.   This wasn’t the first time a Face Book connection happened through a post at the ballpark.  (See Post #157).  I’ll try to catch-up with him today.  The Cubs won last night against the Giants – and I saw a first – an inside-the-ballpark home run by Javy Baez.  Metallica sang take me out to the Ballpark- another unique experience.  There were probably more Cubs fans in the crowd than Giants fans, so it was good to get the “W.”

As usual, we’ll  be taking more home than we originally brought.  This always accounts for about 10% of our travel budget, but in this case it was closer to 20%.  We’ve bought baseball gear. a Limoges box, snow globes, Chinatown junk, jewelry, chocolate (most of that won’t be going home), and souvenirs.  We’ll also be taking home a lot of dirty laundry.  Major expenses included airfare for 5, rental car, gas, tips, taxis, Uber, two rooms for 5 nights, 6 game tickets, airport/valet parking, and dining for 6, plus admission, trolley, and tour bus tickets for all of us.  All in all, it probably cost about 4 months of Social Security for one week of vacation.  It is one of the most expensive cities to live-in or visit!

Only 17 days until the Hood to Coast, and I’ve continued to train every day.  I’m averaging 4 -5 miles a day on the flat surfaces along the waterfront.  When I get back to Portland, I’ll have to do another week of hills before starting to taper-off for race day.  I did manage over 26,000 steps yesterday, including the 4.5-mile run, so my legs are tired.  I doubt that I’m losing any weight, because ice cream stores keep getting in the way.