A mature writer finds an agent, gets a publisher and goes on tour: San Francisco spares the air

Gosh it's been great to get back to Gather, even if for a brief dip. Hungry to catch up between publication readings and interivews, I've been trying to read at least one piece of all of my connections. I've now completed two-thirds and feel replenished enough to add a post of my own, so I'll tell you about my San Francisco experience.

When my plane touched down, California was broiling. Even San Francisco was hot. But where the publisher had arranged for me to stay -- at the Argonaut Hotel which has got to be in one of the most beautiful sections of the city  on the Bay in the Aquatic Park area with immediate access to Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square and incredible views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island -- a lovely breeze moderated the temperature.

Having a few hours to spare before my reading at Book Passages, I decided to hop onto a cable car, knowing I couldn't leave San Francisco without taking at least one ride and not caring where it took me. As the ticket booth was closed, I presumed the conductor would collect the money when we got off. When I checked for my money I discovered that I'd only taken my camera and cell phone with me. No cash. What had I done with my cash? I searched my purse several times with rising panic. By then we'd already begun the steep climb up Hyde Street.

"I need to get off, now," I told the driver. "Why?" he asked. "Because I forgot my money." "Why do you need money?" he asked. "To pay you," I replied. "Ah, today it's free" and brushed the back of his hand over both sides of his face, smiling.

I'd been spared. One didn't need money on a "Spare the Air" day in San Francisco. Because of poor air quality the city was asking everyone to car pool, to ride their bikes, or to take the bus. To encourage this, all municipal transport was being offered free. Tourists who, unlike me, had cash in hand to buy a ticket, were told to put their money back into their pockets.

What a happy group of riders we were. People squeezed themselves into any spare space they could find. They clung to ledges and hung from handle bars as the cable car groaned its way to the top of each hill. When it hovered momentarily before descending, I felt as if I were on a roller-coaster. Then with a screeching of brakes and the gasping laughter of its riders (probably just the tourists), the car began its descent.

I took the entire round trip from Hyde Street to Union Square and upon my return, decided I still had time to hike back up to Lombard Street. This is one of San Francisco's prized points of interest. A road that snakes its way in tight S curves banked with flower gardens downward toward North Beach.

Getting to Lombard Street was a longer and steeper climb than I anticipated. A block ahead of me, a young woman walked backwards up that incline (for the view, to strengthen the back of her legs?). I never got close enough to ask her why but my thigh muscles suggested that climbing backward might be the way to go.

I said "no" to my thighs and continued my forward march. I am fearful of heights and thought it might be just my luck to get light-headed if I tried walking backward and looking down that incline. When it came time to negotiate going back down the hill I took the cable car and blamed it on my knees.

Adapted from Beryl's Blog