I Love San Francisco: Reason 80

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This is why I'll pay $3.73/gallon for gas and an exorbitant rent (well, not right now but someday, I suspect); spend 45 - 60 minutes commuting to work; endure $50 parking tickets for forgotten street cleanings; suffer the fate of what's been called a "tough-to-date-in" city; step over homeless people and dog poop scattered on the sidewalks and possibly forego the real estate dream of ownership - at least in San Francisco. Because at the edge of this amazing city and just beyond lie the jewels of the Bay area.



Places you can get to by bike, by foot, by boat, places only a fraction of the population here will ever explore. Places that make you forget you still have a roommate in your 40's (not that I don't love you or our apartment, Miriam!), or that you haven't had a date in a year, or that you spend $300/month on gas and that your sports gear outvalues your furniture.

Because in a corner of your apartment you have mud-caked running shoes from last weekend, and a bike, and a surfboard, and a hula hoop, and a paddle. And all around you, San Francisco is begging to be explored.

And that's what makes all the suffering - and I'm being extremely sarcastic here - so worth it. Because every minute you're outdoors, being engaged with what you're doing, breathing heavily from exhaustion at having run up a mountain or paddled out beneath the bridge or maybe just chilling in the water waiting for a wave, is worth whatever compromises it takes to live here.

"She said she usually cried at least once each day, not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful... and life was so short." - Brian Andreas









Comments

Rick Gaston said…
Sammy love the pictures! I especially like the one in the outrigger canoe. Don't be surprised if it ends up on my blog. I agree with everything you said, it's why I live here too. The best thing about leaving San Francisco is coming back to it.

However and I'm just thinking here...just thinking, that maybe I'd be luckier with the dating thing somewhere else. Like you I'm single and not having any luck with that here. Some would say that people like you and me spend too much time outdoors but it's not like there's no other people doing the same thing we're doing. We have a whole tri-club of people doing the same thing we are doing. Anyway lately I'm starting to feel like I'm jinxed here concerning the dating thing. Amazing place, total training ground for athletics, not so much for the dating thing. Haha, just thoughts is all and Jess hates it when I talk like this. No I'm NOT moving but you really out to come out and join us at our favorite wine bar. That way we won't have to harass text you next time.
3:37 PM
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