Well, it’s been a while, but I wanted to give you a wrap up of my law school visits. So, after Eugene—and I did find some yummy food there at a small Italian restaurant (cannolli and salad = yummy!)—I headed to Portland in the rental car. I had a good time on the relatively short drive. It was nice to drive in a state that recognizes the need for a passing only lane.
My flight to San Francisco was cancelled so I had to hop on another flight, which got me there about an hour later. Not bad considering. My first night in SF was spent walking around Chinatown alone. It was a good time, because of the rain (it followed me from Eugene) the tourists were not out. When the locals asked me what I was doing walking in the rain, I explained that I was from Seattle. They immediately looked at me with great sorrow. I’m so happy I’m doing my part to prevent the secret of Seattle getting out to Northern California!!
Anyhoo, Hastings School of Law in the heart of SF was interesting to say the least. It was certainly not the school for me. The visit made me pine for the lovely campus of U of Oregon and the high tech building of Seattle U. *sighs* Ah, well, at least I know where I DON’T want to go! After deciding on the school, and perhaps it was a factor in my decision, I wanted to be the quintessential tourist in SF! I bought a ticket to Alcatraz for the next day and let myself have the rest of Wednesday to do a walking tour of North Beach and the surrounding areas. I took a trolly from Union Station (near my hotel) to Fisherman’s Wharf area. I could not handle the traditional touristy things there—including the SF Coffee Company—eeck. I pined for a good cup of joe, but let my desires wane for the remainder of the afternoon as I chose to just start walking in any direction that I fancied. Wow. That was liberating! I walked to Coit Tower, which was a good workout and viewed the city from the top. It was from this view I decided where next I would go…to North Beach to see the famous Beach Blanket Babylon show. I then dined at a really nice Sicilian restaurant nearby while I waited for the show to start. It was a fun, but I found one of the character’s voice to be quite grating, which made it difficult to enjoy her performance. That being said, it was nice to see what all the hoopla was about. I then took a bus back to my hotel.
The next day, I took two buses out to the Golden Gate Bridge and toured that area. After that, I rode a bus back to Fisherman’s Wharf to go to my afternoon visit to Alcatraz. The boat ride over was COLD, but once we got there, I was totally entranced. I met a guy who was selling his autobiography of his life on Alcatraz in their bookstore and took my picture with him. When I went on the tour, I saw his cell. That personal knowledge made the trip more powerful and interesting. I ended up buying his book and he autographed it and signed his cell number and years he was in Alcatraz. Interesting—he’s from Iowa, so we chatted a bit about Council Bluffs’ ‘chocolate chip hills’.

I had pretty much no time to grab dinner in SF before I took the BART back to the airport (by the way, Seattle—what’s the deal with our transit system?? I loved SF’s!!). It was a pleasant ride and my flight left close to on time for a late night arrival in Seattle. Nate picked me up at the airport LATE, a fact that I didn’t let him forget for a day or two afterwards, but it was so nice to see him again!

About a week later after I returned to Seattle, I got a packet from Seattle University. It was my acceptance letter!! It seemed I had pulled a Dorothy—traveling all over when what I really needed was in my own backyard. It was an exciting time. I am still in awe of the fact I am going to law school!!

Unfortunately, the next day, Destiny suffered a grand mal seizure which threw us for a loop. Since then, we have been in and out of doctor’s visits trying to figure out what exactly happened and playing the test results waiting game. No news is good news, right? No official answers have been given, so we are just waiting at this point.

Nate applied to the GISE program through the AA Engineering and Business schools. Hopefully we will find out if he is accepted by the end of the next week.

Okay, I think that’s about it. Consider yourself in the know!

Toodles,
*sun