Letters to Joseph-San Francisco

We drove into San Francisco and stayed in the Haight at a B&B called the Red Victorian. It was fun, but you were so tired that you fell asleep at 7pm both nights we were there, so we had Thai food in our room one night, and pizza the other. But we had a super fun time in the day. The first day we walked all around Golden Gate Park. We went to the DeYoung Museum after getting hot dogs from an outside vendor, then we visited the AIDS Memorial Grove. The next day we went to Chinatown. We got off the bus and I heard the Lion Dance going on…drums and cymbols! I started swiftly making my way towards them, your Dad in tow, because I loved the Lion Dance so much when I was little (grade school age though) and I wanted you to see it. But right when we got to the lion, they set off a whole bunch of fire crackers and you were SO SCARED! I felt terrible because I should’ve anticipated your reaction. You don’t really like loud noises, and I’d forgotten about the fire crackers. We ducked into an apothecary and got the stink eye from the proprietress, but we comforted you there anyway. You recovered and we went to eat at our family’s favorite restaurant in Chinatown; the Far East Café. They have booths that are partitioned off with dark stained wood and a red velvet curtain. They let us have a booth even though it was just the three of us and we ate Chicken Chow Mein, Pork Fried Rice, Sweet and Sour Prawns, and of course, my very favorite, Pot Stickers. After Chinatown, we took the bus to the Palace of Fine Arts and sat on the grass. You found a Hoola Hoop and played with that for a long time. We also watched the brides and grooms have their photos taken with the scenery. One couple was having an engagement photo session and you kept running over, trying to get in the photos. Then we took the bus back to the Haight and you fell asleep for the night.