After I got to see the Palace of Fine Arts, I pulled out the map to pick a route back to the Dr.’s office. It felt far away, and it was around noon. Knowing I can walk a mile in 15 minutes, I figured I could get there by 1 p.m., and if not, I could call in to report my location.  I chose a route that seemed direct but also took me back through the Presidio. As I walked, I kept revising the route to stay off the city streets for as long as possible. It was killing me to not be able to take photos of every beautiful site I passed, but the entire reason I was in San Francisco was to help D, not to build my photo library! (Besides, who in Three Rivers will want paintings of San Francisco??) Now this next part may seem like a bizarre digression, but stay with me.   You may or may not know that I spent all of July 2007 in China. While there, I took photos of amusing signs, such as this one:

 

So there I was, striding for all I was worth, and suddenly there was a sign that made me laugh out loud and stop for one last photo:

 

‘Scuse me? Where I come from, we call them “speed bumps”. I got back to the Dr.’s office in plenty of time (it must have been my stride), saw that I walked 10 miles that morning, sat and knitted for another 1-1/2 hour, and finally D was ready to go. It was a long drive home, but D is recovering nicely and we had a great 2 days together. I can’t imagine just sitting in the Dr.’s office watching movies in San Francisco, and I don’t think it is being an artist that got me out. However, I do know way too many people would have been afraid to go exploring on their own and am deeply grateful that I am not one of that unhappy little club!