For our holiday meeting this year, my cousin and I met in Alameda, CA, and had two days in Neverland. You know, nicely packed with hardly any room between one adventure and another (JM Barrie). First a jaunt up to Richmond to see the Rosie the Riveter WWII Heritage Monument. There’s a lot more going on there besides just Rosie, as if that wasn’t enough. The sight speaks to a large area of growth in US history: the Rosies, racial and gender discrimination issues, naval mutiny and other naval history, industrial growth, and health care. We spent longer there than intended, and ended up in traffic on our way back to the hotel.
The next day we drove into San Francisco and spent hours along the Waterfront. A dream for me was getting out to Fort Point, the oldest US military site in CA. I was sad to find it fenced and bricked off. Maybe some day I’ll find a way to see the inside.
After seeing the sights and watching waves break, we headed to Oakland and the Golden State Bonsai Collection, North. It’s at Lake Merritt. The photo is a persimmon styled and donated by my friends Vince and Kathy Owyoung. The tree is about 3 feet tall. Unfortunately, we only got through about half of the collection because they close at 3. The docent was sweet, giving us an extra ten minutes.
Sadly, my cuz and I only had the two days this year, and there were lots of things on our to-do list that we didn’t get to see this time. Maybe next year. . . .
OceanKin Wanderer 