Visiting San Francisco

By Wednesday morning the antibiotic was working and mom was feeling better.  We had breakfast with Aunt Eloise and Uncle Eddie (muffins with a candle in mine for my birthday!) and then we took off for the next part of our trip, driving to San Francisco.

What a cool city that was.  Dad's oldest brother, Uncle Stewart, lived in Oakland, so we stayed with him and Aunt Lila.  We had visited their house once before when we were little, although that trip had been more frightening.  We thought dad would die that time.

Dad was allergic to sea food; I think it was the iodine that got to him.  He ate some when he was a young man and got quite ill, but that was twenty years earlier so he thought he might have out grown it.  It was just mom and dad and us four older kids the first time we went to San Francisco, and we were all quite young.  We walked along fisherman's wharf and the sea food shops and sidewalk vendor’s smelled so appetizing dad couldn't resist buying some fresh lobster.  He really enjoyed it, but began feeling ill shortly after.  He got us in the car and on our way to Uncle Stewart's, but half way there dad became so violently ill he had to stop and get out to throw up.  I remember being scared as dad hung onto the side of the car, retching, while mom tried to figure out what to do.  Eventually she loaded dad into the passenger seat and she drove the rest of the way to Uncle Stewart's.  That was a major feat for mom, who never drove on trips.  Aunt Lila was a receptionist for a doctor, so as soon as she saw the shape dad was in she called her boss to get some advice.  He told her to give dad tea, of all things; I suppose it was the tannic acid that helped.  Tea is one of those drinks members of our church do not use, so Aunt Lila had to go next door to borrow some from her neighbor.  We kids thought it was awful dad was going to drink tea, but mom explained that in this instance it was the same thing as dad taking medicine.  Thank goodness the tea worked and dad recovered, but he never ate lobster again.

On our 1970 visit to San Francisco we didn't even get out at Fisherman's Wharf.  It had changed, anyway, and didn't look very inviting.  There were hippies everywhere, and it was dirty and kind of scary.  Instead, we toured a chocolate factory after meeting Uncle Stewart and Aunt Lila and visiting the Golden Gate Bridge and riding on a street car.  The chocolate factory was kind of boring, until the end when they gave us each samples.  That made it worthwhile.  Just driving up and down San Francisco’s steep hills was exciting, though.  We had to hold onto something to keep from sliding off our seats in the back of the camper.  Cool.

I loved Aunt Lila's house.  She was very exotic.  Aunt Lila was tall and dark and beautiful.  Uncle Stewart was pretty good looking himself, and he always gave us a kiss when we saw him.  He was our only kissing uncle, and it was kind of embarrassing, but neat.  It made me feel special.  Years before Aunt Lila and Uncle Stewart had spent a year living by us in Scottsdale.  They didn't like it very much and moved back to Oakland, but we had enjoyed being close for a short time.  Aunt Lila had worked at Uncle Ray's veterinarian office then.  One day a little boy brought two baby skunks to Uncle Ray, offering to give him one of the skunks if he would descent both of them.  Of course, Uncle Ray didn't want a pet skunk, but he was a nice guy so he operated on both babies, the boy took one home for his pet, and Aunt Lila kept the other.  We visited their house at Christmas and saw that skunk, now grown.  It was beautiful and tame as a house cat, but it wasn't very friendly.  Aunt Lila warned us not to pick it up or play with it because he might scratch us. 

Aunt Lila loved beautiful things, and her home was decorated with them.  While in the air force she and Uncle Stewart had lived in Japan and Brazil.  Now her home was decorated with Japanese art and had an oriental flare.  I thought it was just lovely, especially the cherry blossoms painted across the wall in her bedroom.  It was the first time I had ever scene a mural painted on a wall, and I wanted something just like that for my bedroom.  Little did I know that eventually I would stencil and paint murals on all the walls of my future homes. 

It was really cool getting to stay with both of my eccentric aunts on this vacation.  First, Aunt Eloise, who dyed her hair flaming orange and dressed as chic as the movie stars she pampered in her beauty salon;  then Aunt Lila, who made me think of an exotic Japanese geisha girl.