A Day in the Sun

….and a happy holiday to you all.

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We had a lovely day rattling around downtown. Sunshine. Smiles. An old trolley fully restored and running in loops. We were like kids.

Then we took ourselves to the regular, red trolley cars and toodled down to the bay front.

Here we wandered from ship to ship…the Geezer in his most visible shirt. None were the big sailing ships like our Coast Guard training ship the Eagle, but most caught the eye and charmed the imagination. I was just grateful that the Maritime Museum had the funding to sponsor these lovely craft.

Most were pristine, but two showed signs of the depression and lack of funding in peeling paint and rust streaked hulls. One, the Pilgrim, seemed to have a hogged hull. That’s where the hull goes up in the middle and down at both ends. Not good at all. There were Polynesian canoes this year too with their crews to race out in the bay. Two ships battled with cannons much to the amusement of the crowds.

We ate lunch from one of the booths. A lunch that dribbled all over me, all down my pants, legs, and camera. Ah well, the chicken gyro's was delicious. We hugged friends from baseball and from the pool. Every once in a while, I’d take a break and sit. Sometimes my leg won; sometimes I won. The sun shown down, and we knew we had a perfect day.

A few weeks ago, we had stopped by the new museum’s construction site for one of Juan Cabrillo’s ships. Far in the back of the construction area was tucked a familiar shape. On closer inspection, it was the Pilot, our 90 year old pilot boat now a museum tour boat. It hadn’t passed its Coast Guard inspection.

I was out there actively looking for American flags. There were several goo compositions I found tucked among the lines that amused me. The Geezer did me one up though. He got the best flag shot of all.

Yesterday we were both glad to see the Pilot back on the bay, freshly certified, and taking visitors out on the bay every hour. We bought tickets, and had a delightful time seeing our city from a fresh perspective. Today a storm has come up from the south, and the sun is hidden behind a wall of dark clouds and rain. Still it’s been a wonderful weekend off together.