Blowing the Stink Off

This weekend I found myself using one of my grandma’s old sayings:

“I need to get out and blow the stink off.”

If you are wondering when you would ever be faced with the scenario where you might need to "blow the stink off", here’s a couple of examples:

1.   When you are sitting in the wood paneled bedroom of an old tour bus lamenting the fact that in one month the trip you have dreamed about for the past decade, the trip you are currently on, will come to an end.

2.   When you are sitting in the aforementioned bedroom wallowing in the realization that you are still a month away from the familiar surroundings, friends, and family that your heart is aching to see.

3.   When you are sitting in the same blasted bedroom swimming in the mental sewage of worry over the future, chiding yourself for indulging in such profitless activity, but enjoying the romp nonetheless.

If you experience any of these scenarios (or all three within the span of 15 minutes, like I did), you most definitely need to "blow the stink off".

And that’s just what we did last Saturday afternoon. 

The kids loaded in the back of the minivan, we galloped our way down 101 South straight for the Golden Gate Bridge.  I don’t have a picture of it because sometimes you don’t want to try and preserve a moment with a photo; you just want to live it.  Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge was one of those moments.

Our first order of business was reliving one of my own childhood memories: driving down Lombard Street.  

Here’s a little tip: if you did the whole “curvy street” gig as and child and were completely amazed by it, hold yourself back from hyping it up to your children.  Because that’s what I did, and they were completely underwhelmed by it. 

“This is it,” my oldest grumbled from the middle seat.  “Can’t we go faster?”  Indeed we could not go faster because it was bumper-to-bumper traffic and, really, if we were going faster how could I properly covet the beautiful row homes draping the well-manicured road?  Definitely not the highlight of their day, but they were good sports about it.

Next stop was Fisherman’s Wharf, where we got a good, if not distant, look at Alcatraz. 

Again, completely underwhelmed.  Cade just kept giving me the run down on the different escape plans he would have used had he ended up on the prison island. 

“Isn’t that so crazy, Lu?” Pointing at it’s foreboding form looming in the bay, I prompted my eldest daughter to join in my enthusiasm.  She gave me a faint (and slightly condescending) smile and whispered, “Yeah.”  Our youngest two simply fought over who got to sit in the stroller, gloating and screaming at equal intervals.

Our next stop, Ghiradelli Square, was obviously a hit with everyone.  

I partook of a rather large Mother’s Day indulgence while everyone else drank hot chocolate. 

Finally, we capped the day off with a visit to the Exploratorium.  I don’t have any pictures because, let’s be honest, if you’ve seen one science museum, you’ve seen them all.  But this beautiful structure sat outside the museum and completely took our breath away.

   

In the end, our afternoon among the legendary sights of old San Fran brewed up a fantastically gusty wind that managed to blow my “stink” right out into the ocean, leaving the sweet aroma of chocolate and sun-kissed children lingering behind.

What do you like to do when you need to "blow the stink off"?