Tuesday, June 14, 2002
We went to the glass beach on our way out of Fort Bragg. It's a beautiful beach.
We met a guy who said he paid $11,000/yr just for fire insurance. A woman nearby said she can't even get fire insurance for any price where she lives (Laguna Beach). How can people afford to live here? Gas costs about $7/gallon. We got gas at the Sinclair, and they were advertising falafel at the Dino Mart. It actually looked pretty good, but we didn't get any.
We drove winding, hilly Highway 1 to San Francisco with spectacular views all the way.
As we approached the Golden Gate Bridge, I started a weird little panic attack thing that lasted until about 15 minutes after we checked into our hotel. I had a hard time figuring out how to pay the $9 toll online to cross the bridge. I felt overstimulated as we got into the city. Everything seemed big and unknown and rather scary. Mike went to check on a hotel and I was supposed to watch the parking meter and feed it if the authorities came by but I couldn't figure out how to feed it. It didn't take normal money; you had to download an app and pay electronically somehow. I felt old and incapable. We got into the hotel and I couldn't even figure out how to turn the lights on in the bathroom because the switch wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before. I couldn't figure out how to hook up to the wifi. I just wanted to get out of there and go home. My blood pressure was high. Mike saw me looking like a deer in the headlights and talked me down by telling me that I had been in bigger cities than this and done just fine. He was patient and kind with me. I put on my big girl pants (literally changed my pants and my shirt too), put my hair up, and started feeling my normal self come back.
We walked to Pier 39, bought tshirts for the kids at a souvenir stand, and watched sea lions and ate.
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