Glorious Day 2

Today my guys and I headed for the Pacific. The picture is taken from the walk along the cliffs in Sutro Park or maybe it was called Sutro Walk. It was a stupendous place to hike and the only reason we went up there was a man at the bus stop recommended it. We saw the ocean side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Fog had rolled in and shrouded the top of the bridge and the opposite shore.
After walking up to the memorial for the USS San Francisco which was lost at the battle for Guadalcanal, we headed down the lower coastal path. It was posted.

So of course my boys went as close as possible without stepping over the safety wires. See the opening in the cliff? That's a tunnel under it. When you walk through you hear the waves booming against the wall to your side. It's amazing.

We walked from the top of the cliff in the picture above to the bottom and back up the other side. Then we had lunch in the Bistro at Cliff House where from our table we could watch wetsuit clad surfers waiting for the perfect wave, a pod of dolphins swimming by and sea birds on the rocks. The food was fantastic too.

Then we went to the Zoo. Lots of walking but a great day. I enjoyed going places with my boys when they were little. Today showed me how wonderful it is doing things with them when we can relate as people instead of parent and children. They are amazing.

Another time I'll tell you about our bus ride with the boys from the 'hood and share the shots I took of the flamings which made me think of the Cherry Bombs but I promised to say something about the conversations I had last night. Topics of discussion included how great it is to be with people who nod and completely understand when you talk about the characters in your head digging in their heels and refusing to go where you think they should go and waking up in the night to write down an idea and not stopping 'til the alarm goes off the next morning.

People are so nice. Two women fell into step with me while I was going back to registration yesterday and we were chatting. When I realized one of them was Linda Howard, I gathered my courage, told her how much I enjoyed her books and what great things I was hearing about her latest book. She said she'd been very nervous because it was different from her other books. Wow. She gets nervous too. Once her friend had registered and put on her name tag I realized she was Beverly Barton. Nice people.

After returning to the hotel, the guys relaxed in the room while I went down to the Literacy Signing. For those who haven't ever been, at every RWA National Convention publishers donate books and authors sign them and all the proceeds of the sales go to the local literacy fund. Walking into the expansive ballroom you are hit by a wall of noise and dazed by the masses of people--mostly women--and the tables of books. It can be overwhelming. I know it was for me my first year. I walked around with my hands behind my back and didn't buy a thing.

Not so last year or today. I searched out some of the authors whose books I'd bought for the first time at the conference last year and whose work I had enjoyed: Melissa Mayhue has two more books in her Daughters of the Glen series; Linnea Sinclair who writes science fiction romance. I bought the new books of some favorite authors: Hope Tarr, Elaine Fox and Kristan Higgins and Saskia Walker. And I continued the tradition I started last year of picking up some books by authors that were new to me. Enjoyed talking with the authors and the people in line waiting to pay for the books.

To round out a perfect day, I got a call from my friend Dee who asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with her. We had a delicous meal of Coastal Mexican food in a restaurant in a mall a few blocks from the hotel and I loved getting a chance to catch up with her and just talk.

The workshops start tomorrow. Haven't caught up with some other friends who are coming to the meeting. Hope to see them tomorrow. Well I have too. We've planned to sit together at lunch.