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Some (more) random thoughts on our trip:

- I was fascinated by the spanish-language billboards, mostly from car dealers, in midwest rural areas. I guess migrant labor has settled into car loans and credit card debt. Don't suppose their kids'll be picking lettuce?

- Had a set of renters on our lake in Maine this past week. Don't usually get them, so this is not a good sign. Actually, I'm not sure what it means other than a set of louder than usual neighbors (we pride ourselves on being the loudest on the lake). Anyway, my kids got a good lesson on marijuana use. Our temporary neighbors set out in a canoe, passing a joint. It was odd to see the puffs of smoke on the lake, be it cigarettes or whatever (the civilized in Maine reserve such activity for the campfire or the 15th tee). My kids didn't seem to notice, so I let it drop.

Back at camp we were startled by screams from the lake. Four generations and there's never been a serious accident there; we take water safety very seriously. It was our friends, of course, capsized in the canoe. My daughter (age 12) and I hustled out in an outboard and set them right. She asked me about them, and I asked if she'd seen the smoke before. She had. "See what marijuana leads to," I said. She's not convinced, as she maintains they were stupid before they smoked anything.

They lost the canoe from their dock during the night. We found it a mile down the lake.

- I was more than pleased by the Park Service. I know there are issues out there, but so far as their retail service goes, it was all smooth. A real gem we found across the Golden Gate Bridge was an old Nike missle site the Park Service has renovated as a museum, launch pads and all. I hadn't realized those things were nuke-armed, 10, 20 and even a few 40 megaton loads. The idea was to blow up the sky as a last-resort defense. There were some 300 sites around the world and around every major U.S. city. They were phazed out in the 1970s following the START talks and formalization of M.A.D.

- I brought along some old 1970s era CDs. I never realized how bad the post-Beatles were until my daughter screamed at me for putting on a John Lennon disk. She's right, it was stupid music. Now she's got me questioning the earlier stuff. They didn't feel this way about my Stones disks. They even let me play Exile with impunity and loud. My son, it turns out, was born for southern rock. He's a dedicated Skynard fan now. We otherwise stuck to the modern stuff and classical. Pat Methany is a perfect match for driving through Vermont, or across the Continental Divide at 12,000 feet, and, as I mentioned earlier, the B-52s work wonders in San Francisco. Eminem goes well with Lovelock, NV, and we couldn't resist him in Salt Lake (don't tell Utah Girl). Korn is good everywhere, but especially in Nebraska. I got my revenge when my daughter admitted that Lincoln Park was starting to get boring, although I got caught liking an Alecia Keyes song. Oh, the Doors do well on today's youth: I subjected them to it in L.A. to marked success.

- I'm pissed at the city of SF for the condition of the McKinley statute at the city end of Golden Gate Park.

- I remember Venice Beach as being far more interesting than how we found it this summer. In general, the West Coast has lousy beaches. Great rocks and cliffs, but lousy beaches.

Not sure how de Toqueville fits in, but there it is. What a summer.

- Michael

PsyOp: thanks for use of your thread;
Molly P: you admitted to reading the earlier accounts, so this fills it out for now.

P.S. Anyone need a vagabond for hire?

Sorry, one more comment on San Francisco, the thought raised by this thread, on San Francisco.

Driving along Sloat at 23rd Ave in the Sunset district, I noticed a beautiful, marble temple. Unsure what it was, I asked my daughter to look and see. She couldn't find any name or indication of the church or order. I turned around the block, and we discovered behind it a huge, low, flat-top concrete structure, like a one-story parking lot. Very odd.

We got back to the front of the temple and read the inscription which graced the top front:

But the land whither ye go to posses it.
Is a land of Hills and Valleys and drinketh water of the Rain of Heaven.

We drove around back again to discover a family that was climbing the steps to the concrete flat top to ride bicycles on it. I asked. It's a reservoir.

Of course.

The biggest lesson I learned out West was the extent of man's dominion over the earth. The builders of San Francisco found justification in the scripture for creating a city out of sand dunes and uninhabitable hills, and for bringing fresh water from the mountains to grow it. The whole of the West is such.

I think de Tocqueville's analysis aptly prortrays and defines the kind of people so inspired.

nicollo, I've travelled widely in our wonderful country, but only this summer got to the west coast.

The beaches we saw south and north of SF were pretty bad: either very small, or rocky and sea-weed laden. And NO seashells! What's up with that???

BUT the coastline is fantastic, dramatic and the views....well I'll always remember them with awe.

"PsyOp: thanks for use of your thread."

You're most welcome. This is exactly the kind of discourse I had hoped would occur with all my quote threads (alas that is not the case with most).

Upon going through the thread, it appears I missed a few of the posts you addressed to me (lost in the vast clutter of replies from other threads). When I get more time I'll go back through and comment where appropriate.

Sounds like you had a great and productive vacation. Wish I could have gone along for the ride.

Best Regards to you and yours. Psyop.