San Francisco for Chicago

It's vacation time! Time to leave the eternal vacation of San Francisco for the temporary vacation of Chicago.

And I've been sent off well. Last night I explored San Francisco in new ways with a new friend. We had planned for a walking adventure, but I doubted there were places we could walk that would be truly new to me. Wrong I was! Only take to the streets, my child, and you will find secret glimpses of heaven just when you stop looking.

Around Coit Tower, for example. Amble aimlessly, or stumble a little down the hill, and you may find yourself on a brick path leading through secluded, cute, and obscenely expensive homes. Or in a wild tropical garden clinging terrace-wise to a daring incline. A more leaned adventurer may tell you the names of the fragrances and blooms surrounding you -- purple things, yellow things, heavy-drooping orange things, frondy things, big-leafed things, jasmine, sure, and birds of paradise.

After sunset, you may be drawn to civilization and find yourself on a raised plaza decorated with glass and metal moons and stars. This would be just after the virus rages through the planet's meat but before the mechanisms shut down, so there would be silence and six tall buildings glowing down on you.

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Update! I've arrived in Chicago, met up with my dear old friend M., seen a long-form improv show at ImprovOlympics, had late-night breakfast at a diner with M. and her boyfriend, and am now getting ready to climb into bed in my large, luxurious, corner room at the Amalfi.