I love the cable car

I did it, I just finished writing all of our Christmas cards. They may even get to their destinations before Christmas at this rate, If I remember to buy stamps and post them on time!

I used to select classy, secular holiday cards to send out to my friends and family, but since becoming a parent, and with the advent of "Snapfish" and their ilk, I have for the past three years sent a holiday card created from a picture of the children. One year we got a freak snow in Tahoe in September, which allowed me to create  a lovely card of baby Geekygirl in the snow in time for the holiday post, but this year we were not so lucky. Instead this year our family photo turned card is a classic San Francisco pose of the Geekyfamily riding the cable car.

I didn't put any forethought into this, since planned photographs usually turn out terribly. What happened was that a few weeks ago the kids were watching their Saturday morning allotment of DVD's, and for some reason Geekygirl had chosen an old "teletubbies' episode to watch. The scene displayed by Tinky Winky's tummy, was of kids riding the cable car, right here in San Francisco. "Mummy, can I ride a cable car?" Geekygirl asked. I realized that our little born and bred San Franciscan had in fact never ridden on one. How ridiculous that she should be sitting here watching them on a British import DVD, I thought, and replied "You can darling. We'll go today".

We stood for about half an hour in the line winding its way in front of the GAP flagship store, then boarded our car. The children were fascinated by the noise and crowds and the lurching, jerking speed of the little wooden car with its jaunty bell. We rode out to Fisherman's Wharf on the Mason/Powell line, which goes right past the hotel where Geekydaddy and I got married. It was bright and blustery down at the wharf, the bay azure, the sky perfectly blue. A postcard day. We saw the sea lions (Geekyboy now thinks he can speak sea lion), walked along the wharf and had some burgers and shakes then headed back again on the Hyde/Powell line, which goes right past Geekydaddy's old apartment, the one he lived in when we first met. The cars were filled with tourists, so we chatted to them, I love to welcome people to our city, and I took a few pictures for folk. As we sat on an empty car at the end of the line I was inspired to grab a passing tourist to return the favor, and this rare snap of us all together has found great use as our San Francisco themed holiday card!

What we intended as a fun trip for the kids turned into a trip down memory lane for Geekydaddy and I. Flying up and down those hills with our enthralled children, our minds were both in the moment, and back in other moments in time. We fell in love with the city all over again. And our thoughts were perfectly echoed by Geekygirl, who, nose against the glass, reflected "I love the cable car".

I"m not much of a photographer, but was rather pleased with this iphone snap.