Adventures With Patti

I couldn’t leave the Bay Area without biking the Golden Gate Bridge. Isabel Massallo was a good sport and agreed to ride it with me on short notice. We took CalTrain up to the city from the Peninsula and biked around the Embarcadero to get to the bridge entrance. Getting past Fisherman’s Wharf was half the adventure, dodging tourists, cars, and buses. We tried to get away from the traffic by riding right next to the water...the route ended up taking us right to Pier 39. I’ve lived here over a year but had never visited the pier and the sea lions there, so this took care of one of my tourist “must see” sights. The bike route to the bridge is poorly maintained. We had to dodge lots of broken glass and carry the bikes up and down a few flights of stairs, but when we got there, we were treated to clear skies—well, about as clear as the skies get over the Golden Gate. It was super-windy and the views were spectacular. Here’s a close up of the cables—what Gauss’s Mom used to call i figli (th...

We live right next door to Atherton, one of the wealthiest communities in the country. Average home price is $4.5 million, and many of the homes stand behind tall walls or iron fences. Streets are marked with signs that say “No Through Traffic.” This doesn’t mean that you CAN’T drive through...it just means that they don’t WANT you to drive through. Well, for a year I have driven through anyway, enjoying Atherton’s leafy greenness from my battered minivan. Only a part of the house shows in this last picture. They’re building a new wall to protect it from Middlefield Road. The trees are so thick along Middlefield Road, they have to be trimmed to form a tunnel for the traffic. When I bike north on Middlefield Road through Atherton, the trees give way at the Redwood City line, and suddenly you are in Little Michoacán. At the Redwood City line, the trees are gone, and we are in Mexico! This is my favorite taqueria: Gruellense #2. Tacos $1.10 apiece. And so yummy! Muffler shop and florist. ...