I’ll show you some photos of my time in San Francisco tomorrow, when I’m a little more awake. But tonight I thought I’d share what I splurged and brought home from the course of my vacation day, when I stopped at two indie bookshops and two local record stores:

First the music: I bought two used cds (I still prefer cds): Holly Near’s and still we sing, a two-disc set, and Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center, a cd/dvd tribute concert. It includes performances from a variety of luminaries including Jackson Browne, Rosanne Cash, Donovan, Judy Collins, and Sweet Honey in the Rock.

The books include a signed copy of Rebecca Solnit’s Hope in the Dark; a collection of poems & short prose pieces about San Francisco gentrification by Tony Robles, Cool Don’t Live Here No More; and two novels in translation, Takashi Hiraide’s The Guest Cat and Juan Villoro’s middle-grade The Wild Book, about a boy who turns out to be a magical reader (which I already started on the flight home).

Oh, and one more thing — I bought a tote bag to hold all my purchases with the cool cat as record player design.

I didn’t mean to buy quite so much, but I decided music and books were a good splurge.

I’d expected free wi-fi time on my red-eye flight, but couldn’t get it to work, so you’re getting a shot of a Chicago sunrise instead that I’m posting as we load our flight to National.

Home in a couple of hours. I can’t wait!

I spent today working, so here’s a shot from my plane window yesterday looking over the western coast of Florida.

I may have mentioned last week some upcoming plane knitting time. I’m heading out to San Francisco later this week for a business trip. I did book my flight home a little later than I might have, so I have nearly a whole day to spend in the city exploring. But it occurs to me that I don’t actually know what I want to see. So I’m turning to you.

This will not be my first trip to San Francisco. I have ridden the cable car; visited Coit Tower, the California Academy of Science and Fisherman’s Wharf; wandered through Chinatown and Haight-Ashbury; stared at the Golden Gate Bridge; watched a Giants game; and shopped at City Lights bookstore and Imagiknit. Other than the zoo and Alcatraz, am I missing any obvious sights or museums in the city proper? (I’d like to see Muir Woods, but it sounds like that might be take most of the day, which means I should maybe save it for another trip.) Or anything you’ve seen that has been redone in the last 15 years that I should circle back to?

Also, are there any restaurants or shops you’ve been to there you’d particularly recommend? I’ve scoped out the area I’m staying in, identifying the location of the nearest indie bookstore, coffee house, and ice cream parlor.

It’ll be a whirlwind trip, but I’m looking forward to it!

Today was National Ice Cream Day, but July is National Ice Cream Month, which means that this was National Ice Cream Weekend, even if only so decreed by Rudi and me.

Friday evening we started out with the D.C. Scoop festival at Union Market, where local ice cream shops sent representatives with free samples for folks to try.

We downed the Trickling Spring (a local dairy) samples too quickly to get photos, but their flavors were a very mild chocolate and a chocolate covered strawberry. Dolcezza, a gelateria around the corner from my apartment, offered peach gelato and lemon opal basil sorbet:

Love ‘n’ Faith Cafe was making liquid nitrogen ice cream on the spot:

They ran out of their free samples, but were selling cups for a reasonable price. Rudi really liked their salted caramel and I was highly impressed by their cookies and cream. (D.C. folks: Their ice cream was delicious, but apparently they are inches away from having to close their cafe, which is located between U Street and Columbia Heights on 14th St. If you’re hankering for coffee or ice cream and are in the vicinity, it’s worth stopping in.)

Saturday was Bastille Day, so after spending the morning working, I stopped by a French restaurant that was celebrating the holiday for some glace. That’s a scoop of mamey sapote, a tropical African tree fruit, that has a distinctive flavor, and one of pineapple sorbet. I walked my bike until I ate the ice cream down to the cone and then biked (in the bike lane) while eating the rest. I’m pretty sure that negates any caloric intake, don’t you think?

Today, we headed out to the Delaware shore for a beach day.

We finished our time at the shore with scoops from one of the local ice cream shops. Mine is raspberry truffle and Rudi opted for mocha chip:

It was quite a good weekend!

Rudi’s job has him working a non-standard week, which means his days off can vary. This week he was off today, so I decided to take a vacation day and join him for some time together before our disparate evening activities. The internet said that the sunflowers at Maryland’s McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area were in full bloom, and since we often see them at non-peak times we decided to take a day trip to catch them.

They were absolutely perfect:

If you have someplace growing sunflowers near you, may I suggest you plan a visit this summer? I can’t tell you how joyful these made us feel.