Not many great things make me sound like a snively 13 year old again except for… I found a Peets 3 blocks from my house!!!
I was out walking along my favorite route so far, down columbus (too noisy!!!) to Hyde St. cable car turnaround, down along Aquatic Park. Then out along the pier turn around the small lighthouse, back again. Note: the fog was intense today. I couldn’t see Alcatraz, no lighthouse, and couldn’t see the Golden Gate Bridge. It looked like a wall of fog a few hundred meters out. Very spooky. Especially with the deep bass foghorns sounding every few minutes. A small yachting crew was out racing or doing tactics or something, with loud honks and noisemakers. A catamarran had no wind and was just sitting there. I’ve never really seen it more barren than this evening. Only the die-hard exercisers were out. Oh, and this die-hard fisherman who I *swear* was using trash as bait.
I walked up the North Point/Fort Mason hill to the park, then near the community garden and along the trail of fancy houses. I decided to try a new way back to Fisherman’s Wharf. I had seen a guy go down a staircase from in front of the water treatment building a few weeks ago so I tried to find it from the opposite direction. I’m going to the end of this fancy house cul de sac up in the historic part of Fort Mason- all white buildings and historical plaques- with a beautiful view of Treasure Island, Yerba Buena Island, the Bay Bridge, and Alcatraz. The stairway kind of pops out of no where, and there’s picnic benches there too. Kind of an odd tucked away nook.
Walked down a zillion steps to beginning of the pier again then walked through Fisherman’s Wharf. I’m on the last tape of Bleak House so I wanted to keep walking to finish it up, so I wouldn’t have to take an extra tape next time. So I’m chugging along, la de dah, and I go past my street, Taylor, still on Beach. I never walk down this way. I see a brand new building, spanky-new, and it’s Boudin Mall or something, and as I walk by I see a little sign… Peets!
How could this new branch, a few blocks from my house, totally escape me? I walked all up and down frickin Russian Hill yesterday to go to the one on Polk St.! All the pieces fell together. The “new” Peets employees I had seen at Polk St. and the Ferry Building, the fresh faces at this new Boudin one… they had been holding back from me. When I first moved into this building I had asked around and everyone said the Polk St. one was closest. I never imagined I had to look online. Well whatever, I’m thrilled. Now I just have to combat blocks of Fisherman’s Wharf to get my daily addiction.
Walked by Pier 39. Why are people interested in that guy with the spray paint cans who makes planetary landscapes? Went up the Francisco Stairs, down by Ma Tante Marie Cuisine School and back to ma house. skippity skip.