Flying on the Ides

Would you believe this would be my first real visit to California? While it was not the first time I had set foot in this state, it was the first time I could count it as really being there. I've been wanting to visit San Francisco for years. Absolutely dying to go! Don't care about the rest of the state (sorry, it's a native Northwesterner thing).

My plane actually landed in Oakland. As they announced our decent, I paused to see what kind of insights, thoughts, or feelings would be coming out of the blue...
"I really have to pee." Hmm. Not exactly inspiring.
Next thought,"Uh, are we making a water-landing?"
I couldn't understand why I wasn't getting excited that I was almost there.

We land. Taxing to the gate I finally see it. The San Francisco skyline. To the outside world it looked like a woman sitting calmly on a plane, looking out the window. However, the inner me was jumping up and down on my seat, pointing and yelling, "THERE IT IS! THERE IT IS!"

I also thought of the lines from one of my favorite songs:
"Mei Guo...
Beautiful country across the bay
Just a few more miles away."
Ok, now I'm excited!

Inside the airport I did something that usually isn't possible in the 21st Century. I met my friend at the gate when her plane landed. K-Lyn and I were visiting SF together, but she lives in Portland. We coordinated our flights so we would be arriving around the same time, me from Seattle, her from Portland (half an hour later).

(view not from Oakland airport)