Jan. 18th

Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Day had arrived and in honor of his legacy in service we visited the Presidio to volunteer our morning. We woke up early once again to a rainy day. The bus dropped us off near the Presidio and we hike up the hill to meet the Presidio Trust staff members. Including our group of 21, there were about 85 volunteers total, which seemed like a large number considering the weather conditions. The staff provided us with much needed rain gear. After getting dressed we either looked like giant bananas or smurfs, but the outfits added to the humor of the day. Hardhats and safety goggles in stow we divided into two groups and started working. Ivy had overgrown and killed the trees in this area, it was my group’s job to pull of the ivy and collect the brush so that the garden could be used as a place for inner city kids to experience the wilderness. Sounds easy but add in about a dozen stairs with water flowing down them like a waterfall and then try carrying huge rooted logs from the ground up those steps, lets just say that was my workout for the day! Two hours later with mud caked to my face and sopping wet shoes we had filled around 5 truckloads of brush! It was kind of a kumbaya moment, at least for myself.
We warmed back up in the building and shared with the other volunteers what we had accomplished. I was proud of our group and it felt good to know that a bunch of teenage kids from the Midwest had actually contributed something to a greater cause. Volunteering at the Presidio was a great way to spend the national day of service and truthfully I had a lot of fun doing it!
That same night my group visited Coit tower located on top of Telegraph Hill. It was a present to the city of San Francisco from a woman by the name of Lillie Hitchcock Coit. Rumors suggest the tower was given in honor of Ms. Coit’s fascination with firemen, but lets just say it was a fire hose instead. It was beginning to get dark when we were up there and the lights of the city were absolutely beautiful. We walked back into North Beach for a delicious Italian meal in a cozy restaurant right off of Stockton Street. I had spinach gnocchi it was delicious. I told myself, along with Wes’s encouragement, to try something new at every meal.
The night ended with a casual stroll down Grant Street through the largest China town in the entire country. It is odd to think that such a large group of Americans are able to function and be successful without knowing a single word of English but after walking through China Town it is apparent how easily achievable that could be. Ms. Grunat shared stories with us periodically the entire night about her son’s experiences living here in San Francisco and by the end of the night I was ready to leave suburban Indianapolis for good, the brief passing through Union Square didn’t make it any more difficult!