46 hours in San Francisco…Coincidence?…I Don’t Think So!

Coincidence: a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection
“without apparent causal connection?” I choose to believe that there is a connection and it’s not a coincidence. You’ve all heard “things happen for a reason”…”it was meant to be”…”fate”….and I believe that’s true. There aren’t really any “coincidences.” Sometimes it seems like things, events, situations present themselves and then a string of events that are related come together.

What the hell are you talking about Jeanine? Bear with me while I ramble…

I record, & eventually watch,  the CBS Sunday Morning Show every week (very interesting, I’d recommend!). About a month or two ago Taylor sent me a text with a link to a new SF restaurant, In Situ, saying “I think you’d love this place that was on the Sunday morning show” so I watched the show & couldn’t wait to go at some point. I knew this had to be added to the list of places to go in SF.

So…when the fare drops to $78/round trip, you have to go to San Francisco! Okay, I have a twitter account, I’ve never tweeted anything, but I do follow Jetblue in order to get their amazing Jetbluecheeps tweets on Tuesdays…which is where I got this deal a few weeks back. I looked at my calendar, had a random Friday off of work, so flew out Thursday after work and flew home Saturday night. A perfect little getaway thanks to the great accommodations of my childhood friend, Mary Kay and her partner, Laura.

JETBLUE…best airline & reward program… in my humble opinion!

I lived in SF back in the 80’s for about 5 years, been many times since and had no idea what I wanted to do on this trip, but things just fell into place.

Back in November I received OC magazine & the cover screamed “the Hidden OC”, then Austin and Kate gave me a book for Hanukkah called ‘111 Places in NY That You Must Not Miss” (some of them quite obscure/secret).  So I thought to myself, how about secret places to go in SF. I googled it and came up with a fun list of places I wanted to see/experience in my 46 hours in the city by the bay. Things were beginning to take shape.
I made a reservation at In Situ (review & pretentious food pics coming next week on Foodie Friday) and commenced the planning.
On another, different, recent episode of the Sunday morning show there was a feature about the photographer, Abelardo Morell, and camera obscura, that I thought was so cool. So, in my research one of the places to see that popped up was the camera obscura near Cliffhouse restaurant…what are the chances? …and then on my very long walk along the bay from the the Ferry Building to the Crissy Field, I stumble upon the Inaugural International PhotoFair…an art fair dedicated to photography….at Fort Mason. I thought, well if it’s less than $20, I’ll go….$17, I’m in! What was one of the coolest pics on view? A camera obscura tent pic by none other than Abelardo Morell…WHAT!!??
mind blown!
I spy a photography fair below right!!
picture taken of the ground reflecting the golden gate bridge through the tent camera…if you can zoom in you’ll see the artist info to the right of the pic
the view of camera obscura from my lunch spot at the Cliffhouse

this is inside the camera obscura…a picture of the outdoor scene taken through the whole in the roof of the building…hard to explain, but so cool to see
this is looking up into the whole in the roof that took the view of the water in the previous pic

So, to recap, so far…Taylor tells me about In Situ, fares go down to SF and I book my flight, I get a a magazine and book on “secret places”, camera obscura feature about Abelardo Morell on Sunday Morning Show, camera obscura pops up in “things to do”..and then I stumble upon a actual picture by Mr. Morell at this first ever International photography exhibit. CRAZY!! …and so cool at the same time!

…and there was one more random piece of fate that happened on Saturday before I boarded my evening flight for home. So, MK & Laura have an Amazon Echo with Alexa (I’m sure you’ve heard of it and can ask her anything) and we’re sitting at breakfast and decide to play the Jeopardy questions of the week game. There are six of them and one says something like “What is the first name of the mobile artist that begins with ‘A’?” We guessed and got it wrong.

Diane Arbus had an exhibit at SF MOMA and MK & Laura happen to be members so we decide to go see it. Again, I love photography, and therefore loved the exhibit of her works. I’m not otherwise that into modern art, but we were there so why not check out some of the other artists and exhibitions. You know where this is going, don’t you?! Yup…we walk into this big room and what do we see?… an entire exhibit of Alexander Calder‘s mobiles…that’s the “A” we didn’t know that morning!! SFMOMA just happens to have an entire collection of his works.

Come on, that’s just ridiculous! I think it’s so fun and important to follow the lead of those “cosmic” forces that present themselves to you. Who knows what adventures, experiences or relationships (hint, hint!) await you if you just stay open to the possibilities!! I was exhausted from all the “coincidences” in my 46 hours and slept on the plane home!

You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!

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