2026-01 San Francisco Visa Submittal Part III

 

I (Stacey) have known Eva and her brother Evan since I was in the 6th grade. We went to the same church and the same private school. Her mother and my mother were Besties. Eva and her husband John live in Sacramento and offered for us to come stay with them for a few days while we were in town. As a matter of fact, they live in the same house I stayed in when I was going to high school for a few weeks. It was so nice going 'home' and also wonderful visiting with someone who remembers your parents and vice versa.

Friday started out with them picking us up at our hotel in Oakland and the four of us going to the Legion of Honor museum to enjoy the Manet & Morisot exhibit. It was so fun! The Docent who led our tour was knowledgeable and the curation was spot on.

I, Stacey, loved these two Morisot paintings. From the colors to the light and shadows, 

Fiona had mentioned we should go to Golden Gate Park and see the serpent named Naga, so we went on an adventure. After circling the block a few times, we finally found a parking lot and set out on foot. We found her without too much trouble.  She is MAGNIFICENT! A quote from San Francisco Parks & Recs doesn't begin to do her justice, "Towering 25 feet high and stretching over 100 feet long, Naga is a majestic metal serpent composed of five glowing segments installed at the base of the waterfall. Lit from within and occasionally exhaling gentle bubbles from its nose, Naga comes alive at night when its shimmering scales ripple with pulsing rainbow lights."

For scale (no pun intended):

She must be beautiful at night when she is all lit up. She also blows bubbles out her nose.

Full of art and inspiration, we started the car ride home. For reference, it can take between 2 and 4 hours to get from San Fran to Sacramento. We forgot that it was a 3 day weekend, and were stuck in an overabundance of traffic. Before we got too far, we stopped on the North side of the Golden Gate; always stunning. and the bridge looks good too ;)  We decided to stop midway home for dinner as it was starting to get late. In total, it took A LONG TIME to get home.  Kudos to John for doing all the driving.

Saturday was spent sitting around the house, drinking coffee & tea and sharing stories, laughter and intellectual conversation (more so for John and JR). Eva and I left the house briefly to go grocery shopping for dinner. We made Cherry Pork Loin, accented by cherry balsamic vinegar, brown rice, a salad composed for radishes, cucumbers, grape tomatoes and mozzarella cheese balls, served with the mozz marinade and the cherry balsamic vinegar. YUMMY. We supplemented with the sour dough bread from Aimee from the bar and topped it off with a cherry pie. The boys went to bed at a 'reasonable' hour and Eva and I stayed up talking for 'a while'.

While we had a REAL Rugby player at our disposal, we MADE John teach us about rugby; ok, maybe there was less 'made' and more 'OMG YES' involved ;) We spent a nice part of the afternoon viewing a rugby 15 match and getting the skinny on rules and strategy. I think I may have acquired a new sport...

Sunday dawned foggy and chilly - like it does this time of year. After a light repast, we headed out to downtown Sacramento. We stopped at the Capital and the fountain was running and provided a stunning backdrop for a picture. John and JR went back out to catch it lit at night.

We ventured further to the The Crocker Art Museum, where Eva has been a Docent for more than a few years and now is President of said Docents. Getting a private, guided tour from a Docent is a real treat. The Crocker has a superb art collection considering where it is located. Yes, it's in the Capital, but San Fran has a plethora of museums besides the Legion of Honor. 

They recently finished a renovation/addition and the building as well as the spaces are beautiful and really showcase the art. We asked John and Eva to show us their favorite items and they did not disappoint. We had some coffee and sourdough cookies (again, from Aimee the bartender) and renewed, set out to see more art.

One of Frida Khalo's 66 Self Portraits

We, too, have a Garza at the Denver Museum

It was so fun to see art in which you recognize the artists from your various forays into museums in the US and around the world. It's such a privilege.

We decided to get hamburgers for lunch so we did that on the way home and settled in to watch some American Football, namely the Bears.  Well, that was disappointing in the end, and a heart attack inducing game the entire time.

Life imitates Art

Sadly, on Monday, our time in Sacramento and with the Fabulous Lisles came to an end. With vows of doing this again soon, promises of visits in Portugal and a few leaking eyeballs, we took a very early trip to the airport and returned home. Some airport art to close out this fabulous trip.