Petaluma Friends - Day Two

Bill Crowley shared an interesting and intriguing artifact with us.  His son, Dan, found this volume while he was working on rehabbing a house in San Francisco.  It is a scrapbook that was started in 1873.  It was filled with news stories, poetry, pieces of fiction most of which appear to have been published in newspapers and then clipped and carefully glued into this large book.  The book itself was a railroad engine ledger that kept track of trips, cargo, and fuel used.  It appeared to have focused on railroads in Oregon but it was hard to tell since the pages were almost completely covered.  Most of the pages had colorful lithograph labels which had been cut out and again carefully pasted in.  The colors were vibrant still.  There were also pages of children's books that had been cut apart and pasted in.

We decided to spend the day in San Francisco and to get there by taking a ferry from Larkspur.  The day began with some fog and wind but cleared as we neared San Francisco and the Ferry Terminal.  We passed right by San Quentin State Prison, Alcatraz and Treasure Islands and had some great views of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges as well as some America Cup yachts in their training in the bay.  

As we explored the Ferry Terminal with its many shops and restaurants, I met Milo, a security guard on duty on the second floor where there are offices.  As we chatted I learned a great deal about him.  He came to the United States 13 years ago from the Philippines.  I also learned three important pieces of information from him.

• The Ferry Terminal building was constructed in 1898 and was the only major structure to have survived the 1906 earthquake and fires in tact.
• When he retires at age 66--not too far in the future--he will receive $600 a month from Social Security which is 16,000 pesos in the Philippines to where he plans to return.
• He travels back for visits on Philippines Air.  The 18 hours flight costs about $2,000 so he can't return too often.  But more important to Milo is the disturbing fact that the female flight attendants all appear to be of grandmotherly age.  He wonders why the airline doesn't hire all those attractive young Philippinas who are looking for work.

We finished the day with a pleasant dinner at The Central Market Restaurant.  We got to bed early.  We return home tomorrow and will be traveling all day.

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