While in San Francisco this past summer, we saw a sign with a quote attributed to fellow Missourian Mark Twain. The quote was a funny one--"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." And at least part of it was true--San Francisco was really cold that summer day. So cold, in fact, that some of us found a store on Pier 39 and bought sweatshirts. Part of the quote, though, wasn't true. According to snopes.com, Mark Twain never said it. Someone else did. The researchers at snopes go on to say that his authorship of some famously well-known quotes is questionable. They doubt, for example, if Twain ever said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
I don't care who said it, San Francisco was uncomfortably cold and windy in the middle of July. Helping to warm us were the warm chocolate and peanut butter sundaes we found at the Ghirardelli store. The company has been part of the San Francisco landscape since 1852. And I imagine that Twain would have appreciated their chocolate while he was living in the City by the Bay. I know we did.
