If It's Tuesday, It Must Be...

[eggwards]

It's less than a week unit the big trip to the Bay Area and still chris and I can't seem to get together on just where we're going once we land there. As much as I'd like to say that I'm all sunshine and flowers about this, my nature doesn't allow for this, and I'm actually rather nervous about this turn of events. I get really antsy about not having some sort of plan about things. This would surprise the hell out of the people at work, because I come off as looking like I go from one project to another without thought, but there is planning, it's just just done in a block fashion, not down to the seconds.

So here's my dilemma in San Francisco, we have a lot of time, in one regard, but I don't know how much time it takes to get from one place to another, so I don't know how to block my time - and I'm having a hard time making decisions. Add to this that I've never had to plan a trip with someone else before. Chris' agenda for this trip is different from mine, mine is more about seeing places, while his is more about seeing people, so in order to try to meld both trip together, neither one of us wants to step on each others wishes, and hence, no decisions have been made.

So far we know we want to go as far south as Monterey, and as far north as Clearlake, where Chris' parent's now live. That, from my best guess, is something of a four to five hour dive difference in distance. In between all of this we have two timed tent-pegs, the Hairrison Street Fair on Sunday the 21st and a Giants game at Pac Bell on Friday the 26th. After that, it's chaos.

I've gone over books and information. I research trips - I'm anal that way. Now I'm not so bad that I must be somewhere at exactly 2:25 pm and nothing can make me late for it, but I like to have a general, "well, it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium" kind of sense of things.

So Chris suggested I put together a list of things I want to see, in no particular order:

Redwood forrest
Rocky Pacific shoreline
Transamerica Tower and downtown
Union Square
That row of victorian homes by the park
The Castro
Embarcadero
The Lone Star Saloon
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Bridge
Nob Hill and Russian Hill (I have a good walking tour in a book for this)
Union Square
SF City Hall
Palace of Fine Arts
Coit Tower
Some Cable Cars
The Technology Museum in San Jose
A Napa winery (just one, how different can they be?)
Places where Chris grew up and lived
I'll take more suggestions on other places to go

I know that doesn't sound like enough to fill 10 days, and it's not. Heck, we have to have time to go and is at Bearbucks for a while and eat and enjoy a sunset and visit with people and all, but still, I don't know how long it takes to get from one part of town to another, or to get from San Jose up to The City. This has been one of the problems in choosing a hotel, which we haven't done yet. we're thinking of setting up somewhere on the peninsula for a few days, sort of in between San Jose and San Francisco (sorry, I'm trying not to call it 'Frisco, I hear that's a big no-no).

One thing I'm trying to stay away from is a lot of things that cost, so fewer museums and guided tours and shows(Alcatraz is out), but you never know. I looked up information on Beach Blanket Babylon and found that their ticketing site didn't work, so I'm not sure if we can do that at all. There is a Planet Big dance on Sunday night after Hairrison, but I'm always a little unsure about going to chub events, even though I here that some bears go there too. We'll have to think about that one.

Dave (e_ticket) also let us know about the Classic Gaming Expo going on our first weekend there, and they he will be going the Saturday morning, and that sounds like fun. We'll have to see how it fits in with our plans - or possible lack of them, and if we want to spend the $15 to play old Atari games for a while. still, those games are the ones I'm actually somewhat adept at.

I'm also looking to pack, trying to keep things in one large suitcase, since we'll be staying in a couple of places, and we have rented a Toyota Prius (that ought to be interesting) that we hope we won't be pushing up hills. I'm struggling to figure out what to pack because your weather totally confuses me. Damnit, it's August!

I wish I could be a little less nervous about this and just let go and enjoy this, but I guess it's not in my nature. Heck, those people who can do that don't buy two travel guides, now do they? I'm trying to tone down this annoying tendency knowing that it could be very frustrating for Chris, but I think I've gone too far the other way, and now it's become a passive-aggressive game of "let's get a schedule, but I won't tell you where, because I don't want to force anything on you". It's as maddening as you would expect it to be.

Still, I know if Chris wasn't on this trip, it wouldn't be half of the trip it's going to be.

Comments

[theotherqpc.livejournal.com]

erm...that looks like plenty to do for 10 days, if not more!
to help you time things, it takes about 1 hour to go from SFO to the Castro (using the airtrain, BART, and MUNI)...but then, you're renting a Prius.

while you're in the Castro, stop in at SuperStar video and rent some porn - $3/night. even better, bring a laptop with a DVD burner and copy the DVDs ;)

in all honesty, i wasn't all that impressed with the Lonestar, but i admittedly went on a Thanksgiving night, so it was pretty dead there. i guess it's something everyone has to make it to the lonestar at least once, tho...

i'd also recommend Chinatown - preferably the "real" Chinatown (not the cheap-plastic-crap-for-roundeyes section) if your stomach can handle storefronts with roasted chickens (with heads), duck feet, and frogs' legs in the windows.

[owenthomas.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd say if you want the real Chinatown, skip Grant Street and Stockton Street altogether and head for Clement Street in the Inner Richmond.

[jaybear.livejournal.com]

I can't even imagine Michael doing that with his food issues.

And I agree - that list seems like far, far too much to do in 10 days without feeling insanely rushed. Its a *vacation*...

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

See, I feel like it isn't that much until I know the list of people that Chris wants to see, than I'll know what kind of time crunch we're under. Otherwise, most of the destinations are just places to look at, take a picture and move on. Things could always change, though.

Jay, you're right about Chinatown. It might be interesting to look at, but unless there's some chicken nuggets somewhere, the food isn't going to be my thing (amazingly, there is one dish at Pei Wei that I eat that's essentially chicken nuggets).

We do have time planned at Chris' parents house which is on a lake, which should be relaxing.