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I Left My Lunch In San Francisco
Today Chris (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
f__k) and I have been chilling out in his parent's home in Northern California. Kelseyville is the nearest city, but let's just say that it's in the sticks. Let me catch up with some of the things that have been going on the last few days.
After traveling the coast and seeing the beauty of a secluded beach in Davenport, we went into Santa Cruz and saw a rather tacky boardwalk. It was full of carney rides and such. The place was crowded with a whole bunch of people who were spending their last few days before school starts to get out and be near the beach. Still, I'm surprised that Californians like the beach so much when it's so darn cold. It's nice that it keep the temperatures down, and that famous fog rolling in, but I guess I always have this image of swimming in the ocean (even though it's gross). Still, the secluded beach was calming and relaxing.
That evening we returned to the South Bay for dinner, and then drove into the city. Being placed on a small peninsula, everything is tight and built up, reminding me of east coast cities, rather than the suburban sprawl of the South Bay. Even the financial district seemed alive and interesting when we got to our hotel. The hotel however didn't have a parking garage, but they were happy to tell you to go park at the Embarcadero Center next door for only $27 a day. Yikes!
The Harrison Street Fair was everything it should be. Several people who had bought the 4-day event pass seemed rather tired of the thing, but for us, it was perfect. We saw a lot of great friends, I'd mention them all, but I can't seem to get this client to make the links. Still, of note was getting to meet Dave (e_ticket) for the first time, and to finally meet Dave (backawayslowly). We also made acquaintance with another Dave and his partner Mike from Seattle who made the event a good one. We considered going to the Planet Big dance afterwards, but took a look at The Stud, seeing that it didn't look that interesting, and not wanting to pay the $10 cover charge, decided against it and went back to the Lone Star, which was decidedly less crowded than the night before. Too many people had to go back to work.
If nothing else, when the folks claim Hairrison is the worlds largest bear event, I'm inclined to agree with them. There were bears of every shape color and size. It was a pretty wonderful thing to behold. For someone who's usually crowd shy, we found some really great folks and enjoyed it, despite the loss of personal space. I just wish I could have sat down and chatted with more people, but everyone was coming and going, always seeing someone they knew. There wasn't enough time.
On Monday we started the real sightseeing with a walking tour. We had already gone around the Embarcadero Center and the Ferry Port, and I had seen my first streetcar. We went past the Transamerica Pyramid (two blocks from the hotel) and moved to Chinatown to have lunch with Dave (backawayslowly). (Secretly, I had already snuck in a lunch from Carl's Jr.) After lunch we moved north through Chinatown and into North Beach, with all of its Italian restaurants. We had several great views of Coit Tower from the bottom of Telegraph Hill. We then climbed up Lombard Street to that really crooked part to watch the cars and a skateboarder come down.
Rather than walk up Lombard, we moved a street over and climbed some steps up to the next street. A gardener there told us that there were some great new plants in the Russian Hill Reservoir just down Hyde street, so we went that way down to Ghirardelli Square. The reservoir wasn't much to see, but the sign that said that they were using goats to mow the grass was pretty cute. After that we went and got ice cream at the Square. It's an expensive tourist trap, let me tall you. There we saw Dave and Mike, the boys from Seattle again, and they were amazed that we were walking so far.
After that we went to the super tacky Fisherman's Wharf. If there ever was a place with more useless stuff, I wouldn't know of it. The one good thing about it was the Sea Lion platforms at Pier 39. We then grabbed a pin for my collection from the Hard Rock Cafe and went back towards our hotel through Levi's Square, again walking around, but not up to Coit Tower.
Monday night we went to the Giants game in Pac Bell Park out in China Basin. It's a really great park with its views of the bay and all. Chris' parents arrived by Ferry from Alameda and we had a great time. The Giants actually won. We took the Muni Metro to and from, and it was actually shut down for a bit as we left the stadium by some accident that needed an ambulance, but it gave us a chance to look around the park and see some of the statuary.
Of course, as we were leaving the park, Chris tells me that he isn't feeling so well. This leads to fun over the next few hours where he's really sick, the coming out of both ends kind of sick. I offered to go get him stuff and everything, thinking that I was fine. Well, after getting only a little sleep in our rather small queen-sized bed with Chris getting up, coming back, and having the shivers, at around three AM I find that I'm having the same symptoms too. Somehow we both got food poisoning, and probably from the same dish we split for lunch in Chinatown (see, yet another reason to hate Chinese food!) So the rest of the night was spent barfing, feeling miserable and all.
Still, we had to check out, and we had to go. Instead of doing more sightseeing we went and drove on to Lake County, not really making too many stops, especially since the Golden Gate Bridge was fogged in, again. We might have stopped to see the Peanuts Museum in Santa Rosa or a vinyard (since the grapes were growing all over US 101), but we were feeling awful. I drove the second leg when I was finally coming out of some of my misery, and it was one of the wildest drives ever, twisting and turning all over the mountains on CA 175 to get into the Clearlake area where Chris' parents live. I've only driven in the mountains once - and that was in Arkansas in the Ozarks. Still, once we got here, we promptly fell asleep for hours, with Chris' mom and dad checking in on us.
So today we were told to go to all these locations, Napa wineries, Mendocino, and such, but we just sat around and watched Dr. Phil give enormously bad advice. A nice cool down from the last few days. Tonight Chris' parents took us out to the fanciest resturant in town, which was surprisingly upscale for a place that has been described as trailer trash city.
As for getting out and seeing the sights again, we'll get up and running again as we head towards the new weekend!
f__k) and I have been chilling out in his parent's home in Northern California. Kelseyville is the nearest city, but let's just say that it's in the sticks. Let me catch up with some of the things that have been going on the last few days.After traveling the coast and seeing the beauty of a secluded beach in Davenport, we went into Santa Cruz and saw a rather tacky boardwalk. It was full of carney rides and such. The place was crowded with a whole bunch of people who were spending their last few days before school starts to get out and be near the beach. Still, I'm surprised that Californians like the beach so much when it's so darn cold. It's nice that it keep the temperatures down, and that famous fog rolling in, but I guess I always have this image of swimming in the ocean (even though it's gross). Still, the secluded beach was calming and relaxing.
That evening we returned to the South Bay for dinner, and then drove into the city. Being placed on a small peninsula, everything is tight and built up, reminding me of east coast cities, rather than the suburban sprawl of the South Bay. Even the financial district seemed alive and interesting when we got to our hotel. The hotel however didn't have a parking garage, but they were happy to tell you to go park at the Embarcadero Center next door for only $27 a day. Yikes!
The Harrison Street Fair was everything it should be. Several people who had bought the 4-day event pass seemed rather tired of the thing, but for us, it was perfect. We saw a lot of great friends, I'd mention them all, but I can't seem to get this client to make the links. Still, of note was getting to meet Dave (
e_ticket) for the first time, and to finally meet Dave (backawayslowly). We also made acquaintance with another Dave and his partner Mike from Seattle who made the event a good one. We considered going to the Planet Big dance afterwards, but took a look at The Stud, seeing that it didn't look that interesting, and not wanting to pay the $10 cover charge, decided against it and went back to the Lone Star, which was decidedly less crowded than the night before. Too many people had to go back to work.If nothing else, when the folks claim Hairrison is the worlds largest bear event, I'm inclined to agree with them. There were bears of every shape color and size. It was a pretty wonderful thing to behold. For someone who's usually crowd shy, we found some really great folks and enjoyed it, despite the loss of personal space. I just wish I could have sat down and chatted with more people, but everyone was coming and going, always seeing someone they knew. There wasn't enough time.
On Monday we started the real sightseeing with a walking tour. We had already gone around the Embarcadero Center and the Ferry Port, and I had seen my first streetcar. We went past the Transamerica Pyramid (two blocks from the hotel) and moved to Chinatown to have lunch with Dave (
backawayslowly). (Secretly, I had already snuck in a lunch from Carl's Jr.) After lunch we moved north through Chinatown and into North Beach, with all of its Italian restaurants. We had several great views of Coit Tower from the bottom of Telegraph Hill. We then climbed up Lombard Street to that really crooked part to watch the cars and a skateboarder come down.Rather than walk up Lombard, we moved a street over and climbed some steps up to the next street. A gardener there told us that there were some great new plants in the Russian Hill Reservoir just down Hyde street, so we went that way down to Ghirardelli Square. The reservoir wasn't much to see, but the sign that said that they were using goats to mow the grass was pretty cute. After that we went and got ice cream at the Square. It's an expensive tourist trap, let me tall you. There we saw Dave and Mike, the boys from Seattle again, and they were amazed that we were walking so far.
After that we went to the super tacky Fisherman's Wharf. If there ever was a place with more useless stuff, I wouldn't know of it. The one good thing about it was the Sea Lion platforms at Pier 39. We then grabbed a pin for my collection from the Hard Rock Cafe and went back towards our hotel through Levi's Square, again walking around, but not up to Coit Tower.
Monday night we went to the Giants game in Pac Bell Park out in China Basin. It's a really great park with its views of the bay and all. Chris' parents arrived by Ferry from Alameda and we had a great time. The Giants actually won. We took the Muni Metro to and from, and it was actually shut down for a bit as we left the stadium by some accident that needed an ambulance, but it gave us a chance to look around the park and see some of the statuary.
Of course, as we were leaving the park, Chris tells me that he isn't feeling so well. This leads to fun over the next few hours where he's really sick, the coming out of both ends kind of sick. I offered to go get him stuff and everything, thinking that I was fine. Well, after getting only a little sleep in our rather small queen-sized bed with Chris getting up, coming back, and having the shivers, at around three AM I find that I'm having the same symptoms too. Somehow we both got food poisoning, and probably from the same dish we split for lunch in Chinatown (see, yet another reason to hate Chinese food!) So the rest of the night was spent barfing, feeling miserable and all.
Still, we had to check out, and we had to go. Instead of doing more sightseeing we went and drove on to Lake County, not really making too many stops, especially since the Golden Gate Bridge was fogged in, again. We might have stopped to see the Peanuts Museum in Santa Rosa or a vinyard (since the grapes were growing all over US 101), but we were feeling awful. I drove the second leg when I was finally coming out of some of my misery, and it was one of the wildest drives ever, twisting and turning all over the mountains on CA 175 to get into the Clearlake area where Chris' parents live. I've only driven in the mountains once - and that was in Arkansas in the Ozarks. Still, once we got here, we promptly fell asleep for hours, with Chris' mom and dad checking in on us.
So today we were told to go to all these locations, Napa wineries, Mendocino, and such, but we just sat around and watched Dr. Phil give enormously bad advice. A nice cool down from the last few days. Tonight Chris' parents took us out to the fanciest resturant in town, which was surprisingly upscale for a place that has been described as trailer trash city.
As for getting out and seeing the sights again, we'll get up and running again as we head towards the new weekend!
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Oh come now ...
Trust me, not all Chinese food does that ...
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But thank you **SO** much for sharing your trip (even the gross/sick parts). You write so well that I feel like I'm there with ya.
TOO MANY DAVES!
Re: TOO MANY DAVES!
Re: TOO MANY DAVES!
there's also this, which I missed this year but will DEFINITELY do next year:
http://www.caextreme.org/index.html