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Monday, May 31

Trippin'

May turned into sort of a "travel" month for me - a perfect storm of planned and impromptu nights away from home.

The first week of the month we had a hiccup of sorts, and on our wedding anniversary of all days. The RHPB had some health problems. He's all better now... back to golfing during every free moment. But we ended up spending a few days at SCMC. We had a room with a wonderful view of the Cascades, but it wasn't exactly what we had in mind for our anniversary.


Then there was a planned trip for me to San Francisco, with my friend Melinda. We stayed with my friends Ann & Curt from the "good old days" at the Statesman Journal newspaper. We had a long list of the things we wanted to do and see. There were some things that had to be done on specific days (like a trip to Sunset magazine and the Embarcadero Farmers Market). But for the most part we had a general idea and made things up as we went. It was a lot of fun, and tiring. I took a lot of pictures and even some video, the links for which I'll add to the bottom of this post.


Right before I left for San Francisco I found out we won tickets from Clear 101.7 to see the John Butler Trio in Portland. The RHPB picked up the tickets while I was out of town. He was actually working away from home when I got back, so we ended up picking him up in Madras on our way to Portland. This was Stinky and Boo's first actual "club" show I think. They've been to free shows at the amphitheater and the like. And Boo was quick to point out that she'd been to the Hannah Montana concert too. But anyways, this was their first real "rock show" I think. I wasn't sure if they'd like it. Everyone had a blast! The opening act was a band called State Radio, and if you've never heard them they are a great band. After their set the drummer gave Stinky a very beat-up drumstick which made him very happy. It was a late night but totally worth it. The next day we went to the zoo (in the rain) then came home and lazed around for the rest of the holiday weekend.



I can't believe it's already June. Wow!

Linkage
San Francisco Pics
SF - Seward Street Slides
SF - Aquarium of the Bay
SF - Creme Brulee Cart
John Butler Trio performs "Used to Get High"
John Butler Trio performs "Zebra"

The SF List
Stuff that was on the list that we did:
1. Bi-Rite Creamery
2. Bittersweet
3. Pizzaiolo
4. Sunset (the Magazine, in Menlo Park)
5. Pamplemousse Patisserie
6. La Copa Loca
7. Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market
8. California Academy of Sciences (CityPass) - but we got evacuated before we could finish!
9. Cookin': Recycled Gourmet Appurtenances
10. Late drinks / dessert with Melinda's friend Carrie, at her restaurant in Berkeley (Chez Panisse)
11. Kushitsuru (went to Sushiya instead)
12. Filbert Steps (descended via the Greenwich Steps)
13. Coit Tower (in conjunction with Filbert & Greenwich Steps)
14. Aquarium Of The Bay (CityPass)
15. Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise (CityPass)
16. Golden Gate Fortune Cookies
17. Great Eastern Restaurant for Dim Sum (went to another place, don't know the name)
18. Food Carts (we went to the Creme Brulee Cart and Soul Cocina)
19. Places that sell French Macarons (found one in the Ferry Building)
20. Places with good Gelato (Holy Gelato in Sunset Dist)
21. Places with really good dark chocolate (TCHO in Pier 17)
22. Seward Street Slides

Stuff that was on the list that we didn't do:
deYoung Museum (CityPass)
Palace of Fine Arts (postcard view)
Golden Gate Bridge stroll
Candybar
Vulcan Stairs

Stuff that wasn't on the list, that we added and checked off:
1. Casual Carpool
2. Lunch at the Thai Buddhist Temple in Berkeley
3. Marin Headlands (replaced Palace of Fine Arts / GGB stroll)
4. SF Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park
5. Arizmendi's Bakery Co-op
6. Ride on a cable car and interrogate your brakeman
7. Oakland Chinatown (I should have bought that mochi...)
8. Levi Strauss Building (best kept secret public restrooms)
9. Dolores Park (people watching)
10. Market Hall in Rockridge (who needs Trader Joe's?!)
11. Wander through the Castro District
12. Visit Craigslist world headquarters, but don't realize it till you get home

Stuff that's just silly:
At least three MUNI snafu's
Wander through the Mission District at an iffy time of day
Ask the bus driver "Is this bus going to Chinatown?"... when you're *in* Chinatown
Inadvertently join a parade in Sausalito
Walk up a really steep hill when you could have taken the bus (er... or the MUNI)

My only regrets?
1. I wish we'd bought a souvenir article of clothing from Hot Cookie in the Castro.
2. I wish we'd known to insist about the lower level train seats on the way to SF (we sure as heck did on the way back!)
3. I wish we'd gone back to Bi-Rite to try that chocolate sundae with olive oil drizzled on it.

2 comments:

Occidental Girl said...

Wow! You did a lot of stuff...sez Obvious Commenter. Sounds like fun!

Edie Mindell said...

Reading your post, I'm pretty much sure you had a blast of fun and adventure.:-) I hope I could also do and visit a lot when I'm in vacation.:-)