We're back from SF, with pics (see yesterday's post) of the city! Yes, we will get around to posting pictures of us, but we have to find some we like. Oh, the places we've been. Where to begin?
Going into tag team blog.........now. WONDER TWIN POWERS - ACTIVATE! (FYI, J. is in blue, BF's in red).
Waking up at 4:30am is never on my(our) agenda. So at 5:00am, I finally heeded my alarm and began my shower. By 5:45a we were out the door and playing Pumpkin Coach to fetch The Princess. She was ready and we were off. (Which was a small miracle. That girl takes forever to get ready!!) Cue driving through the agriculture lands of Cal-ee-forn-ee-yah with almost no interruptions, save one rest stop where we saw a guy, rainbow sticker on his truck making an obvious bid to cruise - at about 10am. He was so Gross!! Dolphin shorts, greasy pulled back hair, he walked around real funny like something got caught up in his... nevermind. We had to stop at the rest stop because our friend had to pee every ten minutes!!! It later bacame a running gag all weekend for us.
We did make another stop though. I was almost out of gas and was sad I wasn't going to get to stop at my favorite rest spot Santa Nella. That's where Pea Soup Andersen's lives. But we made it and we pigged out on free bread and cheese spread. Princess had never been there before so it was a great treat for us all. She also had to pee again so it was good we stopped. The only weird thing was they had a singing deer in the gift shop. It's like a huge deer version of the Billy the Singing Bass wall mounted annoying plaque. It sang Proud Mary. Annoying. Anyhoo, we gassed up and headed out.
Around the crack of noon, we started passing through Oakland. We then began the obligatory Oakland jokes.(For those of you not familiar, it's a lot like the East Coast's cracks about New Jersey.) We had to pass through those stupid Windmills(see photo below). I hate those damn things. They spin so fast and are so close to the freeway. Yuck. But they are good for the enviroment and from afar are pretty. Then we hit traffic near SF. Tradition to hit a parking lot before being let in to the kingdom. Our friend had to pee again so this mexican stand off between her bladder and my car seat was intense. I was praying she'd make it. So finally, we paid our toll and began crossing the Bay Bridge. Which sucked for me, cause I hate heights and long, high bridges freak me out. All my phobic mind could think of was, "We paid for this?!" He really freaked. It was funny. But not as funny as this one time at California Adventure.... (I thought we agreed never to speak of that).
We crossed the bridge and our lil' Princess couldn't hold her pee any longer. So I pushed her ass out the door at Pier 1 on the Embarcodero. I was yet again stuck in traffic and nowhere near Fishermans Warf where we had planned to stop. So I said I'd park the car and J and P could jump out the car and find a restroom and we'd meet in the middle and walk to the Warf. Well even with cell phones on hand we totally missed each other and I basically walked a mile from Pier 39 to Pier 15 or something. So I walked back and found J and P. So that was how we stepped foot into SF.
Favorite moments:
That short, solo* taxi ride back from Martuni's, with Bob Dylan (he's everywhere I go lately!) singing "Million Dollar Bash," appropriately enough, as I arrived back to the motel. It took me back to that moment in SF almost ten years ago when I first really heard "Like A Rolling Stone" - it was then that I finally got past the voice and bought Greatest Hits at the next record store I could drag my parents into.
**I was solo because BF & The Princess fell asleep way too early, forcing me to venture out into the night like Batman (no joke - I was in all black) and drink by myself. They have an open mike with a live piano player. A really cute little fella did a couple of Brazilian inspired numbers in Portuguese, including a bilingual take on "What A Diff'rence A Day Makes." One girl went up and did an operatic rendition of "Someone To Watch Over Me" that nearly made me weep. Then her friend, a more mature woman, did "Summertime" justice the way only a truly seasoned soprano can. Somewhere George Gershwin was smiling. *J woke me up after coming in from the club and told me he'd been out. I didn't believe him. I was so out of it I didn't even notice he was all dressed up. I don't think I even looked at him. I just wanted to take my contacts out. Everything else wasn't important at that moment. It was his fault. He so didn't try hard enough to wake me up. I wanted to go but we walked like ten miles that day. I was pooped.
My favorite taxi ride was on on way to Castro. We lucked out and got an Irish cabby. How fun. His accent was great. He'd been here ten years and he was so cool. He shared stories and advice on the city. We asked him what was better at night, Castro or North Beach. He said, "You know Castro's gay, right?". I thought that was cute. I love talking to people who have such an interesting life. It's so nice to have these exchanges with strangers.
Is it just me or is shopping better when you're on vacation? Cause I hate to shop for clothes and yet I spent waaay to much at Old Navy and other assorted stores this weekend.
1 comment:
Irish men *are* cool ...
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