Days of My Life

My trip to San Fran to visit Cassie & Scott was tons of fun! I miss my old roomies!

So the trip started out on the 5th. I arrived safe and sound into San Fran Airport where Cassie picked me up in the infamous bright blue Jetta. It was the first time Cassie ever drove me anywhere. We drove to Cassie’s apartment and then decided to walk around the Mision (her neighborhood). So up and down, up and down San Fran hill streets we went — All the way into Castro (the gay area). After passing the Sausage Factory and a fitness place called Hard On we ended up in Good Vibrations Sex Shop.

Normally sex shops gross me out because they’re usually really shady. But this place, established by two lesbians, is very nicely lite and not intimidating at all. So we browsed through the store — galking at the length of the silicone anal beads, checking out the vast variety of vibrators which go from very small, inexpensive models to larger, more expensive porcelain, and laughing over the strap on dildo that can be straped to someone’s thigh. It’s an interesting store.

After that we decided to get burritos because Cassie always used to tell me in Boston that I’ve never had a real burrito until I have one prepared by a real Mexican. Anyways, she was right… the burrito we got was not only huge but it was spicy and delicious. I was very impressed. I also got to try Melon for the first time. It’s cantaloupe juice — soo yummy on a hot day.

To work off lunch we continued our hilly walk and took the BART (subway) to Fisherman’s Wharf/ Embarcadero (San Fran’s version of the Quincy Market pier area). We grabbed some beer at Pier 23 Bar (not good — beer lines aren’t flushed properly so the beer on tap doesn’t taste quite right) and then continued down to Pier 39 to see the sealions that sunbathe and bark on the pier.

After listening to the smelly sealions for awhile we continued on to the Ghirardelli Factory where we tried a chocolate sundae — it was delicious. At that point we were both exhausted. I really didn’t realize I had signed up for a bootcamp tour of San Fran with Cassie. So because we were beat, Scott picked us up in the Range Rover — it was the first time I ever saw this imaginary car in person. Scott drove it cross country to Boston and it broke down the day after he arrived in the city and it sat in his parking spot a few miles from our place until the day before he and Cassie drove it back cross country with all their stuff. So I never saw the car and always believed it to be imaginary.

Wednesday Cassie went to her internship so I slept in and then took the BART all by myself into downtown San Francisco where I went shopping, people watched and enjoyed the sunshine in Union Square. By the time Cass got off at 5 and met up with me, I was done with alone time.

The famous cable cars go right by Union Square so we took a ride on one down to Fisherman’s Wharf to get Boudin’s sourdough bread. Jackie told me I had to try it when I was there. It was definitely worth the trip. Down at the Wharf I got my caricature made — I’ve never wanted to sit for one of them but the guy was only charging $3 and he was really nice so I sat for one. It turned out really cute.

Thursday was the typical tourist day. Cassie and I went out to tour Alcatraz. The prison is very cool. It closed in 1963 and then became Indian (Native American) land for awhile and now it is a water bird sanctuary.

After Alcatraz, we went to Fort Point where there is a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge. From there we climbed up to the bridge and walked 1/3 of the way across (I was too tired to do the whole thing). After our Golden Gate Bridge march we drove through the Presidio and out onto Great Highway which runs along the beach. Along the way we found a cute little park where there was a stairway hike. I complained the whole way as usual but the view was worth it. On the way back we decided to find the Palace of Fine Arts. I’m glad we did because this monument, if that’s what I should call it, is very pretty. If you remember it was in the movie The Rock. We watched that one of the nights because Scott had never seen it. “Losers always wine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen!” haha. Love it.

Friday we drove south to Big Basin State Park to see redwoods and go hiking. Redwoods are amazing. I’ve only ever seen one which was the lone one on the William and Mary campus. But seeing a whole forest full of these massive trees is very cool.

Cassie has cool pics on her camera that I’ll post once she sends them to me.

Cassie, Scott and I spent the night in Ben Loman at one of Scott’s friend’s houses. The next morning we woke up to head to Santa Cruz for our beach day. Couldn’t go to Cali and not have at least one beach day. We spent the day watching a girls’ beach volleyball tourney, peppering, drinking beer on the pier and finally ending the afternoon with a game of 2-on-2 with this cool lady Selma who wanted to play a game with us. None of us have really played in awhile so we weren’t that great but we had fun. I wish I could play on the east coast but I don’t know where there are courts around here… might have to look that up. Our day in Santa Cruz was fun — the water was too cold to jump into but the sun was warm and I got a nice tan. My nose is a bit darker than the rest of my face though because I was wearing sunglasses the whole day… doh!

Sunday we drove north Santa Rosa to pick up Will on our way into Sonoma Valley for our wine tasting adventure. At Will’s place we decided to take the top off the Range Rover.. Yes the top comes off… not a factory feature but a true Scott Bronson addition. Love it!! So yeah we had a great time wandering from winery to winery tasting the different wines and enjoying the great views. (To be continued…)