The giant San Francisco wrap-up
Aug. 12th, 2003 04:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
judecorpThis is going to be very long. I'm going to cut it to avoid spam, and I'm going to disclaim that this probably won't be terribly interesting. If you're bored at work, though, it will definitely give you something to do. I'll fill it with fun links so you can pretend you were there with us. Whee! Time for a mid-work-day mental vacation!
Wednesday: We got up at 5am on Wednesday to take showers, get everything together, and get to the airport. Jennifer really likes to get there early and avoid any sudden problems, and she was antsy, so the 5am hour came and we had a lot of time. We showered, gathered last-minute stuff, gave love to the cats, and headed to the airport. We were very early. However, both flights (CMH to Phoenix, and Phoenix to SFO) were on-time, and we touched down at SFO at about 12:30pm Pacific. We negotiated the BART to Powell Street where we found our hotel (The Powell Hotel - can't beat the internet discount price of $62/night!). We dumped our stuff off and headed to Lori's Diner for quick food. On the way back to the hotel, Jennifer and I stopped at DSW so she could get a pair of sandals. I was practically falling asleep at the shoe store, so we went back to the hotel and took a long nap. Not even the incessant clang of the cable cars could keep me awake!
We got up in the early evening and headed to the Castro. We walked around a bit, stopping at A Different Light before grabbing a cup of coffee. We settled on Osaka Sushi for dinner, which was okay. Totally wiped out by this point, we hopped on the F Train to get back to home base.
Thursday: We got up and headed out on the N - all the way to the end to Ocean Beach. We took a couple of beachy photos and waited for Luke to meet us there. Luke drove up from Santa Cruz (and someone stole his car stereo during the night - BOO!) and we hugged and stuff. Then we got in his 1980 Checker and drove to Eddie's Soul Food Cafe for breakfastylunch goodness. I saw the best sticker stuck to a booth. It was an advertisement for some sort of genderqueer support/social group and it read: Are you a boy or a girl? No, are you? (or something like that). We ate our greasy food and then Lu3ke took us on a little driving tour of SF, showing us Victorian Row, Lombard Street, and some other pretty stuff. We drove to the Palace of Fine Arts ("Come, Nadia, let us dance like children of the night!") and walked around there for a while. There was the cutest baby turtle there, and we scared him. I was sad.
We dropped Jennifer off to go to her thesis meeting, and Luke and I continued driving around. We went to the Mission because I wanted to go to 826 Valencia (where I bought a pirate flag, and touched lard). We also went to a store full of dead things and St. Francis for ice cream (which is no longer homemade). I got to see a whole alley full of murals, and they were pretty awesome. We picked Jen up at the Academy after the fossil store (where they were playing a live version of St. Nick's "The Ship Song" and I thought of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
juliann). Luke, Jennifer and I stopped for a drink and unwound at Zeitgeist before hitting Luke's favorite sushi place for dinner - Ichiraku on Geary. They give you SO MUCH FREE STUFF, I was so porked when we left. Luke dropped us off at our hotel, and we totally crashed and burned.
Friday: I woke up so early because we'd gone to bed before 11pm. We took the cable car (ding ding!) to Pier 45 and checked out the Musee Mecanique (forlaughingsal!). We played old video games and I made Jen use the arm-wrestling machine. Then we met up with Luke and his gf Kerri and headed back to the Mission to check out another of their favorite restaurants - Saigon Saigon. I wasn't very hungry, but the food was good. After that, we went to the Bombay Ice Creamery and had Indian ice cream (yum), and then Kerri, Jen and I went thrifting at Clothes Contact ($8/lb) while Luke read at a cafe. It's so much fun to go thrifting in new places - I have out-thrifted Columbus. Jennifer found me the absolute coolest tuxedo jacket (I have desperately wanted a tuxedo), and an okay tuxedo shirt. I got some other stuff and spent way too much money. Oops!
They dropped us off and Jen and I decided to visit the San Francisco Shopping Center and the Sony Metreon (home of Wild Things and a Playstation store where I played Parappa II). We went out on a balcony and looked over the Yerba Buena Gardens and just basically talked about everything - our futures, mostly, and where we want to live next. It was peaceful and, asmermil would say, "tenduh." We took the BART to Dublin/Pleasanton where we got to meet jjustj and ntiva! Dina made us a wonderful dinner, and she and Jeff were wonderful company. They kicked our butts at Trivial Pursuit and we had a fantastic time. By the time we got home, it was late, and we crashed.
Saturday: I got a chance to soak in the tub and read, and then we took the cable car up to Pier 39. We had lunch at the overpriced and stomach-pain-inducing Bubba Gump's (I was not impressed) and walked around for a bit. We ate Trish's mini donuts (a Jen requirement) and then walked to the Hyde Street Pier to look at the boat museum. We tried our hands (bad pun!) at tying marine knots and then walked back to the Musee Mecanique, but there were too many tourists. UGH. I bought a bunch of postcards and then we headed to Ghirardelli Square, where the line was too long for ice cream. We walked all the way back to the streetcar and headed down to the Castro again, where Jen got a Wonder Woman book at ADL, we had a drink at a bar chock full of men (I felt so weirdly female there) and people-watched with the people next to us, shopped for a Big Gay Souvenir (I didn't find anything I liked), had Ben & Jerry's, and then headed back to the hotel for a break. We were totally sun-logged - it was a gorgeous day to be outside. I think Jen got tired of me taking pictures of her.
We watched a little television to rest up before heading out to Good Vibrations. We did a little shopping and walked around looking for a place to eat a quiet, cheap dinner. We found Village Pizzeria on Van Ness, and then walked back to the hotel. On the way, Jen showed me where she used to live and some of the spots she recognized. It was a great walk. I love parts of town that aren't full of annoying tourists. I gave my leftover pizza to a boy on the street. We got back to the hotel and I was hoping to sample our new wares, but alas, Jen was tired. There was a book of genderqueer vignettes that I really wanted at GV, but I found it online for $9. Go me!
Sunday: Poo, we're getting to the end. Jennifer and I headed back out toward Ocean Beach to visit with her friends Anna and Dave. We headed back to the beach to check out the Sutro Baths ruins, which was totally beautiful scenery. We walked to Cliff House (which is totally under construction) and ate lunch at Louis'. We headed back to A&D's and chatted with them for a couple of hours. They are funny, because they act like Jen's surrogate parents, but I liked them. They had a cute little house, and pay little rent. Score! We left their house and went back to the hotel to collect our luggage, and went to the airport from there. I was going throughwhirledpeas withdrawal, so I called her for a minute.
Our flights were again entirely on-time (YAY), and we had a quick connection in Vegas. While Jen dumped $5 in a slot machine, she got carded by a woman who thought she was an underage boy. *snicker* I slept almost the whole way back. We got in at 6:17am EDT and promptly collapsed.
That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
Wednesday: We got up at 5am on Wednesday to take showers, get everything together, and get to the airport. Jennifer really likes to get there early and avoid any sudden problems, and she was antsy, so the 5am hour came and we had a lot of time. We showered, gathered last-minute stuff, gave love to the cats, and headed to the airport. We were very early. However, both flights (CMH to Phoenix, and Phoenix to SFO) were on-time, and we touched down at SFO at about 12:30pm Pacific. We negotiated the BART to Powell Street where we found our hotel (The Powell Hotel - can't beat the internet discount price of $62/night!). We dumped our stuff off and headed to Lori's Diner for quick food. On the way back to the hotel, Jennifer and I stopped at DSW so she could get a pair of sandals. I was practically falling asleep at the shoe store, so we went back to the hotel and took a long nap. Not even the incessant clang of the cable cars could keep me awake!
We got up in the early evening and headed to the Castro. We walked around a bit, stopping at A Different Light before grabbing a cup of coffee. We settled on Osaka Sushi for dinner, which was okay. Totally wiped out by this point, we hopped on the F Train to get back to home base.
Thursday: We got up and headed out on the N - all the way to the end to Ocean Beach. We took a couple of beachy photos and waited for Luke to meet us there. Luke drove up from Santa Cruz (and someone stole his car stereo during the night - BOO!) and we hugged and stuff. Then we got in his 1980 Checker and drove to Eddie's Soul Food Cafe for breakfastylunch goodness. I saw the best sticker stuck to a booth. It was an advertisement for some sort of genderqueer support/social group and it read: Are you a boy or a girl? No, are you? (or something like that). We ate our greasy food and then Lu3ke took us on a little driving tour of SF, showing us Victorian Row, Lombard Street, and some other pretty stuff. We drove to the Palace of Fine Arts ("Come, Nadia, let us dance like children of the night!") and walked around there for a while. There was the cutest baby turtle there, and we scared him. I was sad.
We dropped Jennifer off to go to her thesis meeting, and Luke and I continued driving around. We went to the Mission because I wanted to go to 826 Valencia (where I bought a pirate flag, and touched lard). We also went to a store full of dead things and St. Francis for ice cream (which is no longer homemade). I got to see a whole alley full of murals, and they were pretty awesome. We picked Jen up at the Academy after the fossil store (where they were playing a live version of St. Nick's "The Ship Song" and I thought of
juliann). Luke, Jennifer and I stopped for a drink and unwound at Zeitgeist before hitting Luke's favorite sushi place for dinner - Ichiraku on Geary. They give you SO MUCH FREE STUFF, I was so porked when we left. Luke dropped us off at our hotel, and we totally crashed and burned.Friday: I woke up so early because we'd gone to bed before 11pm. We took the cable car (ding ding!) to Pier 45 and checked out the Musee Mecanique (for
laughingsal!). We played old video games and I made Jen use the arm-wrestling machine. Then we met up with Luke and his gf Kerri and headed back to the Mission to check out another of their favorite restaurants - Saigon Saigon. I wasn't very hungry, but the food was good. After that, we went to the Bombay Ice Creamery and had Indian ice cream (yum), and then Kerri, Jen and I went thrifting at Clothes Contact ($8/lb) while Luke read at a cafe. It's so much fun to go thrifting in new places - I have out-thrifted Columbus. Jennifer found me the absolute coolest tuxedo jacket (I have desperately wanted a tuxedo), and an okay tuxedo shirt. I got some other stuff and spent way too much money. Oops!They dropped us off and Jen and I decided to visit the San Francisco Shopping Center and the Sony Metreon (home of Wild Things and a Playstation store where I played Parappa II). We went out on a balcony and looked over the Yerba Buena Gardens and just basically talked about everything - our futures, mostly, and where we want to live next. It was peaceful and, as
mermil would say, "tenduh." We took the BART to Dublin/Pleasanton where we got to meet jjustj and ntiva! Dina made us a wonderful dinner, and she and Jeff were wonderful company. They kicked our butts at Trivial Pursuit and we had a fantastic time. By the time we got home, it was late, and we crashed.Saturday: I got a chance to soak in the tub and read, and then we took the cable car up to Pier 39. We had lunch at the overpriced and stomach-pain-inducing Bubba Gump's (I was not impressed) and walked around for a bit. We ate Trish's mini donuts (a Jen requirement) and then walked to the Hyde Street Pier to look at the boat museum. We tried our hands (bad pun!) at tying marine knots and then walked back to the Musee Mecanique, but there were too many tourists. UGH. I bought a bunch of postcards and then we headed to Ghirardelli Square, where the line was too long for ice cream. We walked all the way back to the streetcar and headed down to the Castro again, where Jen got a Wonder Woman book at ADL, we had a drink at a bar chock full of men (I felt so weirdly female there) and people-watched with the people next to us, shopped for a Big Gay Souvenir (I didn't find anything I liked), had Ben & Jerry's, and then headed back to the hotel for a break. We were totally sun-logged - it was a gorgeous day to be outside. I think Jen got tired of me taking pictures of her.
We watched a little television to rest up before heading out to Good Vibrations. We did a little shopping and walked around looking for a place to eat a quiet, cheap dinner. We found Village Pizzeria on Van Ness, and then walked back to the hotel. On the way, Jen showed me where she used to live and some of the spots she recognized. It was a great walk. I love parts of town that aren't full of annoying tourists. I gave my leftover pizza to a boy on the street. We got back to the hotel and I was hoping to sample our new wares, but alas, Jen was tired. There was a book of genderqueer vignettes that I really wanted at GV, but I found it online for $9. Go me!
Sunday: Poo, we're getting to the end. Jennifer and I headed back out toward Ocean Beach to visit with her friends Anna and Dave. We headed back to the beach to check out the Sutro Baths ruins, which was totally beautiful scenery. We walked to Cliff House (which is totally under construction) and ate lunch at Louis'. We headed back to A&D's and chatted with them for a couple of hours. They are funny, because they act like Jen's surrogate parents, but I liked them. They had a cute little house, and pay little rent. Score! We left their house and went back to the hotel to collect our luggage, and went to the airport from there. I was going through
whirledpeas withdrawal, so I called her for a minute.Our flights were again entirely on-time (YAY), and we had a quick connection in Vegas. While Jen dumped $5 in a slot machine, she got carded by a woman who thought she was an underage boy. *snicker* I slept almost the whole way back. We got in at 6:17am EDT and promptly collapsed.
That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-08-12 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-12 01:43 pm (UTC)p.s. Do you want to take Smurfette to Rhode Island?
no subject
Date: 2003-08-12 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-12 01:48 pm (UTC)I think I'm gonna have to pass on Rhode Island, though. :-( October 1st is approaching rather quickly!
no subject
Date: 2003-08-12 01:52 pm (UTC)If you are looking for a convenient location for sleeping and taking showers, I would DEFINITELY recommend it. (http://www.1st-sanfranciscohotels.com/ - it's cheaper there, but you have to pay in advance) The water pressure in the shower left little to be desired, however, but that was my only complaint.
The room was small, barely enough room for the queen-sized bed, armoir with tv, desk, and night table. The decor was laughable, and one of our blankets had a small tear. The bathroom was tiled and clean. Basically, the room was functional, old, and had character. It smelled like old, musty building. It was loud outside because we were RIGHT at the cable car turnaround on Powell.
But you'd be right outside the Powell Street BART/MUNI station, among other things. It was exceptionally convenient. And it was $62! I would /totally/ recommend it. The total bill for 5 nights was something like $300 - can't beat that.
If you're looking for a sprawling room to entertain guests, a lot of peace and quiet, and a scenic ocean view, you're not going to get it at the Powell. But I think it was the best place to stay ever, and I would definitely go back.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-12 01:53 pm (UTC)Poo for you on RI. It looks like I won't be working until September at this rate.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-12 01:55 pm (UTC)(sorry :-( )
no subject
Date: 2003-08-12 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-12 01:58 pm (UTC)Still, check it out. Or browse through that site with the Internet deals.
OT:
Date: 2003-08-12 04:25 pm (UTC)thx!
Re: OT:
Date: 2003-08-12 07:58 pm (UTC)I'll be home until 5:30. Or I could bring it to you?
no subject
Date: 2003-08-12 10:08 pm (UTC)But next time, I want you on my team and Dina on Jen's.
That way we can play boys against girls.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-13 06:00 am (UTC)My brother and his now-wife used to live in Noe Valley, right next to the Castro. When I visited him, I hopped on the metro or whatever it is and the first person I saw was a distinguished graying man wearing leather chaps...I just grinned. It felt good to be there.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-13 06:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-13 06:10 am (UTC)What I think is great is that we don't seem to get sick of each other, at least not yet. She is at work now, and I miss her. I miss having her all to myself!
no subject
Date: 2003-08-13 06:56 am (UTC)But thank you for the compliment. :)
no subject
Date: 2003-08-13 11:30 am (UTC)Those are the worst.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-13 02:26 pm (UTC)I just guess intelligently.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-13 09:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-13 11:46 pm (UTC)