so far san fran

(it's monday. this post was started on saturday.)

i realized this morning as i stumbled down to david's delicatessen and starbucks (it's the only coffee shop i can see; i'd much rather have something local.) for scones and americanos i realized something: if i don't post about this trip as it happens, i may not get to post about it at all and that's not too cool. so, here's the trip so far in a nutshell:

the flight was easy, only delayed a few minutes in houston, but that gave us time to eat dinner (a good thing, since our in flight meal was bbq chicken, NO EXCEPTIONS. good thing my frequent flyer preferences say vegetarian.). we had a "cab" ride with a crazy greek man who had the wife and i both sweating as he swerved back and forth in the lane, drove 20 mph below the speed limit, looked at his phone and checked his next itinerary. we didn't die, so it could've been worse.

the hotel is mucho swanky and apparently has one of the hottest bars in town. the whole bar is paneled with the wood of one redwood tree, and also has "digital" paintings on the wall. basically it's high def tvs showing video of people posing like they're in portrait paintings, so it looks like a painting except it blinks and occasionally swallows or turns its head. tres cool. we walked in looking like we'd been on a plane for 8 hours, while everyone else looked like they fell out of a magazine ad. off we went upstairs to freshen up, and down we came, ready to have a walk-off with the best of 'em. little did we know we were going to have to rumble just to get to the bar. (NOTE TO BAR-GOERS EVERYWHERE: you don't eat your lunch in the luby's line, so WHY THE CRAP DO YOU DRINK YOUR DRINK AT THE BAR?!?!?! get your drink and get the hell outta the way!) a few drinks, and a few smushed model toes later, we were ready to collapse into our fancy, well made bed.

friday morning we slept in and then headed out to the mission district to visit otsu, a vegan store we had heard about, and to see what other adventures we could have. the people at otsu told us we should head down valencia to a vegan restaurant called herbivore for lunch and to hit some of the cool shops along the way. knick knacks and clothes in hand, we headed on our way. the first shop we saw was paxton gate, a taxidermy/gardening shop. let's just say it was unique. there is a stuffed lion in the front window, a giraffe (from the shoulder up) greets you when you walk in, and there are all make and manner of almost creepy but somehow really cool pictures and stuffed animals and bugs on display. oh, and in the back there's a gardening shop. it's like a sex shop that also sells some office supplies. anyhow. we bought some souvenirs for friends and family, asked them where herbivore was, got menu recommendations (bbq seitan sandwiches and thai iced tea) and headed down the street. lunch at herbivore didn't disappoint. the seitan sandwiches were delicious, the seasoned potatoes (a fancy name for french fries) were cooked just right, the thai iced tea was delicious and it didn't cost us but $25. pre tip. with directions on how to get to the nearest bart station in hand, out the door we went to continue our adventure. little did i know it would take us to aquarius records, home to the conet project, as well as all other weird music and stuff. it's like the cbgb of records stores. you're gonna find a little bit of everything, and maybe more, there.

(saturday post stopping...monday posting beginning.)

the bart was easy enough to navigate and we soon found ourselves at the port of san francisco, ready to head down to pier 39 and the fisherman's wharf for some true tourist activities. we decided to walk to the pier after waiting for about 20 minutes for a cable car, watching all the skater and biker dudes doing tricks (i found out later why all of the wharf looked familiar. i'd "been there" while playing tony hawk pro skater 4. who says video games are bad for you?). the wharf was nice and touristy, we saw alcatraz (it's not nearly as far from the coast as you'd think), we saw the bay bridge, and we watched the sea lions for a little while. tourist bug satisfied, we caught a cab back to the hotel to get ready for the the baseball game.

fellas: one note about baseball games. the little lady might hate baseball (as is the case with the wife), but she likes seeing her name in lights! a birthday message, or any message for that matter, on the scoreboard goes a long way toward establishing you as the man of the hour. as for the game, steve traeschel (?) took a no hitter into the 6th for the mets, but gave up a single in the 6th and then (i think) a 2 run homer as we were walking out in the bottom of the 8th. i don't know who won, and frankly could care less. sbc park, by the way, is very nice and even has a "27" under the clock on the side of the stadium. gotta love it.

saturday we continued our "walking" tour of san francisco. it started, as all walking tours should, with a cab ride across the city to the cliff house, lunch at louis' diner, and then on to golden gate park to see the buffalo paddock, the japanese tea garden and the conservatory of flowers. the buffalo were okay, but we got stuck there for 45 minutes waiting for a shuttle that didn't come. they're not 45 minutes of excitement. the japanese tea garden was beautiful and serene. the conservatory of flowers had beautiful gardens outside, but the conservatory itself was closed. oh well, better luck next time.

instead of waiting for a bus outside the park, we decided to walk a few blocks across to the street that our hotel was on and then just take a "straight line" ride to our hotel. it was really cool to walk through neighborhoods and see the city like we lived there. we caught bus and it drove us through japantown (one of only a few in the country), past the legendary blues club boom boom room, and i think it even took us past the fillmore, but i can't be certain. moving on. we had dinner up the street at millenium, one of the highest rated vegan restaurants in the country. i don't care who you are, that's good eatin'. a lot of people have weird visions of vegan restaurants, so allow me to clarify: millennium is the restaurant attached to the savoy hotel. it's not like we ate dinner in some hippie's kitchen. we're talking some real gourmet shit here. we split fried polenta with lobster mushrooms and beans for a starter, i had the warm spinach salad with smoked tofu and pecans for a salad, jerk spiced tempeh for dinner, blackberry shortcake for dessert with a glass of local armagnac (like cognac, but it'll make your eyes water). the wife had a raw salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and radishes (can't remember the name of the dish), polenta encrusted eggplant, and almond chocolate midnite for dessert with some type of chocolate coffee martini awesomeness. all of that and not even a hint of animal stuff! the afternoon of walking all over the park and the city, combined with 2 nites of mucho mojitos and scotch, combined with that nite's bottle of wine and after dinner drinks had us very very very sleepy, and sent us to bed at 11 pm local time, instead of the 2 am lights out we'd been doing.

that's more or less the trip in a nutshell (a large nutshell). we flew back in last nite to muggy, humid, rainy nashville and already wish we were back in sunny san francisco. now i'm at work wading through 30 voicemails and faxes, 100 emails, bosses and deadlines, and, and, and, and. all i can think is, "we came back why?"

we took arse loads of photos that i'll upload to snapfish or flicker or something later today, maybe during the lunch i shouldn't take but am heading out for anyway. as soon as i get them ready, i'll post the link here.

boston in two days. both coasts in one week!

oh, contest results are ready...gonna have to save them for tomorrow. can you bear the suspense!?!?!?!