West Coast update!
Off to san francisco we go!
We contemplated taking the PCH (pacific coastal highway), but that is like a 11 hour trip versus a 5 hour trip. Yes it is mad scenic, but we actually wanted time in san fran so we opted for the highway...which was still very scenic. California is a beautiful state to drive in. Or ride in the back seat in snoozing a bit. Lots of windmills. The trip in was almost completely uneventful, the ride into san francisco very exciting. I say almost because will found a $50 at a gas station on the way in. So we concocted the most elaborate and long and boring story we could leading up to it just so he could cap it with "And then I found $50." Except that it would be true instead of just a poorly told story.
We enter across the Bay Bridge, which is effin large in its own right. We drive down Market Street for a while being confused by the fact that you can never ever seem to be able to turn left, which is where we wanted to go. At least, that's where the street seemed to start going UP rather than stay flat and their appeared to be cool shops...*shrug*. There were a number of suggestions on what to do first, but eventually we settled on wandering around china town. When finally parked in said china town, no one seemed to think it was the best idea and that everyone else had wanted to do it. I was just riding along apathetic to our destination, but hey any excuse to stretch my legs and I will jump on it, though I think the blame eventually settled on Melissa.
Having already entered the parking deck, we weren't about to leave just yet so we made the best of it and set to wandering. We were parked sort of under a public park where there were tons of old chinese guys playing Mah Jong...keen! China town was actually pretty cool, but kind of smelly in parts... especially the market areas. I wanted to get some dumplings to snack on, but was outvoted as the others decided we'd eat dinner at the pier on our next stop. We flitted from shop to shop for a few blocks being ultra-touristy and even purchasing a few things. There was also a funny old man on a pedestal at a street corner yelling "Happy Happy" with a large sign saying all kinds of crazy things about how bad America is. We liked him. With china town conquered, our next stop was to be Fisherman's Wharf for a bit more touristy excitement and some expensive ass seafood.
Before eating (my poor tummy!) we decided to wander the strip a bit and check out all the shops along Pier 41. Will picked up some cheap souvenir shirts, JR was disappointed with the GAP there (he had a coupon that expired that day), and Melissa...well, she had her own adventure. We were walking past all of the typical tourist-trap shops with trinkets and t-shirts and we pass by this really upscale looking sculpture shop. Standing along the far wall in this shop are five statues of little rhythmic gymnasts doing various exercises. She immediately flips out and squeals and goes running into the shop...causing great alarm on the face of the man in a suit behind the register. Melissa was making exclamations of how cool the statues were and touching them and being very excited when the salesman wandered over. At this point, Will and JR vacate and I have a very bad feeling...the guy asked us if he could help us. Melissa's response, which will haunt her for the rest of her days..."Are you the sculptor?" followed by a tirade of "I've never seen such cool statues" and "Rhythmic gymnastics is such an obscure sport!" comments. I drag her out of the store after the guy agrees to let her snap a picture and Will, JR, and myself proceed to taunt her mercilessly for the rest of the evening about it. It sounds kind of lame in print, but it was freakin' hilarious to see happen (and a bit awkward). We continue shopping for a bit and then go in search of Alcatraz information. We decided that we've missed the late ferry, so we'll come back early in the morning for the 9:30 trip. We wander the pier and check out a ton of menus, stop to stare at some sea lions, and then decide that surely it is dinner time.
The restauraunt we eventually settle on (there were about 10) is a fancy-pants place that seats us almost immediately...and then from there the service is just awful. They eventually bring us some rolls with the consistency of rocks and get our orders in, but our waiter is obnoxious and pompous and not doing that good of a job. Melissa and I split a clam chowder soup bread bowl while JR and Will split a macaroni bread bowl for appetizers, then we get some real food...which was okay but not super. The bill is like $100, but will throws on the $50 he found at the gas station and we feel glad to get out of there. Dinner was so slow it took about 2.5 hours, so once we exit the restauraunt we head straight for the car to try to make it to our KOA campground north of San Francisco. It takes us a little while to find how to get out of the city, but that's actually better than okay because it was hella fun driving UP and DOWN the street. Like literally, 45+ degree angles of incline. The houses were also very beautiful, and the whole city kind of gave off a warm feeling. When we do make it to the golden gate bridge, it's dark and very foggy so we don't get to see much of it...but it is still very cool. The cables you get glimpses of driving underneath it are colossal to say the least.
It is our firm intention to get to the KOA and sit around drinking, but by the time we actually make it there we're all falling asleep so we just pitch the tent and crash. JR managed to forget my extra blanket when packing up in LA (despite explicit instructions to the contrary) so we were a bit chilly. Apparently the bay area gets COLD at night. Will slept outside in his mummy bag and was toasty, but JR, Melissa, and myself were sharing one blanket. Melissa also has a tendency of being a blanket hog, so there were many chilly wake-ups that night. I was in the middle, JR on one side and Melissa on the other. Their constant blanket tug-of-war often had the blanket lifted up so I got very little heat from it. Melissa also kept trying to burrow into my side it seemed, a la Luke and his mount in The Empire Strikes Back.
As a sidebar, I will say this about me when I first wake up, I have absolutely zero sense of left and right. I may have gone to sleep snuggling with Melissa for a little extra body heat, woken up at one point looking up, and then started spooning JR. Being half-asleep, it made sense at the time. Meh, he was warmer than Melissa any way.
We wake up early feeling not all that rested and head back into town to try to catch the ferry to Alcatraz. We actually quasi-know our way around by this point so it takes us almost no time to get parked and in line...only to find out that you need to make reservations for Alcatraz like a week in advance or else they will all be sold out. Disgruntled, we go take pictures from afar and then move on. Will recommends we head to Haight-Ashbury, the hippy part of town, so we head off once more into unexplored areas. There is a great deal of being lost, but not really minding because San Francisco is a really fun town to drive around in, before we finally arrive where we want to be and get parked (parallel parked I might add, impressive if you're me). This part of town is also pleasing to wander about so we check several stores out and eventually eat lunch in a cafe/coffee shop. We feasted upon excellent greek omelets and avocado sandwiches before heading once more into the breach, recharged and burping.
Back to shopping we went, hitting a few more interesting shops. JR buys a neat-looking shirt from an Indian (india not cherokee) shop while Melissa looks for good beads. There's a very cool vintage store that I wander around for a while before being dragged away. We also all enter into a very unique shop where all of the clothes look terribly gaudy and silly and look at a few shirts before we realize that every piece of dayglow random clothing in the place is like $100+. Laughing and leaving never combined so well into one endeavor. Our last two stops are Amoeba Music, which was sweet as hell, and an organic grocery store. I actually was looking for the Murder By Death cd in Athens before we left to listen to on the trip, but couldn't find it downtown. There was one used copy remaining in Amoeba in the miscellaneous M category. Feeling pleased, I also picked up Picaresque as well (though I was confident that all travel-mates would shoot it down on listening...which later proved correct). They a record of The Hobbit for like $10 that tempted me greatly, but as I do not yet have a functioning amplifier for my record player, it would have been a moot point. I snagged a souvenir t-shirt at the register and back to the car we headed...or at least, the grocery store next to the car. There we loaded up on some fine looking granola for breakfast and got some snacks for the road.
We really wanted to go to the large park right next to Haight-Ashbury that we'd seen from atop the hills of the city, but feeling pressed for time we headed out once more. It was time to head to Yosemite!
but wait, there's more?