After a slow start and some car re-organization, we cruised the Santa Cruz boardwalk, rode the ferris wheel and split. We had a lunch date on the Yahoo! campus. Chris graciously let us partake in the lunch time chaos of Yahoo!. They give employees free meals and there was a farmer's market going on (as well as soccer and pool games). Clare said they should put in dorms, but Chris didn't seem too keen on that idea. I enjoyed my Indian dish and we were soon on our way to the "granny flat" just outside of Oakland. I wandered up Adeline toward Berkeley while Clare napped in our airbnb accommodations. We had dinner at Build, a fine pizza place that reminded us of Vapiano's (only better). I enjoyed an Organic Chocolate Stout from a local brewery. We walked the streets a bit, shared one shake with two straws at Burger Meister. Clare did not die from cuteness. Tonight, we shower. Tomorrow, San Francisco.
8/23- Clare greeted the morning with the battle cry, "Wake Up, San Francisco!" I asked her what had gotten into her and she informed me that our coming day was inspired by the hit TV show Full House. We considered trying to speak all day long in Full House catch phrases, but a la Joey Gladstone decided to "cut. it. out." instead. We took BART to MUNI, to a street car (not named Desire) to Fisherman's Wharf where we met traveling companion Bri and rented bikes. Clare wanted to ride an orange Public brand bike, so Bri and I rented a tandem.
The first hill proved a challenge as our chain came off three times. Fortunately, from there it was relatively smooth sailing. We headed toward the Golden Gate Bridge with hundreds of others. We stopped briefly and considered spending an hour bouncing on trampolines. Instead, we bounced on to the bridge with the masses. It was a little tight in places, but Bri and I managed to keep our balance and remain injury free. We zipped past Clare on the downhill into Sausalito.
A street performer offered us a spoken word poem about bikes if we'd give him three bicycle-related words. Bri chose chains and spoke and I chose velodrome. This seemed to cause some problem. To see how much, please refer to Bri's recording. We ate lunch at the least crowded joint, the Bridgeway Cafe and had a passable lunch. It's still the only complete meal disappointment to date. We also learned a valuable lesson about crowds and restaurants.
Clare and Bri took the ferry back to San Fran and I biked the orange bike back across the bridge and through the Presidio neighborhood (by mistake). After bikes, we walked up Lombard street and caught a cable car. (Note: I like how this sounds so simple and not at all like we waited 45 minutes in a line for a cable car that wasn't too crowded to ride.) I once again got to stand on the outside hanging on and was thrilled by what Clare is calling "the slowest roller coaster." There's something pretty special about hanging out of public transportation up and down the hills of San Francisco.
Turning to street car, we navigated our way to an ice cream shop called Smitten where the ice cream is made on the spot using a fancy machine called Brrr (not that fancy a name) that uses liquid nitrogen. The theory is that the extra cold and the lack of storage result in a creamier ice cream. It was good stuff, but not life-changing (or even my favorite on the trip). Clare and I power-walked up the hill to see the "painted ladies" houses at Alamo Square from the opening credits of Full House (and many other SF establishing shots). We then hurried to Oakland to meet Susan (of Hello. Susan. FARC/FIG fame). We crammed into a table (much to Susan's dismay) at a favorite Burmese restaurant of Susan's Burma Superstar. The food was top-notch (we were back on track). We all caught up on the last 11 (or 6) years and some of those items not on Facebook. After dinner Susan took us to the Pub in Albany. She promised a great relaxing place that almost felt like a neighbor's home. The Pub delivered. I'm extremely grateful to catch up with old friends and I can't even explain the joy I feel after the experience.
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