A San Francisco Treat

I love San Francisco. I always tell people, San Francisco is HANDS DOWN the best city in California and it really isnt close. If San Francisco had San Diego's weather, there would literally be nowhere in America that could compete. For my east coasters who have never been, think Manhattan but turn it down just a notch. I wish I had more reason to visit this great city more often but as it stands, I only get out there like once a year.

So my reason for this visit was to see my good friend from Beantown, Ms. Carol Brady, and her good friend James Bond. Those may or may not be their actual names. We had a great time. Unfortunately, JB had to bail on us to meet another friend but me and Ms. Brady decided to mob around Golden Gate Park.



But first, the three of us had a FANTASTIC lunch at The Ferry Building. What a nice place...but its like a Farmer's Market inside. Kinda weird...but ok. Well, we sit down to lunch and first thing that happens is...the waittress comes by (seemingly nice lady from the Ukraine or such) and asks us what we want to drink. We ask her for water and tell her that we're ready to order. She says ok...and leaves. I couldnt help but laugh at that but this was only the beginning of the shenaniganism that would be our lunch.

There was some guy behind me & James, that was apparently fondling his lil foo-foo dog that he brought. You know, the lil dog that actually looks like a mop. Carol said it was all she could do to not laugh at this guy. Mad I missed it. However, the piece de resistance...the size of the lunch we had. I have a general rule I try to keep when I eat out...I never order what someone else is ordering. I broke that rule on Saturday. James and I had chicken empanadas. Let me tell you about these empanadas. These things were so small, I'm not sure they could have grown up to become empanadas after years of schooling. You could have given these things whatever the Incredible Hulk has, and they would have still been half a lunch. The presentation was nice tho. I've never had a snack presented to me so well...for $15. The fact that the water glass was about the size of a triple shot should've tipped us off.

Anyway, after a cab ride of death with Busta Rhymes, we get to Golden Gate Park. Carol Brady and I spent a decent chunk of time wandering around the park and we encountered some events. I think first was the lady who was chilling on the grass...while doing the splits. I mean...I'm talking gymnastics-like splits...no cheating. And...she isnt even stretching or anything...just chilling in the grass. We...*cough* I...was tempted to ask but really, sometimes you dont wanna know. We headed towards this...I dunno...conservatory (I think) of flowers in, I guess, an effort to beautify our existence. $5 entry fee says, maybe next time. We leave and I notice patches of grass and, my being dumb, I dont know that its for planters and such. It looks to me like they're setting up for burials. Except for the large round patch. I wont even speculate who THAT would be for. But I know a guy.



While mobbing around, we went to the Japanese Tea Garden and I learned what a Pagoda is, as well as how Snapple makes that tasty white tea. Baby tea leaves!! We then watched Mos Def perform in the park. Mos Def live performances are a crapshoot b/c he's not guaranteed to play his bigger hits. We stayed for like 30 mins then left...unfortunately, EVERYBODY left with us and we wound up chasing a bus down with a gang of college students. Literally. Then, the bus driver stops, yells something about not leaving for a while, then proceeds to sit down towards the back seat and take a phone call. There's like 50 college students sitting there looking at this jackass talk on the phone. What a dope. The kicker, for me, was that he yelled at everyone in some type of ghetto-ese that even I barely understood. I cant stand when grown people speak like teenagers. 40 y/o guy talking like a damn fool. That annoyed me more than his keep everyone outside stunt. We decided to take a cab. As we're leaving, some college kid says that the bus driver is gonna have bad karma come to him. Had to laugh at that being that this kid is about to get on the bus with the clown. Whatever bad karma he has MIGHT affect you if you're riding with him.

At the end of the day, we had drinks at The View in the Marriott.



*sigh* Not THAT The View....this one.



They had all the lights out...I'm guessing so you could see the incredible view afforded you by being on the 39th floor. It was a cool place. We followed that up by going to a Thai place called E+O something over by Union Square. Great food...and we were starving from our lunchtime snack.



Since I was wearing shorts, I was kinda cold so I was trying to hurry home on the freeway. Five-O got me. My first ticket in 7 years. 88 in a 65 mph zone. Looks like a fine and traffic school are in my future. Damn. Well...whatever. Easily worth getting to see great friends in a great city.