Travel Log

SF day five

Walked to the BART at 10:30 am for what turned into a 2-hour BART and CALTRAIN trek to visity Kitty in Menlo Park. I was on the wrong side of the tracks in Millbrae, the changeover stop, and had to wait an extra 1/2 hour. Turned out okay because Kitty was running late from her skating date. I walked to her house and was happy to see little Sean full of smiley cheer after having just been fed by mama. We drove in their spanking new Sienna minivan to P.F. Chang's for lunch and then walked around the Palo Alto mall as Kitty hunted for a black turtleneck. After a successful shopping run, we went back to her house and I took a lot of pictures of Sean. Unfortunately, none of them were quite as good as the ones I took on my first visit. Lisa stopped by to say hello on her way from teaching to yoga in the city. After that, Kitty graciously drove me back up to Oakland to grab my suitcase and go to the airport.

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SF day four

Set out to Lindy in the Park this morning via Bus Number 5. Got off the bus at 8th Street and walked to the dancing. My legs were done with dancing by that point so I only went to say good-bye to my Chicago friends. I was able to take some photos of Tom and Gimi before they headed to the airport. I sat on the benches with the other non-dancing lindy hoppers for awhile then headed to Crepevine for lunch with Brian, Jason, Lisa, Sarah, Chris, Cianna, Troy and Dave. After saying good-bye to the rest of the Chicagoans, I strolled around the Irving Street shops and then walked back through the park and through Haight Street all the way to Jeff's house. I stopped in a few stores including the bookstore that Heather used to frequent and the store where I bought my Soul Cards five years ago. Jeff and Henry returned to the house with their large Christmas tree, and I watched them stand it up in front of the windows before Jeff drove me to the Civic Center BART. Christina picked me up in Oakland and we drove around Lake Merritt. Afterward, we went for drinks and appetizers at the Paragon inside the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley.

Photos from the weekend

SF day three

Jeff and Bodhi made tasty apple pancakes for our breakfast at noon. We also had black currant tea with soy milk and honey. Yum! I knocked out for three hours more sleep afterward. I woke up just in time to hop in the car with Jeff and Jen to go Christmas shopping in the Castro. Found a couple of things to buy at a bookstore there. We dropped Jen off in Union Square because we didn't find a watch store in the Castro. Afterward, just as it started pouring, Jeff and I went to Hayes Valley to check out the shops. We stopped in at Fritz Fries for a snack which turned into dinner. Another delicious crepe and another restaurant to add to my favorites list. We called around to see what everyone else was doing before the Doghouse but no one really had plans so we decided to chill back at his house. We put in one of the DVDs with extras from the LOTR- The Two Towers. I am so in awe of Viggo Mortenson as a person not just as Aragorn now. Unbeknownst to us, the clock had advanced quite a bit while we watched the DVD and it was after 9:30 pm when we headed over to the Doghouse.

In addition to the CHI/SF 5-yr reunion it was also the Doghouse's 5-yr anniversary, and people came out to dance in full force. There was a live band (Stompy Jones) who I had a quite a number of good dances to upstairs and blues djs downstairs. Very humid, moist and crowded upstairs and more roomy and chill downstairs. I got in some great dances both up and downstairs thanks to Jeff, Tom, Elliott, Mark, Dave, Jeremy, Gimi and Ken. Afterward, Jeanine and I grabbed some grease from Burger King and then went to Asia SF for afterhours. We walked in and I spotted Dave wearing exactly what he wore 5 years ago (suspenders, white shirt, and newsboy cap) and I just started laughing. The nostalgia continued as Spencer played probably the exact same set he played 5 years ago. Who knew there could be such a thing as retro swing? It was great great fun.

Photos from the weekend

SF day two

Woke up at 9:30 am and walked to the bank from Jeff's house in the north panhandle. After refueling my wallet, I walked to Eddie's Cafe, a yummy soul food diner with incredibly good breakfasts. Stopped back at Jeff's to shower and figure out what to do with the rest of the day. I walked to Haight street to window shop at Ambiance. So many pretty dresses but so many not-so-cute prices. Jeanine and I grabbed lunch at Squat & Gobble, another creperie that looks just like all the others in S.F. and luckily tastes yummy too. We then embarked on a yarn shopping adventure, stopping at all the yarn stores in S.F. The first is called Atelier, which is on Divisadero not far from Jeff's house. The people there were nice but the organization was a bit difficult to follow. Next, we went to Greenwich Yarn in the Marina District. We liked this place because they had sale bins. I was set to buy a few skeins of blue and a couple of black when I discovered that I didn't have my ATM card. I had a sinking feeling that I'd left it in the Versateller at 9:30 am so, after sheepishly apologizing to the yarn lady, we drove back to the bank. It was after 5 pm by this time, but luckily BofA was still open, and even more luckily, they had my ATM card. Apparently tons of people do it and the machine just sucks them in and the bankers collect big stacks of them all the time. Decided that karma didn't want me to spend $50+ on yarn, so we didn't return to Greenwich Yarn but instead headed over to the Urban Knitting Studio in Hayes Valley. The yarn lady here was really helpful. She gave color suggestions and even wrote down a pattern for Jeanine. I decided to buy some Fuzzy yarn and some shiny yarn. We had one more stop after this, and it was Imagiknit in Noe Valley, the store where Jeanine usually stocks up. This store definitely had the best selection as well as better prices although I didn't buy anything else. Adventures in yarn hunting finished, we went back to Jeff's house in time to drive off for dinner. Jeff, Bodhi, Henry and I dined at Incanto, a really delicious italian-style-with-California-ingredients restaurant in Noe Valley. It was really satisfying. I was full but not stuffed (the best!) afterward and it was just the right amount to fuel my dancing for the rest of the night (til 5 am!) We picked up Anne and dropped off Henry then headed for Broadway Studios in North Beach. The dance floor was a tad sparse and none of the Chicago dancers who were to have arrived today were there so I was kinda disappointed. Jesse and Jeremy played fun sets so I did get in some good dances, which is always a bonus. After Broadway, we drove back to Jeff's, ever so conveniently located across the street from Dave's where the late-night dancing was taking place. I dropped off my stuff and headed over and happily greeted Tom, my old-school-swing-2-and lindy-1 friend. We hadn't danced together in over two years, when I left Chi-town, so it was great to see him again. Jason, another Chicago dance buddy was there as well as Chris Yee, my very first swing instructor. And, just as I had predicted, the Chicagoans were gettin' their drinks on in full force. I had a bunch of great dances tonight and finally headed back to Jeff's at 5 am.

Photos from the weekend

SF day one

Flew up to Oakland after work and took the BART into the city. My friend Jeff and his girlfriend Bodhi picked me up and we went to the 9:20 Special for the kickoff of the Chicago/SF 5-year Lindy Reunion weekend.

Photos from the weekend