Travel Log

indy part 2

woke up at 7 am (5 am cali time) and walked a few blocks for breakfast at LePeep (a midwest favorite of mine). After breakfast I entrusted the rest of the day to the neverlost in my rental car and the maps that j.r. had put together for me last friday. was turned around a few times but never got completely off track. stopped for lunch at panera bread to pick up a fandango salad and an I.C. Honeydew Green Tea (mmmmmm....) perfectly refreshing for the humid indiana weather. After snapping 420 photos on my camera plus a handful more on the one from work, I returned to the airport to learn my first flight was delayed. when we touched down in denver i had to be re-routed to a later connection. finally arrived back in o.c. at 10:30 pm sans luggage. apparently my bag wasn't even scanned in indianapolis. so it's sitting there. with all my toiletries, cables, camera and ipod battery chargers, etc.

indy part 1

flew out from john wayne at 11:40 am. was comatose on the leg to denver. probably exerted too much effort heaving my light blue rollie into the overhead bin. had about 10 minutes to race down the corridor to my connecting flight to indianapolis. arrived at 7 pm and hopped into my red altima complete with neverlost. checked into my downtown hotel and drove over to the circle centre. had a lovely, solo italian dinner of petto di pollo con asparagi with a raspberry bellini at bertolino's restaurant. went back to my hotel, caught up with heather for an hour via cellphone, jogged a couple of miles on the treadmill and turned in for the night.

hangin' in the mission

woke up at noon. claudine took me to brunch at Boogaloo's on 22nd and Valencia. i had a delish tofu scramble with pesto. just as we were finishing up, lisa showed up. the three of us sauntered through the eclectic shops on Valencia, some of whose business cards are above. my favorite discovery was the store at 826 VALENCIA. Go there sometime and you will see why.

Afterwards, Claudine and I headed to Dolores Park to meet up with her capoeira buddies. It was incredibly, Chicago-ish windy so I tried to hide from the high-velocity weather by lying flat on the grass with her friend's leather jacket wrapped around me while they put together an impromptu roda.

we headed back to her apartment in the sunset and I crashed for a two-hour nap while she did laundry. then we headed over to Godzilla Sushi to meet up with Brian. I had a unagi bowl. we had a great time drinkin' sake and watching claudine's uni take on a life of its own right before our eyes.

a great end to another wonderful bay area visit.

osdf part2

wandered up irving street to crepevine to grab some breakfast before heading back to oakland for the day. picked up some fruit, water and a powerbar at one of the produce stores. crossed the bay bridge around 10 am and got to steven and virginie's first lindy class about 20 minutes late. was too wiped out from all the previous evening's dances to attempt elliott and catrine's "balls to the wall" fast lindy class so i opted for the beginning tap class instead. had fun with it and didn't have sweat dripping down from my nose to my socks like all the balls to the wall students i saw afterward did. i headed over to lake merritt to nap in the sun when i was stopped on the street by jeremy, heide, leland and kristen who drove by and asked if i wanted to join them for lunch. i hopped in heide's backseat and we headed over to Pho 84 on 17th and Webster. Yummy yummy vietnamese food. I had the claypot special and a mango shake. After lunch, we got back to the Dance Center and met Miss Jazz, Jesse and Erin's new chihuahua mix who's super cute. Paul called everyone inside for the panel discussion with Dawn Hampton, Snooky Young and Barbara Morrison. There stories were so riveting and Barbara's tears had me all choked up. Afterward, I took Eric Fenn's hip hop class and Homer's tango class.

Drove back to Claudine's to take a 2-hour nap before the big dance. Woke up in an exhausted fog, threw on my new wide-leg blinding white pants and headed back to Oakland. Walked to the 2nd floor of Sweet's to deposit my bag and change my shoes when I saw Claudine and Jeanine for the first time this weekend. Always so good to see my s.f. buddies. Danced the night away til 5:20 am, dropped Jeff off at Bohdi's place in the mission and finally turned in myself around 6:30 am.

osdf part 1

flew to oakland from long beach at 7:40 pm. hopped into my blazin' red monte carlo rental car and drove to Sweet's Ballroom. Got in some fantastic, haven't-lindied-in-six-months dances with most of my favorite s.f. leaders. left the dance at 1:30 am and drove to s.f. to crash at Claudine's apartment.