This weekend we went to Target; it’s been about six months since our last visit, which was in Texas. It was kind of a big deal, since we don’t have a car and there’s no Target in San Francisco, and renting a car to go to Target sort of screws with that big discount feeling you want to get when you shop there. So, we took a lovely walk to Glen Park, boarded the BART to the San Bruno station, and visited the Shops at Tanforan.
Tanforan was once a famous racetrack where Seabiscuit was stabled for a while — I read there was a statue of Seabiscuit somewhere, but I didn’t see it — and was later a WWII Japanese internment camp (no statue for that). Now it’s a down-market mall with a Target as the anchor, just inches away from a BART station. It’s also the home of a BJ’s Brewhouse restaurant, which is like a chain microbrewery restaurant, if such a thing can exist. I had a very nice beer and a bowl of chili there, and I think our experience was significantly better than if we had dined at the food court.
Since we’d gone to all the trouble to go south for Target, we decided we’d also check out the Daly City Century Theaters, so we boarded BART again and headed north. The Daly City stop has an underground pedestrian tunnel that leads to small BART parking lot near the theater garage, so it’s a pretty straight shot to the theater on foot. We saw The Other Boleyn Girl. All in all, it was a trouble-free car-free day of suburban exploration.
On Sunday night, went to the Meatpaper #3 launch party. I ate the marrow out of a roasted buffalo bone, along with other meaty treats. Funny, we got a car and drove to that event.
Last weekend my mom was in town for a visit, and it was great. We headed out to the Año Nuevo Reserve and saw the huge and sluggish elephant seals, saw Last Picture Show at the Castro, did a hike at Land’s End, visited the Legion of Honor, and we even went to AsiaSF (more on that later). Luckily, we got in a lot of sightseeing and fun before Sunday night when I came down with the flu. (Lots of pre-flu pictures here.)
Now, back to AsiaSF … there’s a place we probably won’t be returning. Nothing terrible happened, the show was fine, but the service was, well, sort of bizarre. The food was surprisingly good when it came; everything we had was excellent. But it seemed to be served in the order it was prepared, and in huge batches. So, if you ordered crab cakes, you got your crab cakes when everybody else in the place who ordered crab cakes got their crab cakes. It didn’t really matter to them if the side of bok choy you ordered to go with the crab cakes got to you more than an hour (no, really) before the crab cakes arrived. I’m sure most people don’t go here for the food, but we had to eat, we were hungry. The shows happen right at dinnertime! Maybe I’m just to old and set in my ways for this sort of thing, but next time I’ll probably try to go and see gender illusionists at another venue, and eat a good meal beforehand.
As far as this weekend goes, K. is out of town and I’m still sick (this flu is hard to kick.) I’ve stuck pretty close to home, although I’ve managed to take some slow walks with the dogs, which is good because Tex is under the weather as well (ick). I installed Windows on my Mac so I could watch Netflix instant movies on my laptop, and I’ve done some chores related to the organization of my digital music collection, which is something nobody cares about but me, so it’s a fine thing to do when I’ve got the house to myself. If you want to see a my digital music inventory, click here. I also watched a movie I love that I feel like nobody else likes as much as I do. And I still love it, just like I thought I would.
So, as of January 11, we have lived in San Francisco for one year. Notice that I’ve changed the blog title.
This weekend we went out and stayed at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse hostel, which has a terrific hot tub overlooking the ocean. You can hear the surf and the stars and moon were bright enough to see the waves crest, and, of course, the beam of the lighthouse would pass over. Pretty amazing.
On Saturday we went to Santa Cruz and watched a bunch of sea lions on the wharf. There were certainly more than 100 hanging out that afternoon, and they reminded me of Haylee and Tex. See for yourself:
On the spur of the moment, K. and I took a trip during our Thanksgiving break to Costanoa, what we’re calling a “fancy camping” resort, about half an hour south of Half Moon Bay on Highway 1. We drove in Saturday afternoon, stayed Saturday and Sunday nights, and then got up seriously early on Monday to get back to work. This was a really spontaneous trip, much more spontaneity than I can usually manage; it was all K.’s idea. Thanks to C. for making it possible by watching the hounds at the last minute.
We stayed in a “Cypress Village” tent cabin, which was very cute. It wasn’t heated, which meant that it was about the same temperature inside the cabin as it was outside, and it wasn’t a particularly warm weekend, with lows hovering around 40 degrees. However, in our queen-sized bed with the heated mattress pad, things were warm and toasty. And we didn’t need a refrigerator to chill our white wine to the proper drinking temperature. (A tip: Turn on your heated mattress pad early and tuck your PJs under the covers for awhile, so they’ll be nice and warm when you’re ready to change into them.)
There’s no indoor plumbing in any of their cabins, but they do have nice comfort stations, which have heated showers, saunas and a fireplace in the middle. It seems a little strange to bring a bottle of wine to fireplace nestled between two bathrooms, but it’s actually quite pleasant. There was a hot tub that we took advantage of, and another nice fireplace outside the lodge with a great view.
We also had a great dinner on Sunday night at the Cascade restaurant at the resort, although the breakfast buffet there wasn’t stellar. On Saturday night we drove 10 miles into Pescadero and ate dinner at the local favorite Duarte’s (pronounced DOO-arts, apparently). Our Sunday lunch was also in Pescadero, at a gas station/taqueria, actually, and very tasty.
We took a couple of nice hikes right around Costanoa itself; there’s apparently some other good hiking areas close. There’s a lighthouse nearby with a hostel for lower-budget experiences; we may try to check that out soon as well. It’s also very close to elephant seal habitat, which we’ll visit on a later trip. We saw deer and even a bobcat (that’s a bobcat, right?) while we were exploring the resort. It felt very out of the way and remote.
So, I’m wondering if I’ve topped out at the best mileage I’ll get on my Fly. I guess I’ve expected it to be a little higher, but I’m not exactly disappointed. I’d like have amazing gas mileage, of course, to keep me from feeling guilty about driving a gas-powered vehicle at all, but I still feel pretty good.
I do know that having a scooter has given me a level of freedom in the city that I just wasn’t getting with busing, BARTing and biking, and now I’m completely addicted. On Saturday, for example, I went up to the Japanese Community Center on Sutter for a ukulele lesson. On public transit, that trip would have taken me 48 minutes. On my scooter, it took me less than 20.
K. and I completed California’s motorcycle safety class weekend before last. It’s the same as the Texas motorcycle safety class, except that it’s in California. Oh, and I didn’t crash. I’m scheduled to go get the M1 endorsement on my license, which will allow me to legally ride after sundown (nice), ride with a passenger (well, maybe after I get better at it), and ride on the freeway (no freakin’ way!). I think I’ll be able to opt for cheaper, better insurance coverage as well.
K. is now a scooter owner as well, although she hasn’t been able to ride her new scooter much, since she’s also still waiting on a license and insurance. She got a perfect score on her driving test during the safety class, kicking everyone’s butt, including mine. Soon she’ll be shortening her commute, which I think will be great for her.
Odometer at previous fill-up: 310
Odometer this fill-up: 389
Miles between fill-ups: 79
Gallons of gas put in tank: 1.647
Miles Per Gallon: 47.97
$$ spent: $4.81
Cost per mile: 6 cents
Last weekend we had a lovely hike at Point Reyes National Seashore. It was a fun and beautiful reminder that we live in California, and there’s a lot of amazing stuff to see out here. We’ve done a lot of traveling this summer, but now we have a few weeks in a row at home and we’re planning to make an effort to go full tilt back into our tourist mode, making sure to throw in some week-night cultural activities as well, not just waiting for the weekend.
Tomorrow my dad arrives for a nice long stay, and we’re looking forward to showing him the city (and it’s restaurants, of course). It’s supposed to be a sunny, beautiful weekend, and we have lots of things on our to-do list. I suspect there will be pictures taken.
So, my Fly is T.’s favorite color. No, no, he didn’t go riding on it — I’m a bit too risk averse for that sort of thing.
And, with that, it’s that time again — time for the scooter MPG report. And this time I’ve got good news; gas consumption is down. My mileage isn’t as good as what this guy claims he’s getting, but I’m happy to see it getting better nonetheless. Possible reasons for the up-tick? I did some long rides that weren’t commutes — less stop-and-go traffic equals better mileage, I assume. And, of course, I’m getting further into the break-in period for the engine.
The gritty details: My odometer read 232 when I pulled up to the pump, and I’d gone 78 miles since my last fill-up. I put in 1.53 gallons of gas at $3.619/gallon at the Valencia 76. That means I got a whopping 50.98 miles per gallon, up from 44.74 last fill-up. It also means I’m spending about $.07 a mile for gas.
That economy is good, because scooters do cost money. Today I paid $400 for the extended warranty (from 1 to 3 years), and K. and I have both signed up for the California motorcycle safety class at $235 each. And, of course, there’s the helmet, and the jackets, and the gloves … Still, all of this stuff together plus the scooter still hasn’t cost more than I got from the insurance company for my Volvo (R.I.P.).
This weekend, T., my LIttle Brother from Austin, came up and spent the weekend with us. We had 12-year-old energy carrying us through the weekend, and it was a hoot to see the city from his eyes. He took this picture himself; it’s a self-portrait with Swenson’s ice cream. He’s pretty good with a camera, and he took a lot of pictures! I just dropped him off at the airport a bit ago. I decided to take the afternoon off today, and it’s a good thing, too, because I could really use a nap!
We spent the Fourth of July in Half Moon Bay, mostly; we spent the night before at the San Benito House, to which I’m sure we’ll return. We got up the next morning and strolled around town, watched the parade, and had a lovely lunch at Pasta Moon — great salads there. Then we walked to the beach and enjoyed the ocean … with a lot of other people. It was packed, and quite festive! In the afternoon we headed back to town via Oakland afternoon where we stopped and enjoyed a backyard barbecue, then went home at a reaasonable hour so I could pack for my trip to Oklahoma tonight.
We could see the fireworks at Pier 39 from our back deck — we could also see lots of fireworks everywhere, people shooting them of in the streets and off roofs. Big Roman candles and that sort of thing. The explosions continued well after midnight, consistently. Luckily, our Sound Soother allowed me to sleep through it with no problems.
On Sunday we drove down to Santa Cruz and took the dogs, and they experienced the beach for the first time. Tex doesn’t seem to be as likely to run away as Haylee does, so we let him off the leash. He went nuts. I’ve never seen him as completely overwhelmed with joy as he was that day. He ran around at top speed, he chased after other dogs’ balls, he dived into the water, and, of course, he rolled around in piles of nasty-smelling fly-covered seaweed.
Haylee also had fun, even though she had to stay on the leash. It’s for the best, really — she’s an enthusiastic swimmer, but not a particularly good one, so it’s good to have a way to reel her in.
The day before we had gone to a picnic in Golden Gate Park, where everyone was dressed in their summer clothes. Spring has sprung, and the weekend was warm. During the day, at least. After nightfall, I still needed a scarf.
There are so many great places to eat here that we can't even get to them all. Now we've got a list of restaurants we want to try here to help us keep up with places that have been recommended or well reviewed, but that we haven't gotten a chance to try yet.
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