And now for the closing of my California trip travelogue:
A late night of Sushi and sake did not prevent an early morning on Sunday – we were up and ambitious as we had a big day ahead of us. I had been told in advance that I was going to ‘get the opportunity’ to join my sister and Chris for "Lindy in the Park" which apparently happens every Sunday in Golden Gate Park. They’ve been involved with Lindy Hop classes for some months now andit seems they’re really getting into the scene. It’s really pretty cool. Golden Gate Park is a wonderful urban park and the beautiful weather of a Sunday morning meant the park was busy: people biking, walking, running, skating, picnicking, singing, panhandling, playing. It was a busy Sunday at the park and that was really cool – I love seeing people out and about.
So… Lindy in the Park. For 30 minutes, I got to take public lessons swing dancing with about 100 new friends. It’s really amazing – people just show up and start taking a lesson. As Leah put it so succinctly, it’s the way that the dance teachers drum up new audiences – get ’em started for free – if they like it, they’ll come to the classes. It’s amazing how skilled some of the people were there – I really enjoyed watching them and their complicated dance routines -I was also amazed at how a skilled leading partner could guide the couple in their routine – it was almost as though the subtle communication between partners was enough to inform the other of what was coming next. Any good Sunday-in-the-park always involves a lot of walking and walk we did. We wandered around a neat little lake and through different events that were going on that particular Sunday – art work, statuaries, gardens, paths, bleh. Lots of stuff 🙂
Another plan for the day was to visit the botanical conservatory – a special exhibit on edible plants was the reason we went, but there were so many other wonderful and interesting plants that we spent 2/3rds of our time in the greenhouses checking out the well-maintained variety. A tropical area, with at least 90 degree temperature and super high humidity was filled with an impressive selection of carnivorous plants, including some 8-10 different types of pitcher plants, among others. It was unbelievably hot and uncomfortable in there (reminds me of our trip to Playa Del Carmen last year!) but the diversity of plants made enduring it more than worth it. We considered trying to take a picture with Leah’s camera, but humidity was so high that all it did was fog up and get dripping wet. Hee.
Following this, we were hungry again (view, eat, walk, repeat) and decided to take trip to a local café which Chris was familiar with – cappuccinos and lattes matched with a some special baked treats (have you recognized a pattern yet?) and sitting out in the warm sun, soaking it in. Probably the closest I’ve done to sun bathing in a year or more. We took a long walk back though the park and spent a little while in the afternoon hanging out back at their place, knowing we had a birthday party to attend in the early evening.
One of Leah’s colleagues-at-SFSU (not in her department, but a friend)’s husband, also a friend of Leah and Chris’, was hosting a birthday event at his place that evening and we were to be in attendance. It was a nice party and was a great opportunity to talk with a bunch of new people. One of the themes of this particular party was the Birthday Boy’s interest in photographing his guests (he’s quite the photography fan). He set up an impromptu outdoor studio with backdrop and synched flashes and we each got to go up and model for the camera. It was fun to do, but got sillier and sillier as people in the party had had more to drink and, by late in the evening, it was quite the opportunity for people to express and be coaxed into their wild sides. Really.. what a creative idea for a party – and seriously if you’re the birthday boy, shouldn’t you get to make your guests do humiliating things? Though, to be fair, I make my guests do humiliating things even when it’s not my birthday… or anyone’s birthday, really.
The last day of my stay in San-Fran (I will take this opportunity to reiterate a favorite mantra: I absolutely hate city abbreviations and am generally not a fan of any abbreviations where they are optional – so… I said that for effect, I suppose) was pretty quiet. Leah and I spent a little while in Japan-town and walked around the Japanese-themed mall and restaurants and stores. It’s kinda touristy Japanese, but it’s also really Japanesey – a lot of the writing is in Japanese and there are many stores that definitely are catering to Japanese consumers. It was really a good backdrop for her and I sharing some additional discussion and made for nice scenery, me being the Japan-o-phile that I am.
Just before they dropped me off at the airport, we met Chris and stopped for a quick bite in The Haight (Haight-Ashbury District), where we ended up a great little taqueria. I was very glad to have half a burrito for when I got home to Seattle – I knew I had a long trip ahead. Plane flight went well and the bus went well enough (there was one scary moment where I was instructed to go the wrong direction to the bus stop and the bus passed me on its way to the stop, but I booked it and was able to make it to the bus (I mean really booked it – I regularly run, but I was positively panting from the extreme exertion that was necessary to run 1200 ft while rolling my suitcase and hoisting bags (about 80lbs total) in a way where it wouldn’t lose balance).
Now you’ve heard the story. Hopefully more stories to come!
Incidentally, I just got done watching an episode of No Reservations (Anthony Bourdain’s travel/food show) which covered the Pacific Northwest. It was really neat to see a totally different side of where I’ve been living. I know there’s a wide variety of wonderful culinary delights here but really haven’t had the means or opportunity to explore it as much as I’d like. I don’t know where I’ll end up in my life or what I’ll be doing, but I do know that food and beverage will be a big part of whatever future that is – wonderful sensory experience that they provide: touch, taste, smell, sight, even sound, all.
I posted a little album including a few pictures from our Friday hike. Also, a new album of pictures I took today while walking outside along Lake Washington in Magnusson Park.
Phlargo's Dodgey Meanderings 