San Francisco Feels Good

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - As I was saying, I rolled into the city just as the sun set.

I got suckered into paying my first toll thus far... $5 just to go across the Golden Gate! And they don't tell you until it's too late. It informs you of the toll and immediately under says "No U-Turns/No Turnarounds." Ridiculous. But I guess $5 after getting about 3,000 miles under the belt isn't bad. I win.

The streets here are crazy. I haven't been here since living out here as a youngster. It's one thing to have a bunch of one-ways... I have plenty of experience with that. But you can't make any left turns anywhere. Well, almost anywhere. It makes things tricky.

I finally settled on a Safeway parking lot and made a few phone calls while I sat. Mostly leaving a message for my father who apparently was freaking out because he hadn't heard from me in a while and decided I must have driven off a cliff. I love ya, Dad (I know you're probably reading this), but I haven't lived at home in years and I've been doing okay. I'll be good.

I found a different place to park for a few hours and walked to a joint called BurgerMeister. And the name was well deserved. Fantastic burgers. I couldn't wait much longer to eat. This whole city smells like fantastic food. Too much for someone who had barely eaten that day. While in there, enjoying a Bacon Cheeseburger and some Roasted Garlic French Fries (recommended), I suddenly felt my stool being kicked. Not cool. I began to look around for the offender but couldn't find him (or her). And it kept happening. Then it dawned on me. "Earthquake." I had been in the city all of 45 minutes. But then I thought maybe I was a little crazy or my imagination was overactive because no one else seemed to notice.

It wasn't until later, while checking in at my hostel, that the guy running the place asked, "Dude! Did you feel the earthquake."

"Why, yes. Yes I did." I secretly felt grateful for not being crazy.

My dad called later in the night to tell me there was a 5.4 earthquake around Fremont, my old neighborhood.

I talked with Melissa today and decided it was my way of making an entrance into the city. I go to Seattle and it's suddenly sunny for the brief time I'm there. I go to San Fran and there's an earthquake. A grand entrance, if I do say so myself. California - You're welcome.

I had wandered the city for a little while, hoping to come across some WiFi because I didn't know how I was going to find a hostel otherwise. I did find a cafe and the first hostel I called was really friendly and helpful (Pacific Tradewinds if you're ever in the area). $26 a night. I'm staying through Monday morning for the time being. And I got put in the all-girls room. Not sure how. The guy in charge asked if I gave a big tip to the girl who was my cashier to get this arrangement. just lucky I guess.

I took a well deserved shower, gagged a little after smelling my clothes post-shower (and thought about just throwing them away), and ended up staying up quite a while to catch up with blogging. I was the last one to bed... people all went to bed pretty early here. I imagine tonight will be different.

Plenty of walking today. I'm about one block from Chinatown, so I walked around there for a while. I remember visiting it when I was a kid, but I remember it being a lot less rundown. Maybe it was just childhood innocence (or ignorance). And apparently, deer horns are hot stuff in East Side Chinatown. $1,500 for one pound! I really wanted to know why but felt a little awkward and embarrassed asking the clerk, so I left and just gave Tom a call. He looked it up and the stuff (whatever they're made of) has many uses... including incredibly long orgasms. So, $1,500 it is. Good luck, Chinatown.

I stopped in the Beat Museum for a little while and talked with the clerk there. We quickly discovered we were mutual Palahniuk fans, so plenty of conversation there. While on the topic of the Beat Generation, I needed to head down to my car so I could ship my video camera to Tom, and my car was relatively close to Haight-Ashbury. So, yes, I went. I think Kerouac and HST are great, what else did you expect?

Haight was actually pretty cool. I might go see it again if I have some time later this week. Lots of shops and probably a couple good places to eat.

I'm not sure exactly what's going on tonight. Apparently the Castro is the place to be for Halloween. I'll see where others are going tonight. If it's the Castro, let's hope I don't get shot.