At long last, the final leg of my long journey brought me back to the strange shores of, well, California. After Africa, Asia, and so on, landing in SF felt a bit surreal. On one level, I felt like I had experienced so much in such a short time, that I half-expected to find SF had changed dramatically as well. Of course that wasn’t the case, and it was funny how easy it was to just go with the flow again.
My week and a half was a blast – however, since SF isn't quite as exotic as, say, Nepal, and since I'm four months late finishing this @$! blog, I’ll just give the highlights. :)
8.15 Long, long overdue shower, then dinner and catchup with the folks.
8.16 Emily came over and we had my somewhat delayed birthday meal, with Dad giving a rare lesson in teaching Steve and I how to cook up the classic Hawkins hamburgers, followed by carmel cake pudding. Awesome as always. I tried my hand at bartending, with a new recipe I found for a gin-based manhattan. Strong, smooth, and dangerous and helped us to a slightly raucous cocktail hour in the living room.
8.17 Boring logistics day of heading to the DMV. Steve gave me a ride though and I took him to breakfast at one of Dads favorite Petaluma spot. Then, a bit of stocking up at Target – England’s great, but you just cant find Hot Tameles in the UK!
8.18 We had another Hawkins golf outing under the redwoods at Northwood, in the brilliant sunshine. Somewhat less brilliant were our golf scores, but that was all forgotten with the restaurant's classic southern chicken sandwiches and beers with Dad.
8.19 Emily and I had a day trip to SF, which was a blast. We started with a bike ride along the bay, then over the Golden Gate Bridge, followed down to Sausalito for my favorite lunch spot and their famous fish tacos. Using her feminine wiles, Emily was even able to finagle the recipe ingredients from the waiter - sneaky!
Then we caught the ferry back, and cycled to PacBell park, then up to the Mission for more of a wander, before rolling back to North Beach for a great Italian dinner at Café DeLucchi with some amazing food.
8.20 This was a day all about Memory Lane - Dad and I had a great driving trip through his old haunts in San Rafael, then out to Berkeley, where we headed up to a viewpoint near Lawrence Livermore with a gorgeous view of the Bay:
…then cruised through campus and fraternity row. It was a good time – just swapping stories of our Cal experiences, and over lunch at the classic grill the Smokehouse, we both agreed that the odds of Cal winning a Rose Bowl for the first time since the 50’s any time soon were grim.
8.21 Mom and I had a good day out in SF – checking out the amazing new Academy of Science museum in SF, complete with a rooftop energy saving garden:
…and a fantastic 3D movie about the comic/tragic life cycle of a butterfly.
A gander from the new De Young Museum’s observation deck was next, then we headed down to the Mission to show Mom around an area that charitably can be called multi-cultural and vibrant. Mom’s verdict? It was a bit too dirty and noisy for her, so we can headed out – exploring Bernal Heights and Diamond Peak. Dinner was another new experience for her, as we tried a good Vietnamese pho restaurant in the Castro, before heading home, tired, full, and happy!
8.22: My last weekend was fun, doing those critical "only in the US" types of things - eating at Taco Bell, hitting up REI, and so on. I had a great catch up with my second set of parents, the Brokaws, and then Farkas and Korren threw a "Mike's back in town" gathering - it was great catching up with a bunch of the high school guys.
8.23: A great last full day - I caught a ride to SF with my dad, and we cruised around the Presidio a bit, before getting dropped off at my friend Ben's flat. After that, the day was spent doing some world class 'faffing - walking down to the Marina, up through Fillmore where I came across a fantastic street funk band...
...and then my favorite sushi with Kate, Melody, and a bunch of friends at the inimitable Sushi Bistro! Perfect.
8.24 At long last, it was time to head back to London… I headed to SF, and had a good chat with my new boss at Monster, then a catchup with my former boss from Tickle. A last does of good Mexican food, then it was time to fly back to London. On the plus side? Friends, bitter ale, and actually earning instead of spending money.
The downside? A quick look at the forecast showed that London was bound and determined to welcome me back to a UK ‘summer’ – dark grey clouds and lots and lots of rain. Welcome home indeed - now time for a pint.
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