So I had the opportunity to head to Nor-Cal as City mouse had a gig in Hawaii. Turns out it was SF beer week too.
I guess I had a distorted vision of Cali as all car crazy and the land of choppers. Must have been confused by all the So-Cal scene. I saw one low rider and few old beetles. Lots of new Beetles with men actually driving them. Not a chopper to be seen. Prius galore. Myth number one down.


Now all the pics you see of SF are of the painted ladies. The old multi colored Victorian houses. Row after row. Didn't make it to that district. Saw a couple in need of paint. Basically big wide streets with low square buildings. Myth number two down.


We stayed in Oakland. It's known as a gritty industrial town and Hells Angels enclave. Not an Angel to be seen. Industrial yes. So a 50/50 split on this one.


Our hosts lived in a very cool, industrial minimal apartment.

We did see the Oakland University where they teach you how to grow weed. There are 1700 medical marijuana stores in Cali. More than 7-Elevens.


It was a day of eating too. A killer breakfast. Then lunch at a Burmese place. We had these two salads. One was made with tea leaves. Anything will mango can't be bad either. I had a Widmers organic wheat. Nice light citrus flavor. Very good. The Rainbow salad was good too. Make them at home.

Our hosts were beer nerds too. So I'd scoped a couple of places in Oakland out. One was right down the street and a favorite. It was meet the brewers day. One had ridden his delivery bike there. I was representing Ommegang  with t shirt. Two girls came right up and said "Oh we've been there. Nice." Two of  my new friends. I got to have Pliny the Elder there. In Pixburg it was 22 dollars a bottle. Here 4.95. They were out of Pliny the Younger. but I made up for it with a Alaskan Triple X Black IPA.

So while our guest headed back to the house I stayed and had another beer and chatted with my new friends.
On the walk back I came upon these two sights. Glad I spell my name with a K. The other should get the message across.

The nest day we took the "Bart" into SF. Cyrus was a great tour guide. Of course I needed to see a few touristy things and we made the the trip to homo heaven. The Castro.
First we went to Fisherman's Wharf. The tulips in bloom were the highlight. You could see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge. Good luck getting off Alcatraz. Didn't make to the bridge and Mt Tam. But was good to see it. I think a cloud shaped like Gary Fischer drifted by.

Next we hiked up to Coit Tower for the views. Grandpa Vince wasn't to sure about the steps up to it.
The houses were very cool on the hillside. One for sale even had a sign with "Great Views" Hmm it faced the ocean. Glad they pointed this out  for me. I think it's Telegraph Hill they use in the Tour of California. That sucker was steep. We did see our share of "pixie fixies" with hipsters aboard. But like Portland, many are running freewheels and brakes, or a front brake with the brake lever in some stupid place, to show how clever they are and they don't really need it. Posers as they'd say.

Of course there are always those cool bar end variations around the city

After the tower we headed to Trappist,to stave off the beer cravings. Upon arrival it was closed. We were on a street with the cable cars. Pretty cool. We didn't do it. I checked my beer week guide and we headed off to 21st Amendment Brewing. I'd had the Back in Black IPA at home. Great place they were doing beer and brats out on the street too. Tried a sampler here. Monk's Blood was not on the menu. Maybe another time. In true brewpub tradition,great food.

Next we were headed to see the bears and I don't mean at the zoo. That would be tomorrow. Off to the Castro we went. We saw the storefront of Harvey Milks camera store. I thought that it still looked like the sixties here. Odd we saw a  straight couple having sex on the hood of their car and there was a club that had a line out the door of mixed sexes,with drunks spilling out and passing out on the street to cheers of the crowd. Ahhh youth. The Beck motel has been used in movies. Now that was more Cali looking to me. The bears were scarce but the bear flag flew high over the Castro.

Maybe you could have your nails and more done at the shop shown. Hey, Bingo had four such "shops" recently shut down for that.

Then we stopped for a coffee. Here's the motel across the street.

Then we hopped on an antique cable car. It was made in Italy. These were very cool and added to the "time warp" experience.

Back to Oakland and the eating continued.


Up next the Zoo. I kind of have the love hate thing with zoos. I love seeing the animals.especially the big cats. But then it's kind of sad for them too. I think the Toronto Zoo is one of the best. All natural environments and most of the animals seem pretty happy.
They did have polar bears here and tigers. The Lemurs were plentiful and fun. This rhino must have had a huge horn.

Then it was over to the Beach Chalet Brewing for lunch and a beer sampler. We took the B-U-S to get there. But our driver didn't speak English so we figured it out.

Again good beers and burgers. The garlic fries weren't worth the extra two bucks. Some olive oil and a dollop of chopped garlic dropped on them. It was nice to sit and see the ocean while beer tasting.

Another time warp. Where were the surfer dudes?

Then it was off to see Cyrus's rehearsal. Back on the B-U-S. He took us to the airport and we bid our good byes.
Thanks for the trip.
As for the flights as my friend Tillman says. "Time to spare, go by air". Need less to say we had delays etc.
Our highlight of the airport was the morning of departure. Here we are at the SF airport with a line of two hundred people to get through security. V checks his huge bag outside and we walk back into a guard saying. "I'm opening another gate,follow me". No problem, we were third through the gate.
Clean living.


Another snow day in Gloom county. I got the call very early, fed the katz and was back in bed. When I got up and look out someone had cleared my drive again. More clean living.
Ride your bike, eat good food and drink good beer.
OGQ