San Francisco in the new year

Sage and I headed up to "Frisco" (as he calls it) to catch a bluegrass show and visit becca and alex and bruno and the fig. We arrived at SFO around 7pm to find our cheap sub-compact rental car was a Prius! It was awesome, except we had no idea how to start the thing. After pressing every button on the dash that seemed intuitive to a 20th century driver, we had to get some assistance. With the unsettled feeling of being 16 again, we pulled our space mobile out of the airport garage and hit the road. Hot Buttered Rum was playing at the Fillmore around 10pm so we had a couple hours to share Cancun burritos with B & A. The place was loud with mexican polka and we were surrounded by the standard SF hipster crowd, all of which gave sage his first realization that we were not in Kansas (SD) anymore. HBR was amazing! Those guys love playing together and it is so much fun to watch. They played a few Talking Heads songs which were great. We were both psyched and despite having woken up early and having full days of work and travel we were able to make it almost to the end of the show. Then we got back in our jetson mobile, ambled through the castro and back to bernal heights by 1:30am.

The next day becca took us for a northern tour through Muir Woods, where we had a lengthy discussion about Werner Hertzog and retaining walls, and then out to the Pine Cone diner in Point Reyes. We discovered two things: 1) that a BLT with avocado is called a BLAT and 2) that ice cream places are closed throughout the region during the month of January.

That night B & A took us to a great 6 table cajun joint in ocean beach where we dined on scallops and hanger steak. Back in BH we got a personalized slide show of their trips to machu picchu (where we are enticed to go in Sept.) and egypt, not to mention almost every food item they had consumed since the summer of 2005. It was spectacularly gooey photography and gave sage an ounce of appreciation for why we are all crazy about food. They also let us in on their new super mario bros. obsession.

The next day we hopped in the space jet and headed to Alcatraz. Luckily, Sage was able to complete his SF tourist wardrobe in the gift shop at the dock on the Embarcadero. (what you cannot see is another alcatraz tee under the sweatshirt.)

Alcatraz was cool. By far, the best audio tour I have ever done. We were immersed in a dark world of antiquated prison life, narrated by both ex guards and ex inmates. Surprisingly they downplayed their most famous guest, Al Capone and focused more on the siege and other escape attempts.

Sage gave his best hardened criminal face. Pretty convincing. We all tried to figure out which criminal we were. Becca and I were the ones who would sit and wait for release, biding our time knitting and reading. Sage was sure he was the escapist type and, while he admitted he would also spend a good deal of time knitting, would be sizing up possible escape routes and fashioning spoons into concrete shovels.

This was the dingy view of the city from the cell block hallway. It is so close that the inmates could hear the voices of people partying on New Years when the wind was right...creepy.

It was a relief getting back to shore and freedom. Those walls have seen way too much for it not to affect visitors. One more mission burrito later (this time from El Farolito), then we said goodbye and pointed our ship back to the airport. It was the perfect weekend getaway and we will certainly be doing it again soon!