An adventure, part 1

So we went to San Francisco over the weekend! In a rare moment of common sense, I did not post all over the internet that I'd gone out of town and left my house empty. I'm so proud of myself :)

I drove the F-150 the whole way. It's just a half-ton, yeah, but it's definitely oversized for the SFO area. Just driving was a hell of an adventure. Plus we saw stuff! And I bought stuff! And the ocean!

Til we grow beards, get weird, and disappear into the mountains

Coming down out of the mountains was a huge shock to all my senses. We've been to Sac a couple of times and I remembered how thick and humid and gross the air is down there - yep, it still is. But the lack of mountains was pretty disturbing on a much deeper level - I didn't, like, have a panic attack or anything, but it weirded me out to not have mountains framing all my views. I could see how people get agoraphobic.

You know what else? It stays light forever down there. Up here the sun dips behind the mountains just before 4 pm, then it's full dark and the stars come out at maybe 6. Down in California, we watched a truly endless sunset. It was still twilight at 6 - in December! Crazy.

California's civil engineers are clearly aliens running some kind of horrible Skinner-esque experiment on the drivers in that state. But I think the drivers deserve it - they are the worst I've seen since Memphis (but not actually worse than Memphis). The exit ramps are all way too short, the lanes are crazy narrow, and the roads are as rough as Arkansas's. And that's all before you get to Oakland, which is where Driver Hell truly starts.

he said this is a mecca i said this ain't no mecca man, this place's fucked

It was dark and foggy by the time we went through Oakland, and of course we had no clue what we were doing. The 6 lanes of 80 split off into 18 lanes of toll booths and we crept up to a cash line and paid $6 for the privilege of the Bay Bridge. Then the 18 lanes inched forward to a bunch of red/green lights, where you'd sit at the line and wait for your 1 second green and floor it for 100 yards, then slam on the brakes. Then, after we'd all stopped/gone/stopped, THEN the 18 lanes merged back down to FOUR. Of course I had no idea what was going on so I kept suddenly running out of lane and bullying myself into another lane. I yelled "Sorry! Nevada! Sorry! I'm a tourist!" a lot. Eventually we got on the biggest bridge I've ever seen in my whole life. It was abysmally narrow too. I didn't clip the bridge or drift out of my lane, and I'm not sure how. The Bay Bridge goes out to an island, tunnels through the island, take a hard left, and resumes its life as a bridge the rest of the way to SF. It's a hell of a view to see the Financial District emerging out of the fog at night!

SF reminded me a lot of NYC. I went there for a week in '02 or '03, and I was pretty slack-jawed amazed the whole time. SF also left me gaping like a yokel, but only for a few minutes - then I just got mad about the godforsaken horribleness of the traffic and streets. I got pretty good at dodging pedestrians while cutting across three lanes of traffic in a 100 yard block. I was so full of myself that when we got to the hotel, I did not insist on valet parking. Instead I drove up 5 spiral floors of a tiny parking garage, then wedged the truck into a space that was exactly 2" bigger than it.

The climate was the opposite of Reno, but it was really surprisingly pleasant. It appears to be 63 degrees and foggy at all times, but it's not cold and clammy - just damp. We hauled our stuff to the hotel and wandered around a bit that night, then had tasty food at a 24 hour Indian/Pakistani buffet. 24 hour buffet! Not inside a casino! How crazy awesome is that?

Big cities are cool. At least to visit. More tomorrow!