New Blog

For the next year I'll be posting at:
East Texas Exile

Vacation!

Road Trip 2010- So we just returned from a big 2 week road trip and it was fantastic! We drove from SF to Portland to Seattle to Vancouver and then took the coastal drive on the way back. I hate riding in the car and so do my kids, so I was a little nervous about how this would all play out. We rented a HUGE SUV and filled it to the brim. It ain't easy packing for 2 grown ups, 2 little ones, camping stuff and food (tons of food). We tried to keep the trip as cheap as possible, which meant very little eating out. Plus, I knew good snack food and treats would cure any boredom the girls and I would encounter. My husband and I loved the SUV. We tired not to, but it was just so... big. We will never buy one, but we sure did enjoy renting it!
Here's some general observations about the whole thing-
1. It's f*cking hot out there. Every city we hit was in the middle of a summer heat wave. The heat made us all a little irritable. Not a good sign for our upcoming move.
2. Cheap hotels are creepy. Gone are the days when I thought it was cool to stay in a grungy hotel. If people are fighting in line for the mystery dish at the free breakfast buffet, I'm outta there.
3. Portland rules. Love Voodoo Donuts. Love Powells. Love all the fountains for kids to play in. Transit was a little slow, but very clean. I didn't get to ride the air tram, but hopefully we can do that on the next visit.

4. Seattle has a great edge to it. I wish I could by all my food at Pike's and hang out at Left Bank Books figuring out how to take myself off the grid. To be honest, I found the transit a little confusing. I had a rude bus driver that didn't tell me that you pay getting on sometimes, and getting off other times based on where you get on. My husband had figured that out, but neglected to tell me and I instantly became the annoying lady with the loud kids that's holding up the bus line. I loved all the great kid's parks, and Gas Works Park was really cool. I was thankful to blogger, Carla for sending me some great travel tips!

5. Vancouver was nice. We stayed in a nice hotel there and the kids loved looking out the floor to ceiling windows to the city, 15 stories below. It's a pretty city with a lot to offer, but damn is it expensive!

6. The first night on the road we made it to our campsite at Creator Lake, only to find that it was snowed in (literally no where to pitch our tent or cook) and infested with freakishly large mosquitos. We had to ditch that site and set up shop about 30 miles away.
7. We stayed in a yurt on Loon Lake. We pulled up to find a bunch of college students partying right next to our site. They had like 4 pit bulls, kegs, and a racist bumper sticker. We were so worried that we had a shitty night ahead of us, but turns out the ended the party early, and even brought us a plate of food.
8. Camping on the beach was great, except for me freezing my ass off at night.
9. I ate too many s'mores  on our trip and never want to see one again.

10. The Oregon Coast is stunning. So are the massive Redwood Trees in CA. There is so much undeveloped land out there. It was refreshing.

Muni Diaries

Muni Diaries has a new makeover that looks great. Same interesting and artsy posts as always.
I particularly liked the debate over the cleanliness of the NY Subway vs MUNI. Truly gross tales.

Bi-Rite's New Counter

Love Love Love the new walk up soft serve counter at Bi-Rite Creamery. Soft serve if much easier for little ones. They added a few new outdoor benches for added comfort. Well played Bi-Rite!

Legendary Ice Cream

Polly Ann Ice Cream Parlor is a little gem in the Outer Sunset in SF. It's been around 55 years and even though it's had a few different owners, it's still a great little place. It has over 500 flavors of ice cream- many of them are super funky- bumpy freeway, durian, star wars, etc. It's also got these goofy little signs all over the walls with ice cream-related humor.
We took Baba (Dad) there for Father's Day and enjoyed a few scoops. I had blueberry cheesecake, and Leila picked cherry "banillo" (vanilla).  We have been eating so much ice cream lately, I have even been giving Norah little tastes. She loves it, of course! When I gave Norah the little stick with ice cream on it, the lady working the counter acted like I had handed her a loaded gun, "no no that hurt her!". I'm not quite sure what would have hurt her, but I didn't want to question the woman who held my ice cream cone in her hand.

Inflation

Seems like the bus fares aren't the only thing going up these days. Maybe I am just getting frugal in my old age, but it seems like I am just bleeding money lately. I have had my eye on some hip little SF t-shirts/onsies for my babes, so they won't forget their roots when we are in Tyler. One has a BART ticket on it and another has a bunch of MUNI buses. Matching transit wear! I saw both vendors at the Fillmore Jazz Festival today and went over to pick up the shirts. I was shocked to see they were $24 a piece! Mind you, these are baby shirts... baby shirts that would have cost me $75 if I had bought all three (2 for the toddler and 1 for the baby). I couldn't justify it, but I am pretty bummed. It seems to me like most people who would want a shirt with a bus on it (ie-bus riders) can't afford that much for a baby shirt.

Just Another Day in the City

While walking to pick up Leila at her friend's house this afternoon, I noticed a group of police officers ahead of me, all wearing latex gloves and blocking the sidewalk. Obviously something was up, but I didn't want to jay walk across the street right in front of all of them. As I got closer, I saw a gentleman lying face down on the sidewalk, pants off, underwear half-off, fondling himself and chatting away. I heard a siren approaching, surely to come help this man find a more suitable place for his activities. I asked the officers if I should cross the street, but they just made room for me to walk on by. I was thankful that I only had Norah with me, who is too little to ask questions. Leila, on the other hand, would have had a lot to say about this man and his exposed "peanut" (her current word for penis).