Trip to San Francisco - Friday thru Monday

Trip was successful on many levels...

Met Drunkjim, Fryman, Yohko, Usui, Evalz, Breadoflife, Mandrake, Stevoman, Trele, Trele's wife Rhonda, Stevo's wife Mandy...

Thursday - arrived, went to the Horseshoe bar with Fry and DJ. Were out til ~ 1:30 am. Fry's wife was upset with him that night.

Friday - I left the hotel around 11:00 am and walked down in the bay area, heading towards the beach with a general sense of direction as to where that was.

Took plenty of pictures along the way. Got a call from Trele and Yohko that they were on their way, but I missed it and so I continued walking along Golden

Gate park, snapping pictures of the people who rented bikes and the bridge, as well as several buildings. I managed to get a hold of Trele, and after

visiting the Visitor Center (where a nice lady helped me with directions), Trele made it over to pick me up in front of the Stillwell Hall. We then headed

over to Pier 39. (I should mention at this time I had been walking around in the sun with no hat and no sunblock for three hours. More on that later...). We

walked around Pier 45 and Pier 39 for a while. We ate at Tait's at the Wharf, a little fried food place and we got to know each other. Denise

(Breadoflife/Johnswife), Anthony (Evalz - who had come up at the last minute), Mark (Usui/Miratine), Arlene (Saiyuki/Yohko), Jonathan (Trele), Jonathan's

wife Rhonda (not a player but does have a lowbie mage). We walked around, went to an arcade for a while, looked around for sunblock and sunscreen. Didn't

find any until it was basically too late (but some is better than none, eh?) at the San Franciso (has it all?) tourism shop. Saw breakdancers, musicians (a

really good violin player and blues guitarist), a pair of female folk singers, living statues (one was a robot type that had a little player on his back that

whirred and made noises). Mark beat Anthony at table hockey, and we found out Arlene can't win at Tekken when you make her laugh a lot. We then went to meet

DJ and followed him to his condo on the south side of San Francisco. Z and his wife Beanie showed up and we all went out to the Crowne Plaza Hotel to eat at

the restaurant there. Fry was not able to make it due to his wife being upset. We left the hotel's restaurant around 9:30 as had been told that since a

couple of us were wearing tennis shoes that we weren't meeting the dress code. So we headed to DJ's condo and played Rock Band and Guitar Hero for hours,

drinking and shooting the proverbial shit.

Saturday - wake up, go oyster-shucking out near Petaluma. It was a long drive, passing through that small town. DJ navigated, so we stopped a few times on

the way for ice and what not. Saw a parade of police cars from different eras, from the old 30s model Fords to modern day Dodge chargers and mustangs. We

were out there for a few hours, from around 1p to 3p. On the way back, I stopped by the hotel room, grabbed a quick shower, and changed from the clothes I'd

been wearing since Thursday. It was then on to the Giants game. We were late getting to the train station, Fry's sweater got soaked from laying in the truck

bed where DJ had put the sacks of ice. We drank beer on the way to the stadium, mostly cracking jokes and laughing about the various shenanigans. We got to

the game around 7pm, where we met Stevoman and his wife Mandy. We snuck beer into AT&T Park and got caught since we were drinking straight from the bottle

and not pouring it into cups. Everyone laughed at our misfortune (Fry's really as I'd finished mine.. His was still full!!). Fry went to buy a round of

beers, and ended up being chargede 17 dollars for 2 beers!! He came back to the group, which by that time was mostly sitting together. "Fryman's upset!!" he

shouted. Then he kept shouting "$17!! FOR TWO!!". Was hilarious., Again, stayed up all night with Rock Band and Guitar Hero...

Sunday - Missed flight. Called and left messages with Francie and Danny. Was supposed to be there around 5am to catch a 7:15am flight. Everyone woke up

around 8, having gone to sleep around 5am. Mark and I went to the airport, where I found out what I needed to do - switch to a flight on Monday. There was a

12 o'clock US Airways flight, but I would've been on standby and the flight was full. There was another flight - the red eye flight - but it was completely

sold out including standby passengers. So we Went back to hotel and I checked out at 10:30 am. Grabbed another shower, grabbed all my bags and gear, and we

went back to DJs. Then we headed out to Coyote Point, where DJ has his slip for the Chi WOW Wuh, his 20-footer. The wind was pretty high, with whitecaps all

around. There were windsurfers, kitesurfers,sailers, and powerboaters out on the water. We drank a few beers, threw the frisbee and nerf football around for

a little while as DJ went to get his boat ready. I went to grab a few photos, thinking DJ was convincing himself not to go out there, but he changed his mind

and so DJ, Z, Marc, Anthony, and Jonathan all went out on the boat. They went around the bay for about two hours, then came back. I grabbed plenty of photos

of the guys, the slips, the shoals, the rocks, all the people out there and a couple of Arlene. After they came back, we played with Jonathan's high-powered

RC car until the battery popped out when Denise crashed it into a curb. Then Jonathan sent it out on a suicidal mission at full power although it managed to

make a curve at around 30 mph and not hit anyone or anything - and there were cars coming and kids playing... He shouted "OH SHIT!" and ran after it - we

were all laughing so hard... After that, we dined at BJ's - they're a brewery/sports bar & grille like Seven Bridges here in Jax.

Monday - Kept waking up all night. Had gone to sleep watching Crank (w/ Jason Statham) around 1am. Planned on riding with Jimbo to the airport, but he was

ready a little too late and so was I, so he headed off to work. Shook hands, thanked him for letting me stay (next time I don't think I'll need a separate

hotel room, eh? Only spent a few hours there the entire weekend. Was only in hotel for less than 7 hours all weekend - two showers, a nap, and a clothing

change...) and then got ready to head out. Mark and Arlene took me to the airport, SFO. We shook hands and hugged, thanked them for a great weekend, and then

I headed off to catch my flight. I went to the line, learned the E Ticket was not a boarding pass (duh!) went back and grabbed the pass and went thru

security. No one asked me about the can of solarcaine or the toothpaste - are they getting less strict or are they just unobservant? Then again, do I look

like a terrorist? Is that profiling? - and so I went to catch the flight at 8:55. Ate the leftovers of the Cajun jambalaya from BJ's (which was quite good -

I had thought of getting some tabasco, but it was good enough w/o it) for breakfast. Found out (or I think so at any rate) that I left my cash (only $15) in

the condo. I owed it to Denise since she bought me dinner last night (the split bill was $23 apiece, and I had only $15 left in cash from the $80 I'd started

with plus the $40 I'd withdrawn at the ballpark - No telling how much exactly I spent on this trip - at least $500 on the tickets and hotel I didn't really

need).

Slept and snored a good bit on the flight back. I know b/c I kept waking myself up. Found out Jimbo and I both have sleep apnea. Watched 'National

Treasure: Book of Secrets' on the flight. Got hit up for credit cards by US Airways on both flights. The A321 that took me to Charlotte wasn't that bad.

Got to Charlotte with no problems, even though we were delayed around 45 minutes due to inclement weather in Charlotte. The cushion again disappeared, but

when we arrived, discovered that the flight to Jacksonville had been delayed due to bad weather in Columbia, South Carolina. Our original departure time of

5:50pm was pushed to 7:20 pm. Then they were able to secure a different plane - a 737-300 that I'm sure I've flown on before - or at least this crew

(probably the DC to Charlotte to Jacksonville trip last summer).

Arrived in Jacksonville at 8:00, got a ride home with James at 9:00.

All in all, a great weekend.

Pictures to come...