Thailand - Phuket and the Best Valentine's Day EVER

What a day. Started with me dashing all over Chiang Mai in the early morning, buying more fabric for Mom and silk for Kristine. Done. Phew! Then it was off to the airport to catch my plane to Phuket to start the final leg of my journey. That would be the hedonist beach bum leg.

I was feeling a bit blue because it was Valentine's Day, and I just saw my ex boyfriend with another girl a few weeks ago so my overactive imagination was torturing me as it often does. Then the airline told me they didn't have a seat for me on the plane! I bought a ticket dammit, I better have a seat. "You're lucky," said the checkin lady. Phew, I thought, I get a seat. "We're upgrading you to business class because we don't have a seat for you in economy." YESSS! This kind of stuff never happens to me, and I was pumped. I enjoyed a nice 2-hour ride in the lap of luxury, or at least in the lap of business class.

I'm going to wrap this up for now, but the magical night I had consisted of a great restaurant, sharing a table with a German guy, dancing, a drag show, dancing on tabletops with the drag queen, shimmying with cute Thai boys, getting a scooter ride home from 1 of them. It was such a great night :) "What happens in Phuket, stays in Phuket."

Thailand - Phuket and the Best Valentine's Day EVER

Thailand - Chiang Mai Part 2

Sorry for the long radio silence... I've actually been doing fun things at night when I usually update blog and photos. And now I'm on Koh Phi Phi where the internet is expensive and really freakin' slow, so I'm just going to put placeholders in for now. (We know how that goes when I do that.) Anyway. In a nutshell:

Chiang Mai the 2nd time around was great fun. I rented a scooter, my new favorite form of transport, and headed around town then into the mountains to see some Wats. Then later that night met my new friend, Mimi, to go to the Night Bazaar to do my shopping. Mimi lives in CM and I met her the first time I was there a few days ago. Wats: done. Shopping: done. We went to a really cool restaurant called the Riverside, and that's where everyone hangs out apparently, cause it was jumpin.

Thailand - Chiang Mai Part 2

Thailand - Pai to Mae Hong Son to Chiang Mai

No blog entry till now because I didn't upload yesterday's pictures till now. Not much of a blog entry at the moment, because it's 9:15 a.m. and I'm heading out to see the sights in a few minutes. But I will write more when I get back.

I'm staying at a lovely guesthouse, Awana House. It's awesome so far, the people are very helpful (they gave me their business card to show to taxi drivers so they can get me home), and it's in a great location. I highly recommend it.

Here are yesterday's pictures. Enjoy.

Thailand - Pai to Mae Hong Son to Chiang Mai

Thailand - Pai

Alternate title: Dogs and Chickens and Water Buffalo, Oh My!

The day started as it always does, with a double mocha and Thai food. Delicious as usual. Then I set out on foot for Wat Phra That Mae Yen, which is 1km out of town. It was a beautiful walk, and after stopping for more coffee I ascended the many steps to the Wat. After the Wat I had planned to go to Mae Hong Son today, because honestly Pai wasn't really doing it for me. Seriously, I can go to Port Townsend to see this action! But before I caught the bus out of town I decided to rent a scooter and check out the countryside and see a waterfall. And riding around out there in the countryside, I decided to stay here another night. There's so much more to Pai than just the little town. It's the country out here! I saw many creatures, pictures of which you'll find on my photo page.

Up to now I've resisted taking pictures of dogs because, well, I know not everyone is as obsessed with them as I am (believe it or not). But the fact is, Thailand is full of dogs. Some with homes, many homeless. They're not like U.S. dogs either...they don't live inside the house, they wander around the neighborhood, and they are really skinny. The homeless dogs wander anywhere they want to. I just saw a dog sleeping under a bench that I saw last night near my guesthouse on the other side of town. Last night it wanted to be my best friend, tonight it was napping and wanted nothing to do with me. Hmph. Many Thais are Buddhist, and I guess that's why they leave the dogs alone. If a dog wanders out into the road, cars go around it. If it wanders into a restaurant, all of which are open-air, it's allowed. Dogs lounge around everywhere. I, of course, love it. There are several pictures of dogs in today's photo album so you can see what I'm talking about.

After the walk to the Wat, I took the scooter to Pai Canyon. This is a large canyon that has raised, naturally-formed narrow trails throughout. It's pretty amazing. After the canyon I came back to town to find a new place to stay and have some lunch. I ended up in a cute, tiny bungalow at Golden House guesthouse for 400 bhat, or about $12 US. Then it was back on the scooter to Pam Bok Waterfall. A short dusty trail led to the falls, which were actually not that overwhelming compared to falls in Washington State. But the water was warm and I waded a bit. It was fun. Then I rode to Tha Pai Hotsprings, which are in a national park. I paid 200 bhat to get in. This is the farang (foreigner) price. Ashley told me that Thailand residents get in for 20 bhat, one tenth of the price. She is pretty bothered by this, even though she gets the Thai price. I don't mind, because it's still only $6 US. After my soak (going in a hot, hot spring in Thailand? I must be crazy), I dressed and came back to my bungalow. By this time it was 4 p.m., so I rested for awhile and went through the pictures in my camera in preparation for tonight's blog entry.

After a brief rest, and a thorough reapplication of DEET, I headed out to the Sanctuary Restaurant for some dinner. It turned out to be only a snack though, because they were out of green papaya salad. Bummer. But that means I get to eat more tonight at yet another delicious restaurant or street cart! No complaints there.

I just got done with a facial, which I opted to do tonight instead of another brutal Thai massage. I thought the price was a little outrageous at 350 bhat (about $11.75 US), but the heat & humidity, mosquitos, and DEET applications created an emergency situation. I think tomorrow I will get a reflexology massage.

Tomorrow I take the bus to Mae Hong Son, then fly back to Chiang Mai in the afternoon. Yes, I am a major wuss - I booked a plane ticket because I refuse to sit through 2 hours of carsickness on the way back. And I'm taking a dramamine for the bus ride to Mae Hong Son, just in case. I will be in Chiang Mai for 2 days and I plan to do lots of shopping at the Night Bazaar.

Thailand - Pai

Thailand - Chiang Mai to Pai

Today I made the journey from Chiang Mai to Pai. I know I said I was going to Mae Hong Son first, but I'm going there tomorrow.

After a lovely coffee this morning and picking up my laundry, I headed off to Pai in a minivan along with 9 other intrepid souls. I'd been warned by Erin and by Lonely Planet that the long and winding road could make you feel carsick. But holy mother of GOD, I was not prepared for 2 hours of winding carsick HELL. You've been carsick I'm sure. Now imagine it for 2 freakin' hours. I managed to hang onto my cookies, barely. Ugh. I made a video so you can see what it was like. Enjoy, and hold onto your cookies.

From Thailand - Chiang Mai to Pai

Upon arriving in Pai and checking into the Breeze of Pai Guesthouse, I laid on the bed for a few minutes until my tummy calmed down. Then it was off to explore the streets of Pai. And there are hippies as far as the eye can see. Lots of white hippies, but also... Thai hippies. I've never seen such a think. We're talking dreadlocks, hemp clothing, and the whole hippie shebang. It's fascinating. How narrowminded of me to think that hippie-dom was strictly an American phenomenon. Speaking of Americans, I hadn't run into a single one in Thailand...until I got to Pai, where there are tons of them. I'm not sure why that is.

After walking around and exploring, and stopping for dinner, it was time for another Thai massage. This lady was completely different from the one I got yesterday. Today the massage hurt. Lots of pressure points were pressed. It was painful throughout, but I felt much better after. I could get used to this. I could get used to a lot about Thailand.

The mosquitos seem to be getting worse the further North I get. Despite constantly bathing myself in DEET, they are making a meal of me. I guess I will have to get a higher concentration of bug spray at the drugstore tomorrow. I spend my days covered in a mixture of sweat, sunscreen, and bug spray. No wonder my arms are developing a bumpy little rash. But it's a small price to pay for the awesomeness that is Thailand (did I mention that it's 9 p.m. and I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt?).

Tomorrow morning I am walking 1 km out of town to see a Wat that is several names long. After that I may go to the Pai hot springs, then it's off to Mae Hong Son via a 3-hour bus ride in the afternoon/evening. More updates later!

Thailand - Chiang Mai to Pai

Thailand - Rayong, etc.

Don't feel too much like blogging, oddly enough. But in a nutshell,

• I had a nice uneventful flight(s) to Thailand on Wednesday.
• My friend Ashley got my arrival day mixed up, and fortunately I had her number so was able to roust her from her bed to come pick me up.
• It took 2 days to get over the jet lag. Those 2 days really sucked, because I would start to get tired at noon (9 p.m. PST), and get progressively worse until I fell into bed at 8 p.m., then wake up at 5:00 a.m. Yesterday I finally made it through the day without feeling tired. Yay!
• I arrived in Chiang Mai today after 3 days with Ashley and her adorable daughters, and I'm travelling to Mae Hong Son tomorrow. From there to Pai, from Pai back to Chiang Mai, where I will stay for a couple days till I fly to Phuket on the 14th.
• Valentine's Day can suck itself.
• Thai food is so amazing. I may never eat Thai food in the states again, because it doesn't compare to this. After a couple painful and embarrassing episodes, Ash taught me a useful phrase: "Mai phet!" which means "not hot!" I have used it many times since then with great success.
• I got a cell phone for $15. All cells in Thailand are prepaid, and I thought it was a good idea for emergencies. Of course it's also helpful for calling the folks back home, also very cheap.
• There are internet cafes and laundry places on every corner. Both are cheap. When I finish up at this internet cafe, I am going to sleep at my guest house and picking up my laundry in the morning.

I don't even want to attempt to add pictures to this post - who knows how long it'll take. So here you go: Pictures here. Sawatee kha.

January 20, 2009

Quite possibly the best day ever. Cousin Erika and I already had tickets to see Tapes n Tapes at Neumo's, so we headed up to Capitol Hill early to partake in the festival atmosphere that was sure to be in effect. (Note to you California dwellers - Tapes n Tapes are heading your way! Check 'em out.)

Sure enough, a giant costumed group was marching down the street, chanting and drumming. Our outfits weren't up to snuff to participate in that glamorous group, so we moved on to the Cha Cha Lounge.

At the Cha Cha we met this lovely lady. Why was she wearing this outfit? "I have a closet full of costumes, and I've always wanted to wear this onesie. Today seemed like the perfect day!" What a great answer. I totally loved her, and I'm starting to think I need to get some costumes of my own. Halloween doesn't have to be just once a year, especially when you're on Capitol Hill!

Yes we did

Finally we ended up at Neumo's for the great Tapes n Tapes show. Lots of Obama shirts in effect, including on the lead singer. Woooo!

Hope

More pictures of the evening here.

In Between Trips

What have I been doing lately? Well, not traveling. Not snowboarding in the last week either, due to the current crappy snow conditions. And not working. (Not finding any work, either, which is starting to worry me.) The last week of December when I got home from my road trip and for awhile after my last official day of employment, December 31, I was a flurry of energetic activity.

I made an apron

Flirty Skirty (no I'm not trying to be anonymous, I'm just horrifically unphotogenic)

I painted the trim in the hallway (this project was started in September when I was on vacation)

Oh, and something happened that I've been dreading for months - last Friday my cousin and I were out at a music show and we saw my ex with another woman. Even though I knew it was inevitable, it still hurt like shit when it actually happened. I guess I can no longer pretend that he just wasn't ready for a relationship; I have to actually take some accountability now for some things. What a bummer.

Moving on...I fly away to Thailand on February 4th, 2 weeks from Wednesday! I'm both excited and scared. This is definitely the biggest adventure I've undertaken on my own (unless you count homeownership, which still scares the shit out of me, even though it's been almost 1.5 years since I bought my condo). Yay for tropical countries!

Snow Pr0n!!!

I've been snowboarding a few times since I got back from my road trip one week ago. Now that I'm officially unemployed instead of unofficially "working from home," I can fully devote my attention to the pursuit of... pursuits. Like snowboarding. And the gym. And soon I'll add the climbing gym to my repertoire. Wahoo!

And I promise to complete my road trip posts...one of these days when I don't snowboard every other day?! Hmm. No, really, now that the dastardly holiday season is nearly over, life should settle down to (nearly) normal, right? It's not like I hate the holidays or my family or anything like that, but seriously, a 5-week holiday season is a total PITA.

Crystal Mountain, the day after Christmas 2008


Ah yes. This is where it belongs, not in my hallway!

Mmm, freshies :)

Cooking Your Dog

Oh dear.


see more pwn and owned pictures

Road Trip: This is the End

Today I completed my road trip with a jaunt from Portland to Seattle a/k/a my home. I swear I will add text to these last few posts soon, but I'm just exhausted right now. I will have plenty of time for such things in the coming weeks.

Find all these pictures and more here.

Hungover? No, just sleepy


Portland was completely encased in ice. Literally.

One of five accidents I saw on the way home, though after Portland I thought the roads were pretty nice.

The snow in my unused parking spot at my condo in Seattle


Soon, my sweet...muah!

Road Trip: Florence to...Portland, not Seattle

Next up: Dunes and snow. Someday I'll actually complete these blog entries, but for now I do hope you find the pictures sufficient. I hope to get home tomorrow. Of course, I hoped to get home today and I'm in Portland. Utter armageddon on the streets. Thank goodness for Subaru!

The rest of the pictures are here.

Dunes in Southwest Oregon, just south of Florence


Sadie really, really likes the dunes




50 miles south of Portland on I-5, things started to get bad


I-5 heading north into Portland

Road Trip: Arcata to Florence, Oregon

Arcata to Florence was a beautiful jaunt north along the coast. Sometimes the weather was nice, but mostly it was high winds and rain (I happen to think that qualifies as 'beautiful'). I was kind of dragging by this point and pretty much just wanted to get home. There's something about not being able to get home (due to the weather in this case) that really makes you want to get there!

Once I arrived in Florence I checked into a hotel which unfortunately was really crappy. I'd had good luck with the hotel sitch through the entire road trip though, so I guess I won't complain too much. Next time I will do my homework before I get to a town. Although I didn't do that before I ended up in Sonoma and ended up in a great place! Actually, the entire Sonoma side-jaunt was unplanned, but I'm glad I ended up there.

Northern Coast of California


Elk! From the largest Roosevelt elk herd in the world


Beautiful redwoods. So that's what the big deal is about...


Bandon, Oregon


The Sadie-ear-windometer says that we are at gale force

More pictures here

Well, wonders never cease

I'm holed up in Small Town, USA (a/k/a Florence, Oregon), and we are experiencing a storm similar to Seattle's except with rain instead of snow. Internet connection is pretty crappy, and after about 20 minutes of finagling I've managed to coax a tenuous signal out of the air. Not sure how long it'll last. I have to go eat dinner now, but if this wifi cooperates later I will update last night's post and write tonight's. And pictures! Dunes, big trees, and elk, oh my.

Okay TTYL.

Road Trip: Sonoma to Arcata and Spots In Between

After my wildly refined night in Sonoma, I awoke rather...slowly the next morning. I sneaked the dog out of the room (oh, the things we do) and headed into town to find sustenance. But how to find good coffee in this town? Of course. I found a man sitting on a park bench drinking coffee and asked him where I could find some for myself. He very helpfully directed me to the Basque Boulangerie just across the street. And yes, the coffee was delicious! There were dozens of delicious-looking pastries available to drool over, but unfortunately Sadie started barking at delivery men and we had to boogie out of there. After wandering around some more and making a brief stop in Three Dog Bakery (we go there all the time in Seattle!), we hit the road for points north.

Mendocino was beautiful on the outside, but I was a bit perplexed by something that happened to me there. I needed to change a headlamp bulb in my car, and I had bought one at an auto parts store in Sonoma before I headed out of town. As it was getting dark when I was in Mendo, I decided I'd better get that baby in there before finishing up Highway 1, or "22 miles of misery" as my friend calls it. I had some difficulties getting the old bulb out of the socket, so all told it took me about 15 minutes to complete the switch. For the 15 minutes I was parked by the side of the road with my hood up, lots of people drove by. And nobody stopped. What the hell?! Where are all the friendly Californians I've met my entire trip? I decided Mendo is dead to me (what isn't, really) and hit the highway with Arcata as my destination. Later that night, I was out with my cousin's friend Brooke in Arcata and I told her this story. "It's not that they don't want to help you," she explained. "It's Mendocino. They don't know how to do anything menial." For some reason this cracked us up. That's pretty sad, but it's pretty funny!

Arcata...I think maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind for Arcata. I understand that it's a pretty cool place, but I didn't see much of that, unfortunately. Homeless kids with dogs on ropes begged for change and smoked weed in the town square. And I saw a guy in a homemade t-shirt that said, "Dominate me with your cunt." Really, do I need to say any more?

Sonoma town square in the morning

Mendocino


Mendocino

The end (or beginning) of Highway 1

Here's t-shirt guy trying out his moovs on an unsuspecting lady. She didn't succumb to his charms. And yes, that is indeed a Native American 'dream catcher' attached to the back of the shirt.

More pictures here

Road Trip: Mysteries and Wine Country, etc.

This morning started out with a frustrating trip to Walgreens to get a prescription refill. I won't go into detail here, but let it be known that Millbrae California is DEAD TO ME. I hate them, I hate their google map directions, and I hate their inhabitants. That is all. Moving on...

Driving to San Jose from my hotel, the weather and the surroundings were beautiful.

In San Jose, I went to the Winchester Mansion. I'd read a story about it as a kid that said Mrs. Sarah Winchester built the strange parts of the house to confuse the spirits of people who'd been killed by Winchester rifles. I always thought it was a normal house with some weird spirit-foiling additions. Today on the tour I learned that a psychic told her that to keep the spirits confused, Mrs. Winchester had to keep up construction on the house constantly. Therefore, the house remained under construction 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 38 years until Mrs. Winchester's death in 1922.

It turns out that, far from being normal, the entire house is pretty wacked out. Staircases that go nowhere, doorways that go nowhere, and even a chimney that goes nowhere. Plus cupboards opening onto walls, windows in the floor, "easy riser" staircases built into hidden closets for Mrs. Winchester. I don't care what they say, Sarah Winchester was batshit insane.

After the Winchester Mansion, I drove to Santa Cruz to see the Mystery Spot. Far from being simply a place that men need to learn more about, the Mystery Spot is, in my expert opinion, fucking crazy! I took pictures, but even those don't do the spot justice. You need to just go there yourself. Seriously. Gravitational (or whatever) forces cause people to gain or lose inches of height based on where they are standing. It also causes people to have to fight against a strange force that wants to push you in a certain direction. Balls roll uphill, and none of it's an illusion. It's just wacky gravity (or aliens, or whatever theory you prefer. I go with gravity and/or magnetic fields myself.)

I finally got a bumber sticker to cover up the Obama/Biden sticker. Because, you know, they won.

Well. You know what they say... "the best laid plans" and all that. The great thing about road trips is that plans can change, and you should never be in a hurry. As you know, I'd intended to be in Ukiah tonight, but thanks to delayed timetables and San Francisco traffic, I'd only made it to Petaluma by 7:00 p.m. I'd been stuck in traffic for 2 hours and was at the point of weeping, so I decided to get off the freeway and find a place to stay for the evening. I wasn't thrilled about staying in Petaluma, but what choice did I have? Until I exited from 101 and saw the sign, "Sonoma 17 miles; Napa 24 miles." My eyes opened wide. I heard angels singing a chorus. 'Wine country? I'm this close to wine country?!' I thought. A phone call to my mother plus a AAA tour book led me to the Best Western Inn in Sonoma, which takes dogs, has a surprisingly awesome room with a king size bed and a fireplace, AND has a free breakfast that is delivered to your room! Kind of hard to beat that. Plus they have free parking and coffee, and it's one block to the center of Sonoma. Which is a good thing when you've had a few glasses of amazing wine and you need to get back to your dog and make sure she's not barking in the hotel. Or, ahem, so I've heard.

My room in Sonoma. King-size bed and a fireplace!

I went to dinner at A Girl & A Fig, which is on the Southeast corner of the town square in Sonoma. It was pretty great. Not the food, which was tasty but not amazing, but the people I met! The bartender, Mark, was cool, plus after the dinner crowd left (I got there late due to getting to town around 8 p.m.), all the local service industry folks rolled into the place and I got to chat with them. It reminds me of Port Townsend, though maybe not as dysfunctional. One can only hope. I was chatting with an attractive, shy guy, and at the end of the night he had to take off because of a conference call in the morning. I gave him my info in case he's ever in Seattle, and he gave me his card. He's a winemaker! Well, I love wine, so maybe it's a match made in heaven. Or something. At any rate, I had a really fun time tonight.

The cozy bar at A Girl and A Fig

My revised schedule has me staying in Eureka, CA tomorrow (Friday) night and Reedsport, OR on Saturday night. I hope to be home on Sunday. But as long as I'm home by the 25th, I guess I'm ok.

More tomorrow night, hopefully from Oregon! More pictures here

Road Trip: In the City

Today was another beautiful sunny day, and I didn't even need my down jacket till about 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. Much of the day was spent in the car, driving around seeing all the important sites. Molly drove, since she lives here, but we took my car because it has the fidorido. Of course, after a couple of hops in and out of the car I just held Sadie on my lap. We weren't going very fast anyway.

We are light on pictures today because I was silly and forgot to charge the battery in my camera. The below pictures are courtesy of my cell phone. [EDIT: added a couple of pictures from the camera now that it's charged.] Of course, I also forgot my phone in the car during one walking excursion, so maybe pictures weren't meant to be taken today. I think I have plenty already!

Getting Sadie out of the room and into the car this morning was quite difficult. I think she's had enough of this road trip. Too bad for her that we're a 2-3 day drive from home.

First a delicious pastry and coffee at La Boulange near Molly's place.


Boulange dogs

Then we drove the long way through Golden Gate Park, checking out the new science museum, Stow Lake, and the polo fields, before heading down to Ocean Beach in the Sunset neighborhood.

Sadie loves Molly, so they were happy to walk down the beach together while I took pictures of the surfers. Unfortunately, none of those came out! Dang it. Later we let Sadie off the leash and she played chase with another dog. That tired her out to the point where she tried to drink the ocean, though much choking and gagging convinced her that it was not a wise choice.

When taking a driving tour of San Francisco, of course you have to drive down the Russian Hill section of Lombard Street, the "crookedest street in the world"! It was like an amusement park ride, and pretty popular with the tourists based on the attention it was getting. Man, I would hate to live on that street, not only because of the difficulty of getting in and out of your home, but because of the constant traffic.

We saw many other interesting places today, and unfortunately I have forgotten much of it. There's so much to see! I should have taken notes. But I will recap some of it: Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Twin Peaks, SOMA, Fisherman's Wharf, Financial District, Sunset.

Oh, at Fisherman's Wharf I tried In-n-Out Burgers for the first time. Um, sorry, but what's the big deal about that place? Maybe it got too built up for me, so when I finally tried it, it was just a...burger and fries. Call me crazy but I'll take Dick's Drive In any day. Also at Fisherman's Wharf we went to the Buena Vista and had an irish coffee, where the drink was invented. It was delicious! Later in the afternoon we took Sadie to the dog park in Cole Valley near Molly's place, then relaxed in her adorable apartment until it was time to meet Cinthia for dinner in the Haight. We ended up getting takeout because the restaurant was packed, which was even better because we went back to Molly's place and ate dinner and had wine. The night ended with plans to meet up soon in Seattle, since both Molly and Cinthia will be there for the holidays. Now they can see my condo! I'm very excited :)

Tomorrow I get up early and leave the city. I'm heading down to San Jose to see the Winchester Mystery House, then back down to Santa Cruz really quickly to see the Mystery Spot. I guess tomorrow is 'mystery day.' Props go to Ryan for suggesting these intriguing sights.

After Santa Cruz I'm winding back up the coast on Hwy 1 to 101 and hope to make it to Ukiah,California to while away the evening in the economical digs of Motel 6 once again. The night after that (a/k/a Friday for you working stiffs) I want to be in Newport Oregon, before cutting back to I-5 for the rest of the trip. The night after that (Saturday the 20th) I hope to be HOME! Yes I love it here, and the road trip has been fun. But my car is full of maps and papers and this and that and general stuff, and I'm living out of a suitcase. And the whole car experience has been really tough on Sadie. I now feel like a terrible mother for subjecting her to this, but at least now I know she can't go on road trips anymore. I know that snow and ice armageddon has hit the states of Washington and Oregon, which is why I'm taking the coast.

See you Seattleites soon! More pictures here

Road Trip: Half Moon Bay, etc.

Today I went to the coast, starting in Half Moon Bay and working my way down to Santa Cruz. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful and sunny. It was still cold, but at least I was able to shed the down jacket in favor of a hooded sweatshirt.

There were a lot of rusty sculptures lining the road to Half Moon Bay.

When I arrived in town, I found the visitor's center and got the lowdown on where to eat and where to take the dog to work off her excess energy. That led me to the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, where I had a delicious lunch and discovered that, much to my dismay, the seas were flat at the world-famous Maverick's and there wouldn't be any surfers to watch. My waiter at the brewery said that there might be some people surfing a few miles north at Montara State Beach. No surfers there, either, but it was a beautiful beach with curling waves, and Sadie and I had a nice walk there. Sadie rolled in a dead bird carcass, which pretty much made her day. I was not quite so enthused.

After that we jumped back in the car and headed south to Santa Cruz to see the famous boardwalk and the Mystery Spot. It's funny how before I went on this road trip, driving 50 miles was a huge deal to me - I don't really like driving that far. But now it's a drop in the travel bucket. Not that I plan to become a roadhog once I get home!

We stopped at San Gregorio State Beach, but didn't stay long because the sign said 'no dogs on the beach.' I'm a law-abiding citizen, especially when I think I might get caught. Plus I was running out of time because I was due back in the city at 4:40 to pick up Molly at the airport. Molly actually lives here in San Francisco, but she was in Seattle visiting family. Since I'm here, I offered to pick her up at the airport. I thought that was pretty funny since I don't even live here, but I'm glad it all worked out!

Finally we arrived in Santa Cruz and hit the boardwalk. The place was deserted - most of the shops were closed, and the boardwalk was closed. The good news is there was plenty of parking! We had taken but a few steps onto the deserted boardwalk when a security guard appeared and said, "Excuse me, ma'am. Unfortunately no dogs are allowed on the boardwalk." I said, "are they allowed on the beach?" He said, "No, but that's not our area of responsibility." I asked, "so if we run across the boardwalk to the beach, you didn't see anything then?" He laughed and said, "that's right." So we scampered. As far as beaches go, it wasn't nearly as impressive as the rest of Half Moon Bay, but the sun was shining on me and it was quiet and peaceful, and that was enough. Then it was time to jump on the road back to the city to pick up Molly. I really enjoyed my drive down Highway 1 a/k/a Cabrillo Highway, and I think I will head down to Carmel after I leave San Francisco and work my way back up to Santa Cruz from that direction.

After I picked up Molly at SFO, we drove to her absolutely darling apartment in Cole Valley, which is a neighborhood just a few blocks from the Haight. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Cole Valley, which was good but not otherwordly good like Mona Lisa, a restaurant in North Beach. Seriously. If you're in SF and you want Italian, you MUST go there. That's where Molly and I ate in June when I came down to visit.

Molly's apartment in Cole Valley - most adorable!

So far I've had a Marin day and a Half Moon Bay day, with a bit of the city thrown in at night. Tomorrow is all city! Molly is taking me on her special tour, and I am finally going to go to the tourist spots. I'm dying to go to Lombard Street!

As always, more pictures can be found here