The City..... Trip #2

I write this very tired feet, a wicked sunburn and a huge smile on my face. What a wonderful weekend!!!!! Very much so needed.

Friday

We got outta town a little before 2pm. Decided to take HWY 101 up to the city. Neat drive- got to roll through Gilroy and oh how I love the smell of garlic! We made the first part of the trip quite quickly then came San Jose..... LOL the latter half of our drive was stop and go with added ass hats on motorcycles deciding to travel between stopped cars..... GRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I hissed every time one would zoom past us. Got into the city round 6pm. Long trip, but we were there! Oh yeah! Got checked into the hotel, stretched out for a minute and decided to find some take out to bring back to our weekend home, both tired and there was a Giants game on the tube- must see Friday evening deal for us.

Mr. Generik had suggested a few dining establishments for us and we scoped out the menu at one- O-Zone. Thai food and my goodness it was a great choice. Pineapple fried rice is amazing, chicken, shrimp, pineapple, raisins, cashews- yummy. So between the two of us we had left overs to munch on the entire trip. It was beautiful. The weather was quite beautiful, so we had the windows to our room at the Monarch Hotel open to the street noise, the people noise, the great breeze until the "street theater" as SSM calls it, became a bit loud at almost 2am.

Walking the few blocks to the restaurant Friday night I was noticing how there were so many more people in the city milling around. Then I remembered, not only a Giants Yankees series, but it was also Pride weekend. Okay, makes sense now. On our way up to get dinner I was told by a scruffy baritone voiced Tranny that I had a pussy walk. SSM decided he was a bit envyous of me not having to strut with testicles between my legs! ;)

Saturday

My body, even when I am on a mini vacation will not allow me to sleep in, so 6:30 rolls around and I am staring at SSM wondering when he will wake up so I can turn the damn TV on. We get up, watch the news get coffee and get all gussied up, ready to have breakfast at this little place we ate the last time we were up. Walk down, it's not open. Walk to breakfast place #2- again not open. We stroll to Union Square to have coffee and a bagel at this crazy little coffee shop. Read a bit of the paper, have a great cup of dark roast and decide it's cable car time!

Get our tickets and sit on the bench outside on the car. The ride was awesome. Seeing the different parts of town, the houses, people, all of it- so beautiful. It was a bit chilly but I would freeze again for that any day! The original plan was to take the cable car to China Town and find an Herbal Shop, but we rode it all the way down to the water instead.

Before I put my toes in the sand we took a quick potty stop at a boat museum that a docent on the cable car recommended we check out. It was filled with parts of ships, stories on travels and the top light part of a light house, so cool! We took a short stroll down to the beach so I could run my toes in the water and the sand. It was great, and accompanied by a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Out in the water swimming the length of the harbor were ladies and gents in wet suits, training for I'll never know, but man it looked like fun. After fighting with the foot washing shower dealie, we headed back to take the cable car back to Union Square to meet up with Generik.

Snuck up on him but jumping off the cable car one stop early.... :) And away we walked. He took us by to see the Misses at the AMAZING fabric store she works at. (I only saw part of one floor. Can't wait to get back with measurements for my windows! ) Hugs and hi's and we were on our way to the Ferry Building and the open air market they have on the walk outside. It was amazing. I haven't ever seen anything like that in my life. The fruit, the flowers, the cheese the people!

From there we walked to the park to see the Giants play the spankees (Yankees). I love AT&T park- so pretty, and the view of the bay is amazing! We definitely got our monies worth out of the tickets we bought, being able to see the Giants beat the spankees in 13 innings! Oh how I love me some baseball! :)

From there we smooshed on a bus with a bajillion people to get back to pick up Mrs. Generik from work and walk back to the hotel. Later we met up with them for dinner at Tommy's Joynt. Stiff drinks and great food. Such a great way to unwind after the game. SSM and I headed back to our hotel and crashed out almost immediately with full tummies and smiles for the win!

Sunday

Woke up and headed out for breakfast. The two places we stopped by weren't open. So we started on yet another adventure and found a great little internet/ coffee shop/ bagel place. Had some coffee, a bagel with lotsa goodies on it and read the paper. It was exactly what I needed to get ready to walk down to the Pride Parade. We checked out of the hotel, met up with Generik and off to the parade we went.

It was total culture shock for me. So many people, people in costumes, people showing their support. It was just awe inspiring. We made our way to the parade site to see the "Dykes on bikes" head up the parade. It was crazy- easily 1000 or more motorcycles and mopeds with girlies girls and not so much on bikes. Then the parade started.

The floats, balloons, music, and participation took me back a bit. This is what is is suppose to be like. People should support their city. The acceptance and love that people and businesses show this festival of sorts was wicked. I loved it! The Mayor was up front and in person in the parade, as were the homosexual police officers, walking hand in hand with their partners. Then came the families, the parents and friends the high school kids, everyone there to show their support for this. It was a bit tear jerking.

After the parade SSM and I had some lunch and a drive around San Francisco, along with going across the Golden Gate Bridge and were on our way home.

It was a beautiful trip, and I can't wait to get back up there in a couple of months. I don't have a camera so you'll have to bounce over to SSM's and Generik's blogs for photos!