Thursday, May 7, 2009

San Fran: Loved it.

We just spent a weekend in San Francisco. Neither of us had been there before, but we both definitely had ideas and expectations for what the experience would be like. Honestly? We were pretty much wrong. I can't exactly articulate what we expected, we just know it turned out to be what we didn't expect. Doesn't make much sense I know, but here are some basic observations, thoughts, ponderings, senses about our 60 hours in San Fran.


it's people are quirky. as a whole--not trendy, not sophisticated--just quirky. Eclectic.

the city is not as flamboyant as one might expect. admittedly, we're fairly conservative and didn't seek out the, I'm sure, readily available gay activities. but it just wasn't as "out there" as we'd thought.

the "Full House" theme song was in our head all weekend. I wonder if that happens to everyone?

climbing those famous hills can be likened to climbing a 14,000 foot mountain. except with oxygen-rich air, which was nice. loved it.

it's really cool to watch the gripmen manually turn the cable cars around at the end of the line.

i've now been in the Chicago Chinatown, the NYC one, the Seattle one, the Vancouver one, and now the "real" one--the San Francisco Chinatown. Loved it.

i love Irish pudding. and our waitress, who has lived in San Fran for two years, couldn't suggest anything cool for us to do. Seriously--does she get out??

i set foot in a Barneys. Actually, two feet, walked around a table, stood for a moment, and left. didn't love it.

Apparently we saw the Golden Gate Bridge. Supposedly we walked on it. Never really saw it, so I'll have to trust what I think I know. sounds a lot like life in general.

Fog is THICK in San Francisco. Crazy thick.

it's dirty. seriously--couldn't begin to count the amount of grayed, hardened gum pressed into the sidewalks.

Coit Tower is not worth the climb. and the bushes need trimming.

Lombard Street--the "Crookedest Street"--is awesome. i wish we'd driven it, but walking down it was cool. who comes up with this stuff? loved it.

I love being in major metropolitan areas. Denver really isn't one. This was close to like being in New York, with all nationalities around at all times. LOVED IT.


Side Note: Seriously, is Denver a city? I'm thinking not...it tries to be, but then it gets outdone by the neighboring Rocky Mountains.

it's cab drivers speak wonderful English. I know i risk sounding "haughty", but i travel a good deal, and it's rare to be able to communicate with ease to a cab driver.

i always thought it'd be fun to live in the city, frequent a diner, walk everywhere, take public transportation...oh wait! that's what we do when we travel! it's enlightening to "try out" the city lifestyle. we ate breakfast at a corner diner both mornings. small, crowded, busy--but great food! and loved it.

staring at our map and trying to find a cross street, suddenly i hear an Asian voice, "Can I help you with a location?" i looked DOWN (love it) to see a tiny little Asian woman, very eagerly staring up at me. "Can I help you find location?" she asked again. So, I let her help me find my location, even though I knew where to go. ah, the little things. loved it.


Warning: Self Critique Time. (or maybe you love it when I admit my faults....publicly...on the World Wide Web....) I loathe the fear that threatens to overcome me when i'm in a new situation with unknown surroundings. why do i fear the man walking toward me, just because he is wearing raggy clothes and has headphones on? just because he looks different than i do? he would probably feel just as uncomfortable if i picked him up and stuck him in the suburbs. why am i so fearful of people?? i hate this part of myself. i want to get past this, and see people as Jesus sees them.

in China town, we stumbled upon a large group of Chinese men in the park--gambling. it was awesome. loved it.

city buses--for some reason, they freaked us out. not the people or anything, but figuring out the schedule. once we did, it was great! you learn so much about a city by taking the bus. loved it.

we did experience one crazily flamboyant guy. he wore a huge pink feather through his ear, like an earring. cept it was a feather. the tip of it was stuck through his earring hole, but from the back, so the feathery part shot backwards from his earlobe. pink nail polish, ruffles on his shirt, pointy-toed shoes, loud cell phone call where he said, and i quote, "i'm so over throwing parties for heterosexuals. they just don't appreciate it. my life is so homo right now--those people know how to party!" i think the whole bus breathed a sigh of relief when he hung up the phone. the whole bus except for the woman he then sat by. she seemed a little tense. maybe it was the feather protruding from his ear that the woman's baby kept grabbing at. loved it? not sure.

it took me all weekend, but I finally admitted something to myself, and now to you ... I don't really like sourdough bread. *Gasp!*

you know how some people just can't not talk non-stop to babies? strangers' babies? one of those people got on the bus. she was a large woman, with loose facial skin and bright white hair. she literally wedged herself between an armrest and a small African American woman who's feet dangled off the bus seat above the floor. like mine. she shared the armrest with a grandpa who held his grandson. the large woman with loose skin revealed a beautiful beaming smile, and proceeded to make funny faces at the kid for the next 15 minutes. at first, i was like, "seriously? are you done yet? say hello, call him cute, and be done with it." but after a while, i realized that this lady just likes to bring joy wherever she goes. Sadly, I am not one of those people, but i am learning to appreciate those people. 15 minutes later, as she waddled off the bus, she spoke joyful words to each person she passed ... and left us all with a smile lingering on our faces. Except for the baby boy. he, by then, was crying. go figure.

smokers--everywhere. i forget how generally healthy denver is. seriously. smokers--everywhere.

I'll close with this ... I found HOPE in China town. If you know me (or even if you don't but you've read my blogs) you know that I'm always looking for things that say HOPE. I've looked for Chinese script before, but only found characters that said, "Success" or "Wealth". Well, off the main tourist drag, near the gambling men, I found a store that sold HOPE.



Loved it.

9 comments:

  1. I agree about the expectations of San Francisco! And the fog, holy cow! And the dirt. I did like the seals though. So, were you there for fun or work? Must be fun to travel for work when you do! Love you!

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  2. I think I should start riding the bus just to be amused. except for i'm terrified of figuring out bus schedules.

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  3. Also- you know how Paris Hilton coined the phrase, "Thats hott." (which I say sometimes just to sound like her) You could coin the phrase, "Loved it." Then alot of people would sound like you and be in violation of copyright laws. This is the ultimate Get-Rich-Quick scheme.

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  4. You should add the label "loved it" to this post. Ok, I'm done. Love you, RAisIN.

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  5. Thanks for the idea Mel! I'll look into that...and Jenn, this was just a quick get away--non-work related! and i forgot to put the sea lions in the blog....but....LOVED IT!

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  6. i've always wanted to go there...i've never been anywhere in california actually. you are such a great writer -- i love reading your blog entries!

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  7. I laughed, I cried, it moved me Kristin. (and dad too.)

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  8. You know something, this past week I spent in Seattle, I learned a lot about myself. Its easy to do when you've got on one else to talk to. Reading this blog, and some of the other things you've written, i've been reaffirmed in my fears that my problems with other people aren't them... Its me. I don't know how you saw me when we were in school, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't all roses and sunshine, and I know i did some pretty stupid things to the people I'm coming to to realize meant the most to me in my life. I've missed out on a lot of experiences because I've been afraid of being hurt again, when all this time I should have been looking into who i am and was and how it wasn't me that was being hurt it was me that was hurting. I've been blessed to have come across some of the most amazing people, and i've just thrown that blessing away for the most part, for my whole life.
    You are such an amazing person, with such oddly similar views on the world as i, and i'm in awe of who you've become. I don't know how much of my past expierences i'd change, except for how i treated people. But i can't live life regretting the things i've done, i can only use them to help me move forward and live a life i can be proud of.
    Thank you for being you, thank you for speaking your mind. Thank you for teaching me to be more open and receptive to things that are different.
    You are a rock, a small rock, but a rock none the less, and I hope God continues to smile on you and Erik!

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  9. When I moved there from Chicago I was pretty disappointed as well. Not a lot of things to do there not too mention how dirty it was. I did find the food there to be much better than Chicago. I guess I'll always be a Chicago girl at heart. If you want to see crazy you need to go there during the Bay to Breakers. It's like the Boulder to Boulder here but much more crazy. I've never seen so many naked men and women all in one place drinking and NOT getting arrested. Glad you found HOPE.

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