Why Yes! That IS toast in my pocket!

I have found a new breakfast place. Sorry Chow, you're out! Dotties True Blue cafe is now my favorite place. Its possibly the best breakfast I've ever had, and that's saying something!

the man is moving so fast!

This may look like your ordinary breakfast but it is not. The scrambled eggs were perfectly done and delicious. The home fried potatoes had some kind of tangy flavor to them. Neither needed salt pepper or ketchup! Bacon was cooked just as I like it and that toast is a buttermilk dill toast that the owner is famous for. They do all their own sweets like scones, breads, cinnamon rolls etc. I didn't have room left to try anything this time. I sat at the counter and was able to watch it all happen. Its a tiny place. Only seats forty people. There is a wait to get in as you can imagine but its worth any amount of time you stand outside. I was a single so I got seated before a whole line of people.  The kitchen is in the main room where we all are, so people at the counter are essentially looking over the cooks shoulder! What an artist he is. The second hand man helps with putting the eggs into the pans etc and toasts bread etc but otherwise this one guy ( I think he was the owner) does all the cooking.
The specials board had about 10 things on it! The menu is pretty small, that must be why. But everything on the menu includes one of everything it seemed like. I skipped the pancakes and french toast but that will be next. The scrambles with veg looked good too!
I've got to say, it is my favorite. I couldnt' finish the toast but it was too good to leave behind so I took it home in my pocket. I'm becoming one of those crazy people who carries food home in their pockets. I did that with my panini sandwich yesterday too. I wanted to have the ice cream before the sandwich. Priorities, hello!

Dressed in the Dark

This morning (at 4:30am) I got dressed. (yes, we're all glad I did that...I know) when I walked out into the hall to head down the stairs I realized I'd put my shirt on inside out. Whoops! Its hard to do it right in the dark?! haha

This afternoon on my way home I got stuck on the T Train (seriously SF why bother with it?!) we were all required to get off the train at the Embarcadero Station because another Muni train was stuck there and our train had to push/pull the other train out of the tunnel. It was pretty neat actually. I went upstairs and watched from above, everyone else just stood on the platform waiting to get onto the trains again...seriously. They had a bus waiting up on the street to take people down Market but no one budged. They apparently had high hopes they'd be able to get on one of the two trains and keep moving.
I will say its a little nerve wracking to see the men jump up and down and between the trains etc. You just visualize every horror movie involving someone getting squished. Yikes!
After a while I got bored and went up to Market and caught the #2 bus. (#2~get it) that bus goes right by the hostel so i was home in no time. I did find, however, that I've not walked all the way down Sutter street to Market so I must do that, there is alot of things to be discovered in that area.
The rest of my day was pretty boring. I took a shower, fell asleep for 3 hours and then grabbed some dinner.

My boss Brian and his wife Jolie have decided I could stay in their garage until I find a home. I'm really glad they offered. It will save me money big time and its in a great "foodie" neighborhood too! So I'll come back from Idaho with a place to be for a little bit. It originally started out as house sitting for 4 days in May then they talked about it a bit more and said why not stay longer and save that money to go toward a rental.

Tomorrow I'm off to explore Dotties True Blue Cafe. I saw the locals lined up down the block to get in there so I'm going to go wait in line and see what all the fuss is about.

Oh, one more important thing!! I stopped by Mr and Mrs Miscellaneous on my way back to the hostel. I had their Caramel with Sea Salt Ice Cream. Oh man was it good! I sampled their carrot cake too and it was also good but the caramel won me over!

Winery Snob?

Yesterday afternoon I was able to attend an event at a winery in Sonoma. Its called Benziger. They hosted many people from the industry and catered with a few local caterers etc. It was really a beautiful set up. When I used to dream of party planning on that scale it would have been an event I'd like to have done.

I went along with one of the owners of my company, Jolie. She was great, I'd never really met her last year and we only communicated by email so it was nice to meet her finally! We both did less mingling and more EATING than anything else. Yes we had a sip of wine but the food was out of this world and after a while it became obvious that both of us were foodies. Funny!

They had these brick oven pizzas with slivers of asparagus, some with wild mushrooms, a Margherita pizza with fresh local cheeses. I had a puff pastry cup filled with finely chopped vegetables and topped with an almond lavender cream sauce. Wow! Cucumbers carved into little cups with fresh raw fish in them. That one was served with a strawberry gazpacho. It was great. All of it. The wine was good too. I like their Pinot Noir the best. They had a table full of cheeses that complimented all the wines and a rissoto being cooked up while we stood there, it had wild mushrooms in it too. And a basil cream sauce.

Ooh and they had chocolate truffles in the cave. They have this really long cave that they do events in. Its wide enough for a full table room to move around it and there is a tasting center in there too, a small one.
Needless to say, I'm glad I went. Not just for the food and wine but also because I'll be leading a tour there before I know it (if I ever stop being a chicken) and I take the guests there for a tram tour.

Other than that yesterday wasn't too bad. I got up early for work and when I got off work I realized I wouldn't have enough time to go back to the hostel to get ready to leave the city so I went upstairs to the office storage room also known as Karen's Closet and got entirely dressed with accessories and fixed my hair up! I'm good. Who says you can't get ready in a dirty old storage room and come out looking like a million bucks! Ha!

Right now I'm sitting in the office and can't upload the photos I took last night at Benziger. I will later today. I get all packed up tonight and head to Idaho tomorrow. I can't wait (don't tell anyone I said that) I'm ready for a little break from hostel living. Its about to become hostile living :) haha.

The owners of this company offered to let me house sit for them for a few days and that will be nice. They have a huge garage area and I told them that was all I needed. As long as I could come up and shower etc. The only problem with that is that they don't work as early as I do in the morning so I'd be waking them up alot. I'll keep looking but it was a nice offer.

Bar-b-que for the Blues

Barbeque beef brisket!

I finally made it to Memphis Minnies on lower Haight. It was amazing. I had the smoked Beef Brisket. Wow! Melt in your mouth, I couldn't get enough! And they have 4 types of sauces to choose from for your sandwich and they were all amazing as well. I'm keeping that one on the top of my list!

thats the top of a trash can

I had a 2 day Yosemite tour this past weekend. As for tours it was great, small group, they all got along great and they were into my "winging it=adventure" theme. Seems to work for me. We picnic'd under El Capitan and did some new hikes this time around. We went to the Giant Sequoia grove and it was still under a lot of snow. They had cleared the road but not the trails yet so it was over solid snow we walked in a few parts. But all in good fun, at least we could see them! I actually got to touch one this time. When you walk on the tram road instead of the trail you are much closer to none fenced in trees so I have my picture with one.

We got back yesterday evening pretty early (for me) and I drove my last passenger down to the Bay Bridge for some night shots. He was very grateful as he won't get to do that tonight. I didn't mind as I was sleeping at the office last night anyways, no rush to get there ya know?!

Italian for YUMMY

When I woke up this morning Jessa said a van needed to be returned downtown so I volunteered. That was I could get my bags to the new hostel and store them until I could check in. It worked out great! It was pouring rain today so the "killing time" thing wasn't very much fun. I did a bit of exploring and then sat at a coffee shop in Union Square and it turns out they have the pastry's I've been searching for ever since I returned from Europe. I am so excited. The bakery is in Larkspur and I'm going there to find out the secret to the custard stuff inside! It will likely be as exciting as "secret ingredient" pancakes that are just buttermilk pancakes after all :)
From the coffee shop I decided to go to the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and see the Balenciaga exhibit. After much hassle to finally get there I discovered they were closed! Really sad! I was not in the mood for much by then so I decided it was high time I go try some barbeque at Memphis Minnies. I had to ride the bus right by it anyways so why not give it a whirl!
Barbeque always makes me feel better! haha Then I chased it with a "teensy" sized gourmet ice cream from 3 Twins on Fillmore.
That is how you kill time before check in. Now I've had a shower and a snooze and I'm ready to get walking again. Not sure where this time but when do I ever know where I'll wander?!

Conservatory of Flowers

Tonight I'm meeting one of my guests, Fiona, for a drink. She is staying at the same hostel as I am. She's visiting from Australia. Should be fun.
I'm sitting in the hostel computer nerd zone and we're all discussing which wireless network we're using. Its quite an ordeal. I can't talk as I'm sitting here too but I figured it out a while ago so I'm smarter than they are...haha.

The fountain from the 1906 quake

Operation "Hotcakes" complete

I slept in a bit today! It was great! About 6am I sat up in bed trying to remember if I missed my trip or not, then went back to sleep for a bit longer.
I had pancakes on my mind and I know they don't serve those past a certain time of morning so I was ready to get rolling around 8am.
I decided to take my chances and walk straight down Jones from the hostel today. That puts me smack in the middle of the Tenderloin. I figured I could manage it alright and I've walked through there a few times before without too much trouble so off I went.
At one point a came to a corner where alot of the local color were hanging out (must have been near a shelter or something) and a man tries to strike up a conversation with me, which I ignored because you never know what will happen if you stop. He hollers after me that my purse is unzipped! Throughout the entire trip it had been open. whoops! I kept walking but turned and smiled in thanks to him. Phew! Lucky morning.

When I got to Market St the next public transportation was the F Train again, I like those. I got off right near Church St and was only feet from Chow!
This morning I sat at the bar in the hopes I could convince the lady behind the counter to give up the pancake recipe to me but she did even better...she pulled out the recipe binder! Turns out there is nothing special about those AMAZING pancakes! They are just buttermilk pancakes. Huh!
After a good breakfast I caught the buses up to Upper Haight to do some shopping at the thrift stores and just have a look around. Turns out nothing up there is open before 11am and the only people about are the hippie beggar kids on the street. These kids are different than the others, they're a little more rude and in your face and they are my age, usually younger so its harder to just walk by them. Though I do now with no trouble.
I stumbled onto another goodwill in the Haight. I didn't notice it before. It was great!! Not a single chubby person had been in there before me so I found tons of pants in my size and shirts etc. I bought jeans today. 4 pair for 30 dollars. Some really nice expensive ones. What a bargain.
When I came out of Goodwill there was a funeral procession crossing the street (either that or something for easter coming up?!) It was amazing to see everyone react to that. All respectful and quiet, even the street people paid attention. That was nice.

I stopped in a new eating place today. It gets a very high rating from me!! The place is called Parada 22, its Puerto Rican food. Amazing! Everything on my plate deserved a bite and a savoring. It was so good I hated to finish it!

That is red beans, spanish rice, salad with light yummy dressing and fried sweet plantains, then that big pile of food is a chicken breast smothered in peppers olives and ham, Wow!!

I am now sitting here studying my trail maps of the Hetch Hetchy area of Yosemite. I'm going to do some trails there with my peeps this weekend. We'll see what kind of hikers they are. I only have 5 people so we can do whatever we want! Yeah!

Tonight I get packed up and ready to get to the office with everything I own. The trick is to get my overnight bag items near the top of the big bag so I can throw it in a small backpack and be ready to go. I discovered that the OWL buses run early and late on weekends same as week days. Thank goodness! I wasn't sure how that was going to look! I did figure out that I can catch a ride into the city with the Yosemite driver (or Muir Woods-then i can sleep in...on the office floor not sure that matters) and I can skip public transportation on Monday morning. See, I'm so smart! I just bought 10 pounds of new jeans, now I get to carry them around on my back :) I'm awesome like that.

Do the Goodwill Sift

After I got off work today I headed back to the Thai place to have my favorite soup (for Lunch and Dinner! Portions are huge!) Powell Cable Car and Union Square were packed today! People everywhere, it really does come and go by the day of the week.
I dropped my stuff off at the hostel so I could lighten my load and decided to do a shopping preview of the Goodwill on Mission and S. Van Ness. Its a huge place and when you walk in you are greeted with a sea of clothes. And this goodwill is host to so many kinds of people and so many people in general that they don't bother to organize the clothes by size, it's just a free fer all. No joke. Shirts dresses, pants! You just have to start at one end and work your way through them. It's really annoying. But after having spent some time sifting I can see why. People in California have this terrible habit of being pigs and they throw their unwanted stuff onto any hook in any place, if it will hang they'll put it there. I mean, seriously?!

The dressing room attendant has to monitor how many things you bring into your room and also if they all have their tags on. My first dressing room, I discovered someone had spit on the floor...because that's okay here.
The amount of tolerance in this city is really a pity?! People have gotten away with so much it seems no big deal to not take care of anything or any place. I don't really find that encouraging about humanity. They have full time security in the store and the bums can come in and sift through everything as they please (I mean it is a store, they are allowed in...) I had just had my fill of crazy today and was not in the mood to be shuffled around by a homeless lady seemingly interested in every rack I was looking through. Sheesh!
This morning (at 5AM~who's in ANY mood at that time??!) an absolutely bat sh*t crazy lady got on the bus and proceeded to yell, using all of her personalities, out into the bus until she finally got off. It was a bit much. People don't even flinch. You know I sound so snobby about that but I bet if that happened in Idaho people would be so shocked they'd do nothing as well. The driver didn't even look up to see what she was doing (she was moving around the bus, sharing the love, or satan, either one?!)
The other crazy was at the biodiesel station today. A couple of crazy people who turned out to be quite a pair were trying to fuel, but the ycoudn't seem to teh car in just the right spot, then they had to play with the lock and unlock of the fuel door. Then they had to debate with us about whether the government was monitoring their fueling. It was pretty wild. I thought at first that there was a homeless man trying to direct this lady in her car to the appropriate fuel pump...turns out they were together. It was a good start to that transaction!

Anyways back to Goodwill, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Goodwill wasn't very expensive and the clothes are pretty high end. I found some cheap scarves and a couple of tops and then got out of there.
I had to ride MUNI back up Market to Powell so I hopped onto an F Train which are the old fashioned street cars. It was so fantastic! This specific car was from Philadelphia and was made in 1938. I'm going to ride it again, they are so neat! Very smooth ride too!
On my way home I stopped into Foley's for a pint of Guiness and had it served to me by an Irishman of all people. Now, whether he was genuine or not I don't know but he knew how to pour a Guiness and was very nice.
By this time I've had my dinner and will likely party poop out. I have tomorrow off and I'm on a pancake quest in the morning! Time to hit Chow for my favorite hotcakes!
I got a call from Jordan and he wanted me to do his wine country tour tomorrow, ugh. I said no. What a wimp I am! This tour is the one that includes Benziger and Napa, two places I've not been yet.

At any rate, after trying on clothes that didn't fit still (too fat~I"m walking but not walking my ass off apparently) and being bombarded with crazy and turning down a paying job I SHOULD be able to handle AND having a really lonely pint at the local, I'm feeling pretty blue.
This may be the loneliest summer yet...last year was pretty miserable but at least I had my guests to keep me company. I'm having a serious bout of "I'm feeling sorry for myself" today.

Thank goodness I'm working and have a roof over my head and am in a beautiful sunny city (sunny today! Gorgeous!) see its not so bad. Its just alot of solo time which I'm sick of but too tired to do anything about. Its after 8pm right now and all I can think of is going to bed and sleeping until pancake time! There is a hostel pub crawl tonight which I SHOULD be joining but I'm not sure how much fun I'll be.

On a scale of one to fun, I'll be none!

Ha!

I just got an email from Joe, our station manager, and AT&T is hiring staff to be in a commercial featuring a biodiesel station. $600 per person for the day. I think they are shooting Sunday and I'll be in Yosemite :( wah! But I'm going to the station tomorrow to see what they are all about. Isn't this place funny?!

Oh and another thing...bands I listened to today that you should check out. One local one and others from Jessa my very talented coworker.
Her band is Sugar Shakers (no cd on ITunes I think) Birdmonster~they are really good. Zach is the drummer, he works at Inc Ad. Edward Sharpe, whom I really like. And the Tallest Man on Earth (or something like that) they were all on YouTube for a spot on NPR if you youtube them. Fun! I told the group at Inc Ad that i was the talentless one and they all decided I'm a good story teller so that counts for something! Most of them are in bands or sing or perform. Yeah us!

Trim the Fringe

No matter how I said it it would be funny to someone so there you have it.

I successfully trimmed my bangs...fringe for the English. I did it and I don't look insane or bald! Yippee!!

In the meantime I've done laundry! Now what to do?! Celebrate with a nap!

Today was "name things" day. The van #8 we drive I call him the Big Guy or Ocho as he's numero ocho. Jessa was tagged as Captain Awesome of Team Awesome. The office is now called the Cuckoo's Nest. As opposed to the managers office which is Eagles Nest. Isn't it fun. The name game!

Phew!

Morning Run Through Union Square

I realized at 4:45am this morning I wouldn't make my bus if i didn't hustle to the bus stop. I am still not sure how long it is between buses so the earlier the better (plus that leaves time for breakfast and a calming period before the office mayhem starts.)
So out I ran onto the street and decided I really had better run...I'm of course in flip flops because the weather has been so nice and I didn't have time to change shoes.
I ran about two blocks before I realized how hard it was to actually run in flip flops...you're trying really hard to keep them on your feet. I think running in high heels is easier (though more painful). Needless to say I was running out of time and had to keep running so at the corner of Union Square I decided to risk it and take off my flip flops and run across the square.
I passed a man walking and I'm sure he was very curious about the slap slap slap echoing across the square as my bare feet were slapping the pavement as I ran.
But I made it!
They do wash the sidewalks in the square so I know most of you grimaced but its okay. I don't usually go barefoot in the city (any city, especially this one) but it was necessary today.

Once Jessa and I got rolling this morning we realized we needed to take the rental van back to the lot and since I'm the one with the license I got volunteered to do it. I didn't mind though because it was a gas van instead of diesel and they have way more pick up power. It was really a fun trip. I drove one of those last summer for my overland tours so it was a joy ride really.

I took a few buses back to work and we were off and running. My Yosemite 2 Day tour was confirmed today so I'll be going Saturday and Sunday to the park. I'm excited. A small group is easy to manage and it will be a good chance to hike some longer trails, I haven't had much of a chance to do that yet. The 1 Day tours are just too much to include hiking. 8+ hours of driving in one day is hard work!

I also heard from one of the groups looking for a roommate, they are having an open house so that potential renters can meet them, see the place and basically be interviewed by the group of people living there. Its a bit like online dating.
I hope to hear from some of the others soon. I haven't had a chance to get through all of the listings for today yet.
I had hoped to eat lunch at the hostel and work on it but they are working on the whole place downstairs and I can't get my food out, its pretty annoying! So I'll sit here for a bit and unwind and then go find a slice of pizza or something.

I have another early shift tomorrow and then I'm off Friday which will be nice. I'm supposed to move out of the hostel this weekend and into another one. I have to figure out how to do that. I think I'll take all my stuff to the office and leave it until I get back Sunday, then I'll sleep at the office that night and go get checked in on Monday morning (I'm off that day, which will be nice)
Tuesday night I get to go to the Spring Fling at Benziger winery in Sonoma. The owners wife Jolie (also owner) is going up with me and hopefully Jessa. Its their open house and it will be good to see it since I'm headed there after I get back from Idaho.
So for now I guess the adventure is done for the day. I waited for the train in the rain on the plain today. Not a big deal, its kind of a misty rain so its not too bad. I of course chose to leave my coat at the hostel since I usually just carry it around anyways, it figures :) at least this time I didn't watch the train go by as I approached the station. That is my usual.

Office Blues

Porter Creek Winery

I have an office job. (I'm training at the tour office) its bringin me down man! I hate it (not the job specifically, just being inside in a little windowless office)! I do it all of this week and part of next as well. My poor trainer Jessa was having a hard time letting me "drive" today. She is very thorough and efficient and its hard to sit back and watch me struggle. She is very nice about it though, not a jerk. I'm really glad! 


I'm still on stand by trips for the time being. Meaning if one van fills I drive the second. 

Bay Bridge

I am hoping to get out of this rut...aren't we all in one these days?? I just can't seem to go do anything. I have all afternoon off and I don't even leave the hostel. I should be searching out new food or drink?! Nightlife? Boogie?! (like boogie down, not booger in your nose)

I need to pick out one thing on my to do list and go and do it. That would help, like a schedule of fun?! Is that sad or what? 

I started looking for places to live. Its not easy. Tons of places all with major write ups so you know them and then you email and tell them about you etc. Yikes! Its like online dating! 

I'm also starting to feel that I've been abandoned by my friends, its the "life goes on" thing I have to readjust to. 

On my way home today I made a few stops...speaking of trying new food. I did actually do that today. I swung into Mr and Mrs for ice cream today and the owner was there so I chatted to him about his Ballpark flavor. He had Beer and Peanuts today. It was really good...beer and ice cream are both good but together they are GREAT! I added a scoop of home made hot fudge. 

Cheese glorious cheese!

I chose to get off the train before it went underground (in case of earthquake again) and I walked along the Embarcadero. Its really nice over there, that was near Folsom Street, south of Market (SOMA) From there I wandered into the ferry building and found the Pork Store (Boccalone) home of the meat cone. Yeah! I bought one and ate it and promptly went back and ordered some slices of my favorite one. Called Capocollo. Thinly sliced, similar to the cured meats they have in Spain (yum!) after that I wandered next door to the cheese store! And they let me sample some cheeses. I bought three slivers of cheese. I have to google them to see where they are from. But seriously have I EVER met a cheese I didn't like?! 

As I said before I worked on apartment hunting this afternoon once I got home. I had laundry plans but they were waxing the floor or something...I'm getting dangerously low on the essentials...

My home away from home (the office)

One man was renting his yacht out for two months while he was away. I'm anxious to see if I hear from him. He was not charging much and I'd love to live on a yacht for a few months!  

One of the Irish girls told me she got up early on Monday to go to the memorial of the 1906 earthquake, that happened April 18th. I hadn't realized it was that day. She said people gather at the fountain where the original survivors gathered to collect their friends and family. I have to google it and see what the name of the fountain was, she didn't remember...she didn't make it there...ironic that an earthquake big enough for the city to feel happened that same day. 

I talked to the people at the office and they had felt the earthquake as well, which meant I didn't feel it because I was on a moving train! Scary! People think I'm so funny but when the big one hits this city will fall apart. The old buildings the trains the bridges etc. and then their will be chaos on the streets. I mean, don't forget, crazy people get bused here from other states (ha! My uncle calls it the land of fruits and nuts) More nuts that fruits in my opinion. 

Well I've rambled on enough...now to work on my schedule of fun things to do each day. Oh and study my wine country maps and wineries...I've got stand by tours coming up and still not a clue what I'm doing there. :) 

A Pint with the Irish

I just got back from having a couple of pints (Hoegaarden~white beer from Belgium, yummy!) with the Irish lasses from my hostel. They are so great, they leave tomorrow, I'm so bummed! We were at the Tunnel Top Bar for their happy hour, 3 dollar pints! So cheap! Then we walked up to Sam Wo's for some chinese food. Oh man is that stuff good! We had Chow Fun with Beef and Brocolli, Chow Mein, Kung Pao, Mongolian Beef and Shrimp Fried Rice. All for 30 dollars. can  you believe it?! And we were all stuffed. That was 4 of us girls and their friend Todd who lives in Berkeley and came to join us. I didn't get photos of the food as we were all eating it too fast!

Sunday I had a trip to Yosemite. Those are easy for me now except the pick ups. I did alright but still got out of town late. I'm learning now how to adjust what we do so that we can get to the valley quicker. I'm learning!!

I've stopped taking photos in the park too, which seems weird to me. I'm usually trying to nap while I'm there so that I can handle the drive back home. Its 4 hours each way so it's alot of driving. I should be snapping photos of and dating the Yosemite Falls. Its been changing every time I see it. More water, less water, its absolutely beautiful right now!

The girls and Todd at Tunnel Top

This week I have a pretty mellow schedule. Early mornings but only office work. I hope to have a Y2 this weekend. Thats an overnight hotel trip to the park. Yeah!

Oh the news! Today I chose to walk to the T train from the office by way of the Just for You cafe on 22nd. I stopped in to see about a menu to go but ended up sitting down for lunch. I told the man I had heard of but never had a Beignet. So he brought me one to try for free! Hot out of the oil they are basically a doughnut with powedered sugar but when served hot they are really tasty! I had some fish tacos as well. Yum!

On the way into the city we stopped at the Montgomery station and we sat and waited and waited and finally the driver said "I can't go for a while as there was an earthquake earlier and the lines were messed up" now whether he meant the actual lines of the electricity or something I don't know but either way I hustled off the train and got back up above ground!! I mean whoa! Forget about it, this city is too scary to have a big quake! I do not want to be here when the big one hits this city!!

Muir Woods Wine Country Adventure

Okay I goofed! Haven't written in two days and have had epic days to write about!

I was scheduled for a Muir Woods Wine Country tour (stand by) this coming Sunday and I kept telling Brian I wanted to train a bit more before I headed to wine country. Its a very intimidating place! Tons of winerys all call ahead and some that don't take groups, so then you have to find the ones that will take you but remember to watch the clock as they close early and you have to be back in the city at a certain time. All elements of tour guiding I suck at...its a bit scary! And my mellow boss Brian just says, "you'll be fine Karebear" he calls me Karebear. So Friday I went with Tom to shadow his tour and take good notes (and sample wine! Yummy!) and I kept saying I wanted to go back today (Saturday) and see it again, possibly drive. Tom was willing to do that and ended up gathering people to go with us today. More on that in a minute.

Missing tower in the fog

Kastania barrels

View from Paradise Ridg

Meeker is in an old bank. Pretty cool!

Meeker Tasting-Geyserville

Any idea why such a big crack?!

Party Bus

Tom and I drove out of the city and into Muir Woods first to drop the group off for a bit of hiking and Tom took me to Muir Beach and an overlook to the Pacific, it was great! No wind and sunny out, what a beautiful day! After that we scooped up our group and headed to Sonoma area for a wine tasting before lunch, oof!! 10 wines on their tasting list, its alot of wine. We had a great group too so we enjoyed our visit to Homewood Winery first. Then Tom and I had lunch in Sonoma Square at a place called Maya, really pretty presentation, delicious food!! He showed me the free cheese sampling and fudge counter! Yummy!!
After that we went to a winery called Kaz which grows alot of unique and unsual grapes so I didn't like any of their selections, neither did the group, then we went to a place called Paradise Ridge...oh my gosh. All the wines (all 8) were so good!
You have to really be ready to drink alot of wine on these days (not as a driver of course) the pours are many and generous. Its easy to drink alot before you've even had an official glass of wine.
After Paradise Ridge we headed back to the city. It was a great day. Tom is really charming and the group loved him, he knows alot of things for sure!
I got back to the hostel and got changed and relaxed a bit then headed back out to go see Jessa and her band play at a place called the Bazaar Cafe. I left in plenty of time but couldn't catch a bus and then caught it and it took 30 minutes to get to the street I needed so I missed all of her set but the last song. Pretty sad! The people at the cafe were all really cool people. Definitely a certain group. All laid back, all familiar with each other and the bands. I enjoyed myself and had an amazing grilled cheese sandwich on rye bread!(when do I hate cheese?? never!!) and then I headed home. I'd had a long day and an even longer night with that stupid bus ride. Going nearly 30 blocks and stopping every other street gets really annoying I will say!!

At midnight Tom text me to say he didn't know the plan for Saturday (today) then at 8am he text again to say he'd figured it out and would pick me up at 10:15am. Well! I got up and got going, my Irish lasses got up and we all walked to coffee at Bellini at Union square and then I ran back up the hill to meet Tom at my hostel. He had gotten permission to drive a work van and had a bunch of people with him so that was a surprise!
So that brings me up to today! What an amazing day! The weather was so fantastic this morning! I had a nice leisurely morning and then got in the van to discover Paul, Mitch and Susan. We picked up Alice on the way out of the city. My drinking buddies for the day. All tour guides and all around my age. They all rarely get a chance to go to wine country and sample the wines so today was a treat for them.
Mitch has been visiting wineries for years now so he knew where to take us. They were treating this as my additional training, which was fun. They all had notes for me, it was hard to keep up!
We stopped at Kastania first. Owned not by the Kastanians but by the Smiths! They were great fun, really nice people! I can't wait to go back there. They showed us their barrel room which was cool, pretty sterile and modern but it's neat to see the wine in its various stages. I should mention that all the wineries I've mentioned so far have all been small enough that they don't distribute to anyone. You have to buy the wines at the tasting rooms. They are limited in quantity and by the year so when you find a good one you have to either drink it straight away or sit on it for 6 months. Its very interesting! I have SO MUCH to learn!
After Kastania we headed north to who knows where! I still have no idea where we were. All the guides know the back roads so i was trying to follow along to the other wineries, it wasn't easy!
We grabbed lunch at Whole Foods in Santa Rosa (a picnic lunch) then headed to Paradise Ridge. We went to the actual winery instead of the tasting room this time~beautiful grounds and you're surrounded by the vines that you enjoy in their tasting. Its a really cool experience!
I didn't enjoy the tasting as much today. partly because I'd just eaten a funny tasting lunch. You really have to be careful what you eat and when. I had the most AMAZING smoked fish for lunch and of course you have that oily fish in your mouth which ruins some wines!!
After Paradise Ridge we headed to Potters Creek which has a tiny little tasting room but beautiful scenery. Mitch had some wine waiting for him there so while we waited to get that sorted we tasted the wines. It was not good, not my favorite :) we headed to Meeker in Geyserville. They had some great reds.
This was where it got really fun! What a fun group first of all! All wine drinkers all funny and loud. We opened bottles on the road home ( Paul was our sober driver so we could have fun) so the fun came in pouring wine in a bumpy van on the freeway. Then it was talking and singing. Tom was a radio DJ so he has great music for the road! We were having such a good time. It was really fun. I will say it's been so nice to have friends here already and to meet people who like to have fun. Bogus was all young people but they all went their separate ways at the end of the day, that was a bummer actually.
Paul dropped us at each others apartments and we all went in and had a look, which was fun. Talk about amazing places to live! With a roommate it would be great fun to live in a place like these for sure!

I forgot to mention that after all that "learning" I did today I ultimately decided to chicken out and switch tours with Mitch so he is actually doing the Muir Woods Wine Country and I'm doing his Yosemite 1 Day tour.
I'm so glad! I was really panicking about the whole thing! It is just more than I thought I could handle. And certainly I could do it and struggle and the guests would have been fine but I don't like going into it blind really. So I'm doing Yosemite. And I found out today that Andy and his climbing buddies are down from their El Capitan climb so I can meet up with them tomorrow afternoon which will be fun! I can't wait to hear all about it!

The group is supposed to be going out tonight and I wanted to meet up with them but I'm thinking now I better study my hotels etc. I have 6 pick ups and those are my most stressful part of the day! I hate hotel pickups. I wish we could ask them to go to a central place! But that would be TOO easy! :) and when I know the hotels better it won't matter as much I know. Right now its a bit of a struggle.

My Irish aren't home yet, they must have had a great day out. They invited me along and I would have loved to go along with them. Tom said today that I should have invited them along, they would have had a great time for sure too! Bummer! They were going to GG Park and the the Haight for shopping and all sorts of fun city things. The weather was supposed to be great too.

A big shock when we got back to the bay was that the fog  had rolled in!! You know what that means? First fog of summer! Though the people all insisted that we don't get full time fog until July it's still a shock to see it today. I took photos from the van as we crossed Golden Gate Bridge, the second tower was buried in fog!

Okay I officially hate the photo upload on this blog!! It used to be I could place them and type around them, what happened?! I also didn't intend to put that many photos on here at once but there you have it. Photo review before the text but you'll figure it out!
I have to go study my hotel route for tomorrow so I'll finish this up!

Yosemite 1 The day that wouldn't end

From here on out I'm going to number the trips so I can remember how many I did throughout the summer. It is now Thursday April 14th. I'm finally sitting down to write out what's been happening. I hate doing the catch up because it gets fuzzier as I get further from the events but yesterday was too big to forget really!
I had a 1 Day Yosemite trip to lead. I sort of knew the routine. Get up early, pick up the van, pick up the people, drive to park, drive home.

I got up Wednesday morning and walked to the bus stop only to realize I'd missed the 5am bus, so I had to wait for another one which was 20 minutes down the road. Ugh! So much for a leisurely start to my day. ( I had planned to go in early and eat breakfast and relax) So I got on the bus and go to my stop without too much trouble and walked up to the office.

I was to take Van #9, big red. It needed fuel, which I already knew. I assumed since Zach was coming in at 5:45am I'd have access to the pumps and get myself set up for the day. So I waited and waited and waited and no Zach! After a little while I decided he may not be coming and how do I get fuel?? I had only seen Jessa do the opening rounds once and not committed the alarm to memory yet. So I started texting and calling the managers so I could get into the building to turn the pumps on...By this time I knew that I'd have to hurry up so I'm finally fueling, trying to clean up the van which was filthy and getting my log book set up etc. At this point I remember I have to do my pre trip inspection! Wow, been a while! And I didn't have paper towels and where was the old check (in the dark)
I'm supposed to pick up my first guests at 6:30am. Its now 6:25am and I'm just pulling out of the station. Wow!

I had mapped out my stops the night before (part of why I didn't fully blog) so I knew roughly where I was headed. And at that hour the city is still pretty quiet with traffic so I made good time!

From the moment I picked my guests up the trip went smoothly! I got them to Yosemite and we saw the great views and then I dropped them off and they explored. I got to go see Andy and his friends. They were getting ready to climb El Capitan. They went up today in fact and will come back down and sleep then commit for the next few days! I can't wait to hear how it went!
They were a little surprised to see me in their camp too, it was pretty funny. I just asked the ranger if she'd checked in any boys from Idaho and she had and she remember which camp site too so off I went. You should have seen the gear they had, wow!! I can't imagine doing that climb, pretty amazing!

I went to the Awahnee Hotel because it had started to snow really hard and I thought sitting by the fireplace would be a good relaxing thing to do. All the fires were lit and the place was toasty for sure but there was a crew of people working on the outside of the great hall with jackhammers. No joke, it was so loud! The great hall echos as it is so having that noise bouncing around in there only intensified the whole experience. I was too tired and cold at that point to care so I sat down on the couch by the fire and fell fast asleep. I slept for about an hour, I couldn't believe it!

This post has gotten really long and  I haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet!

I'll fast forward, now its late and I am tired! Plus my new darling roommates are here and are so funny I don't want to miss anything. All three from Ireland. Counties Cork and Kerry.

I got the passengers dropped off without any trouble and was back to the office by 10:30pm. About that time I was really wondering if I should even bother to go back to the hostel. By the time I got there I'd be getting up and turning around to come back to work (why not sleep at the office). I was scheduled to work at 5:45am. I decided to go and try to catch the bus. I went to the bus stop and waited a bit, then decided to look up on my phone the stop ID so I could see when the bus was coming. About that time the T Train came by and I was busy looking at my phone and monitoring the man in the dark beside me, thinking I'd catch the next train. About that time I discovered there would be no buses, that was a little disheartening. Then I got up on the train platform and realized the next train was not for another 40 minutes. Oh man! By that time I decided just to forget the whole thing, frustration and loneliness had set in and I walked back up to the office, went upstairs and made a bed on the floor. I had my sleeping bag there and all the camping stuff was stored there so I had sleeping pads etc. Not that it mattered I fell asleep straight away once i laid down! Phew! What a long day. That was about midnight.
This morning I woke up about 6am. Brian was already downstairs hard at work. I didn't hear him come in the office below and turn off the alarm. So I went to work learning how to put reservations into the computer, which was a challenge because I had to fight to stay awake, luckily Brian does impressions and accents and he entertained me most of the day.
Tomorrow (in a few short hours now) I'm off to shadow a driver to Muir Woods and Wine Country because I'll be leading the tour on Sunday by myself! Trial by fire!!

Shall we away to the Pirate Cat Radio Cafe?

Bacon Bits as garnish!

That is the radio booth

Silly I know but it was worth the rhyme, also worth the walk. I went on a quest today for a Maple Bacon Latte. Apparently featured on a travel show, recommended by my friend Chris. Let me just tell you how awesome it was! First of all when is Bacon EVER bad?! This drink is made with bacon grease that is heated up along with the milk and maple syrup. Then added to the coffee, foam on top and bacon bits to garnish. Its so disgusting sounding but so good! I mean, the bacon grease turns back into its yummy liquid form and the whole drink melts in your mouth. Wow! I took the 48 to get there and walked up the few blocks. Its a little place on the corner of no and where but you walk in and their broadcasting on the radio and a nice man comes out of the booth into the coffee shop half of the place and makes you a drink. The Maple Bacon isn't the only unusual drink there, I will be back to try others but that was my mission today.
Its getting too late and I have to be up at 4:25 am to catch the bus to the office to pick up my van for a day trip to Yosemite so I'll type the rest out and edit this tomorrow. What a fun day I had!

Pirate Cat, Aargh!

Running for the train

Yep, out of the starting gates I'm running for the train. No joke. I was up early and took my time eating breakfast. Wandered down the street to a Walgreens so I could buy a Clipper card and then on to the train station.
I heard the train coming through and sure enough it was my train!! So off I ran to catch up to it at the other end of the platform. Made it just in time! I didn't want to wait twenty minutes for the next train. Those tunnels are hot and stuffy.

The train was packed too. All the morning commuters on their way to work in the financial district - at the Montgomery stop they all exited.

I walked into work with time to spare, they all thought it was because I was so excited to be there! I just nodded because if I'd have missed that train first thing I'd have been 15 minutes late!

I sat in on a Marketing meeting with the group since I was so early and then sat with Brian to train on the phones and reservations system they use. Should be okay. Once I start the camping trips I'll have a guaranteed departure each week and then fill the other days with the easy one day trips and office work. It will be good to know the whole operation I think! Not sure why they wanted to train me to do that but I'll take the hours for sure! Not many of the guides currently do any office work, but it appears this year they had a lot of the old school come back. I don't see any other overland guides returning this year. I got lucky I think!

My day of work was done at 1pm so I wandered off down the road to find a snack before lunch and of course in doing that missed the train! So I walked slowly past Mr and Mrs (kept walking) and sat at the train stop and watched the cars go by.

Once I made it back to Powell St I headed to a really great little tiny place I know about and had a yummy curry noodle soup! Oh man it was so good! I love that stuff! It comes in a huge bowl so I'm having left overs for dinner tonight too! Yummy!! This restaurant is easy to miss. It's right on Powell Street which is really busy with tourists anyways but you go into a door and down a narrow hall and your into a little restaurant. I sat by myself and ordered what I'd been craving and shortly out it came to me. I started eating it with a fork, they gave me a spoon too...I didn't know what to do with that. Then a waitress noticed I was struggling and I gave her permission to dig into the bowl and show me the proper way to do it! Magic! Chopsticks and spoon and your all set! What a great meal! I love curry! And it's so cheap too. I got a huge bowl and ordered some rice to go so I could have the curry over rice for dinner tonight.

After I was stuffed I walked up to Union Square and sat and basked in the sun for a while. My white legs are due for some sun! I read a little of my John Muir book and then walked back to the hostel to recoup.

I noticed no one had checked in to my room yet so I moved bunks! I get to do that as I'm a "lifer" here. So I moved to the bottom bunk that way I wouldn't wake everyone up when I have to get moving at 4:30am tomorrow for work. Oh man I feel bad doing that for sure but it can't be helped.

I stopped at the front desk and got great advice on an earlier more direct bus (the trains only start running at 5:!5am) so I'll have an easy trip.
My next big hurdle was food. It's hard to move around so early and still find something to eat or drink. I bought stuff I could microwave at the office. Oatmeal and some peanut butter. (I've got a lot of early mornings this week) I bought those at the market across the street from the hostel.

Its such a disaster in there but he does have 2 of everything so if you look hard enough you'll find what you need. The place cracks me up. Stuff is literally piled on the shelves and the back stock is just sitting on racks near by. Its really funny. But they sell fresh bread and fresh baklava too so that is all that really matters.
That's been my day so far. Having to work so early means I'll have all afternoons off. Not sure what to do really? When you're not a tourist here what else is there to do? I think the book coffee idea is a good one. Maybe a tour to Alcatraz one of these days too...who knows. I'm just happy to be work full time! Next MAJOR hurdle is finding a place to live. Where do I even begin to do that! I don't know!

Rookie in the city, I gotta get my groove back!

What a day!! My parents just dropped me off at the hostel a bit ago and are trying to get out of the city (5:30pm), which is apparently where everyone else is headed too as they are at a standstill in traffic somewhere! They will have had an even longer day than I had!
My day started with an alarm clock going off. I sat up and listened because it didn't sound like mine but as I listened I thought, that sounds alot like my other travel alarm clock (how many does one need you ask?! Oh wait, its Karen you say!), packed deeply into my backpack. Oh I felt so bad! I had to turn my cell phone on to use the light to find the little bag packed within my big bag and turn the silly thing off! At that point I decided I might as well get up. I got all dressed and packed for the day and headed downstairs to breakfast.

Today was make your own pancake day! Its much harder than you think to do that when you've got old industrial style pans and old partly working stove top burners. It was pretty funny. Mine turned into a sad little crepe style mess, I scraped mine into the garbage. About that time a couple walked in and decided to give it a go and they had about as much luck. It was hilarious! I finally got the second one going better. Tomorrow I'll have oatmeal and call it a day :)
I walked across the street to the liquor store/market place and found that he has everything in there. Its a regular grocery store, larger than what I was expecting so I can go get some groceries there for the coming days.
Mom and Dad and Matt looked pretty bright eyed and bushy tailed when they appeared for their attempt at pancakes. I just giggled. We ate later!

I wanted to show them my walking tour of part of the city so that's what we did. I was starting to get into my city groove again today. It just took a day to happen. Knowing the streets and how to manage the city people and food etc. We walked through China town again today (I finally got to have a custard pie at Far East Bakery! Yummy!)and then down Columbus through North Beach (mom had a Canoli at Mara's Bakery~one of my favorite stops) then took a trip UP to Coit Tower from Washington Square. Oh my goodness, hill climb!! It was worth the work to get there, especially as the city was so warm and sunny again today, great views.
After all that work we walked back to Columbus and hill climbed up Lombard street so mother could see the crookedest street in San Francisco. We walked alot today. By this time we were hungry and tired so we wandered down the hill to Fishermans Wharf area and had an amazing lunch. You would not believe this place today either. Usually its people as far as the eye can see (Guven I said that for you). No chance of walking anywhere in a hurry etc but today was just right. Not too many people and the food vendors were all open and serving great food!
I had a spicy fish sandwich, oh man it was good!! Fresh bread and fresh cut jalapenos. Wow.

After our lunch we caught the Powell/Mason cable car back to Union Square. That was great fun. No lines!! Where was everyone today?! We got choice seats and had a fun ride up the hills and down the other side.
Once we made it to the square we sat and basked in the sun for a bit before we decided to pick up the car and drive to Muir Woods. I mean, why not?! We drove through the city (which I've got figured out now) and over the Golden Gate Bridge, my first time driving over it too by the way! Then on to Muir Woods. What a beautiful place that is! I am glad I did the drive, now I can say I've been there and hiked it before I lead a tour there next week! Ha! That would be about typical though wouldn't it?!
It was a perfect temp in the trees today and the sun was out. What a nice place. I think I'll enjoy going there on tours. I'll get my forest fix and its an easier drive than Yosemite so it won't be as stressful.
After all of that we drove back into the city and I dropped myself off at the hostel and dad took over the driving. They just now got onto the bridge (6:37pm). I started this typing an hour ago. My mom just text me that they were finally moving. Those guys will be happy to pull over and take a break in a little bit I'm guessing.
They were all ready to leave the city I think. It's just a tough place to be when you're used to parking your car in front of your door and having a gas station on every corner and things us country folks take for granted.
You have to put your city face on and just go for it. Ditch the car and get some good walking shoes (cute heels!!). Tomorrow I'm a city person. I'll catch the bus to the office and start training on the phones doing reservations. And thus it will begin...the summer of Karen (I've said that once before I'm sure of it!)

Karen's back to sucking at Tour Guiding

Oh yes. I plan a trip to Yosemite and the ONLY two days of the entire trip we are going to the park it is snowing! I mean seriously?! And guess how impressive Yosemite is with cloud cover? Its like standing in a grove of trees. Thats about it.

We got lucky twice and the clouds were high enough that we could see the valley from Tunnel View. Then the clouds descended and that was that.
By the time we got back to the hotel each night we were tired of shivering and wet from head to toe. It was pretty funny now that I think about it. And we'd have to go back to Cedar Lodge where they had very little happening yet, too early in the season.

Here is a photo of the pizza patio. This is from April 8th. You still order your pizza at the window, they just shovel a path to it.
Today we came into the city and back towards the sun. It was so nice and sunny here today but the wind was really cold. My brother wanted to run across the Golden Gate Bridge so we dropped him off and my mom and dad and I walked towards the middle of the bridge just to take in the amazing views! My goodness! What a beautiful sight it is out of the fog!

After a nice windy walk across the bridge I took them up to Twin Peaks and we were really greeted by the wind! I stayed in the car! My poor family was on their own. I've taken the photos already :)

Tonight I took them to Lori's Diner on Powell. They wanted a good burger and I knew where that was, so we had a good dinner. I walked them up to Chinatown from there. We did a little shopping in the Canton Bazaar and then I walked them back to the hostel to get settled in.
You should see this hostel by the way! Amazing! Plug ins everywhere, really nice shower stalls and sink areas. Its the high life of hostels here. (USA Hostels)
My parents got a private room, they've never stayed in a hostel before. I am not sure what they think about it. Its not really their scene I don't think but they are good sports about it.
Tomorrow I'll walk them around the city some more.
After tomorrow I'll go hit some of the food spots I've been missing for 6 months. Chris keeps sending me ideas and begging me to hit his favorites so that will keep me busy.
I did take my family to Mr and Mrs Miscellaneous for ice cream today. Its as good as ever. I was so happy to have some! I had Pink Squirrel today. Wow, awesome. Mom and Matt had Chocolate Chip, boring! Dad had Banana's Foster. I've had that one before. Its really good!!

Kare-bear    get it?!

I wanted to take them to Chow for pancakes tomorrow but they don't want to get up early enough to go eat there.
I will say one other thing here too. It was like being a rooky on the mean streets today. Driving this city got to me today. When I left here last fall I could handle anything. I'll have to get my city legs back. I did manage pretty well, I know the streets and the areas, that was encouraging. I do know San Francisco pretty well but driving around it is hard. When you walk most of the time its not easy to get in a car and know that you can't turn left off of Market onto many streets. (well I learned that the hard way last summer!!) Time to put my game face back on!

Off and Running

Well folks its Tuesday night and I'm leisurely sitting in my room watching a movie, I must be getting better at being a vagabond because leading up to this move I've yet to have that nervous stomach and I've packed lighter than I ever have in the past.
Those of you shaking your heads going, "I didn't think she got nervous about moving into unknown cities and situations" take heart I do get that nervous stomach some times~whether you believe it or not, going into new and challenging situations still affects me a LITTLE.

I am ready to go (can I say that enough?). No sense worrying that I don't have a place to live or any idea which winery out of the hundreds I'll be driving to throughout the summer or how I'll manage to keep up a schedule and manage to move in and out of hostels but I do know what its like to live in a hostel and go to work (not much fun~hostels are for travelers having fun and staying up late~thank goodness for earplugs!). I know the bus routes well enough to get around the city without too much trouble and I know all the good ice cream stops, so what else do I need?

My mom and dad and brother are all packed up and we're all headed out tomorrow. Weather is supposed to be snow/rain in Yosemite Valley the two days we're there, so the hiking will be a little chilly but at least the scenery will be as amazing as always! Fingers crossed the clouds are high enough!! From Yosemite we head into the city for a tour by your's truly and then my parents get to experience a hostel in San Francisco (their first hostel stay). I can't wait!

I won't have internet until the end of the week but you can bet I'll have plenty to share by then!

So, off and running on another wayward adventure (at Incredible Adventures) if anyone's googled that there are 2 companies in the city with that name. Mine is IncAdventures.com in case you're wondering.

See you when I get there!