The Smart Road Trip

I was finally back home! San Francisco, the city of endless dreams fulfilled. There was a plethora of stuff to do while in town so I jumped right in by going to the Exploratorium. It was the first time I had been there and it was a ton of fun. There was so much to do that I easily spent a good chunk of the day there. The tactile dome was unfortunately closed as it wasn't finished being created, but all the other exhibits were open and very exciting. You got to play with science and see how things worked by actual interaction. This was surely a museum never to miss again. After the exploratorium I went and saw one of my good friends Subhashini. She and I used to be coworkers and then became really good friends after we both left the company. She was doing amazingly well in life. We ended up going to Bocadillos which was a Portuguese wine bar kind of place that had some really good tapas. I was actually surprised that the tapas were as good as they were. It was slightly pricey, but we were in San Francisco after all. After Subha and I quickly became reunited I departed and headed off to meet my best friend Gev and have 2nd dinner at Roam. I was unfortunately full so I didn't grab a burger from Roam, but their zucchini fried haystack was pretty good.

The next morning I went to Cafe la Taza to hang out with my old friends at the cafe. It was a blast seeing them again and doing as well as ever. After breakfast I departed and went out to Ramen Dojo with a couple of amazing ex-coworkers, Tobia and Sean. We ended up having amazing ramen and just chatting it up. This place is probably the best ramen I have ever tasted. Tobia, Sean and I got to catch up which was really nice cause I had missed both of them. Unfortunately though I only got to spend lunch with them as afterward I ran off to the Moffett Field Historical Society Museum. They close early unfortunately so I had to rush to make it there in time. I got to see the old airplanes and I even got to talk with one of the veterans who had gone to Vietnam. It was an honor to see a veteran in real life, it doesn't happen to me as often as you would think. After the museum I went to the NASA Ames Research Center which was the smallest of the NASA museums. When I got there I found out they had started their own passport book! I was very saddened as I had just finished touring most of the NASA facilities and would likely not go again to every single one like I did. It was good to know though that someone else could if they wanted to. After the research center I rushed down to San Jose to pick up my tickets for California Adventure's pride night and then drove back up to San Mateo to pick up my other really good friend, Stephen. Stephen and I drove down to California Adventures for their annual pride night that my fraternity brother Edgar put on. He always does an amazing job and this year was no different as everything went perfectly. I always like to go because the music is fabulous and the lines to the rides are shorter.

The next morning I met with my good friend Amy out in Berkeley and we had brunch at Bette's Oceanview Diner. The food was super delicious! After eating to our heart's content we ended up walking around the area and did some shopping. Amy showed me this amazing travel shop called Flight 001. They had such super cool travel stuff that I wish I had enough money to buy almost everything there.  While walking around we also ran into a homeless guy who wanted some food so I went out and bought him some oatmeal. I can't imagine being homeless and he seemed pretty sane so I decided he needed the help and since I had the funds I decided to help him. We aren't all fortunate enough to have jobs unfortunately.  After walking around Berkeley I drove back to San Francisco and met up with Diana and David for some fun asian food at Hahn's Hibachi followed by epic tea at the Secret Garden Tea House. After getting to relax I met up with one of my closest friends, Miriam, and we went and had some wine at Blush! Wine bar like old times. It was fun catching up and seeing how her life is going. A nice buzz later we met up with my old roommates and went to Bisoufor some phenomenal french food. Miriam and I were not done hanging out though. I whisked her away and we went and saw Beach Blanket Babylon. The show was hilarious, but what made it even better was that a couple in front of us started going down on each other halfway through the show. And by going down I mean the guy went down on the girl, took off her bra, and started swhirling it in circles above his head while the show was still going on. Oddly enough they didn't get escorted out and no one really seemed to care much. To each their own right? After the amazing performance(s) Miriam and I went and had our favorite cookies from Hot Cookie followed by our favorite Creme brulee from the Creme Bruelee cart. We were so full! So we ended up driving to Miriam's house and just crashing.

The next morning Miriam and I had breakfast at Claremont diner which was right in front of her house. It was a fairly standard diner, but it was fun to have breakfast with her one last time before I had to head out. After eating breakfast with Miriam I went back to San Francisco and had 2nd breakfast with Gev at Jane. Jane is always fun to go to as they have pretty good stuff to eat there. Afterward Gev and I just hung out all day and did basically nothing. It felt super nice not doing anything after having done so much over the last few days. That night Stephen, Gev, Train (Gev's partner) and I went to Troya. It's a small Turkish place that had recently opened up near Gev's house that I had been dying to try and it was worth it. I had manti there and it is the first place outside of my house that I actually enjoyed eating manti. For once someone had done it right! I ate my entire plate even after I was full and loved every second.

The next day I departed San Francisco and was off toward southern California. It was great seeing my friends and even before I hit my car I started missing them. I can't wait to go back and see them again.