Delectables and High Seas Adventure...
Quite a memorable vacation I ended up having last weekend (06/29-07/01). Travel was, as it always is, exhausting... but it doesn't stop you from having a decent time. It all started with a polite invite from Sara's father through Sara that offered the hospitality of a House Boat located in the waters off Alameda. We set out on the adventure bright and early on Friday morning. The drive wasn't terribly exciting, but it lead us to our first main stop after a 5-ish hour drive.
Japan Town, SF... Many larger cities have these Japanese inspired tourist attractions. SF's Japan Town was nothing short of what I expected. These communities house mounds of Japanese merchandise and even a Japanese market with rare snackies from across the pacific. It took a good deal of restraint on my part to hold back the urge to dive into their large piles of manga and anime merchandise. After shopping up some snack foods for later, we enjoyed some okonomiyaki (spelling) at one of the small restaurants housed within the shopping complex. It was quite an experience and a rare yet wonderful taste for my belly. We perused the Japanese bookstore and once again I found myself holding back a spending spree. In the end I decided to attempt to acquire some chibi-esqe figurines from one of my favorite animes.
Gashapon toys are quite an interesting albeit frustrating thing. You never know which (supposedly) randomly selected character you'll get. Usually Gashapon is done via vending machine with little "poke-ball" containers. These were figurines from a company called Figumate and were pre-boxed sold in the style that a pack of collecter cards might be. In the end I either had very back luck or was swindled as I received 3 copies of a character that was not my favorite or even second favorite from those so-called random boxes. Onward and upward we jolted from Japan Town to the houseboat where we were promptly shown to our rooms and told we would be going to dinner. It was sushi to be exact, but by every standard of sushi I have ever experienced... (or been able to afford)... this put them all to shame. We all had our fill of unique and excellent sushi rolls paired with sashimi that was to die for. To top it all off constant refills of warm sake, excellent tea, and in the end some pretty amazing deserts. Sara's father and his wife took the bill for all of us which was an generous and much appreciated gesture. All that food pretty much put us out for the night.
The next day we prepped for sea and met a friend of Sara's dad, Patrick. He, also a sailor, joined us for our little voyage around the bay. There was constantly beautiful and amazing surroundings as we made our way around the bay. We also had a few sailing concepts revealed to us by our two knowledgeable sailors. It was something I had never done before and it was very much a good opportunity for me to see the sights of SF bay from a new perspective. I even got to take the wheel for a bit and learn a bit about how to keep your course on a boat under wind power. The round trip of the bay took up the greater part of the day with a lunch break in the afternoon. By the time we were back at the dock we were all a little bit tired... but there was still a lot of work to do. Getting a boat ready after sailing is even more work than getting it ready to make way. Lauria took a fall helping out but only took some heavy bruising... the most painful injury of our entire trip. By the end we were happy to relax and eat the barbeque that had been prepared for us. The exhaustion set most of us to bed early to be prepared for the journey home.
We set out early after some nice showers so we would have time to hit a few more shopping/tourist attractions in the SF area. We tested, and brought home some amazing and new sakes from the Sho Chiku Bai testing room in Berkley. We attempted to find a copy of the new Wii Resident Evil 4 remake... only to find out just how rare a copy of that darn game is. A Best Buy, and our desperation attempt at a GameStop both left us empty-handed. Oh, and of course there was an incredible reptile store which we visited. It put the reptile exhibit at the fair a couple weeks back to shame. A few lunch and potty breaks later, we found ourselves back home around 9-ish. It was a nice visit, but the housing prices and scary traffic convinced me with certainty that I could never hack it in the city (or on a houseboat). It was certainly a memorable experience.
Japan Town, SF... Many larger cities have these Japanese inspired tourist attractions. SF's Japan Town was nothing short of what I expected. These communities house mounds of Japanese merchandise and even a Japanese market with rare snackies from across the pacific. It took a good deal of restraint on my part to hold back the urge to dive into their large piles of manga and anime merchandise. After shopping up some snack foods for later, we enjoyed some okonomiyaki (spelling) at one of the small restaurants housed within the shopping complex. It was quite an experience and a rare yet wonderful taste for my belly. We perused the Japanese bookstore and once again I found myself holding back a spending spree. In the end I decided to attempt to acquire some chibi-esqe figurines from one of my favorite animes.
Gashapon toys are quite an interesting albeit frustrating thing. You never know which (supposedly) randomly selected character you'll get. Usually Gashapon is done via vending machine with little "poke-ball" containers. These were figurines from a company called Figumate and were pre-boxed sold in the style that a pack of collecter cards might be. In the end I either had very back luck or was swindled as I received 3 copies of a character that was not my favorite or even second favorite from those so-called random boxes. Onward and upward we jolted from Japan Town to the houseboat where we were promptly shown to our rooms and told we would be going to dinner. It was sushi to be exact, but by every standard of sushi I have ever experienced... (or been able to afford)... this put them all to shame. We all had our fill of unique and excellent sushi rolls paired with sashimi that was to die for. To top it all off constant refills of warm sake, excellent tea, and in the end some pretty amazing deserts. Sara's father and his wife took the bill for all of us which was an generous and much appreciated gesture. All that food pretty much put us out for the night.
The next day we prepped for sea and met a friend of Sara's dad, Patrick. He, also a sailor, joined us for our little voyage around the bay. There was constantly beautiful and amazing surroundings as we made our way around the bay. We also had a few sailing concepts revealed to us by our two knowledgeable sailors. It was something I had never done before and it was very much a good opportunity for me to see the sights of SF bay from a new perspective. I even got to take the wheel for a bit and learn a bit about how to keep your course on a boat under wind power. The round trip of the bay took up the greater part of the day with a lunch break in the afternoon. By the time we were back at the dock we were all a little bit tired... but there was still a lot of work to do. Getting a boat ready after sailing is even more work than getting it ready to make way. Lauria took a fall helping out but only took some heavy bruising... the most painful injury of our entire trip. By the end we were happy to relax and eat the barbeque that had been prepared for us. The exhaustion set most of us to bed early to be prepared for the journey home.
We set out early after some nice showers so we would have time to hit a few more shopping/tourist attractions in the SF area. We tested, and brought home some amazing and new sakes from the Sho Chiku Bai testing room in Berkley. We attempted to find a copy of the new Wii Resident Evil 4 remake... only to find out just how rare a copy of that darn game is. A Best Buy, and our desperation attempt at a GameStop both left us empty-handed. Oh, and of course there was an incredible reptile store which we visited. It put the reptile exhibit at the fair a couple weeks back to shame. A few lunch and potty breaks later, we found ourselves back home around 9-ish. It was a nice visit, but the housing prices and scary traffic convinced me with certainty that I could never hack it in the city (or on a houseboat). It was certainly a memorable experience.