Yes...a return
A return indeed...
Just returned from San Francisco. Was out to check out the city and the scene... It was awesome weather, about 75% the whole time and all sun! Definetly recruiting weather.
I left Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon, got into SF about 6:30. Zach (little fraternity brother) picked me up at the airport and we went right to dinner at the Sausalito Yacht Club with his family. It was quite a nice dinner after managing to get served (service went down after the old chef was fired). After dinner we pretty much crashed out, I was smashed with the time change.
Saturday we took the first ferry from Sausalito into the city, and we saw much city! Walked all the way up to the Castro, down to South of Market (SOMA), back up through Haight/Ashbury, over through Chinatown and finished things off with a ride on the underground back down to the Ferry (not necessarily in that order). Notable stops included Macy's to buy shoes for the evening's festivities, lunch in Chinatown at the Sushi Boat, a browse through Mr. S. Leather, the Sony Store, walking through the gay AA group that was near city hall, and all the fun the Castro has to offer. By then we had to get moving to make the ferry back to Sausalito.
Saturday night, Zach had fixed up a big gay night for me. His parent's accountant was nice enough to setup an outing for me with a friend of his who likes to do the club/bar scene yet. We started at The Cafe for a few beers and then moved to SOMA which seems to be more my style (though the Badlands was quite fun on Monday.more to come). Had alot of fun at the Powerhouse, stayed there most of the night, but we did check out the Eagle and one other place, but those were pretty much dead. The night ended with an almost trip to Steamworks in Berkely, but I got the idea Zach was ready to go to bed and he did need to pick me up, so he drove over to Berkely, picked my tired ass up, and we called it a night.
Sunday we killed about half the day sleeping and did a grand tour of Mill Valley and the surrounding area by car. Took a walk out to Tenessee Valley and also went out to the Marin Headlands. Zach's mom made an awesome dinner with the steaks prepared by his step-father Scott. After that, we went to see Sicko. I was still feeling the time difference and ended up passing out during the movie. What parts of it I did see, though, were great. Well, not great, but I think its a good film. Feel really sorry for some of the people in it. Our medical system is just flawed in so many ways.
Monday we had to pickup the motorcycle that I rented from www.rentasportbike.com (highly recommend them). After that we headed up to Point Reyes and the coast. It took forever and a day to get up there. Federally maintained roads kinda suck. We almost made it up to the lighthouse, but I was done with walking for the day and we were really hungry. We stopped off in Olema for some Oysters from Drake's Bay and then drove back on CA-Route 1 back into Mill Valley/Mt. Tamalpais.
Monday evening I took the bike out and went into the city to meet up with an old friend who used to go to Carnegie Mellon but is now back at home in SF going to Cal-Poly. We hit up this restaurant called Betelnut www.betelnutrestaurant.com. It was really good, but I think we ordered al ittle too much food and were overwhelmed with the pricetag on it. But hey, whatever, its vacation. From dinner we went over to Jet for some drinks and music, then off to Badlands...definitely some hotties over there. Then we hit up a little diner-ish place for some dessert. Had this awesome Gingercake and Pumpkin Ice Cream. It totally rocked. By then it was pretty late and we parted ways. I took a joyride on the bike through SF, over to Berkely, and then back over to Mill Valley. It was fucking awesome to be out riding around the bay at night. Very enjoyable.
Tuesday we had to take the bike back in the morning because we weren't sure what time we'd get back from the city. I had a few things to pickup for people (shirts/etc) and we didn't want to be rushed. It was a pretty slow moving day. Also did Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden that is there.
Wednesday... =( Time to leave..almost. Zach's parentals' where throwing a party on their boat in the evening. It was pretty much a lounge around day with packing the bags and such. The boat is down at Sausalito. Its quite nice, an old tugboat that has been restored and refinished with woodwork and such. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. 8:30 rolled around so fast, at which time Zach and I had to leave the party to grab my bags and get me to the airport for the 10:45 flight back.
It was very difficult to leave. I had quite a nice time and left with many new issues to figure out and decisions to make. Pittsburgh seems to just be a neverending battle on a lot of fronts. I think I'm long overdue for a change in pace and a move to a bigger city.
Pictures available, hit me up!
Just returned from San Francisco. Was out to check out the city and the scene... It was awesome weather, about 75% the whole time and all sun! Definetly recruiting weather.
I left Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon, got into SF about 6:30. Zach (little fraternity brother) picked me up at the airport and we went right to dinner at the Sausalito Yacht Club with his family. It was quite a nice dinner after managing to get served (service went down after the old chef was fired). After dinner we pretty much crashed out, I was smashed with the time change.
Saturday we took the first ferry from Sausalito into the city, and we saw much city! Walked all the way up to the Castro, down to South of Market (SOMA), back up through Haight/Ashbury, over through Chinatown and finished things off with a ride on the underground back down to the Ferry (not necessarily in that order). Notable stops included Macy's to buy shoes for the evening's festivities, lunch in Chinatown at the Sushi Boat, a browse through Mr. S. Leather, the Sony Store, walking through the gay AA group that was near city hall, and all the fun the Castro has to offer. By then we had to get moving to make the ferry back to Sausalito.
Saturday night, Zach had fixed up a big gay night for me. His parent's accountant was nice enough to setup an outing for me with a friend of his who likes to do the club/bar scene yet. We started at The Cafe for a few beers and then moved to SOMA which seems to be more my style (though the Badlands was quite fun on Monday.more to come). Had alot of fun at the Powerhouse, stayed there most of the night, but we did check out the Eagle and one other place, but those were pretty much dead. The night ended with an almost trip to Steamworks in Berkely, but I got the idea Zach was ready to go to bed and he did need to pick me up, so he drove over to Berkely, picked my tired ass up, and we called it a night.
Sunday we killed about half the day sleeping and did a grand tour of Mill Valley and the surrounding area by car. Took a walk out to Tenessee Valley and also went out to the Marin Headlands. Zach's mom made an awesome dinner with the steaks prepared by his step-father Scott. After that, we went to see Sicko. I was still feeling the time difference and ended up passing out during the movie. What parts of it I did see, though, were great. Well, not great, but I think its a good film. Feel really sorry for some of the people in it. Our medical system is just flawed in so many ways.
Monday we had to pickup the motorcycle that I rented from www.rentasportbike.com (highly recommend them). After that we headed up to Point Reyes and the coast. It took forever and a day to get up there. Federally maintained roads kinda suck. We almost made it up to the lighthouse, but I was done with walking for the day and we were really hungry. We stopped off in Olema for some Oysters from Drake's Bay and then drove back on CA-Route 1 back into Mill Valley/Mt. Tamalpais.
Monday evening I took the bike out and went into the city to meet up with an old friend who used to go to Carnegie Mellon but is now back at home in SF going to Cal-Poly. We hit up this restaurant called Betelnut www.betelnutrestaurant.com. It was really good, but I think we ordered al ittle too much food and were overwhelmed with the pricetag on it. But hey, whatever, its vacation. From dinner we went over to Jet for some drinks and music, then off to Badlands...definitely some hotties over there. Then we hit up a little diner-ish place for some dessert. Had this awesome Gingercake and Pumpkin Ice Cream. It totally rocked. By then it was pretty late and we parted ways. I took a joyride on the bike through SF, over to Berkely, and then back over to Mill Valley. It was fucking awesome to be out riding around the bay at night. Very enjoyable.
Tuesday we had to take the bike back in the morning because we weren't sure what time we'd get back from the city. I had a few things to pickup for people (shirts/etc) and we didn't want to be rushed. It was a pretty slow moving day. Also did Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden that is there.
Wednesday... =( Time to leave..almost. Zach's parentals' where throwing a party on their boat in the evening. It was pretty much a lounge around day with packing the bags and such. The boat is down at Sausalito. Its quite nice, an old tugboat that has been restored and refinished with woodwork and such. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. 8:30 rolled around so fast, at which time Zach and I had to leave the party to grab my bags and get me to the airport for the 10:45 flight back.
It was very difficult to leave. I had quite a nice time and left with many new issues to figure out and decisions to make. Pittsburgh seems to just be a neverending battle on a lot of fronts. I think I'm long overdue for a change in pace and a move to a bigger city.
Pictures available, hit me up!