Good Times Were Had (SF Trip)
My trip up to SF to see
jliv couldn't have gone any better I think... I had hoped to get to know him better while spending time in a city I hadn't visited in over three years and to see SF friends old and new - and all of that happened and more...
Thanks to Dave I had a free ticket on Southwest. It'd been so long since I traveled with carry-on luggage that I forgot about the new rules so my tube of tooth paste was taken from me (boo). The flight was super bumpy but it's a short one so not bad. John picked me up at the airport (what a gentleman) and we had a nice dinner before stopping out for a beer and then bed.
On Friday John had to go into work so I slept late and then walked to the Castro to poke around. I had lunch at Andy's read "Sure of You" (the 6th Tales of the City book) to get in my SF groove. Was feelin' good and walked on down to the bear starbucks for a drink and to see who was around. Didn't really recognize anyone but there was some nice eye candy. I was sitting inside reading my book when I recognized a furry neck leaving the store. I quickly sent a txt message "Enjoy yer coffee bubba" and got one back a few minutes later that said "Were you in Starbux????" Hehe,
beefurjoe came back and we spent some time catching up before he walked me back over to Delores Park (near where jliv lives). We made plans to hang the next day and said our goodbyes. That night John and I had sushi (with boats!) before heading out to Oakland to meet up with
trckrfckr and
mindplay who had invited us to see Iron and Wine at the Paramount theater. Oh man, what a show. I hadn't really listened to much of I and W before so seeing him live with a back-up band - just an amazing set. The kind of music you can really get lost in and in this art deco theater - wow! From there the four of us headed into the city for beers but not before getting crepes at this kick-asss crepes stand. Oh yeah - me and John made Kris and Scott show us their blueray player - neat. Watched some of Ratatouli and The Shining. I gotta thank both of them again for a wonderful evening. I'm nuts about those guys.
Saturday me and John met up with Joe and his partner John for a drive around the city in John's Chevy Malibu convertible that he's had for almost 20 years. Awesome car, beautiful day, excellent guides... Could not have asked for me. We went to Twin Peaks, walked the Golden Gate, went all over the park, had drinks/food near the ocean, drove down Lombard street, even saw some of the spots that were pivotal in the Tales books. We topped it off with dinner in the Castro and a random walk-in at 440 (used to be Daddys) where we ran into
bigreddee,
bearringsd,
fredtheplumber,
noelbear, and a bunch of other folks - was an excellent surprise. I even ran into LA Jaime who is now SF Jaime! We decided to puss out on the Kubz night thing that was going on and instead got some hard-core Wii action on at J and J's (they brought the mad tennis skillz), got to give Drew (
bentwright) a long overdue hug and damn does he give good hug!, had a bit of an Apple TV YouTube party, and even ice cream with warm brownies... mmmm... brownies... John and I went home and then promptly fell apart.
Sunday we went out shopping and I got a Dickies jacket and a nifty cap (very SF) and John got some new jeans, a nice jacket, and some caps also. We ran a couple of errands as well before heading to the Lone Star for beers. I got to hug on the growing ever more handsome (if you can imagine)
tonymorg as well as getting to talk with
pauliebearsf for the first time in ages. It was a great night. Lots of other familiar faces and friends and just some damn good times. We had dinner in the Castro again and then John and I went back and cuddled up on the couch with Ellie (his puppy) and some DVR action.
John was a great host, a total sweetheart... Looking forward to having him come down to SD sometime soon. Joe and John are as nice as you've heard and so much beyond that too. As random as that all came about I sure am thankful for it. And to get to see Kris and Scott was a real treat. They fucking rock (and I get first dibs at applying should they ever consider a triad relationship - Ha!).
It's good to be home... I gotta say. I missed having John to spoon with last night (he's a world class cuddler - hells yes) but it was nice to be home - specially after a night working at the bar when all the guys had come by to say hey. I love to go on trips but San Diego sure is my home.
You can see the pics here or click on this photo...
You can see more photos from the drive on Saturday at Joe's Flickr Page too!
jliv couldn't have gone any better I think... I had hoped to get to know him better while spending time in a city I hadn't visited in over three years and to see SF friends old and new - and all of that happened and more...
Thanks to Dave I had a free ticket on Southwest. It'd been so long since I traveled with carry-on luggage that I forgot about the new rules so my tube of tooth paste was taken from me (boo). The flight was super bumpy but it's a short one so not bad. John picked me up at the airport (what a gentleman) and we had a nice dinner before stopping out for a beer and then bed.
On Friday John had to go into work so I slept late and then walked to the Castro to poke around. I had lunch at Andy's read "Sure of You" (the 6th Tales of the City book) to get in my SF groove. Was feelin' good and walked on down to the bear starbucks for a drink and to see who was around. Didn't really recognize anyone but there was some nice eye candy. I was sitting inside reading my book when I recognized a furry neck leaving the store. I quickly sent a txt message "Enjoy yer coffee bubba" and got one back a few minutes later that said "Were you in Starbux????" Hehe,
beefurjoe came back and we spent some time catching up before he walked me back over to Delores Park (near where jliv lives). We made plans to hang the next day and said our goodbyes. That night John and I had sushi (with boats!) before heading out to Oakland to meet up with
trckrfckr and
mindplay who had invited us to see Iron and Wine at the Paramount theater. Oh man, what a show. I hadn't really listened to much of I and W before so seeing him live with a back-up band - just an amazing set. The kind of music you can really get lost in and in this art deco theater - wow! From there the four of us headed into the city for beers but not before getting crepes at this kick-asss crepes stand. Oh yeah - me and John made Kris and Scott show us their blueray player - neat. Watched some of Ratatouli and The Shining. I gotta thank both of them again for a wonderful evening. I'm nuts about those guys.
Saturday me and John met up with Joe and his partner John for a drive around the city in John's Chevy Malibu convertible that he's had for almost 20 years. Awesome car, beautiful day, excellent guides... Could not have asked for me. We went to Twin Peaks, walked the Golden Gate, went all over the park, had drinks/food near the ocean, drove down Lombard street, even saw some of the spots that were pivotal in the Tales books. We topped it off with dinner in the Castro and a random walk-in at 440 (used to be Daddys) where we ran into
bigreddee,
bearringsd,
fredtheplumber,
noelbear, and a bunch of other folks - was an excellent surprise. I even ran into LA Jaime who is now SF Jaime! We decided to puss out on the Kubz night thing that was going on and instead got some hard-core Wii action on at J and J's (they brought the mad tennis skillz), got to give Drew (
bentwright) a long overdue hug and damn does he give good hug!, had a bit of an Apple TV YouTube party, and even ice cream with warm brownies... mmmm... brownies... John and I went home and then promptly fell apart.
Sunday we went out shopping and I got a Dickies jacket and a nifty cap (very SF) and John got some new jeans, a nice jacket, and some caps also. We ran a couple of errands as well before heading to the Lone Star for beers. I got to hug on the growing ever more handsome (if you can imagine)
tonymorg as well as getting to talk with
pauliebearsf for the first time in ages. It was a great night. Lots of other familiar faces and friends and just some damn good times. We had dinner in the Castro again and then John and I went back and cuddled up on the couch with Ellie (his puppy) and some DVR action.
John was a great host, a total sweetheart... Looking forward to having him come down to SD sometime soon. Joe and John are as nice as you've heard and so much beyond that too. As random as that all came about I sure am thankful for it. And to get to see Kris and Scott was a real treat. They fucking rock (and I get first dibs at applying should they ever consider a triad relationship - Ha!).
It's good to be home... I gotta say. I missed having John to spoon with last night (he's a world class cuddler - hells yes) but it was nice to be home - specially after a night working at the bar when all the guys had come by to say hey. I love to go on trips but San Diego sure is my home.
You can see the pics here or click on this photo...
You can see more photos from the drive on Saturday at Joe's Flickr Page too!