Mini Train Trip, Part 3

As was our custom on this trip (and as it shall not be on Epic Train Trip!), we spent the next morning foraging for food. Fortunately, I got Dani out of bed before noon this time. We wandered down Haight to a coffee shop called The Grind (not to be confused with Riverside staple Back to the Grind) and had breakfast- french toast this time! Also, a very delicious brownie that was calling my name from in front of the cash register- damned impulse buys. We then got on the Muni and headed off to the day's premiere attraction: The California Academy of Sciences. Cal Academy is a spectacular institution, containing a large natural history museum, an aquarium, a state-of-the-art planetarium, and a fully-functioning rainforest ecosystem-in-a-dome. It is NOT to be missed. (A tip: You get $3 off the admittedly-expensive ticket price if you show your public transit ticket or pass, and this discount stacks- ie, you can get a student discounted price AND get $3 off by showing a Muni or BART ticket or transfer.)

While at CalAcademy, you can start where we did: the roof. The recently-renovated building itself is part of the museum's exhibits, and the roof showcases many of the sustainability initiatives incorporated into the structure. There's also much to be learned about the local ecology, plants and wildlife (esp. birds) up there, and you get great views of the surrounding Golden Gate Park. Here's a girl on a roof:



We visited the planetarium while there, and let me say that the facility was top-notch. Unlike traditional planetaria, which require viewers to lean back and look up at the sky, the dome at CalAcademy has the north pole rotated to about 45 degrees above the horizon- meaning you can sit much like you're watching a movie and enjoy the show. The actual show they presented was somewhat disappointing, however- it was entitled "Life: A Cosmic Story." When I go to a planetarium, I expect to be shown the stars, and told about astrophysics and the origin and function of our universe. This show is much more about the evolutionary origins of life on Earth, with a little bit of the formation of the solar system thrown in. I wanted to hear the "we are all stardust" story, but I got the "tree of life." Nothing wrong with that, it's an important lesson, but it wasn't one I was expecting in a planetarium. (For a much more out-of-this world experience, readers should visit the recently-renovated Oschin Planetarium at the Griffith Observatory in LA.)

Scattered about the museum are photogenic animals of all sorts- mostly aquatic. Meet Claude, the albino alligator:



Also, an African penguin, of whom we have plenty of blurry pictures...



And an adorable tortoise, nomming a leaf of lettuce:



The Academy also had a pretty extensive exhibit on global warming, which surprised even eco-crazy me on just how serious of a problem it is. We're already seeing changes in migratory and predatory patterns in California wildlife, which are bringing them in closer contact with people. My one issue with the exhibit was their "take action" pitch to visitors. In each category- food, transportation, housing, etc.- they had small actions, medium actions and large ones. For instance, in terms of household energy, a small action was to replace light bulbs with CFLs, a medium was to have a home energy audit, and a large one was to install solar or wind generating capacity. In transportation, the small action was to drive less, the medium one was to bike or use public transport, and the large one was... you guessed it... buy a hybrid. Of course, switching to bicycling and public transport over driving at all would be much better for the planet, but saying such a thing would be heresy in our car-centric culture, so it goes unsaid.

The only other issue with our visit to Cal Academy was our timing. Saturday appears to be "take-your-kids-to-the-museum day" in Golden Gate Park, and Cal Academy was swarming with children. Not such a big deal to begin with, but by 15:00 or so they were starting to get cranky and loud. In the planetarium, at least one kid was still afraid of the dark, and he said so- "The dome scares me!" His parents were considerate enough to take him out when it became clear that he wasn't going to stay quiet. I mean, I'm glad that parents are teaching their kids about science- maybe they'll grow up to be more knowledgeable and conscientious citizens- but I know there was a point there where Dani and I just had to leave. Keep that in mind when scheduling your visit.

After Cal Academy, Dani and I met up with one of her friends from Facebook who lives in the area. The first question she asked us about our trip was "Did you drive or fly?" Heh. We hung out with her until a friend of hers from high school came by to drop off Girl Scout cookies- sadly, no Caramel Delights. Her friend ended up tagging along with us. We went out to a local Chinese restaurant, which was extraordinarily delicious. (Carol was also nice enough to treat- Thanks Carol!) Even Dani ate quite a bit of it, and this is particularly uncharacteristic of Dani. Perhaps there is hope for her yet! Afterwards, we went for ice cream at the Toy Boat ice cream parlour, which was quite an experience. Besides being delicious, it was entirely covered in retro toys and decor (all in the typical futuristic style of the early Atomic Age). All-in-all, it was a nice evening out.

Around 9, Dani and I caught the Muni back to the hotel, and I embarked upon one of the many Epic Train Trip exercises that I had planned for the week: laundry. Dressed in my swim trunks and leather jacket (they were the only things not to be washed), I walked everything down to the hotel's laundry room and washed them. It went without incident, though I did get a very strange look from the front desk guy. Sadly, I don't have photos of my ridiculous getup.

We left The City the next morning, and I realized I'd forgotten to mail my postcards. (One to a friend, the other to myself- because I keep the cancellations.) I figured it'd be simple enough to find a mailbox on Market St. near the Embarcadero. I figured wrong. In a mad dash, I ended up dropping the cards off at the third-floor lobby of the Hyatt Embarcadero and running back to the bus stop, just in time to get aboard the AmBus to Emeryville.

Once in Emeryville, we headed out to Track 2 to board the San Joaquin heading south. The station staff ushered us across Track 1 pretty quickly, and it soon became apparent why: the westbound California Zephyr soon made an appearance on that track, not only threatening to squash any in its path but also cutting track 2 off from the station building entirely. Don't show up late for train 714 at Emeryville! After a quick announcement from the conductor- "This train does not go to Sacramento, this train will never go to Sacramento"- we were on our way back home from a pleasant weekend.

Mini Train Trip, Part 2

There's nothing quite like the feeling of having a view like this out your window first thing after waking up. San Francisco continues to have its own unique character and beauty, and always feels as if it's a foreign nation when compared to Riverside. Now, granted, I did have to actually open and lean out of the window of the hotel to get this shot... but it's still a great view.

After cajoling my lady out of bed a little after 11, we once again went out in search of food. We filled up our Clipper cards at the Walgreens and went next door to Kate's Kitchen, an apparently popular breakfast spot on Haight. Dani had their French toast, which she enjoyed. I should have gotten the French toast, but for some reason chose to order the pancakes with strawberry and banana. Strawberry and banana, right? Mmm, delicious. Except that I didn't notice the next line on the menu board- "lemon curd." Also, the pancakes themselves were made from cornmeal, rather than flour. The combination made me regret not getting the French toast- it wasn't bad, per se, but it wasn't what I'd expected.

After breakfast, we caught the Muni to Golden Gate Park (which, by the way, was where we spent most of our time this trip.) Dani had never been to San Francisco's answer to Central Park, and it is certainly large enough to occupy a weekend's exploration. We didn't even come close to seeing it all. (Note that those unfamiliar with The City may confuse Golden Gate Park with Golden Gate NRA. The latter is at the north end of The City, around and under the Golden Gate Bridge. The former is several miles to the south of the iconic bridge, between the Richmond and Sunset neighbourhoods and to the west of the Haight.) On the way, we ended up changing buses at the famed intersection of Haight and Ashbury. My impression was that the stores there were trying very, very hard to capitalize on the counter-cultural impressions that that location invoked- and wouldn't that be against the spirit of the cultural revolution anyway? Either way, here's me on the corner, under an inexplicable mass of dangling shoes.



We wandered the park for a while before Dani decided to visit the Conservatory of Flowers. This beautiful old museum was built in 1878 and is home to thousands of species of exotic plants. We managed to tailgate on the end of one of the guided tours, which was excellent. It was also an extremely interesting experience to be in the middle of a 90-degree, humid rainforest in San Francisco in March. (Outside it was in the low 60's and drizzling, as is the custom in The City.) Of course, the best part of the Conservatory is the photos. I'll leave it to Dani to post up the rest (hint hint, honey!), but here's a few choice ones. Also, remember that the really good photos are the ones I took. :D







Also, creepy carnivorous pitcher plants. Om nom nom.



After getting our fill of flowers (and humidity), we decided to try to find that ever-present feature of American city parks: pedal boats. Yeah, cheesy, I know, but it's sort of our tradition. We ambled/bused over to Stow Lake and found the pedal boat stand closed. (Also, we found it outrageously expensive: $20/hr!) We did, however, find several very friendly Canada geese.



We sat at the boathouse on Stow Lake a while, enjoying the (no-longer-raining) weather and the pleasant landscaping of the park. (Stow Lake, while large, is also man-made.) On our walk back, I briefly crossed the bridge on to Strawberry Hill, and island in the middle of the lake. We also encountered highly-social squirrels, whose tiny psyches were clearly torn between an instinctual fear of large creatures and a learned understanding that those creatures will find them adorable and feed them.



We also had some pretty great views of Sutro Tower. A lot of people see the Golden Gate as the symbol of San Francisco, but Sutro Tower has always been my favourite structure. You can see it easily on a clear day from most places, but it's almost teasing in the way it can disappear in the trademark San Franciscan fog.



We made arrangements to go visit my cousin in Alameda, and I've always wanted to take a ferry across the bay, so we made our way back to Market Street. Along the way, we found ourselves distracted by several things. First, there was a busker with a drum set near Montgomery St. Station, so we stopped to listen a while- he was good! Plus, how many buskers bring a full drum kit?



As the 6:40 ferry departure drew near, we started leisurely making our way towards the ferry building at the Embarcadero. However, we got sidetracked by a shop on the street. Daiso Japan is kind of like a Japanese 99 cent store, and is full of all sorts of strange, small, curious and useful stuff imported from Japan. We bought around $10, but spent so much time in the store that our leisurely stroll down Market turned into a mad dash for the ferry slip. We were there at 6:35, five minutes early for the scheduled 6:40 departure... and just in time to watch the ferry sail off into the distance. We ended up taking BART to 12th St. in Oakland and getting my cousin to pick us up there instead of the ferry terminal. (On the way, we were also just in time to see the beginnings of Critical Mass, including one nearly-naked male cyclist. Thankfully, no photos.)

The difference between Oakland and San Francisco is striking. 12th St. and Broadway in Oakland looks, physically and architecturally, very similar to Market St. and Montgomery in San Francisco- high-rise office towers, ground-floor retail, frequent at-grade and below-grade transit. The big difference between the two is people. 6pm on a Friday night, Market is a clamoring throng of people going every which way you can imagine. Broadway is empty, plain and simple. I think there may have been one other guy waiting for the bus across the street. It was a ghost town. The actual, physical configuration of land use and infrastructure is very similar in both places, so the difference must be a social one. Perhaps it's Oakland's history of rocky race relations, or perhaps it is other social ills such as poverty and crime- although neither was immediately evident as I stood there- but Oakland is clearly a place that could be wonderful.

The evening that followed was lots of fun. We went out for hamburgers at Pearl's, waded through the closeouts at a soon-to-be-closed Border's, got some adult beverages and played Munchkin and Scattergories into the wee hours. At some point, Dani managed to misplace her voice- she didn't find it until after we got home! She and I then had the pleasure of riding a bus at 3am- yes, they run!- back to San Francisco, along with the distinctly odd feeling of being two of three passengers on a 60-foot articulated bus. Upon our return to Market Street, we ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel (because it was cold, wet, and very late). It turns out that, had we waited for a few more minutes, the Muni N-OWL would have taken us within a block of our hotel. You live, you learn, you get more impressed with Muni.

Mini Train Trip, Part 1

Most of the time my vacations are very well-planned, but what I pack for them has been rather spontaneous. Not this summer! As you'll note, one of The Rules of the trip is to live out of one bag for the month (and accordingly, another one calls for a packing list). Most of the advice I've seen about packing one bag for an indefinitely long period of time involves some advice on what sort of bag that should be- and I'm not exactly comfortable dropping $400 on luggage at the moment. Hence, I wanted to test whether or not we could *actually* fit everything on the list into a bag, carry it around, be comfy with it, and live out of it. That, and it was spring break- which is always a good reason for a vacation.

With these goals in mind, Dani and I set out for San Francisco last Thursday- via Amtrak, naturally. And so begins the actual "travel blogging" on this travel blog.

Packing went smoothly, though a bit obsessively (this is me we're talking about...). Truly, all the stuff does fit in our Target-bought duffel bags, and does so with relative ease. When full, my bag weighed just over 14lbs, and was easy to carry with the shoulder strap.

We boarded the dreaded Amtrak bus in downtown Riverside at 5 before 9, right on time, and Dani and I proceeded to sleep most of the way to Bakersfield. Everyone who I talk to about taking the train to NorCal cites shivers in horror at the thought of taking one of these buses, but they're really rather pleasant- clean interiors, reclining seats, and guaranteed connections. (Also, the armrest in the middle of the seats folds down in order to facilitate cuddling!) The train is more comfy, to be sure, but the buses aren't torture devices. We arrived in Bakersfield over an hour early, but not before we caught some very pretty scenes on I-5 in Tejon Pass.

(There were prettier moments than this, but Dani was asleep for them- and she had the camera.)

While waiting at the station, we noticed that a woman who had been on the bus with us (and had either gotten on at Riverside or somewhere east) had removed her coat- to reveal a black sweater reading "PRAY TO END ABORTION" on the back. She would ride with us all the way to San Francisco- straight into the lion's den, I suppose. (We didn't get a photo.)

This is our train, which hauled us up to Emeryville. Note the P42 leading the consist- Amtrak has had some difficulties with a lot of their western trains this winter, which has led to them moving their locomotives all over the place. Normally, the San Joaquins are pulled by California-owned EMD F59PHI's- but this winter, those have been seen as far away as Chicago. I stepped out at Fresno and took this picture, just as the rain started to fall on us. It rained hard and heavy from Fresno until just past Antioch, but the train pressed on at the usual 79M/h- making me glad I wasn't driving. (In fact, at Antioch I relaxed in my seat with a cold Sierra Nevada pale ale- really something you shouldn't do in a car.)

The Delta is a haven for birds, and huge flocks of them congregate in the marshes and fields nearby. As the train goes by, these flocks will often take to wing in one great, flashy motion. The effect is difficult to describe, and we didn't manage to take any photos- but do yourself a favour and ride the San Joaquins between the Bay Area and Stockton and watch. (Don't do it within a week of watching Hitchcock's The Birds, though.)


The train brought us to Emeryville, where we found a bus waiting to whisk us into The City. A quick ride over the Bay Bridge and we were standing on the Embarcadero (along with PRAY TO END ABORTION Lady). Dani took this photo of the Bay Bridge over the small ferry building Amtrak office (I can't call it a station, there are no trains):



We boarded a Muni bus (the 5-Fulton, for the curious) and went and checked in to our hotel, the Casa Loma Hotel. The hotel is "European-style", which means tiny rooms and no en-suite bathrooms. This must have tickled Dani's funny bone, because she could not stop giggling about the accommodations. It was clean, comfortable, and quiet- and, best of all, cheap- but it took some time to get her to stop laughing.


When she did stop, we went down the street foraging for food. The hotel was situated just two blocks north of Haight St. (at Filmore, for the curious), and the Lower Haight has a veritable panoply of tasty food and trendy shops. We were substantially interested in the former. That night, my uncharacteristically spontaneous wife and I wandered into a place called The Little Chihuahua. We found it using the classical method of finding tasty places to eat- look for the ones full of locals- and it did not disappoint. Seating was scarce, salsa was plentiful, and I'm not sure I've ever seen so much meat and pico de gallo on a single taco. (It came with two tortillas, so I actually split it in half- and each of those were still huge tacos!) We did have to endure the dramatic conversation of two ladies next to us, discussing why one should not be in a relationship with her current significant other- but the food was worth it. (Also, all-organic and sustainable and stuffs- gotta love S.F.) After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel and enjoyed a well-deserved rest.