California, Summer '09

I got up at 4:00 AM this morning, to catch my flight to San Francisco.  After ending up in a middle seat cross country and a three hour layover at LAX (I watched half of the movie Sideways after finding a power outlet), the flight from LAX to SFO was pleasant – up and down on a half-empty plane.  The coastline directly northwest of LA was gorgeous – dramatic mountains sweeping down to the sea.  For most of the rest of the flight, we were over land – brown and pretty desolate looking, still with glimpses of the mountains every once in a while.  As we neared San Francisco, I was a little surprised – the bay had pockets of purple algae, like you see in Salt Lake City, etc.  But as we got closer to the city, the water cleared out.  I saw a long floating bridge, and finally, the city itself. 

After landing and getting my bag, I waited outside the baggage claim area for my friend and her husband to arrive (from a trip back out east to visit both their families).  Their flight was a tiny bit delayed, but it gave me a chance to sit and drink some water somewhere that wasn’t moving hundreds of miles per hour.  Becky and David arrived and we got their luggage, then headed for the airport train which took us to the BART.  The BART looks, sounds, and smells like the DC Metro.  It took about an hour to get to their apartment in Berkley.  Coming out of the ground for the second time, Berkley was the first really pretty area I’d seen since landing – lots of trees (from palm to pine) and nicely sized, nicely spaced houses.  We walked from the BART to Becky and David’s apartment, several blocks away.

Once we’d had time to sit for a minute and catch our breath, we went to the Monterey Market in the Northbrae part of Berkley.  AMAZING.  I wished I’d brought my camera.  The fruit out front was beautiful, smelled wonderful, and there was so much of it.  Inside were vegetables of the same variety and quality, fresh herbs, fresh baked goods, shelves of various olive oil and vinegar (champagne-based, pinot-based), a shelf of British goods, and God knows what else.  It was overwhelming.  Becky and David brought milk and a bunch of fruit, including some cherries I’d picked out.

We returned the food to their apartment, and went out for dinner.  The restaurant they’d picked, CHA-YA, was teensy tiny, but really, really good.  We got various dishes that I’d never heard of (aside from the Miso soup).  And of course, chop sticks were the only utensils other than the spoon for the Miso.  But it was fun, using my very rudimentary chop stick skillz on the sushi rolls (with seaweed), deep-fried mushroom, and brown rice with veggies.  I also got plum wine, and David got sake which he shared – both really good also.  Afterwards, we walked back to the car, and drove back to the apartment, where Becky fixed up an air mattress for me and we all crashed after a long day of travel.