My time with Jess

As most people know I had a wonderful visitor from October 17 to November 2 (sadly, today). Anyway…the time was amazing, and of course went too fast. Normally I’d just keep stories to those who asked…but there’s been quite a few people who want to know everything, so I decided to do a blog. Day by day, almost a minute to minute of the two weeks I spent with Jess re-discovering everything that’s quite literally, in my backyard.

October 17: Jess arrived today, so obviously we didn't do anything that day. I picked her up at the airport; we hung out, and had pizza. I definitely wanted to keep it low key since she’d just arrived.

October 18: A lazy day in general. Basic sightseeing in Marin; we walked through Mill Valley, Tiburon and Sausalito. We returned home to hang out, watched “Over the Hedge” and decided to try Taco Bell for dinner that day, since it was on her “to try” list.

October 19: This was the day of our first gig. Basically we spent the whole morning/early afternoon lounging around listening to the bands we’d be seeing that night. What was cool is that it was at a new venue. The Regency Ballroom on Post St. @ Van Ness in San Francisco…and I wouldn’t recommend it. They’re a bit behind the times, and still a little stuffy about things. Some rules were the same, others were just…strange. The tickets, no venue I’ve been to in the last four years or so have torn tickets to show admission. Places normally scan them. Also, the balcony (we discovered after the third act) was “Parents Only” which was so annoying, cuz obviously it wasn’t even close to being full. Anyway…we got there pretty early, around 4 I think, since we had a meet and greet pass. It was really cool to be able to talk to the band before the show, even if it was for hardly any time. The first thing I asked William was if “Classifieds” was on the setlist already, and he asked the band member next to him (I’m so bad with their names) if it was…and he said there was a really good chance. It was cool going down the line too, and talking to each of them a little bit. Then finally it was time for doors to open, so we went in and got a reasonably good spot on the side of the stage right against the rail, which was perfect for a while. Then the teens started pushing and jumping which quickly made our time hell. We lasted up there for the first 3 full acts, but then had to leave just before The Academy Is… started. That was kind of tough, but I think it was worth it because I felt like I wouldn’t have enjoyed the show if I’d stayed where I was. The band puts on a great show, very energetic, which is always a ton of fun to watch. And they did play my song, whether I had anything to do with that, I have no idea…but I choose to believe they played it because I asked.

October 20: We went to our first real tourism spot, Muir Woods. We had really good weather, since it tends to rain a good bit there. By pure luck we ended up arriving at the park just as a tour was about to start, and since I hadn’t been there in over 10 years (probably not quite) I figured it’d be good to take the tour. Most of what there is to say about Muir Woods has to be said in pictures, it’s really pretty in there. After our tour we stopped at their café for lunch and then headed over to Stinson Beach. Not a whole lot to do or see, but I figured it’d be a good stop.

October 21: I had to work, 10 – 4. So Jess went into SF by herself to explore and shop.

October 22: We went to a couple of the amazing museums in the heart of the Presidio; The California Academy of Sciences and the Japanese Tea Gardens. Both were really great, and totally worth the time to explore everything. Very fun day, totally worth every cent of admission, and the California Academy of Sciences has so much to do, it’s practically a day trip in itself.

October 23: I had to work again, but this time Jess hung out at home.

October 24: Friday we took this amazing tour of the city on one of the Double Decker busses. It was easily the longest day we had, but a definite highlight. To take our first tour at 9am, we had to get up at 7. We booked a tour package with "Sightseeing World" -- I think that was the company name. We booked the "All Loops + Alcatraz" package. The first loop took us to The Palace of Fine Arts, across the Golden Gate, to Vista Point, back across the bridge and all through the Presidio. After that, we walked down to Pier 33, stopping at a couple souvenir shops, and waited for our ferry to Alcatraz. We ended up getting there pretty early. One of the things that a friend of Jess' said to try was a churro, so we got one from the vendor there, but it wasn't that good...kinda stale, which was too bad. (Also on the "to try list" that we had was Taco Bell and In & Out) Alcatraz is pretty cool; they have a self-guided audio tour that’s very well done. Once we’d finished the tour we walked back down to the ferry dock, and headed back to Fisherman’s Wharf for a late lunch. We crossed another thing off of Jess’ list then as well. There’s a great place called Rainforest Café. We both loved it; it’s a restaurant similar to Hard Rock in the sense that you get a lot of food for the money you pay. After that, we took our last tour of that day, at 6pm; which was actually really cool to have a tour like that just at sunset. I got some gorgeous shots of city hall at sunset. What was funny is we actually had the same tour guide... which wasn't a bad thing at all since he was really good. That tour went through pretty much every SF neighborhood -- except for like 19th Ave and stuff. Covered North Beach, Chinatown, Pacific Heights, Alamo Square, Coit Tower (I can't remember the little park area...something about WWII)...and the Nob Hill Cable Car Route, into the heart of downtown San Francisco. Then when that was over, we headed home. There was another part of the night that could only be defined as screwy karma. Ask if you want to know the details...haha. Anyway, we were pretty dead tired after that day, so we went home and watched TV.

October 25: Then on Saturday, we took our last tour, which was a hop on and off route, but we didn't have a chance to hop off anywhere...which I think was ok. We had our lunch plans, and there were plenty of chances to take pictures and stuff. The route is pretty much the same as "The Night Loop", with a few extra stops, which was quite nice. Lunch was awesome; Andrea met us at the Hard Rock Café (Connie backed out at the last minute). I bought a pin there -- and Jess got a shirt. The food was alright...I wish their hamburgers were better. After lunch we walked over to see the seals, which were unusually loud and active that day, so there were tons of tourists there watching and videotaping. Then we walked around Pier 39 a little bit, taking pictures. After that we decided to take the Hyde St. Cable Car -- Jess and I heard about that on the bus tour. That was crazy too...we waited probably 45 min in line to get on a car. It was so much fun to take a ride on the cable car for once...that was another thing I've always wanted to do. Then we walked around Union Square and surrounding areas a little bit and we even went all the way up to the Cheesecake Factory to take some pictures of the killer view up there. (It’s on top of the Macy’s in Union Square, which is 7 stories) After that, Jess and I were pretty tired...again.

October 26: The next day was pretty easy, we slept in since we’d had a pretty busy two days. Then we headed up to the wine country. We stopped at Roche Winery – originally just for a few pictures but decided to taste some of their wines as well since we were there. Then we drove to Sonoma, which was a little harder than I thought, since I’d never driven myself. But we found the old town and walked around a little bit and found a really good, really reasonable place for lunch. Fabulous food for a good value is always a nice thing to come across. After lunch we headed home and relaxed watching all kinds of re-runs on TV.

October 27: Monday I had to work and then Jess and I cooked dinner. We made this really simple recipe that Jess found online for Garlic Chicken; it turned out really really nice. I would definitely make it again.

October 28: Tuesday we took the ferry in to the city. That was pretty fun; it was the last good day, even if it was overcast. We took the F line to Pier 39, and Jess got some more presents for friends and family. Then we walked from Pier 39 to Ghirardelli Square for an ice cream sundae. I was worried it would be packed, but between the time of day and the weather not being great…it wasn’t, we got to walk right in. It was amazing. I swear I haven't had a sundae there in at least 10 years...it was heaven. Dark chocolate fudge...soooo good. After that, we took the muni back to the Ferry Building and got a sourdough roll for a snack. That night we had pizza again and then carved our pumpkin. He turned out pretty cute.

October 29: Wednesday we had our second concert, Cobra Starship at the Fillmore. So the morning was pretty lazy, which was nice. It was pretty cold in line, as always. It always seems to be cold by the Fillmore. This time we decided to avoid all the teens by heading for the balcony. Luckily we were successful in getting a seat up there. It was really cool to sit up there for once. Yet another thing I've always wanted to do. I ended up getting a drink, a screwdriver -- they make their drinks REALLY strong. Also, we split a plate of chicken. It's good to know that they've got good food and drinks at a good value.

October 30: Thursday morning I had to get up to go to work... which wasn't as hard as I'd figured it'd be.
October 31: Halloween we had another lazy morning, because I think we both needed it. We went to the Exploratorium. I didn't remember there being so much to do last time. I think maybe last time we didn't look around that carefully? I dunno...but I think we spent like four hours there, and it didn't even seem like that long. Then we had a light dinner so we could have all kinds of snacks and candy. We also baked cookies. We bought Pillsbury Sugar Cookie dough...rolled it all together, which was our first mistake. That dough is seriously not meant to be handled. The more you touched and pulled at it, the stickier it got. As annoying as that was, it was actually pretty funny. To decorate them for Halloween we got this weird "gel icing" -- not very good. Luckily we've got some that don't have any icing. We ended up watching a couple of movies, National Treasure and The Nightmare before Christmas; I figured just because it was Halloween we didn’t have to watch a scary movie…just something exciting. We covered the Halloween part with The Nightmare before Christmas anyway.

November 1: Saturday was a lazy day, we slept in a little bit since we didn’t have anything to do for the morning. Unfortunately it was raining and pretty windy, but I wasn’t going to let bad weather stop us from going to see Matt. During the morning we just watched TV, and then we headed out to get a sandwich for lunch before the show. Also, Jess wanted to buy my dad a couple bottles of wine so we headed to the liquor store on the way home. To get to the Warfield around 5, we left at 4, due to bad weather. It was a tough drive over, but I knew it’d be worth it. It was so cold in line, and our pants and shoes were soaked through. When we got there I was so surprised that there were actually people already there waiting. I didn’t think that’d happen on a bad day like that…but oh well… clearly I’m not the most diehard fan there is, which is good I guess. When we got into the venue I took a quick glance at the shirts for sale, then we ran for a spot right along the stage. Once we were settled where we were going to be for the night, I headed back to the merch table to get my shirt. Then the show started about 30 min later. For once the openers were good. Normally in my experience they’re bad… or just not really anything special. But both were good, which was surprising because Jessie Baylin sounded pretty ordinary from the MySpace songs. The Break and Repair Method (Paul of Matchbox Twenty’s side band) was just as good as I thought they’d be from what I’d heard on MySpace. Nice surprises are always good. Finally Matt came on, and man he can put on a show. Killer set, great humor in his banter, great crowd interaction. He played a long time – probably 2 hours so the show ended much later than the others. What made me happiest is that Jess really enjoyed it too.

November 2: Today we slept in because we only got home at 1am the previous night. Then we got Jess fully organized to leave and went out to breakfast. Originally I was kind of thinking about going to Denny’s, since it was on her original list. But I figured we should do something that you can only do in Marin. So we went to this place called “Mama’s Royal Café” on my dad’s recommendation. Really good food and it was my dad’s treat which was sweet. When it was almost time to leave Jess gave us both a little present. She left chocolates for me and gave my dad the bottles of wine we’d bought earlier.

Anyway…I hated that she had to leave, and I was definitely sad enough for the both of us. But I know we’ll be friends for many years and I look forward to traveling to Perth soon, and who knows where we’ll meet up. The fun thing about having Jess here was that I really learned how amazing the city is. I almost forgot that I actually live here...and that it's really not that big of deal to go back and visit the places we spent time at.