Home from California

Home from California -- I think the trip was just one day too long for the kids' sakes, but at least there were no meltdowns.

It was delightful to see our friends out there: one (jhkim) I had not seen since high school -- twenty years ago! It's hard to believe. Seeing him after all this time was quite entertaining, and meeting his adorable son was a highlight of the trip. M is quite an articulate and bright young thing.

My dear friends Bert and Zachary kept me and the girls entertained down in Silicon Valley while mr_niggle was working the first two days of the journey, for which I am very grateful. Who knew Palo Alto could be so pretty, or that there were lovely little nature preserves tucked away amid the corporate parks and strip malls?

Thursday night saw a large summit for dinner, with all of the aforementioned cast of characters, plus denyse and evilmagnus. I met the latter for the first time this trip, which was also very welcome. I've been hearing about the mysterious Mr. denyse for years.

Friday was up to San Francisco to see the Aquarium -- Gwen enjoyed the penguin and snake feedings (these snakes were just eating fish), but enjoyed most of all getting to run around in their playspace. I loved their cafe with the ABCs of sustainable agriculture up on the wall and the super-friendly counter attendants all doting on the kids. After that, it was on to a new hotel. Turns out our el cheapo corporate hotel down in Milpetis (which is outside of San Jose) was quite a bit nicer than the Regency Plaza in downtown San Francisco. When we got to the new hotel it was crowded with people trying to register for a weekend convention for the local area gay/lesbian chapter of Narcotics Anonymous. All well and good except this involved having to shoulder my way up to the registration desk amid a great deal of chaos.

That night we met gatopreto, meristem, missionista and dr_memory for dinner at a tasty restaurant called Home. The food was good but the kids were too jetlagged and it was way too noisy in there to hear people across a big table. Fie.

Saturday was the zoo and then chilling with gatopreto and meristem back at their place, Wit's End. It is comfortably full of furniture, now, and very lovely. It was wonderful just to have some time to kick back with friends an watch their garden grow, so to speak. I think Gwen felt quite at home there.

Sunday was the Exploratorium with dr_memory, missionista and Zachary, after which we were joined by another old friend, Naomi, for dinner. Why do my kids always lose their cool in such situations and begin to uncharacteristically resemble demonspawn? I can answer that, of course -- to much stimulation, unfamiliar surroundings, jet lag, etc -- but c'est la vie. Dinner at Pacific Catch in the Marina District was scrumptuous, though.

Then Monday was our flight home -- pretty uneventful.

The Bay area is beautiful. Last time we went I came home with the feeling I could live there... this time it was mr_niggle who came home with that feeling. Maybe someday.