Monday, August 11, 2008

I'm Not the Only Soul Who's Accused of Hit and Run

And on the seventh day we did not rest. In fact, we probably spent more time in the city than any other day. The girls took their first streetcar to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf and all those other touristy places you never go to when you actually live in San Francisco, and they loved, loved , loved all the cheesy goodness/badness of it.


Coadster found her first left-handed store. Yes, to most folks it's a joke, but Coadster had finally discovered her people.

Both girls wanted to go the NFL store. Stinky is a Steelers fan, Coadster is a Bears fan and I actually like both teams.

Let it stand documented, that I suffered through the Hard Rock Cafe and store, so that Stinky could impress all the other entering high school freshmen with her sparkly lettered new t-shirt.

Here is one of those annoying silver mime type people who stand on boxes waiting for someone to try and take their picture so they can harass that fool for money. Yeah, well. Lick me on the face and call me sucker.

I almost forgot to mention that we met my aunt and uncle and one of my cousins in their suburb for dinner the night before. Then while we were at Pier 39, my uncle called to tell my that my other cousin would be free for lunch the next day and would we like to join them for lunch at a Brazilian restaurant in Palo Alto. Hell fuckin' yes we would.

So, on the eighth day, we met for an early lunch and some of the best food I've ever eaten. It was a buffet, but then there was a coaster in the middle of the table. If you put the green side up, hundreds of waiters (or so it seemed) would come to your table and offer you any kind of meat you could imagine. I was in heaven.

After lunch, Stinky was exhausted, so she stayed at the motel while Coadster and I went to Haight Street. Coadster has wanted to go to Haight Street since she was a young girl and became obsessed with Jimi Hendrix. I tried to warn her that it really wasn't at all like traveling back in time to the sixties. It was really just a bunch of vintage and record stores and rich kids pretending to be poor for the Summer. But she didn't care. She still wanted to see it.

So, we went and she was thrilled just to be there. She tried on dresses at some of the hippie stores. While I was waiting for her, I got a text from Mr Hitandrun guy. He was at our friend C.'s bar in Fort Madison and he told me he was reminiscing (that's where we met on Thanksgiving weekend). I might have to change Mr Hitandrun guy's name again, because he has been WAY less flaky since that one time we spoke. We shot texts back and forth and he made me laugh like he always does. I know I sound like a broken record, but it's true. If we never become anything but friends, I'd still be happy, because I've never met anyone else who I can talk about all the weirdness of being a single parent with and then move into a conversation about TJ Hooker and then devolve into talk about David Lee Roth's assless pants and then next time talk about how annoying our kids' picky eating habits are. I really love that about him, and it also kept me from whining while we had to shop yet again.


I finally got Coadster out of the stores, and we decided to walk to Golden Gate Park. Unfortunately, the fog was starting to roll in and all the kids in their gigantic pants all looked like they were wandering around trying to score drugs for their Friday nights and Coadster was uncomfortable and I was bored by it all, so we cut our quaint little walk in the park short.


As we reached our bus stop, man did I smell bacon. The cops were all over Haight Street messing with the cool kids. I'm not really sure what the deal was, but the pigs were out in full force and Coadster and I couldn't be happier to be heading away from all the drama...Or so we thought.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah! One of the most beautiful places in the country! So glad you're seeing it.... and ESPECIALLY glad that you made it to a Hard Rock Cafe? :)

Mr Atrocity said...

Your bravery at making it through a Hard Rock Thingummy will stand for all time.

I'm gettimg me one of these green coasters. I wonder if it would work wherever I was in the world? Would be handy...

rel said...

Churlita,
Your kids are going to remember this trip for the rest of their lives. They'll tell and retell of what a cool mom they have.
rel

Anonymous said...

Ooh is the "or so we thought" a tease to the next post?

I like the photo of the jerseys hanging in the store. (I wonder why?)

The graffiti like Hendrix signage was pretty cool.

sounds like you and MrHitandRun have mutual ADD, which is something very nice to share together...I am sure there will be more on that subject...

Mrs. Hairy Woman said...

Do ya like yer bacon crispy? Ha ha.. I'm glad you got to see some sort of action.. other than that Mime.. Did he hit you up for a photo Op?

Susan said...

Oh the story I could tell about dancing with a cop in the street last night...Baltimore has been interesting.

Tara said...

I love Hard Rock Cafes, I've been to the one in Cleveland, Florida and Arizona. The one in AZ has a fountain outside with a phoenix rising from the fake flames. Very cool.

Poptart said...

I love that you left us with a "to be continued" ending!

OH my god, so glad you guys went to the brazilian place - I've been a couple times to places like that and it IS totally heaven. Did you eat the little cheese bread roll things, pao de queijo? I crave those sometimes and keep threatening to try making them.

dmarks said...

All very interesting. It's a city I've not been to, and I really haven't read photo-blog stuff about it before, so it is new to me.

DJSassafrass said...

Or so we thought? Damn...leave us hanging!
Hey, we need to do beers sometime in the coming weeks! We could go to 'our' place....awwww.

NoRegrets said...

Travels and travails...

Churlita said...

Liz,

I love San Francisco, but it was fun to show it to my daughters too.

Mr Atrocity,

You especially would have loved the steak they served. So good.

Rel,

Thanks. Although my girls may not think I'm all that cool.

Evil-E,

Thats a good way to put it. We seem to understand each other's ADD.

Mrs.,

He hit everyone he could up for money. I suppose that's his job.

Susan,

You should tell that story on your blog so I can read it, please.

Tara,

I know. It's just that, out of all the places I could have spent time in SF, I could think of better ones.

Poptart.

Is that the fried polenta stuff? I really liked the fried bananas too.

DMarks,

You should go. The history is fascinating.

DJ,

Yeah. Let me know what works for you. I'm pretty limited cashwise, but it doesn't take much money for me. 2 beers don't cost very much.

Nor,

It's those two together, isn't it?

laura b. said...

"Lick me on the face and call me sucker." hahahaha!

You have some amazingly awesome pictures.

minijonb said...

i'm a lefty as well, so i think it's cool that Coadster found that store. great looking pix!

AlienCG said...

Great pictures. I would like to get a chance to see the left coast one day. And to Coadster, yes, we left-handers do completely rock.

MrManuel said...

Pier 39 is a lot of fun. I love eating at Bubba Gump's when we go there.

Churlita said...

LauraB.,

Thanks. You know how it is, if you take hundreds of pics, at least a few will turn out okay.

MinJonB.,

I hope you're as proud of it as Coadster is.

AlienCG,

Ha ha. You guys should form a club...Or have you all already?

Mr Manuel,

We ate at one when we were in Breckenridge and my girls loved it.

Anonymous said...

LOL, "her people" and "gigantic pants." I completely know what you mean, but the way you phrase things makes me laugh out loud. :D