San Francisco trip 2009

L and I went to SF to visit G and his girlfriend.

I left Friday at 4 to pick up L at work. Got there by 5 because of all the traffic. Had dinner. Left at 6 and got to SF by 2am. We would've gotten there sooner, but had to take a detour because of work on the Bay Bridge. 5, 605, 210, 5, 580W, 80W and right into the city.

The next day, we slept in, I finished Butters' sweater, then went to Chinatown. It was raining pretty much the whole day. Being in Chinatown just makes me smile. I love the little stalls. I love the bustle. I love the little trinkets.

We went home when the sun set and watched movies. Yarb.

On Sunday, it drizzled off and on. On our way to the Golden Gate Park, we stopped by Japan town and had ramen.

The noodles were handmade, but was not quite as al dente as I thought it would be. Still the soup was pretty good.

On the other hand, the okonomiyaki was extremely good. I think I only had it once before. It's a flour and egg batter with cabbage and a layer of crispy pork on top.

Just as I finished eating, a rainbow appeared and we had the perfect view.

We then went to the park and it was beautiful. Full of greenery. Away from the road that cuts across the park, there were dirt trails through an almost wilderness. It's almost like hiking but in the middle of the city. We walked around Stowe Lake where Butters made his acquaintance with squirrels and water fowls. He seemed more afraid of them than they were afraid of him. He also found a pit bull puppy to play with on the island.

(In the little triangular patch of white to the left of my head, we could see the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately, it doesn't show up in the picture.)

On our last day, I have been looking forward to hiking again on the trail that Dana showed us last time when we went up to Ukiah. So I googled fern and red woods. All the red woods were along the coast. Instead of asking for directions, I took a guess and chose the Van Damme State Park by Mendocino.

The drive was 3 1/2 hours there, 80, 580, 101, 128, 1. Way longer than I expected. On the other hand, the drive up was beautiful. As we got closer to Mendocino on the 128, we drove through beautiful red wood forests.

We pulled over to the side of the road and admired the view. The forest was so quiet and devoid of human and artificial noises. We also found clusters of gigantic mushrooms by the side of the road. They were bigger than my hand. G picked some in a plastic bag to show his girlfriend.

Onwards we go! As we left the forest and merged onto the 1, a lake appeared on my left side, catching me completely by surprise. When we looked on a map later, we found that it was with us the whole time.

A bit later we came to the state park. We parked in the beach parking lot and crossed the street to the trailhead.

This was posted by the parking booth. 

L walking on a log. The wood was surprisingly spongy and soft. Must have been all the moisture.

In addition to the tons of mushrooms we found, we also found another creature. Can you guess what it is?

It totally camouflaged with the mushroom it was eating. It was a slug. L didn't even think it was a slug. At least now we know that mushroom is non-poisonous. Except maybe the slug was poisonous too and specifically eats poisonous mushrooms for its poison.

We also found another all yellow slug eating something that looks like spinach. I wonder how that taste.

Note to self for the future: Mendocino seems like a good place for a nice vacation. Coho salmons spawn up river. There are camping grounds in Van Damme state park. Tons of trails. Canoeing and kayaking. There are also sea caves to explore.

Tuesday, left at 8:30 got to LA at 1:30. Not too bad at all. Had a wonderful time there visiting.