San Francisco!

[baratron]

So it seems that PAX and hanging out with Freezepop ate my brain, because I've only just now got round to organising my trip to San Francisco, and I'm leaving tomorrow. Oops. Maybe if you look at the pretty pictures of the pretty Freezepop, you'll understand. Personally, I think that this is the best photo I've ever taken.

Anyway: my plans are totally up in the air, I haven't even looked at a San Francisco guidebook, I have no idea where any of the parts of the Bay Area are in relation to each other, and I don't have anywhere to stay organised yet. Woohoo. For some reason I am super-flaky this trip. I'm planning to remedy *some* of that disorganisation on the flight at least, assuming I get to a bookshop in the morning. Currently I also seem to have snot, although I'm remaining optimistic that it's "just allergies" rather than a cold, despite evidence to the contrary.

What I do know:
Tuesday evening:
Getting in to SFO at 5.20 pm. Being picked up by the_ogre, whose cellphone number I don't have. Having dinner with kshandra.

Wednesday daytime:
Probably doing tourist stuff with kshandra.

Wednesday evening:
No plans

Thursday daytime:
No plans

Thursday evening:
Having dinner with tiger_spot, brooksmoses et al.

Friday lunchtime/early afternoon:
Seeing firecat on the way back to the airport.

I still want to fit in mactavish and leback and others, and I want to be taken to some of the awesome museums that people mention, and see Bay Area LGBTQ stuff. Apart from that, I'll go along with whatever. I can eat pretty much anything as long as it's vegan, and I really like vegan desserts that aren't fruit salads or sorbet. (Though I am willing to forgo them in front of people who aren't allowed to eat them for medical reasons. It seems mean to put temptation in your way.)

I also have an American cellphone number. I may as well post this publicly as I'm not exactly going to be keeping it forever: (206) 779 9051. The SIM is in my usual phone, so calls and text are equally fine. (My British SIM is in a spare phone that I don't know how to use properly, so I'm not really using it for text at the moment.)

Comments

[kshandra]

Assuming I remember in the midst of schlepping gridlore around tomorrow, I will look into lunch reservations at Greens for Wednesday. (They don't list a lunch menu, despite having posted lunch hours, but the dessert menu does have a non-fruit-based vegan offering. *grin*) My former-roommate-turned-hairdresser worked at their cafe counter, Greens to Go, when we were living in SF, but as Doug is an extreme carnivore, I've never had the chance to try it. I'll get as late a booking as they'll give me (assuming anything is available).

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

I'm only a quick visitor to baratron's journal, but, I have to ask - is that a MARZIPAN PIG in your icon?

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I *think* it's a Pocket Dragon :)

[nitoda]

Please give lovely people hugs from me! :-)

[pir.livejournal.com]

I recommend a trip out to Alcatraz Island if you haven't been there before, just early and preferably early on a weekday to avoid crowds so you get a real sense of the isolation out there. Audio tour is worth doing.

[aardvarkoffnord.livejournal.com]

That is a very, very cool photo. It is extremely hard to take a good picture under nightclub conditions. I certainly never have.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

My photos of kasson are the best because I always stand on his side of the stage. It's a tradition :) If you looked at the whole set, you'll see that the photos of Sean are considerably more grainy, because he was further away. The shape of the stage stopped me from getting over to Sean's side, even though I was in front of the barrier and not having to dodge members of the crowd.

The other photo I really like from the set is this one:


And this photo (http://www.rabidpaintball.com/album/v/baratron/Freezepop_PAX/IMG_2204.JPG.html) is just amusing.

Annoyingly, I missed the part when kasson was licking/fellating Sean's guitar. He didn't do it for long enough for my stupid slow camera to get the photo! Instead, I have a blurry photo taken immediately afterwards (http://www.rabidpaintball.com/album/v/baratron/Freezepop_PAX/IMG_2220.JPG.html). Humph.

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

If I knew where you were staying, I could look for nearer-by things. In the meantime, here are places I know of close to Caltrain stations.

Near Palo Alto Caltrain station:

Loving Hut
http://www.lovinghut.us/paloalto/index.html
I haven't actually eaten here, but it's all vegan. Sort of Chinese, I think. Big on raw food.

Pluto's
http://www.plutosfreshfood.com/
Largely salads, but they are big interesting custom-made salads. Also sandwiches and things, but I'm not sure how many of those are vegan.

There's more on this street, but I'm not sure how much of it will have vegan things. Probably some.

Near Mountain View Caltrain station:

Godavari
http://www.suesindiancuisine.com/
Our favorite Indian place. Has lots of good vegetarian dishes, but I don't actually know whether they use butter or vegetable oil in most things.

Many Other Restaurants
http://whatsopen.in/mountain_view/today.html
For instance, there's a great Thai place. Or we can wander up and down checking menus for likely vegan things. (I recommend against Garden Fresh -- though entirely vegetarian, their name is a lie. Everything they serve is in the category Nasty Fake Meat and is therefore yucky.)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I am in Mountain View, so that's easy! Yesterday we went to The Kitchen Table, which is a kosher restaurant near a lot of the other places on that Mountain View link. It is entirely non-dairy so I could be safe from accidental dairy poisoning, but doesn't have an enormous amount of veggie options, and I'm not desperate to go there again.

I tend to avoid Indian restaurants now unless they actually use the word vegan on the menu. I've been made ill too many times to take the risk. I could stand the Pluto salad place, but I'm not huge on salads as a meal (I tend to think they go with a meal but are not meals in themselves, unless it's the middle of summer and far too hot for anything cooked).

The Loving Hut sounds good to me but as it's only open until 9, we'll have to be there early. When would be good for you? I have no plans for tomorrow yet. I may be going into San Francisco, but if I get up early enough I can also get *back* early too.

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

My train reaches the Palo Alto station at 6:38, so shortly thereafter is convenient for me. Andres and Cathy tend to work longer hours, so they might prefer a bit later, but I don't think we'll have any trouble with before nine.

(If something in Mountain View sounds good, I reach that station a touch before 7:00.)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

OK. I'm very tired and wheezy today, so I'm not sure what I'm doing at all. You have my number, yes? (206) 779 9051. I may well not look at livejournal again before tonight, after the meeting time.

Just looking at the Caltrain timetable. The next one on that exact route is an hour later. There are Baby Bullet trains as well but I'm guessing they are more expensive? Would meeting in the range of 7.45-8pm work for Andres and Cathy? Have you talked to brooksmoses?

[firecat]

I'm still up for seeing you Friday early afternoon unless you've already made other plans.

Let me know where you will be around Friday noon so I can figure out where/how to meet up.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

If today is anything to go by, noon tomorrow I'll still be in bed :)

I'm staying with Laura and Alexei in Mountain View. I'll email you the address in a bit. It would be convenient if you could drive here to get me so I don't have to worry about carrying my bags by public transport, but not impossible for me to bring myself.

[firecat]

I can pick you up at Laura and Alexei's around 1pm. We can hang out for a while and have a meal then I can take you to the airport around 4:30. Yes please email me the address.