We all float down here..

Big. Citylike. Full of people. Not nearly as freaky as TV led me to believe, eye-blindingly poor clothing choices or no.

Mostly we were in Mountain View, which is about an hour away, and I think I had more fun hanging out there and watching abiku and Karl play Rock Band and 'spot the geek company' as we went to dinner. Which is not an unusual thing for me, considering that crowds of people are Not My Thing. I handled Saturday in SF fine. We went to Japan Town, where I made grabby hands at an Alien model and escaped without buying an Alice in Wonderland Pullip doll, because Pullips are superdeformed and creepy. I had ume onigiri and was very pleased.

Went to Pier 39 and saw seals and Alcatraz. This was as close as I got to Alcatraz, because I decided that being trapped in cramped quarters with 250 other tourists would be.. bad. I'll go again when it's not a holiday weekend. abiku bought a shitload of saltwater taffy, his drug of choice, and I laughed at him the rest of the weekend whenever I heard the wax-paper-unraveling noise of him consuming another piece. I also succumbed to the candy store and ate .. 1 piece, I think. I have plans for that candy. Some of it is going to be dissolved in booze. Bought some circus peanuts, which were purchased and consumed because they're utterly, utterly vile. I loved them when I was a child and gorged myself (literally) sick on them. What, you mean puking up orange, slimy, fake-banana-flavoured foam isn't supposed to be a fond childhood memory? They're individually wrapped, which means I can keep them around for the occasions where they're mentioned and some unfortunate friend has never experienced circus peanuts. "What?! You've never had one?? Here, I happen to have some.. try it!" I never said I was a nice person.

Sunday, we had a nice drive up along the coast. We got to the city, found parking, and tried to do the Golden Gate Park. We attempted to get food at the Japanese tea shop, but they were out of everything I could eat, so I had tea. My blood sugar had crashed out. You know how when a five year old who's hot, tired, bored, and cranky pitches a fit, the parent is all 'Right. We're leaving now!'? That was my brain's inner monologue right after we finished the Japanese garden. To his credit, it was no part of abiku's outer monologue. On the way out of the park, we saw little 'go karz' or something - computer guided zippy little things that tour you around the city. Next time, I want to do that. We took the fast route back to Mountain View. Found a Japanese restaurant that Karl had never been to, whereupon I fell on my food like a T-rex on a goat. Agadashi tofu in a thick, yummy dashi sauce, miso soup, and two more ume onigiri. Itadakemasu!!

I had kidnapped one of Karl's books. He kept teasing me that I wouldn't finish it. You would think, after 18 years, he would not underestimate my voracious reading skills. Finished the book, required a trip to a bookstore so I could buy the rest of the series in paperback. So, candy and books were the sum of my take-home purchases from this trip.

Now the hunt begins for an unpainted copy of the Alien model figurine I saw in JapanTown..