A Fireworks Tradition

Since childhood, I've loved watching fireworks. In a mid-sized city, it was easy to park the car, spread the blanket and spend the evening munching on junk food and listening to live music at Ah-Nab-Awen park with my Dad until the show began. The fireworks show quickly became a father/daughter tradition.

While living in the Bay Area has brought a number of changes, one of the hardest adjustments was Fourth of July celebrations. First of all, it's supposed to be HOT on Fourth of July. Thankfully, we lucked out with a beautiful day today... but it's not always the case. Secondly, watching the fireworks in San Francisco has never been very appealing-- especially with the threat of fog (which, by the way, makes things chilly). And I'm still getting used to the fact that I can't buy sparklers at the store, but our neighbors can set off fireworks at 2 a.m. all week and nobody stops them.

But I'm happy to report that we've found a new fireworks tradition! For the past two years we've gone to the July 3rd Oakland A's game where they put on a fabulous fireworks show set to music. Have I mentioned that I'm a sucker for fireworks set to music? From our inexpensive seats we watch all the fireworks we want and can still make it home on BART in 10 minutes. And on the actual holiday, we can usually catch a glimpse of the fireworks around the bay from a hill in the neighborhood which definitely beats fighting the crowds in the city. Next year we'll just have to bring my Dad!

Happy Fourth of July!

Calculate cab fares

Even though I'm not taking a cab to work anytime soon, this cool website calculates estimated cab fares within San Francisco. Now if somebody could figure out a way to just find a cab, any cab, in Oakland...

San Francisco Taxi Fare Finder [via Google Maps Mania]

Commuting Fun

While we live in beautiful, sunny, cheap Oakland, both of us work a block away from each other in San Francisco. We keep similar hours at the office, so we typically commute together. Thank goodness we have each other for intelligent conversation...because our commuting choices pretty much suck. In two years living with this situation, here are the commuting alternatives we’ve come up with:

1. Car to BART, short walk to the office.
2. Walk to AC Transit transbay bus, long walk to the office.
3. Drive to public garage in San Francisco, short walk to the office.

Here’s a summary of these choices:

	Option 1 – Car/BART	Option 2 - Bus	Option 3 - Car
Cost (Round-trip per person)	$6.20 + a little gas	$7.00	Toll - $4 Parking - $13 ($26 divided by 2 people)
Time door-to-door	40 minutes	50 minutes	20-60 minutes depending on traffic
Environmentally Friendly?	Sort of.	Yes!	No!
Other notes	Cost will go up soon, $1 extra for parking starting next month	If we get a nice bus, we can sleep. If not, we arrive with a headache, backache, and whiplash	Driving sucks, but the office will pay for a couple days of parking per month for “emergency” purposes.

Sooo, you soak all that in? We're pretty much tree-huggers, so driving isn't really an option, nor is it anywhere near affordable. Earlier this summer we switched from Option 1 to Option 2. Option 2 is pretty awesome...we get to leave our car at home, we always get a seat, and there's a nice 2-3 mile walk built in. Option 1 works pretty well too...it's cheaper and a little faster, but lately we haven't been getting a seat and we need to drive (while still partially asleep).

Great...except that lately all of our AC Transit buses have been crap-tastic, plastic-seated, loud, and old old old. There is such a huge difference between the posh charter buses and the old local buses. Going 60 mph in one of the local buses is such a horrible way to get to work that we wish we could switch back to BART. We could do casual carpool, but that is a little creepy and tricky with two of us.

I really shouldn't complain. Having two relatively good public transportation options is better than in most areas. Both options are so close to being enjoyable! Maybe we can find some neighbors and carpool everyday...bleh!

When In Rome...

For many California natives, traveling to Michigan may be akin to traveling to a foreign country, complete with strange accents. And yet, it's a really fun place to visit! To encourage you to visit AND to help ease the transition, I present to you, my brief guide to visiting Michigan:

1. People in Michigan are extremely friendly. Don't gawk at the cashier who wants to engage you in conversation for 10 minutes about her sister's visit to San Francisco in 1975. Say things like "excuse me" and "thank you" and "isn't this weather beautiful?" and "have a great day" to perfect strangers. You'll fit right in!

2. Things are cheaper in Michigan. Try not to let your jaw drop when you see newly renovated condos with hardwood floors and exposed brick for $69,000. Or pay $2.70 for that same Carmel Macchiato you're used to getting for $3.05.

3. You will be overwhelmed by the number of domestic cars. A favorite game: try to count how many Prius cars you see in a day.

4. If you happen to visit anywhere outside of Detroit or Ann Arbor, you will likely overhear conversations extolling Republicans (particularly the one currently running our country), championing mega-churches, bemoaning the lack of prayer in school and blaming "immigrants" for any given societal ill. Despite all this, Michigan is still a Blue State and there are a small, but mighty, group of us that are working really hard to keep it that way.

5. Believe it or not, there are lots of things to do in Michigan. Visit the zoo, go to the symphony, attend a play, walk through botanical gardens, swim at the beach. And yes, you can swim at the beach.

6. And, finally, remember that any place in Michigan can be located by pointing to your right palm. If you don't know where something is, put up your palm and someone will point the way.

Happy Travels!

Back to Blogging

Last week we traveled to our hometown of Grand Rapids, MI for a warm, sunny vacation. So much for blogging about our travels in the Bay Area, huh? While attending a tasting of Australian wines at a lovely local art gallery, the propreiter of the wine shop asked about our blog. Apparently my mother has been spreading the word far and wide. And here we were, not blogging. How embarrassing! So, here is my promise that we will tell you all you need to know about visiting Grand Rapids... and fill you in on our other summer activities, as well.

And, if you're ever in Grand Rapids, make sure to visit Art of the Table. The locally owned shop has fine wine, beer (sold by the bottle!) and lots of kitchen goodies. Better yet, it is the cornerstone of the recently revitalized Wealthy Street corridor. If you visit, make sure to grab a treat at the adjoining Wealthy Street Bakery!

We're not flower show kind of people

For a Bay Area apartment, I'd say that we have pretty nice yard: a patio with grill, a deck, some citrus trees and lots of furry little creatures. We also have some huge flower beds that have been totally molested by weeds. This year, we decided to take control of the clutter and try our hand at gardening. After a few weeks, (almost) everything is still alive!

With our newly-found green-thumbness, we decided to go to the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show at the Cow Palace this past weekend. Add that to the list of things we never need to go to again.

For over $40 in admission and parking, we had the amazing opportunity to purchase the same pretty flowers we can find at the local nurseries...in fact, most of the places we usually go to were actually there! I guess there's the added bonus of seeing the flowers arranged in extravagant, professionally landscaped gardens that we will never be able to afford. We did get free Kahlua...after giving all of personal information to the Man.

Until we buy our own house (when the cows come home), we're sticking to the local Ace Hardware Garden Center and Annie's Annuals in Richmond for our cheap annuals.

Whoopin' it up in the Financial District

Last Friday we decided to live on the edge. Our friends had a babysitter for their one-year-old son, and were meeting us for drinks after work in San Francisco. I think we were all desperate for some adult fun, so we decided to go bar hopping in the Mission Financial District! WHAT?

We had fun too, let me tell you. We met at One Market for drinks after work, only to be confronted with a bar full of half-drunk boring lawyers/businesspeople/stiffs wearing suits - on a FRIDAY? This is San Francisco people. It seemed like a perfectly fine restaurant, but too fancy and too loud for us. Instead we strolled across the street car tracks to Market Bar in the Ferry Building. Within five minutes we were seated with a bottle of cheap (and tasty!) Austrian wine and an overpriced cheese plate. After a long week of work, I need a table at a decent restaurant, friends, and a bottle of wine (noticing the wine pattern around these parts? Man I'm a lush).

The wine caught up with our almost-empty stomachs, so we let Market Bar and got more wine, duh. Little known secret - Taylor's Refresher only charges $1 corkage. $1 gets you 4 real wine glasses, a silver tray, and the cork sucked out of your wine bottle. Add this to a relatively cheap burger, fries, and onion rings, and you're in heaven. And that's before the heart attack.

The Ferry Building isn't exactly bustling at 8pm on a Friday, but the wine bar was definitely open and Slanted Door was busy. Mental note to try the wine bar out sometime...

After we were kicked out of Taylor's (because they were closing) we really felt the pressure. Late nights in the Financial District should not be attempted by amateurs. The street was pretty dark, and the sidewalks were pretty much deserted, but the shining beacon atop the Hiatt called out to us. You have to have a sense of humor before going to Equinox, San Francisco's only spinning restaurant. It's on the 20-something floor of a hotel surrounded by 30-something floor buildings. You do the math.

Another round of cocktails and we were ready for a pretty crappy dessert. Who cares? We were drunk by then anyway. I think we enjoyed the Cockburn Port the best. Cockburn Port, the city spinning around us, a whole evening with our friends...you just need to be a little creative to find the fun in the Financial District.