Birthday in Northern California, Day 1

"If you are traveling with a small child, remember to put on your mask first!"

I have to thank Southwest Airlines for their incredible travel deals (that allowed me this spontaneous trip), and I absolutely love flying with them... although I think my flight attendant was about to crack. She gave me a dozen bags of peanuts, not sure why, but had a ridiculous smile on her face as if she's just dished out a dozen plastic pacifiers. Oh goodness. Despite the many stops, I got two extra hours when I arrived in San Francisco.

Just like in a movie, upon my arrival at the Adelaide Hostel, the song "California Dreamin" comes on the radio. The first thing I saw in the room was a pair of thong underwear drying in the open window and a joint rolled up below. It looked like the kind of dump rock stars would stay at touring through San Francisco. I dug it!

I hit the town as soon as I was settled and wondered to Chinatown. Immediately I observed that there were about twice as many homeless / crazies and half as many police on the streets. I managed to get my beloved sesame ball from the one cafe still open there in the late afternoon. Heaven! After getting lost in many souvenir shops, which I don't typically care for except for this specific Chinatown that has the most amazing trinkets.

(Chinatown souvenirs, freshly fried sesame ball!)

On the way back I stopped in a Korean-operated dive bar where I got my first sense of drink prices in the city. $8 for a tiny glass of wells? I ended up striking up a conversation with Loing, the beautiful bartender. I ended up staying there for quite a while, striking up conversations with a gay man with a very sick dog, a Spanish man with a thick accent, and Ron, an off-duty police man, who bought me a drink and recommended great places to check out. Loing also bought me a drink for my birthday. What a nice bunch of people!

I went back to the hostel and met the ladies I was staying with. The french girl was the fine owner of the thong and joint, and two English ladies invited me out on the town with them and the others of the hostel that night.
We all waited in the alley which was full of people... some doing art, some blatantly enjoying some MJ, and a young kid running around. They all seemed to know each other like a big family, I almost felt like I was intruding. Very strange feeling. Socializing as I do, I realized that as an American I was indeed less of a deer in the headlights than my European counterparts, which was strange. Among the crowd I met people from Denmark, London, Austria, Poland, Belgium, and Australia. After having a few drinks it becomes very hard to have a conversation with all the accents and having to make sure I was 'talking on their level' if need be.

We all headed to the Element Lounge near the hostel for a free Reggae show. One of my roommates enjoyed my dancing apparently and bought me a drink. I met a very nice Belgian guy named Matt who talked with me about photography for a while. We had plans to hang out tomorrow.

What a fun night! Ahhhh California Dreamin'...