weberwithoneb

Saying goodbye to the bay

We said goodbye to the Bay Area today. As usual the week was over too soon. On Thursday, we met Tyler and Pete C. for lunch at Brenda’s in the City. I’d say it was in a shady part of San Francisco, but I always think that wherever I go in the city. It’s the only place I’ve been that has filthy dive bars immediately next to five star restaurants. Anyway, Brenda’s was good.

Tyler took us by the street in Full House. We saw five tour buses drive by in the ten minutes we were there. And one guy drove by with his window down and shouted, “Wassup Danny Tanner!!”

The view above the Full House house.

We drove to Fisherman’s Wharf afterward and walked around Cannery Row and Pier 39. Hayley has been pestering me since our last disaster* to visit the harbor area, so I finally gave in. It was fun walking around, although I wish we had eaten at a real restaurant instead of In and Out. Check out our pics, which are posted in a million different places, including http://mswebby.com/flickr/.

The next day my masculinity was put to the test at the Filoli Gardens in Woodside. It was pretty cool for an hour, then I lost it and ran straight to the deli to have a drink. It’s tough being a dude in that place. Ok, honestly it was fine.

One of Filoli’s many Secret Garden-eque pathways.

We spent the rest of the trip hanging out with my folks. Last night mom and dad took Hayley and I to the über fancy Le Papillon in San Jose to celebrate both our anniversaries. My meal consisted of a glass of very nice champagne, a generous helping of lobster bisque and a delicious Pinot Noir Braised Duck Breast with Sour Cherry, Green Peppercorn Gastrique and Black Forbidden Rice. It was pretty fricking sweet, especially since we will be eating much less extravagant meals for the next year and a half (starting July 29, I’m milking this country for all it’s worth, baby).

We flew out today. When we arrived at home in San Diego, we tried Skype video chat with my folks and it worked great.

* Description of the “Last Disaster” mentioned above: We were at the Golden Gate bridge lookout point a few years back and I went prancing down through the shrubbery to check out the famous surf spot at the base of the bridge. Halfway down I noticed that I was surrounded by many beautiful bushes with leaves of three, oily texture and red tips. Yes, Poison Oak, my worst enemy that used to attack me regularly in Junior High while Mountain Biking.

I sprinted back through those bastard plants, ran to the car, changed into my red “santa pants” as Hayley calls them and proceeded to flip out like a school girl. We drove a mile before stopping at the first house I could find. I jumped out of the car, stripped down to the bare essentials and drenched myself under their garden hose, all the while hoping they wouldn’t come out and ask me what I was doing in their lawn. Hayley had put the seat all the way back and was hiding, although I think she may have been laughing at me. She’s very good at that.

We drove another twenty minutes before parking illegally in front of the CVS on Van Ness and I ordered Hayley to get me (1) rubbing alcohol and (2) cotton balls. I scrubbed my legs, arms, face, stearing wheel, shoes, Hayley, etc… until I had finally convinced myself that the Poison Oak was sufficiently removed from my skin.

In the end I didn’t actually get Poison Oak. I guess that’s either because the hose and rubbing alcohol worked, or because it wasn’t actually Poison Oak.

Family matters

Family time in the Weber family is more like a small convention than a regular get together. Only a small part of our immediate family was needed to fill a 31 person reservation. We booked one at B.J.’s last Sunday. When the kids ran by the hostess screaming and shouting, the B.J.’s staff immediately switched us to the private outside room. That’s just a normal outing for us, curve balls are just part of the game.

Circa 1982-1983

On Monday, Hayley and I took a private walk through Last Palmas park. I brought my camera along for the stroll and snapped a few shots of the majestic palm trees, the vidid pink flowers and the bastard squirrels that don’t stop harassing you until you feed them whatever it is you have in your hand. This one was recently fed and he was just chilling on the fence like a king.

Next, we drove out to Pinewood. The atmosphere is pretty much the same but everything is nicer and improved. The artificial turf field is incredible. Back in my day, we used to field ground balls on the blacktop. I have many scars from those days. Thanks Pinewood.

Afterward, we carpooled to the Tutankhamun exhibit in San Francisco. The line was totally disorganized, spread around two floors. Near the end of the line we picked up the audio headsets from the museum curators, high school students on summer break who have no appreciation for the exhibit. The entitled princess who gave the introduction showed little enthusiasm, chewing gum through the entire forty-five second presentation. Regardless, it was pretty interesting. National Geographic did a good job of describing the lineage of the Pharaoh and explaining the significance of the excavated items on display. They avoided controversy and speculation almost entirely; for example, the death of the child king and the curse of his excavation were barely mentioned.

We ate Turkish food for the second night in a row and it was delicious. We went to New Kapadokia in Redwood City. Check it out on Yelp.