if you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

I went to California for about 5 days, I'd never been west of Winnipeg before then. The first cool thing that happened on my trip .... Wayne Coyne smiled at me! He so sexy, and always seems so amused. He was stopping over at Newark, and so was I. That's him:
I slept a lot in San Francisco, that's kinda boring, but the 3 hours jet lag knocked me off my feet. Good thing the hotel was cute! We had grand plans to see some bands and get out on the town early in the mornings, but .... zzzzzzzzzzz!

San Francisco really is as hilly as they say. Taking the city bus up and down those hills felt treacherous but the locals weren't fussed at all.
There were pretty houses all over town:

Thursday was our only full day in San Francisco. We went for a nice long walk in Golden Gate Park and then OMG we were sure to go to Amoeba Music, a fantastic music store in Haight-Ashbury!
More wanderings. The Castro during the day:
The Castro at night:
Not quite a cable car, not quite a street car, I love public transit!
We also went to a really great art show, but I'll make that a separate post, it was that cool.

The food! I didn't go food-crazy like other trips, but here are the highlights:
Lasagne from Herbivore:
Basil pesto from Herbivore:
Potato salad, also from Herbivore:
Soup and veg from Beautifull:
Soy ice cream sundae from Maggie Mudd:

Friday we had a late breakfast and picked up a rental car so we could drive the fantastic California Highway 1, and drove north to see the Golden Bridge before we headed south to LA. We couldn't see much of the bridge, though, because of the fog. Ah well, the rain didn't last long.

More trip pictures soon!