Friday, January 05, 2007

Unintentionalized in Seattle








That's right. I made that word into a verb. We were unintentionally lost in Everett, and unintentionally ended up where we had initially intended to have dinner (in Seattle)! We unintentionally decided to come back home after Angie (my friend whose house we were intending to crash at) had JUST arrived in Seattle to live - she was in the process of settling into her new home, and so we thought that the extra 2.5 hour drive might just be worth the trouble!

So without trouble, we've arrived safely, and soundly (less Andrew's cold...it was a strange one, it started with a day of Hiccoughing...every time we drove into a city, the hiccoughs would start up again...the next day it was the sneezes.) I, so far, am still well!

Our last day in San Francisco was a delight! We rode bikes across the bridge, ended up in Sausolito, walked into an old english style pub, and got to talking to a woman - an ex cop...and well, we didn't so much talk as listen, but it was a riot in any case! We missed the ferry to take us back to the rental shop in time, and so kept the bikes over night - THIS meant that I had to finally get over my fear of biking in the city at night! I DID IT! Thanks to Andrew, our intrepid leader, who led the way, we made it back to the hostel!

We met up with Patricia and René, a lovely couple that we had met in Yosemite, to go to Amnesia, a bar in the Mission district. It was pretty cool to meet up with them and find a place that we probably wouldn't have found on our own. Following that, we had the hugest burritos of our lives. (see above photo - that's me with my little buddy, Burri)

OH AND I had the best coffee of my whole trip at Caffé Greco in North Beach. It was OH so good. We went back there the next day too.

San Francisco was amazing, and I will surely be going back.

Overall, this was a really smooth trip - finding a person that you can roadtrip with, without wanting to casually push them out the door of the moving vehicle is a difficult thing, I think. I didn't even ONCE get that urge with Andrew! (lucky guy!)

I feel mostly ready to tackle this final semester at school. I know it's going to be a busy busy one - have been offered more work with Leadership - but just not sure if I can take anything else on! I'll be returning to the Community Centre on Sunday, and back to the highschool on Monday...not to mention school!

Until the next adventure dear folk! (let's hope it's sooner than later!)

Leanna

Monday, January 01, 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR from ol' San Francisco!






Well guys, 2007. How's it feel so far? Pretty good over here on this end - a little warmer than we're used to...and there's that big thing in the sky, really bright...gives off heat...sometimes we see it in the summer? It's pretty great.
Andrew and I got in to San Francisco last night and spent about an hour finding parking - can you believe that we have to pay $23 a DAY for parking????? This is crazy business. But better to have it tucked away than have to worry about driving it around all over this land of no-left-turns-and-one-way-streets.
But eventually we did make it out to ring in the new year - down at the waterfront (the embarcadero) with about a hundred gazillion other people, which made for some really excellent people watching. Nothing like smushing a whole variety of locals and other folk together to get a picture of what this place is made of!
So far I think Vancouver shares many qualities with San Fran, a real diversity of people and neighbourhoods, though it seems much more dense here. (probably because it is). But I do get the sense that the people here are a little...disenchanted by tourists. So it's harder to really tap into real conversation with the locals. I guess this is normal - and probably we're the same way in Vancouver, or in any major city for that matter. It's likely because I've juxtaposed my experiences in smaller towns where people are curious, with these first days here. Not fair really - apples and oranges.

In any case, we're still having a ball - AND I can safely say that Andrew and I are getting along swimmingly! (I just confirmed this with him - though he just admitted to trying to poison me in my sleep.) meh.

Happy New Year dear friends and family!
See you soon (or not)
Tomorrow is biking around town and over the golden gate. Hurrah!