Karen and I decided Berkeley and Arcata are in sync. They both compost, have lots of students and the street corners reek of pot. The sun was shining while we were there visiting John and his new home. The 80 degree weather was scorching to our 60-degree-lovin’-skin. You’d think Berkeley was full of hippies, but most of the people I saw there looked really clean and even preppy. I think it may have been because we were so close to UC Berkeley. We did a little exploring on Telegraph Street - hippie shops and student cafes – then meandered over to the UC Berkeley campus. Joe Shreve was giddy when he discovered a fundraiser booth on the quad where you could pie a girl in the face. It cost him a dollar to keep a smile on his face for the next ten minutes. He said he felt like he had not lived before that experience.
We also saw a large building that said “The Daily Californian” on it. Apparently, the student newspaper also serves as the community’s daily newspaper. Impressive.
Next, our little vay-cay gang made it to the BART station to travel to San Francisco. I said “I feel like I’m in Europe!” when we were purchasing our tickets. I got a few looks like, “Wow, you’re a bumpkin.” I told Joe I don’t get out much. I realized I had not been in a large city since Briana and I traveled to England back in May. I was really excited to be in the fast-paced city culture. I had hot pink (Gaga) sunglasses on and felt ready to take on the world.
Once we started walking the busy streets of San Francisco, it lost a bit of its magic for me. It was stressful and expensive. Everything was a wait and personal space was nearly unheard of. A few hours later, we met up with some friends that knew the city a bit better than we did. We ended up going to a small bar called “The Knockout.” There were only like 15 people in the whole joint and we took turns singing karaoke. I sang at least five times with Karen and Francis as my co-singers (we signed up as “A-Bay and Crew”). The Eagles, No Doubt, Flaming Lips – I sang a variety with my girls. I tried to sing some Beyonce. Wow, she sings fast! I have a new appreciation for B as a performer. We even got Joe Clerici to sing karaoke for the first time! Karen and I took goofy photos in a photo booth and the bar gave us free pizza! The KJ said we made his night and bid us farewell as we left with big smiles on our faces.
We were off to sleep on John’s floor. We woke up the next morning and arrived home back in Humboldt this evening. I love seeing the Redwood trees as I drive back into Humboldt County. The temperature dropped and I put on a fleece. I love home.
It was so cute seeing everyone’s sleeping bags all lined up in a row. I resisted the urge to take a photo. I’ve found people don’t usually like getting the paparazzi treatment at 3 a.m. unless they are in a ballgown singing karaoke or climbing a tree barefoot or something equally as exciting.
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