shifter

Across the street from Kelly and Mick's apartment there is a shopping centre, based around a Safeway. Its impressive the amount of places you can buy beer from in the US, but this day was not about that. I'd set out of foot to have a wander around the neighbourhoods in Mill Valley /Strawberry, just to see what people live like, what they do.

A thing that had been pretty common to my trip thus far was that the standard if driving is way above what I expect in suburban Perth. Less, hurried and more courteous. A prime example is the four-way stop sign. Whoever gets there first stops, then enters the intersection first. Whoever is second, stops and goes second and so on. Also, if a pedestrian is looking to cross the street there, the drivers will wait. I didn't realise this at first, but quickly did when two cars stopped on the corner I was aimlessly wandering around on and waited for me to do something, for what felt like a good couple of minutes.

This probably has something to do with the condition the roads are in. A lot of folks in the region drive very nice cars and would presumably prefer not to have an accident.

Later in the evening we ventured to the ballpark to watch the Giants play the Pirates . Ventured is a good word for it. To get to the park we caught the ferry from Larkspur landing, sailed across the bay to land just outside AT&T Park. Baseball is a lot like cricket, except very American and a lot more boring. Kel got a bit tired and grumpy on the way back. So I stuck a camera in her face.

The weekend has landed. All that exists now are hills, bridges, trails and sights. I've got 48 hours off from... hand on. No. I'm mid holidays. I've got shitloads more time than that.

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is another fancy name for a collection of hills. Hills that feature the most awesome riding trails around. Alright, so officially I was looking at some stupid bridge or some other stupid WWII relics but all I could see were these bloody hills, and all of the single- and double-tracks I wanted to ride down. I needed a bike however, so that would have to wait until later.

Sooner, however, was my introduction to some of San Francisco's beaches. Needless to say I was a little disappointed. Maybe it was the large amounts of brown sand that did it, or the fact that it was very windy down there.

Saturday night Kel & Mick took me to San Jose, and one of Kel's favourite joints, known as Dave & Busters. I had high hopes for this being a really cool night, as D&B is basically a video game arcade, pub, and diner rolled into one. The idea being you get fed, get drunk and then go and shoot the bad guys. Problem was, they had some weird alcohol license going on, which required your ID to show a description (height, weight, eye colour). Since the Aussie government isn't completely paranoid (yet), none of my ID had that on it. So I was nicely informed I could enter, but not consume alcohol. Great.

So we get in, have a great meal. If one thing, I cannot fault the food at this joint. Well, I can, like most American food, it makes you fat. But I was really tasty and that's why I was eating. And the waitress served me beer anyways. We finished our meal and hit the games. Kelly was mad keen on winning tickets, so she got me on this machine where she'd just won 80 in one pop. I hit the jackpot, first shot and all was well and good. Then 11pm rocked up.

At 11pm, something in the alcohol license required the bouncers to head around and check ID. I was nicely told that since my ID (passport and driver's license) didn't meet the standards that I would have to leave. So I started out. Mick got tagged, ripped his off and gave it to me. I'd hastily attached it under my wrist band, so I looked like I had a tag, then he and Kel went to find another bouncer to get tagged again. Sounds like we beat the system? Fuck no. The original bouncer who asked me to leave cam by again. Saw me, and looked to follow me. I ducked into the crowd and vanished and spent the next 2 hours looking over my shoulder, being more preoccupied with staying in than having fun.

The next annoying thing was the fact that I was no longer drinking and was beginning to sober up. So I went to the bar. More fucking ID checks. Even with the makeshift green arm band. An hour or so later the night came to a close, which was probably a relief. We got home, sunk a few beers and went to bed.

Sunday marked a hangover for Kel. She really enjoyed the previous night, which is great because I love seeing her happy. But Sunday didn't get moving at all. I spent most of the morning watching reality TV. Mick's been missing Australia a bit, so today we decided to go have a picnic and kick a footy about.

The place was a nice little bayside park called Paradise of all things. It had park rangers at the entrance and actually cost us $8US to drive into. A large hispanic family was having a birthday party, and a few of them looked and sounded like they'd consumed their fair share of the booze. Some random aunt definitely had. She was shreiking with laughter at anything and everything. Moreso when they set up a volleyball court and got into a little sports action.