Californ-i-a

A somewhat rough morning after two hours sleep, I stumbled around to get the last of my things together. My Mom thankfully ushered me along, making sure I didn't forget anything major, drove me up to the airport, and helped to get me through security. I felt like a walking avalanche of way too much hiking gear, and god knows what all else, but somehow I got through the gates- minus one stove fuel bottle which smelled a little too much of fuel for the inspectors at security.
16 1/2 hours later, my luggage and I made it safely to San Francisco. I arrived Wednesday at 10:30 pm local time. The flights were indeed long, and the layovers monotonous, but somehow the excitement of travel gets me through, and it ends up not so bad to be stuck in a middle seat on a 5 hour flight. The movie helped pass the time- Pirates of the Carribean 2. Johnny Depp always makes things better...
My friend Sarah greeted me at her door with a delcious take out meal from the delcious veggie restaurant, Herbivore. Mmmm... the visit to SF was off to a good start. And of course, we stayed up for hours catching up. Who needs sleep?? It is just too fun to see Sarah!
San Francisco is a beautiful city. I walked around the city all day yesterday. I've been to San Francisco a few times before, but I'd forgotten just how great it is to get out and walk around. I spent much of the day in the Mission, hanging out with my good friend, Kristen. We laughed our heads off over tea, scarffed down cheap, delicious Indian food, perused the delights of the Mission district, and caught up on 3 years of news since we last saw one another. Then I got to see her paintings. She is an incredible painter. Check out her gentle and wild paintings online at http://www.kristenleeflorey.com
Then last night Sarah and I had the ultimate vegan treat of a dinner at Millenium restaurant. This restaurant is so good that it warrants a flight to San Francisco, just for the meal. I had a roulade with root winter vegetables and a porcini-lentil ragout. Holy cow, it was good. Sarah had a polenta dish with braised brussel sprouts and other veggies and seitan sausage. Mmmmm.... I contemplated moving to San Francisco...
But those tickets to New Zealand are way too distracting- even from the promise of an occassional meal at Millenium.
Later on today I will rent a car to drive down to Carmel to visit Sonja. Life is good.