Our great case race!

Today, we got to try wines! That's the long of it. The short of it is that we were both sick, and now need to find things to make us feel better. Also, we needed coffee since this hotel we were staying at tried to pass off brown water as coffee. So we went to Starbucks, wrote yesterday's blog, and decided to get going, but only after we found some medicine. To do that we had to ride through town, past our planned route, to a grocery store that had medicine. We eventually got back to our trail, which was expertly planned to follow a river-side bike path most of the way, avoid all hills, and drop us off in wine country with over eight wineries to visit on our way to that nights campsite. All this to say that yes, I am quite the captain and that by early afternoon, we were feeling better and at our first winery. The tasting fee was $10 dollars, quite steep, but was waived if you bought a bottle of wine, so we bought one for $15 whose profits went to charity. We skipped the next, but went to a third and had some wine, olive oil, and hot sauce samples. The next winery was the most friendly and had the best wine; also we had been interested in the elusive "wine clubs" that were at the wineries that include discounts and benefits so we inquired....and joined. We now are the wine club members of Harvest Moon vineyards and bought a case of wine which should arrive around the time we do in Columbus. Not only that but we get six more bottles come May. What a deal! After this, we decided that we had had enough wine and wanted to get to our campsite which was on the Russian River and just before the Korbel vineyards. The campsite was average but some high schoolers were having a gathering that was loud at the other end of the apple grove we camped in; also, it was cold...it's still cold here. Don't forget about the cold and mind the foreshadowing.....

Wine time....a prelude.

So we woke up, helped ourselves to the complimentary breakfast, went to Starbucks, and did laundry. Our plan was to leave after laundry and a quick visit to Marin county's best thrift store, conveniently located next to the Starbucks we chose (where David found a $1 pair of riding shorts), and go try some free wines. After looking at the map and contemplating our plan, we decided that it might be better to just get another cheap hotel and try wines all day tomorrow, instead of going in the evening and having to try to find a place to stay for the night. So that is what we did. We ate some sandwiches that we made from ingredients found at the Safeway (which included yummy oregano seasoned bread, cheese, spinach, tomato, and olives!), also next door to Starbucks, and set off for our new closer cheap hotel. We arrived in the evening, ate some dinner, wrote many of these entries catching us up to current activities, and planned our next days route that includes as many as 12 but no fewer than 6 wineries with Korbel champagne cellars being our last stop. We'll be sure to report how successful we were. On the healthcare front, my sickness has persisted and has settled down in my chest which makes for dry coughing and difficult breathing. I'm sure more productive coughing is to come. Also unfortunate is the rather predictable development that Alyssa is reporting a sore throat; the first symptom the I showed as well. Hopefully our cough drops are up for the challenge.

P.S. Check out all our photos on Alyssa's Facebook albums the link is below:
Alyssa and David's Oregon Trail

Traveling in only the way we can....

Today is leaving day. I am still not feeling well, but we have to leave. Yesterday I woke after a day with a sore throat, and to accompany my sore throat I had a terrible headache, a runny nose, and a cough. Today I just have the sore throat and a cough which was in part the reason to delay our departure. We had everything packed so all that we needed to do was get breakfast and leave. We were on our way our of town at about 11:00 which is quite good for us. The going was slow while leaving the city and crossing the bridge, but after that we started making good time. Our destination was Rohnert Park, a town just south of wine country. We hadn't made reservations yet, but we had found a cheap hotel for about $36. We had decided to wait until just outside of Rohnert Park in Petaluma to make the reservations so that we knew that we would make it. The hills were the biggest problem. At about 4:30 we were both dead and had about 30 miles to go and three hills left: a small one and long sloping one, and a short steep one. All were very difficult, but we made it to Petaluma at about 7:30. Before I continue to the less fortunate part of our day, let me first mention something that we both noticed already but forgot to notice. Our saddles are both incredibly comfy, and we have Bart to thank. I wouldn't have imagined that these saddles, pricey as they were, would make such a big difference, but let me tell you that you should get your ass measured and get a saddle that fits. My saddle was just over a sixth of the cost of my entire bike at $60, but it was totally worth it. Thank you Bart, for the saddles along with everything else. Getting back to the story, we made reservations and set off for the town. We rode, and we rode, and we rode, and it got dark, and we rode. Then we decided that it was too dark, looked at the map, and realized that we had too far to go to continue. There was still 7 miles to the hotel, and we were on dark unfriendly road. We called taxis that had no room, and we looked for buses, but our savior was a man and his child who pulled over in the parking lot in which we had stopped to check our maps. How did we employ this poor man? I simply approached him, told him we had been foolish, and would pay him at least $20 if he would take us and our bikes in his truck. He obliged and refused our money. Lucky us, and we promised ourselves that we would never do that again. It figures that we learn nothing from our last trip. The fault was, admittedly, mine due to switching between maps with different scales. After arriving at the hotel we, relieved, laughed at our stupidity and exhausted, ordered Mexican food to be delivered and fell asleep looking forward to our complimentary breakfast which we have earned.

A Failed Attempt to Leave the City

We woke up today expecting to pack up, load the bikes, and leave San Francisco. Instead we woke up with headaches and in addition David caught a cold. Of course there were also errands to run before we could leave like going to the post office to mail back the netbook and thrifting because David forgot his riding shorts. While thrifting earlier in the week we did find a pair of riding shorts but couldn't remember where we had seen them. So after mailing the box we went to several thrift stores to try to find David his shorts, but we were not successful. Per usual, we also needed to come up with an exit route and realized we didn't have any maps. At about 1:30 David suggested we just leave the next day instead of trying to make it out of the city today. I thought he was just kidding, but he wasn't, and he was right; there wasn't enough time to make it anywhere. Annoyed, I agreed but only if we went out to eat at one of the many vegetarian restaurants AND if we were packed and ready to go by that evening so that we could leave early the next morning. I texted Levent and asked him if he would be upset if we stayed one more night because we weren't ready to leave. He agreed, and we decided on an Indian lunch that was amazing! There was so much food, and we were so full when we finished, so full that we needed to take a nap in the park for two hours. After two hours in the park, we still hadn't find a pair of shorts for David, and we didn't have any maps. This is so typical. We went to a couple book shops with no luck so we headed back to Levent's apartment. He laughed at us when he got back from work and helped us find some maps. After going to several shops we found what we needed at a sports store. Levent was starving so we went to a Pakistani Indian place to eat, and it was also had amazing food. After eating we went to a bar in the Castro for a Couchsurfing Event. It was fun, and it was the first one that I or David had ever been to. It was kind of like speed dating, totally ok if you ask where people are from and what they do, and its not weird. Now tomorrow, we just have to leave!

Suprises

Tuesday started with more business to attend to. David had to call to check on his netbook because the hardware tech wasn't in the day before. The prognosis was not good. Turns out that there was a queue of computers needing to be looked at, but David's could be moved to the front of the queue by paying a rush fee of double labor and parts. Agreeing to this however, did not result in a better diagnosis. The cost of repairs would be $240 and that would not include the hinge, the original problem, getting repaired. The problem was that parts needed to be ordered, and because the plan was to leave the next day, there was no time for ordering and shipping the part. The solution was determined to have two steps. First, the netbook, unfixed, would be shipped back to Ohio the next day with a few other items that were packed but not useful. Second, as may be gleaned from the fact that the blog is being written, was to buy a new net book. Although this might seem to be a frivolous purchase, David does use it often while at home, the original may be repaired and one of the netbooks sold. That part of the plan was executed later in the day. After the call to the tech co-op, Alyssa and David went out to find the parrots at Coit tower. The birds, Levent had told them, were the remnant of a shipwreck and had taken up sole residence on the hill that houses the tower. Because of their habit of rising later than planned, Alyssa and David were only afforded a glimpse of the birds as they flocked by squawking in the afternoon since the birds only appear at the tower in the morning. After a few photos at the tower and some other famous sites, Alyssa and David, while getting supplies to send their excess baggage back to Ohio, stumbled upon a vegan Chinese restaurant that turned out to be absolutely delicious. The most deliciously surprising part of dinner was the crescent yams which were nearly indistinguishable to crab meat. After securing the packing material and a new netbook, Alyssa and David met Levent at his place and they decided on going to Levent's favorite martini bar called Martini's, by way of a pizza shop. Upon entering the bar, a man, accompanied by a piano, was singing a Beyonce song in flamboyant fashion, so the three took seats in front of the piano. Although Levent had not mentioned that Martini's was a gay bar, Alyssa and David quickly assumed since the singer could best be described as a gay version of Jack Black. Despite Alyssa's assertions that the engaged man next to David was hitting on him all night, they still thought that Martini's was the best place that they could imagine to have three very fruity martinis. The singer almost immediately picked out Alyssa as a "singer" and throughout the night, invited her up to sing. Alyssa, as many may guess, was not amused, especially when David, Levent, and their neighbors at the piano, asked her to sing as well and began picking out songs for them all. In the end, no one sang, save for the performer, and everyone went home happy and still a little fruity.

On Monday....

With Levent back to work, we had to occupy ourselves. Our main objectives were to take my computer to a local tech co-op since I was not able to repair it on my own and to find some warm clothes at some thrift stores. After completing both of these we also stopped by a coffee shop that Levent had told us would be giving out free coffee to celebrate their second birthday. They, in fact, had free coffee, free cake, a free photo-booth, and free pony rides on Blue who Alyssa was dismayed to find had a weight limit of 75lbs. We later met Levent after he got off of work at a Starbucks and planned on going to Chinatown for dinner. Levent, I think, is amused by us for a few reasons, but one is because we seem to do nothing but drink coffee. We went to Levent's favorite Chinese restaurant, got some delicious Chinese food and then walked around a bit before deciding to get some ice cream at a place that we saw the day before and always seemed to have a line. I got cinnamon with snicker-doodle cookie dough and vanilla with peanut brittle and milk chocolate, and lavender-honey and balsamic strawberries. San Francisco seems to have a lot of really good food. Maybe because we didn't while in Europe, or maybe because we just like food, but we seem to have decided to try as much as we can while we are here.

Lazy Days.....

So a few things have happened since we last wrote which is because we have obviously fallen behind in our entries. So be excited; much has happened!

First, let me catch you up on something that actually happened Saturday which we did not mention. Upon arriving to the Starbucks which we were at before the taco bar, I pulled out the netbook, which I have named mini-lappy, to find that mini-lappy has sustained an injury during our first day of traveling. It seems that it must have at some point been smooshed because the one hinge is broken. It does still work however, but will need to have the hinge fixed because every time it is opened, the hinge rips at mini-lappy's innards and will eventually destroy the poor fellow. For now, we have decided to let him gimp along, and I will fix him later. Next on the list of things that you readers need caught up on is our meeting of Levent, our host in San Francisco. We left the taco bar, mapped a course, and headed to Levent's place. Squarely in our planned route was Buena Vista Park which we planned to simply circumnavigate. What google maps failed to inform us was that the park was on a large hill. So after creeping up one side and riding around to the far side, we were encountered with the downward compliment to the one we had just climbed, but this one was much steeper and broken into three sections by stop signs at the bottom of each steep decline. To say that we were hesitant would only graze the truth. Alyssa wanted to walk down them, and I nearly agreed but decided to just go for it. Let me remind those who may be skeptical about our reluctance in ride our bikes down a hill that we have about 50-60 pounds of gear on our bikes which does not include the weight of the bike or the rider that our two brakes must bring to a stop before we blow through the blind intersection at which cross traffic does not have to stop. Especially of concern to me is that I only have side-pull brakes. Incidentally, I guess that the skeptics were right, because I decided that I should just do it, and we both descended two of the three sections very, very slowly. The third section led into a very busy intersection so we decided to walk. After, telling Levent of the giant hills we encountered, he assured us that those were nothing, and much steeper and longer could be found. After arriving at Levent's place, he took us on a tour of his neighborhood which would become our main hangout for the rest of our stay. He lived in what I believe to be the Mission district proper but the Castro was only a block away. Now for Sunday's events. Levent took us on a tour of the city, by taking us on a bike ride to the beach, which was very chilly, and then across the city to the bay side where we saw the piers. Much to Alyssa's relief, and perhaps because of her vocal concerns, Levent was an excellent navigator of the city and managed to take us everywhere we wanted to go while avoiding nearly all the hills. This was also impressive because he has only lived in San Francisco, and for that matter the country, for six months. He moved here from Turkey, and has also not been impressed with the weather. He agreed that it was cold, but has been told that it was normal for San Francisco. So if you were skeptical about our account of the weather, this time the skeptics were wrong. The city tour that Levent took us on was really great. We went through Golden Gate Park to get to the beach, which we looked upon from the walkway, and then returned to see a Ukrainian Day concern that included a choir, dancing, and an orchestra. At the piers, which were mostly just touristy stuff that was mostly just a hassel to walk through, we did get to see the bay, some cool old buildings, and the seals which were rather lethargic. Alyssa contemplated an Alcatraz tour, which Levent had informed us was very good, but would be all that we could ever manage regarding Alcatraz; Levent, after mentioning it several times, told us that it would just have to be a dream for us. Levent had to stop by his office since he had been on vacation up until the day before, so we meandered to Ghiardelli for free chocolates and to a pier where Alyssa played with the seagulls until I was too cold. Also, I nearly forgot to mention, that for lunch we had the large, $4.25 veggie burritos with peppers, zucchini, onions, carrots, and broccoli in a really great park. The burritos were large enough that we all needed a nap in the sun afterwards which allowed us to eavesdrop on some very ridiculous conversations. In short, it turns out that Sundays are observed as a day for laziness by Levent just as much as they usually are by us.