bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2022-10-14 11:59 pm
bigmacbear) wrote2022-10-14 11:59 pm
San Francisco Trip, day 2 of 4
FRIDAY
I woke up just after six to use the bathroom and returned to bed an hour later. When the alarm went off at eight, I noticed Gary was still sound asleep so I rolled over and got up about twenty after. We were dressed and out the door by 9:30. As we left the room the Housekeeping crew were waiting outside the door for us. We rode the elevator with a cute young bear with curly black hair and matching beard, wearing a Death Row Records hoodie.
As we passed a homeless campsite on the sidewalk, we had to use the bus island to avoid running into a little clump of people either trading in drugs or injecting them (I didn't get close enough to tell). A couple of dudes walking a dog in front of us were nearly run over by a bicyclist before crossing to the island. As we passed the camp I noticed someone asleep with a white Lab sitting on guard duty next to them.
When we reached the Local Diner, we had to wait to order while the cashier, a cute little Hispanic dude with a high-pitched voice, dealt with some unruly guests. A tall dude with stringy hair was harassing a woman who was just leaving, calling her a bitch, because she was sitting in the window or some such thing. He turned his ire on the cashier, whom he loudly invited to suck his dick. I didn't quite catch his response but I gathered from the tone that he was selective about whose dick he sucks. 🍆😊 The cashier returned to the register, asked us to wait a moment, sent a colleague from the kitchen to bounce the stringy-haired asshole from the premises, and opined he would have liked to slap his face but we all agreed it wouldn't be worth it. We ordered breakfast: corned-beef hash with scrambled eggs for me, a cheese omelet for Gary, both with hash browns, sourdough toast, and coffee. As he took our order he addressed us with pleasantries like "dear" which made it obvious he's family, but he takes no shit from anyone. We took a table near the window and though another waiter served us our food, the cashier came by to top off our coffee and we all had a good laugh. We made sure to wish him a good day as we left.
We descended into Civic Center Station to top off our Clipper cards and find out whether the elevator to the street was working (it was not, but there were escalators that were, thankfully). We walked to Mission and 7th to catch a bus to the new Salesforce Transit Center. As we waited, a car stopped by looking for someone who had requested a Lyft or Uber. We indicated we weren't his intended passengers and he started to leave, when a dude in a Giants cap and walking with a cane arrived and got into the car. Right after that, the 14 bus arrived. I noticed an ad for Presidio Tunnel Tops toward the back of the bus. I later discovered it's a new feature in Presidio National Park, created by burying a major highway and building a park above (hence the name).
We arrived at the Transit Center which spans two long blocks horizontally and two stories vertically. We went upstairs to catch the F bus to UC Berkeley. The driver was on break and seated in the passenger compartment toward the front. He was kind of cute in his uniform shirt and AC Transit wooly cap, with a stubbly mustache and beard. We crossed the Bay Bridge which was the reason we wanted to take the bus instead of BART. The view was nice even though shrouded in fog. As we exited the freeway, a tall and thin dude asked where to exit for IKEA which we had passed along the way. A few stops after he left, a couple of transit employees boarded and chatted briefly with the driver. At the next stop two people in wheelchairs were waiting at the stop, but only one (a young lady with a veil on her head) boarded. Gary suggested we move to the back of the bus to be out of the way. I managed to snag the seat over the rear wheel and put my feet up. The bus filled up considerably once we reached downtown Berkeley and emptied out on campus.
We left the bus at Greek Theater and walked the short distance to Sather Tower, where a carillon was finishing playing music as we approached. I tried to get a picture outside the tower but the sun was behind it, so I decided to wait until we reached the other side. We entered the tower (also known as the Campanile), paid for admission, and were whisked to the top on an elevator operated by a young lady, likely a student. We got some pictures of and with the bells, as well as stunning views of the Berkeley hills and less stunning (because of fog) views of the bay, bridge, and downtown Oakland. After we descended, we walked behind the tower for better pictures from ground level, then headed for Sather Gate looking for a place to eat lunch. We stopped by the performing arts center on the way, and noticed a fire alarm going off in the building behind us as we sat on the plaza. We crossed the street at the edge of campus and saw a fire truck responding to the alarm.
We ducked into a narrow alleyway which served as a shopping mall and had lunch at a Poke Bar in the mall. After lunch we stopped by the Walgreens around the corner for supplies, then followed the signs to a public restroom in a mall in line with and across the street from the mall with the Poke Bar. We returned through the latter mall and caught the 51B bus to the BART station. As we entered the fare zone the turnstiles flipped open at the exact same time, prompting me to sing a quote from "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers: "Simultaneous release..." 😊 We waited about ten minutes for the Millbrae train across the bay. When we arrived at Civic Center Station we exited in the middle to use the street-level escalators to UN Plaza. The encampment on the sidewalk on Eighth Street was drawing a crowd so we crossed the street and approached the hotel from Mission. On the way a scruffy dude walking a dog complimented me on my Joe Thornton "Still Got It" T-shirt as we passed on the sidewalk. We got back to the room about three and settled in to recharge both our phones and ourselves.
Around 6:30 we walked around the block for dinner at a pizza place Kenneth and Thomas recommended last weekend, Sunset Squares. On the way we encountered rather of a crowd of street people, so we made sure to walk with purpose. The restaurant had mobile ordering, so I ordered a meat lover's pizza, a cider for me, and a strawberry lemonade for Gary. We watched the Dodgers at Padres game on one big screen while the Celtics at Raptors game played on the adjacent screen. A big young bear in a red shirt came over to chat with the table of people to my right. In front of the TV sets there was a counter with DJ equipment set up: two turntables, a musical keyboard, and several mixing boxes.
We decided to return to the hotel by a different route, heading north to Market Street. The campers on our side of Eighth Street had mostly dispersed so we walked around on the bus island. We changed clothes and left the hotel to catch the bus to the Lone Star Saloon. On the way out we crossed paths with four huge young bears in the lobby, with a mutual understanding as we passed. We caught the 27 bus at 8th and Mission. Some dude was speaking into an earpiece ranting about a phone number in Washington DC, but he caught the 19 bus before ours.
We made it to the Lone Star in fairly short order, sat at the bar and had a nice chat with Charlie behind the bar, whom we'd met after West Side Story on Ice in 2019. After a couple of ciders and a trip to the bathroom we went out to the patio. I introduced myself to the nice-looking dude to my right and his name is Matt. I then introduced him to Gary and we had a nice chat, touching on race relations with respect to the police. He's from Wichita, Kansas and he's also married to a black dude. His husband is frequently stopped by the police, handcuffed, and then released without charge. Shortly after that an older bear with an unusual haircut and a long white beard sat next to me puffing on a cigar. He introduced himself as Eddie and his husband as Key-Dog (actually Kei-dog as his name is Keith). I introduced Gary to them and we had a nice conversation. They live in Auburn and commute to Seattle via Star Lake. Throughout the evening a hot young dude with no shirt and impressive ink across his arms and chest served Jello shots and vodka-soaked gummy bears, as this was Cubcake night. I bought a Jello shot and a cup of gummy bears from him. I was feeling a little overdressed and stripped off the T-shirt I was wearing, re-donning my suspenders and bar vest. Keith started playing roughly with my chest and nipples, which was fun but got old fast. So to distract him I started playing lightly with his nipples through his T-shirt, much as I do with Gary's. Yep, he's definitely wired for sound there. We played around a bit longer, with Ed and Gary looking on, until Ed suggested they leave to go to the Eagle and Gary suggested we head back to the hotel.
We caught the 9 bus on 11th Street after seeing Ed and Keith passing on their way to the Eagle. A big young bear in a red hoodie was bopping along to music and seemed to be in a good mood so I smiled and half-saluted on the way off the bus; he smiled back. We returned to the room about eleven and prepared for bed about twenty to midnight.
I woke up just after six to use the bathroom and returned to bed an hour later. When the alarm went off at eight, I noticed Gary was still sound asleep so I rolled over and got up about twenty after. We were dressed and out the door by 9:30. As we left the room the Housekeeping crew were waiting outside the door for us. We rode the elevator with a cute young bear with curly black hair and matching beard, wearing a Death Row Records hoodie.
As we passed a homeless campsite on the sidewalk, we had to use the bus island to avoid running into a little clump of people either trading in drugs or injecting them (I didn't get close enough to tell). A couple of dudes walking a dog in front of us were nearly run over by a bicyclist before crossing to the island. As we passed the camp I noticed someone asleep with a white Lab sitting on guard duty next to them.
When we reached the Local Diner, we had to wait to order while the cashier, a cute little Hispanic dude with a high-pitched voice, dealt with some unruly guests. A tall dude with stringy hair was harassing a woman who was just leaving, calling her a bitch, because she was sitting in the window or some such thing. He turned his ire on the cashier, whom he loudly invited to suck his dick. I didn't quite catch his response but I gathered from the tone that he was selective about whose dick he sucks. 🍆😊 The cashier returned to the register, asked us to wait a moment, sent a colleague from the kitchen to bounce the stringy-haired asshole from the premises, and opined he would have liked to slap his face but we all agreed it wouldn't be worth it. We ordered breakfast: corned-beef hash with scrambled eggs for me, a cheese omelet for Gary, both with hash browns, sourdough toast, and coffee. As he took our order he addressed us with pleasantries like "dear" which made it obvious he's family, but he takes no shit from anyone. We took a table near the window and though another waiter served us our food, the cashier came by to top off our coffee and we all had a good laugh. We made sure to wish him a good day as we left.
We descended into Civic Center Station to top off our Clipper cards and find out whether the elevator to the street was working (it was not, but there were escalators that were, thankfully). We walked to Mission and 7th to catch a bus to the new Salesforce Transit Center. As we waited, a car stopped by looking for someone who had requested a Lyft or Uber. We indicated we weren't his intended passengers and he started to leave, when a dude in a Giants cap and walking with a cane arrived and got into the car. Right after that, the 14 bus arrived. I noticed an ad for Presidio Tunnel Tops toward the back of the bus. I later discovered it's a new feature in Presidio National Park, created by burying a major highway and building a park above (hence the name).
We arrived at the Transit Center which spans two long blocks horizontally and two stories vertically. We went upstairs to catch the F bus to UC Berkeley. The driver was on break and seated in the passenger compartment toward the front. He was kind of cute in his uniform shirt and AC Transit wooly cap, with a stubbly mustache and beard. We crossed the Bay Bridge which was the reason we wanted to take the bus instead of BART. The view was nice even though shrouded in fog. As we exited the freeway, a tall and thin dude asked where to exit for IKEA which we had passed along the way. A few stops after he left, a couple of transit employees boarded and chatted briefly with the driver. At the next stop two people in wheelchairs were waiting at the stop, but only one (a young lady with a veil on her head) boarded. Gary suggested we move to the back of the bus to be out of the way. I managed to snag the seat over the rear wheel and put my feet up. The bus filled up considerably once we reached downtown Berkeley and emptied out on campus.
We left the bus at Greek Theater and walked the short distance to Sather Tower, where a carillon was finishing playing music as we approached. I tried to get a picture outside the tower but the sun was behind it, so I decided to wait until we reached the other side. We entered the tower (also known as the Campanile), paid for admission, and were whisked to the top on an elevator operated by a young lady, likely a student. We got some pictures of and with the bells, as well as stunning views of the Berkeley hills and less stunning (because of fog) views of the bay, bridge, and downtown Oakland. After we descended, we walked behind the tower for better pictures from ground level, then headed for Sather Gate looking for a place to eat lunch. We stopped by the performing arts center on the way, and noticed a fire alarm going off in the building behind us as we sat on the plaza. We crossed the street at the edge of campus and saw a fire truck responding to the alarm.
We ducked into a narrow alleyway which served as a shopping mall and had lunch at a Poke Bar in the mall. After lunch we stopped by the Walgreens around the corner for supplies, then followed the signs to a public restroom in a mall in line with and across the street from the mall with the Poke Bar. We returned through the latter mall and caught the 51B bus to the BART station. As we entered the fare zone the turnstiles flipped open at the exact same time, prompting me to sing a quote from "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers: "Simultaneous release..." 😊 We waited about ten minutes for the Millbrae train across the bay. When we arrived at Civic Center Station we exited in the middle to use the street-level escalators to UN Plaza. The encampment on the sidewalk on Eighth Street was drawing a crowd so we crossed the street and approached the hotel from Mission. On the way a scruffy dude walking a dog complimented me on my Joe Thornton "Still Got It" T-shirt as we passed on the sidewalk. We got back to the room about three and settled in to recharge both our phones and ourselves.
Around 6:30 we walked around the block for dinner at a pizza place Kenneth and Thomas recommended last weekend, Sunset Squares. On the way we encountered rather of a crowd of street people, so we made sure to walk with purpose. The restaurant had mobile ordering, so I ordered a meat lover's pizza, a cider for me, and a strawberry lemonade for Gary. We watched the Dodgers at Padres game on one big screen while the Celtics at Raptors game played on the adjacent screen. A big young bear in a red shirt came over to chat with the table of people to my right. In front of the TV sets there was a counter with DJ equipment set up: two turntables, a musical keyboard, and several mixing boxes.
We decided to return to the hotel by a different route, heading north to Market Street. The campers on our side of Eighth Street had mostly dispersed so we walked around on the bus island. We changed clothes and left the hotel to catch the bus to the Lone Star Saloon. On the way out we crossed paths with four huge young bears in the lobby, with a mutual understanding as we passed. We caught the 27 bus at 8th and Mission. Some dude was speaking into an earpiece ranting about a phone number in Washington DC, but he caught the 19 bus before ours.
We made it to the Lone Star in fairly short order, sat at the bar and had a nice chat with Charlie behind the bar, whom we'd met after West Side Story on Ice in 2019. After a couple of ciders and a trip to the bathroom we went out to the patio. I introduced myself to the nice-looking dude to my right and his name is Matt. I then introduced him to Gary and we had a nice chat, touching on race relations with respect to the police. He's from Wichita, Kansas and he's also married to a black dude. His husband is frequently stopped by the police, handcuffed, and then released without charge. Shortly after that an older bear with an unusual haircut and a long white beard sat next to me puffing on a cigar. He introduced himself as Eddie and his husband as Key-Dog (actually Kei-dog as his name is Keith). I introduced Gary to them and we had a nice conversation. They live in Auburn and commute to Seattle via Star Lake. Throughout the evening a hot young dude with no shirt and impressive ink across his arms and chest served Jello shots and vodka-soaked gummy bears, as this was Cubcake night. I bought a Jello shot and a cup of gummy bears from him. I was feeling a little overdressed and stripped off the T-shirt I was wearing, re-donning my suspenders and bar vest. Keith started playing roughly with my chest and nipples, which was fun but got old fast. So to distract him I started playing lightly with his nipples through his T-shirt, much as I do with Gary's. Yep, he's definitely wired for sound there. We played around a bit longer, with Ed and Gary looking on, until Ed suggested they leave to go to the Eagle and Gary suggested we head back to the hotel.
We caught the 9 bus on 11th Street after seeing Ed and Keith passing on their way to the Eagle. A big young bear in a red hoodie was bopping along to music and seemed to be in a good mood so I smiled and half-saluted on the way off the bus; he smiled back. We returned to the room about eleven and prepared for bed about twenty to midnight.