San Francisco Trip

it has taken me forever but i finally got these pics up from San Fransisco. i'll try to keep the recap short. who am I kidding. i don't DO short.

took a wine train thru Napa Valley. great scenery. good wine. good company. so-so food. looooong ride!



day two, rented a convertible and hit a couple of wineries in Sonoma Valley. beautiful countryside. great wine. fun day. discovered the Hess Collection winery which will probably be a new 'round the house wine.





went back to hotel that night, had dinner, made use of the pool, sauna, and hot tub. got shitfaced. then collapsed in bed.

day three, took the scenic route to San Fran. stopped at the Muir Woods National Park to see the redwoods. decided to take the grueling 2 hour hike to the top of a mountain for an ocean view. got to the top to realized that you can drive there. legs and ass hurt the rest of the trip. trees were huge and beautiful. saw this deer and his family up close. this is not zoomed in. i was freaking.







next stop, the Petrified Forest. they were big and hard and old. 'nuff said.





then, right down the road, California's Old Faithful Geyser. probably my favorite part of the trip! i had never seen a geyser. sat and waited for 40 minutes playing with goats until......a little smoke, some bubbling, a little spat......then boom! 50 feet in the air. lasted about 3 mins. loved every second of it. it also had it's own little rainbow to the right of the spout. neato.




then on to San Fran. crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. big and neat but not gold. checked into the Fairmont which i highly recommend. it's where they filmed the old 70's show "Hotel" and lots of movies and such. historical landmark with an incredible view of the entire city. very nice. (hotel pic is not my pic)





hopped a cab and caught a boat to Alcatraz. creepy! it was really really cool. they give you some headphones and send you on your way. you get to go almost everywhere. saw the actual cell and hole where the escapees got out as was documented in "Escape From Alcatraz" with Clint Eastwood. i watched that a hundred times as a kid.

we almost froze to death on that damn island. we missed one boat and had to wait over an hour in the freezing wind for the next one. it was down to 50 degrees in the city but the wind out there made it colder. and i was still a little wet from being TOTALLY soaked from a splash on the bow of the boat. it pissed me off that the crew knew about the splashes at the front because when we landed they made jokes by asking, by show of hands, how many people got wet. assholes.

R.I.P. to my camera who was laid to rest on "The Rock." i pour a little beer from my forty on your grave. you were a good camera, but you have already been replaced, bitch!







4th day, almost done. "did" san fran. jam-packed day of tourism.


Chinatown. LOVED IT. just my thang. cheap, junky, and full of Chinese people. best (if not the only good) meal of the trip.




walked these streets with hills that only furthered the hurting of legs and ass.

went to Pier 39 to see the infamous sea lions. they were so loud and stinky and i loved them. for some reason, i started missing Calvin. please excuse the wind noise on the video.

rode the cable car. saw the "turn-around" point where they have to redirect the cars since some of the older ones don't make a circle. if you don't know about how the cable cars operate, you should look it up. it's amazing. and scary to ride after learning.

took the cable car to Lomard Street aka "the crookedest street." it's just crazy. pretty flowers, lots of tourists, good city views.

drove around a lot to see Ashbury Heights (home of the hippie explosion in the 60's), Twin Peaks (where i almost lost my shit being afraid of heights and had to pull over to let michael drive), and the Castro District (the gay lesbian bisexual transgender motherland). found this Medical Marijuana Dispensary. according to the signs, the hours of operation never start earlier than noon and you "must have your Cannibus Card and I.D. ready" upon entry.

well, we also drove way down the coastline to see the tall cliffs and ocean splashing below but the fog rolled in and we saw......well, fog. had a nasty dinner and headed home.

the trip was really great. San Fran may have us beat in the scenery department but the Dirty South definitely wins when it comes to food and people. hands down.

Slightly Historical Day

after almost 3 years, today is the first fully operational day of the St Charles Ave Streetcar since Kuntrina. the tracks were opened on Carrollton Ave so the streetcar will make the Riverbend turn. next weekend there will be neighborhood street parties and block parties along the tracks to celebrate.

A New Nephew!

my little brother and his wife had their first baby (Dillon) yesterday. they had to do an emergency C-section to take him out because he was "distressed." he is in ICU because his heart is only beating about half as much as it should. they are still considering a pace-maker. i think he'll be fine with a Red Bull.

it's strange to see your little brother in the role of father. he's all goofy and beaming.

shitty week

it's over. thank god.

that shitty monday continued thru the week. after brandy's car flooded, we took it to be cleaned and dried. it was NOT dry. so we took it to the car wash ourselves and pulled up the carpet and sucked all of the water out. we took all of her "valuables" out and left the windows down for it to dry. later, when we took her car on and errand, we forgot her proof on insurance and i got pulled over for being in the wrong lane. the pig confiscated her license plate and gave me a couple of tickets. we had to go to WESTWEGO across the river to get it back. it was another world. needless to say, they stared at us like we were martians and treated us like TOTAL shit. i caught brandy giving this bitch the stink eye. i thought she might take that lady out.

now we have to go to metairie to take care of the other ticket. just bullshit. really.

so then, i get the call that my car is ready. immediately after that, i get a call from Allstate saying that my car is ready so they won't pay for the last day of my rental car (roller skate). had to call them, blah blah blah, they paid. i picked up my car.

maybe all is good now. i have my car, bran's car is dry, calvins skin is getting better, my house didn't burn down, and we didn't have to pay anything for the first ticket.

THERE! that's the bright side. i had to dig deep for it.

have a good weekend.

shitty morn cont....

you guys were nice, but my day did not get better.
after the dryer and fan quit, more things starts shutting down. another fan, lights, tv, etc. i decide to check the fuse box. i smell that smell. that electric burn smell. LONG story short, i fuss and fight with my cocksuckerofalandlord to get an electrician here to find out that a wire burned all the way thru during our storms and power surges yesterday.
late to work. employee flaked out and claimed she "had to run away for about a week to deal" and it's still not even lunch time.
for fuck's sake i'm pouring a drink, sick or not!
now i'll look for the bright side. 'cause it SURELY has to get better from here!
thanks for listening to me rant. hhhuuuuhhhhh.

shitty morn

hardly slept at all last night 'cause i'm sick as a streeet whore. woke up to Brandy saying that the heat-element in the dryer went out. took Calvin out to see that he had the squirts. came back in to a phone call from B saying that her car flooded in yesterdays heavy rains and she has a lagoon that goes from the front of the car to the back of the car as she applies the brake/gas. i'm in a shitty rental car that is the size of a roller skate while mine is being repaired (bitch backed into my Jeep) so i'm SURE the rental just floated away. Bran also said she has a scratch on her bumper from the asshole in the Lexus that parked too close behind her last night. and the ceiling fan JUST STOPPED while i was typing this. swear to god. all by itself.
WTF!?!?!?!

Best Fake ID Ever

That's my people! Go Mississippi!

Doing the Pigeon

just a little dance number for my fine feathered friend.