Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 19:38:17 -0400
Reply-To: Stu Schwartz <sschwartz@OS2BBS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stu Schwartz <sschwartz@OS2BBS.COM>
Subject: Trip Report #4
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
We've spent about 2 weeks in or near our favorite US city...San Fran...we've been here several times before so we did not do any touristy things... We are
staying with Ginger's brother, Charlie, in the Noe Valley section (no fog). It is a great welcome and a beautiful place to stay.
The first few days were spent catching up on bills and other real boring activities...which we actually enjoyed immensely. In addition to taking walks in
various parks and points in the city (the Haight, 24th street), we also went to a variety (yes there are many more than one) vegetarian restaurants including
the Oakland Organic Food co-op (macrobiotic), Ananda Fuara, Eric's (Chinese food), etc. We also spent time getting Jasmine to become a city dog as
there is very little grass except for the parks. Jasmine is now an urban dog!!!
San Fran has a great set of neighborhoods with a variety of cultural and ethnic leanings. This ensures diversity of people and stores. There are few
chains!!! There are real coffee stores, real restaurants, real markets, real book stores, real ice cream shoppes, real record stores (sometimes 3 or 4 unique
stores within 2 block area!!!). I didn't miss Pizza Hut, Barnes and Noble, the Olive Garden, Baskin Robbins (did go to Ben and Jerry's however), etc.
The weather was a little cool (my favorite)...
We also helped Ginger's brother's girlfriend (Val) take down part of her patio so she could get a garden underneath and open it up to the sun. Destruction
is always fun. Then Ginger and Charlie went south to Big Sur and Esalen for a workshop for a week. Jasmine and I got to bond. We traveled together to
Santa Cruz where we had lunch and then we said our goodbye's.
Jasmine became a "chick magnet" in her backpack...yup the little girl gets to ride part time in the backpack and is just so cute that many people love to
stop and talk and pet her. For you single guys out there...this is the way to go!!! Anyway we cruised the boardwalk for awhile and then were chased out
by the local constabulary (no dogs allowed!!). Jasmine did NOT charm the local gendarmes....
So off we go to Big Basin Redwood Park (great scenery to get there) as Big Sur is booked. BB is the oldest park in CA and has lots of old growth
redwoods. Jasmine and I read the Legacy of Luna (about Julia Butterfly's tree-sit to save the redwoods) while staying there. These trees are still awesome.
We saw some that were 70 feet in circumference - 22 feet in diameter, over 2000 years old and 329 feet high!. It just takes your breath away and makes
you think..how do we humans think that we know it all. These giants have seen more than almost all of modern human civilization. We spent 2 nights
there and hiked around...great place.
Back in SF, Jasmine and I took a musical history tour of the Haight...saw the old I-Beam, Straight Theatre, Graham Nash's house, the Jefferson Airplane
mansion (now owned by Danny Glover), the Psychedelic Shopp, of course a return trip to the GD house on Asbury. Jasmine was still cute... The next day
we took MZ Magic in for a checkup...a little more than I expected (she needed ball joints and rear brakes)...so Jasmine and I took a bus trip...yup dogs are
allowed on the mass transit...(recently passed about 2 months ago)..but she has to pay full fair and is supposed to have a muzzle....yeah right. Anyway I
decided to buy a muzzle but kept it hidden - some of the drivers mentioned it but let her go without (there is that cute again...).
Then...time to see my friend Vernon Michael. I met him at his seat (yes he has a brass nameplate) at the Hard Rock. I've known Vernon Michael for over
28 years... he is doing well and lowering his stress levels like we all should. Then its off to see the Dark Star Orchestra at the Fillmore. This is a Grateful
Dead cover band with a twist - they play a replica of one of the over 2500 shows the GD did over the years (song for song) and let the audience know
which show after it was over. It was very cool...nice vibes...the Fillmore is a great place. And then home...to Ginger...yes she is back!!!
I will let her fill in her week here.....
My knees are healing slowly. My right knee is fine and my left knee is still sensitive (I hit it harder). The workshop that Charlie and I attended was great!
Esalen is such a beautiful place. One day a few of us took a hike, it was so good to have physical exercise. We also saw some redwoods, but the one's
we saw were new growth. Charlie and I ate at my favorite place in Santa Cruz. Jasmine gave me some greeting when I got back...whew...and she is
sticking to me like glue right now.
Then on Saturday we went to North Beach and saw the San Francisco Mime Troupe. This is their 40th year of free anarchist theatre. They use a
mimimum set of props to do some social or political satire. (BTW...they aren't mimes and never were..) This year the play talks about the corporate
bloodsucking being encouraged by the residents at 1600 Transylvania Avenue. The play is right on and makes you laugh and cry at the same time. They
plan to take this show on the road...hopefully to DC.
Then Sunday we rested a lot...and prepare to see the Vagina Monologues. This play is really about 10 short stories spoken by 3 actresses about the
vagina based upon questions asked of girls and women of all ages, races, gender orientation, religiouns etc. about the vagina including its names, smell,
what it would wear, what it would say, etc. The idea is to bring it out in the open as well as share some heartwrenching stories about mutilation, rape and
incest. It provides a good balance of comedy and truth and is not at all anti-male. The actresses change every few weeks. We had Jobeth Williams, Jill
Eikenberry and Diane Amos. They did a great job.
Now it's time to get ready to take the trip back...we will probably take US 50 (through Lake Tahoe) to I-70 to Denver (possibly a stint at some hot springs
along the way), then possibly I-70 the rest of the way to I-64. We are still looking for other stopoff points but will be back in early August.
--peace and love--
ginger, stu and jasmine
