San Francisco California

After seeing all the other Californian cities before San Francisco I was a bit desensitized. Still, San Francisco was historically more interesting than the other cities, It was no LA that’s for sure! It’s quiet, its cute, and its full of 90 degree hills, it’s lovable in a 3-D sort of way.

Though I do know various tidbits of San Fransisco history I wasn’t really sure where to go myself. I knew I wanted to check out the Haight and go down Lombard street just to be the ultimate geeky tourist. I headed towards Haight-Ashbury, the former and apparently now reestablished hippie mecca. Had one of those bizarre moments when I knew I was getting near because I recognized one of the houses. Took me a couple of hours to figure out why. I think I recognized it from some old news footage in Tom Brockaw’s (spelling?) 1968 documentary. This is one of the handful of documentaries I play whenever its on, which is often…

Anyway, I knew when I hit the Haight. There was a sudden burst of psychedelic colors washing out over the windows and buildings. Murals were everywhere. So was tie-dye T-shirt shops as well as a lot of other adorable little fashion outlets. When I initially parked I wasn’t sure if I could because there was a sign on the meter that said something about construction and no parking. there was a burly hippie dude in the front of a music store and when asked if I could park here he said nothing, just approached the meter, ripped off the sign, threw it in a nearby trashcan and announced, “Is now!”

I walked into the music store. It had beautiful instruments but having no musical inclinations I had no idea about any of them. I did hit a few record stores as well which had an absolutely delicious selection of things, the most variety I’d ever seen. I didn’t look too close. I probably would have bought half the store if I could.

I stopped in at one of the artsy looking stores. There were wood carvings here that blew my mind. One piece of wood carved into two tangoing dinosaurs with exquisite detail was the first thing I saw. The second thing was an entire wall, including a bedframe with cabinets, all a conglomerate of tiny carvings. It was amazingly 3-D. Of course there was a big wooden Buddha people had left coins on and a Ganesh I couldn’t help but petting. He’s the Hindu protector of travelers after all…

Another interesting store I stopped by was some sort of freakish antiques and bad taxidermy shop. It had not just jackalopes but a squirrel riding a bunny rodeo style, several finch headed necklaces, squirrels dressed up as dolls, a fancy rat poised over a trap, and other very badly taxidermied little things that just looked dried up, twisted, and weird. If animals weren’t your thing they also had a shrunken head and the tiny severed foot of a Chinese woman from back in the days when binding was practiced. Oh and there was also a pickled tattoo of some sort… and funny enough a book about the Mutter Museum. Upstairs was a gallery of scary art and a deep purple embossed velvet child-sized casket, very Victorian looking.

All and all I left the Haight happy, happy enough to take a crack at Lombard street, which by the way is a one way street, and which our navigation at first brought us to the wrong side of. Another foil in planning when I got back to Lombard I drove it for quite awhile without seeing the characteristic eight hairpin turns lined up one after another. Back to the phone. It told me Lombard street’s crooked section was only one block and it told me where so off I went. When I first saw what the Jeep was in for I patted it’s dash and told it I was sorry. It groaned in return but made it just fine past all the turns! No one else was keeping entertained with this street as I was and the pedestrians seemed to think the Jeep was too fat for such a stunt, they looked on with an expression of delighted horror. After this three small cars appeared and followed suit.

Today was a good day for a little bit of ocean fun so I headed to Pier 37. I didn’t know what it was but it was listed as a tourist destination in the brochure I got from the Salinas campground. As it turns out Pier 37 it is a boardwalk full of fried foods, ice cream, little tourist shops, corny entertainment, street performers, and restaurants. I watched some break dancing and perused some magnet shops before making my way to the actual pier where rumor had it that there were seals. I wasn’t disappointed. There was a group of fat seals all sitting on the docks barking at each other and lazily basking in the sun. It was a nice end to this little trip to the sea front.

After leaving Pier 37 it was decided that the Full House house should be found for the appropriate shits and giggles. I looked it up and in another dorky excursion checked it out, snapping one photo to the complete befuddlement of the car behind us.

It was after this I just happened to stumble across an amazing surprise called the Fine Arts Lagoon. When I read the sign I thought of an art gallery in front of a big black body of water, possibly filled with monsters. It was nothing like that. Instead it was an enormous structure of Greek columns nestled aside a good sized lagoon, absolutely filled with red-eared sliders and big scary carp. Ducks also lined the shores and one swan watched me walk by, politely not beating me to death with its wings, as swans are prone to do. This place was gorgeous and serene, something I had never heard of, yet it was such a treasure! I walked all the way around the lagoon and through the columns, decorated with stunning Greco-Roman styled ornamentation including large vases and absolutely perfect figures of women. We read the signs, and found out this place was built in the 20’s as both a wildlife refuge and a testimonial to art itself. I had a couple Asian women take a photo in front of it.

Finally I decided to go to Golden Gate Park to get a photo in front of the Golden Gate bridge. I found another Asian family to take the photo. I was asked to get up on the wall but I yelled, through the phenomenal sound of gusting wind, “I can’t! My skirt is blowing everywhere!” This made the two Asian women in the background giggle to each other. I am glad I amused someone… I was having a Hell of a time with my ankle length, very light weight skirt. I was holding it in bunches with both hands to keep it down and I was failing. I was happy to be back in the Jeep.

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

June 14, 2011 0

Roswell New Mexico

I ended up in Roswell New Mexico because I’m just that fucking adorkable. I didn’t expect to see much but apparently main street has turned into an adorable alien mecca. There are clothes stores there who have alien masks fixed on their dummies and doleful looking wooden alien statues sitting out on the side walk. There was even one place who had little green alien footsteps running up the sidewalk. People had constructed their own little crashed UFOs and gift stores abounded. There was also a museum, however like most small towns everything closed at 6 and I drove in at 7. Only one gift store was open so I checked it out and awed at all the cuteness and fluff and geekery. It was too much – I had to come home with something. I ended up with a T-shirt reading, “fly it like you stole it.” That amused me way too much. I also ended up with a bumper sticker reading, “Buckle up, it makes it harder for them to suck you out of the car.” I mean… how cute is that?

I left laughing. It was such a dorky place to stop but so amusing. Even the local McDonalds was sporting aliens on their advertising and their parking lot and the bank as well! I like to see a town with a sense of humor.

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

May 30, 2011 0

S & S Exotics Pet Store – Houston texas

Texas is an odd state where you can have almost any pet without too much (if any) trouble. And when I say any pet I mean things that should be in zoos… monkeys, lemurs, lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! I also had seen this one pet shop in Houston online that seemed to have the most bizarre things, little mammals I had never heard of (and I’ve been in the hobby a looong time, it takes a lot too stump me!) People seemed happy with this place too according to the reviews. I thought Ishould visit at least one pet shop on my travels anyway.

I did not expect it to be situated in the middle of a trailer park. The place was small, much smaller than I expected, it was… a normal pet store. I walked around anyway. They had such a lovely variation of reptiles, including the cutest baby tortoises you could ask for and a lizard that I swear to god just skittered in from Jurassic Park. Reptiles were the one kind of house pet I’d never had. Still lizards fascinate me and the snakes were rather cool too. Too many pythons though, I really don’t like the idea of selling a little snake that grows up to be aggressive and 18 feet long. Sigh.

Finally I wandered to another corner and found the mammals. This is what I was here for! There was someone here handling some sort of Asian ground squirrel. In cages there were a couple degus, another squirrel, some very healthy looking furless and furred rats, some skinny pigs, a kinkajou and a lemur. Texas is the only state in which lemurs are legal to own as pets as far as I know. Kinkajous are only legal to keep in a handful of states. I was slightly disappointed. I sorta wanted to see some of the really unusual things this place often had on their website… like capybaras, pacas, or maras, or something I’d never heard of and couldn’t identify (like the one fossa fossa I found on an ad one day.) Still it was sort of neat…

Then I saw what I came to see. Just outside, behind a fence, there was a young lion, no more than 3 or 4 years old, and apparently his mate, a large orange tiger. apparently hybrids were legal here too. It was pretty amazing, seeing two large cats living not only in someone’s back yard but in a trailer park in Houston. I’m all for exotic (domestically bred) pets, but even this is too far for me! Still, the animals at the shop, including the cats were very robust and healthy. Everyone looked great. They even had classically fussy animals like chameleons and sugar gliders that looked very healthy. And let me tell you the furless rats didn’t have a scratch on them! That’s an accomplishment! And I know because they were my favorite breeding project once.

I left the shop only to find a large tortoise wandering the yard and the three micro-mini potbelly pigs in a pen. They were so cute! She said they only got to be about 35 pounds. Man if I had a place of my own, with a nice yard, and this little shop were closer that would have been super tempting. The largest was a salt and pepper gray with a little white star. So cute. Its been way too long since I’ve seen piggies.

On the way out I got to witness one of the funniest sights I had yet seen – it was a couple, the man obviously a stoner, grinning ear to ear, a lemur on a leash going bat shit crazy in his car, his girlfriend looking disgruntled like, “Why did you just buy a fucking monkey?! Now I can’t even get into the car!”

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

May 28, 2011 0

Old Spring Town Texas

So I decided to go to Houston because there was a store there called The Little Dutch Girl and a pet shop I’d found. I went to the Little Dutch Girl first, because buying one of those might be useful. Just kidding! Don’t buy children, it’s wrong. Anyway, it was situated in the middle of this little strip mall called Old Towne Spring. It was adorable. They had a little German shop, a little Dutch shop, and across from them was The Texan Shop, like “HEY! YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE LOCALS!”

I entered the Little Dutch Girl and was greeted first by a whole wall full of licorice. This I’ll never understand. I can’t imagine any licorice could possibly taste different from another. It’s really fowl stuff… but then there was a small section that went to dry foods and a little fridge with cheese. The rest of the shop was touristy things… wooden shoes, windmills, and blue chinaware.

Today I was looking for candy flakes, the kind you put on toast. I don’t know what they are really called, but they are these little flavored flakes you put on bread and eat. I got some chocolate and some fruit flavored and couldn’t pass up the Stroopwafels. It’s really funny because I decided after eating one that my own home-made versions somehow had surpassed this. Perhaps because I spent four months perfecting an intensely simple recipe.

When the woman at the register rung up these choices she smiled in a sort of strange way, perhaps reflecting on the fact these were odd items, not usually bought by tourists but rather by someone whose eaten them before. I guess I’ll never know.

There was a little German shop next to the little Dutch shop (surprise surprise.) It was cute, though it didn’t please the realists here. Apparently nut crackers, cuckoo clocks, and everything else here wasn’t actually a German thing… I couldn’t care less… As far as I am concerned Germans had me at, “Hey look! An ADORABLE roundy car that allows you to punch people!” Funny enough there wasn’t any VW memorabilia. Shame.

I stopped at a little fried food place. Out of morbid curiosity I got a fried Snickers bar. The fried Snickers bar was rather disappointing. The melty gooey part was wonderful, the batter wasn’t so much. I had to peel it off like I do my fried fish.

I left after this but appreciated this artistic and adorable little enclave of creative spirits, where people walked around wearing full jeans and sweaters as I melted into a puddle.

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

May 28, 2011 0

Getting Out of Florida

Waking up in Key Largo I decided I should spend the day trying to get out of the state of Florida. I drove all day past palm trees, past glitz, past swamps. I saw short fat palm trees, casinos, tall thin palm trees, tourist beaches, coconut palm trees, tourists traps, palm tree nurseries, and in the end I was happy to drive out of there. Shortly before I reached the border I drove through this little town advertising a new store, opened only a few days, it was like a farmer’s market type deal. I had to stop though because over the front of it was a large sign reading, “hot boiled peanuts.”

What are hot boiled peanuts? Apparently they’re exactly that. I had to try some as that sounded ghastly terrible.

There was one middle aged woman sitting there looking a bit put off, perhaps due to a lack of customers or perhaps due to the intense heat and lack of air conditioning ability in a building with no walls.

“So what is this I hear about boiled peanuts?” I said, “I’m from NH, I wanted to try them…”

“Well they’re warm and salted. Here, I don’t want you to buy anything you don’t like.” She handed me two nuts. The shells were soggy, moist, and warm. I slipped out the little meaty nut part and took an adventurous bite. It was like a tiny glob of mashed potatoes in a shell, with the hint of peanut taste. Maybe this was because aside from the meal I ate at Keren’s I was missing hot food, maybe it was because I was desperate for something different besides the PB&J’s I was sustaining myself with but either way, the boiled peanuts were amazing.

“Oh I really like them!” I exclaimed. A surprised, “Really?!” came from the woman selling it to me. I bought a big saggy wet and warm bag of them. Delicious.

“Usually I can guess people’s reactions…” The woman said. I laughed. I bought a cup of the things. She explained they’re usually eaten with soft drinks and are made from raw immature peanuts, unlike the fully grown roasted ones I was used to. I sat in the car picking at them for quite awhile until the large foam cup was nearly empty. This was my second southern food and my second success. Good thing I wasn’t about to try any chitterlings.

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

May 23, 2011 0