San Francisco - Friday March 25, 2005

On Friday March 25th, Leo, Panda and I hopped in the car and headed to San Francisco from LA. Our intention was to take the fastest route, up the 5, though the wastelands of California, but we flaked our route and ended up taking the scenic 101 all the way. Luckily, at the hour we chose, there was little traffic. We made great time, even having stopped for breakfast along the way.

After having a light lupper with my mom, followed by some shopping and chatting, Leo and I got dressed for the evening.

If there's one restaurant we never miss, it's the Crab House. Here we are sporting our bibs. I figured I'd get in some pictures before we were elbow deep in crab and garlic sauce.

My mom had happened upon a flyer for the 850 Bar, a place Leo and I had enjoyed many times before for it's great Mojitos. Alas, the last few of our visits, the bar was closed. There was no indication of why it was closed or if it would reopen, but we had given up hope that we'd get to go back. It was wonderful news to us that it had been reopened and we took full advantage of it that evening.

Leo had himself a couple cigars, of which I took a couple of celebratory puffs. We met some lovely folks and drank a wee bit more than might have been healthy. Luckily, we were a short cab ride back to the hotel and our little Panda, which is a welcome change from LA where public transportation and finding a cab are both jokes of an unamusing variety.

We stayed at a Travelodge which was as nice as anything you'd hope for the price range. The staff was great, the room was clean and spacious, but no one would mistake it for the Ritz. It was great being able to bring our pup along, though, and it was a short, 3-block walk to a park, so all of us were happy.