To be
fair, I’ve been in San Francisco for two weeks, with plenty to use up my time
besides blogging. I just arrived in Oroville, CA, which is kind of deserty and
lame… there are some pretty things outside, but it’s friggin’ hot. So here I am
at the computer, and I think I may actually be able to get caught up this week.
So, let’s see, we left off in Yosemite…
We
spent a few days at Lake Tahoe in northern California
to visit a friend who we ended up not visiting at all. Tahoe is seriously
beautiful… I guess it’s a huge ski destination, but since it’s a lake, there is
plenty to do during the summer as well. The weather was beautiful, and the day
I intended to go hiking, I ended up reading on a secluded beach instead.
There were also a few restaurants worth mentioning: Blue Angel Café was well-rounded café with lots vegetarian options, which is become increasingly awesome to me. I had a really good amber ale (the name escapes me) and some delicious ravioli with just the right amount of sauce. They also will take your freshly caught fish from the lake and cook it up for you! Not that I was catching fish. But still. We ended up at MacDuff’s Pub three times during the four days we were there. Once because of the awesome reviews of good beer, and then twice when we were looking for a place to watch the basketball game and remembered the giant HDTV behind the bar, for which we got there early and had perfect seats. :) Super fun vibe, great bartenders, great patrons. Keys Café was a great little coffee shop that had pumpkin lattes in the summer, good music and a killer breakfast sandwich. Sprouts Café is... well, I'm running out of adjectives. Let's just say it's one of the better meals I've had on this trip. It’s almost all vegetarian… mostly bowls of beans and rice and veggies, which sounds boring, but is definitely not. I had this tostada that I’m going to list off the ingredients to so you understand what I’m saying. Ready? Sprouted whole wheat tortilla, brown rice, beans, spinach, red cabbage, carrots, tomato, red onion, melted monterey jack cheese, green chili, fresh garlic, green onions, salsa and guacamole. RIGHT?! They also have a full menu of delicious fresh juices, which I really miss after having to give up my juicer on the road. I have never felt that good after a meal!
Our next stop was the second in our festie lineup: The Big Bounce. While LIB had about 15,000 people, the Bounce only had 1,000, which was a record number for this particular venue. The festival was held in “Belden Town,” which I guess used to be a town, but is now just really used for stuff like this. It’s right along a river that has a beach with a stage, and there’s an actual little saloon and general store and restaurant. I was expecting a smaller LIB (some spiritual aspect to it), which turned out not to really be there, but instead we laid around on the beach and in tubes in the river listening to the DJs and electronic music producers all day. And again, dancing at night. Not a bad way to spend a weekend.
On our way to San Francisco we decided to first check out Santa Cruz, which everyone told us was a super hippie town. Somehow all we ended up seeing there was downtown, but that area is pretty cool… lots of shops and cafes and the like. Had an amazing veggie burger at a place called Surfrider Café where we watched the NBA Finals and since I wasn’t feeling that great, called it an evening finally watching MIB 3, which was awesome!! The next day I got to check out the weekly farmer’s market, we ate at this fantastic vegan place called Café Gratitude and I had my very first fro-yo that I can remember! Also tried I Love Sushi, which had a veggie sushi roll with tempura-fried yam in it that was surprisingly satisfying. We rounded out the trip drinking margaritas at the original Margaritaville overlooking the ocean while watching LeBron take it home!
I think that's enough for today. Tomorrow: San Francisco festivities!
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