Pain and Suffering, California Style. Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Rob and I took a vacation to San Francisco this past weekend. The a big focus of the trip was supposed to be me meeting more of Rob's extended family, since I've only met his dad's side. We used to have fantastic luck with car trips, but obviously something changed, judging by our journey to Port Townsend for Christmas and trip.

The trip was supposed to go like this: Rob and I head out early Friday morning, make it in to San Francisco by dinner time for sushi with Devon, and then crash at her place for the night. The next day, Saturday, we meet up with Rob's parents who would be arriving by plane, and go see the Chinese New Year parade with them and Rob's aunt and cousins (mom's side). The next day, Sunday, we would meet and stay with Rob's grandpa (also mom's side), and the day after that, Monday, we would drive down to Palo Alto to stay with Rob's grandparents on his dad's side, Dody and Avram. On Tuesday Rob's parents would fly home and we would drive back to Beaverton.

Here is what happened: We got a call Thursday night from Rob's parents that Dody was in the hospital. A stroke was the suspected cause, but not a whole lot was known about the severity. She was in a lot of pain and didn't want visitors, so we wouldn't be going to Palo Alto. Friday morning we headed out without incident. We stopped at my old place of work so that I could pick up my last paycheck and tips and I could drop off my apron. We made good time, even though we were both very, very tired. We stopped in Eugene to get Allan Bros. Coffee, and noticed that the car was starting to overheat. But it didn't seem normal at all - the temperature gauge would rise quickly, stay at H, then drop back down to midrange. We decided to keep an eye on it and keep driving, since the car wasn't making any bad smells or handling differently.

At Cottage Grove the car started smelling, so we looked up a mechanic on the GPS and drove there. They very quickly diagnosed it with a cracked radiator, gave us a price quote of around $300, and said they could have the part by 2, the car would be ready sometime after that. We didn't really have much other option, so we set about exploring Cottage Grove while our trusty steed went through rehabilitation. What I had previously thought to be a fairly, excuse the term, hick community, was actually a lovely town. We spent most of our time in a large indoor common space that connected a bookstore, bar, and coffee shop, where they told us we could stay as long as we liked. We got a call at just about 3 that our car was ready to be picked up. We left shortly after, and made good time after that, stopping only for dinner, gas and bathroom breaks. We got a call sometime into the evening from Rob's mom, to tell us that she quite possibly had pneumonia, and that if that were the case, she and Rob's dad wouldn't be coming. At this point, if we hadn't been over halfway there, we probably would have turned back.

We got to San Francisco about 2 am, and Devon and her roommates were all fantastically drunk (although Devon denied it). We were given a bed to crash on, and so we did. The next morning we got coffee, then the sushi that was supposed to have been our dinner the night before. That evening Rob and I continued with our regularly scheduled programming by attending the Chinese New Year Parade. Wow. Long. So many marching bands. So many corporate sponsorships. Entertaining, nonetheless. We were supposed to meet up with Rob's aunt and cousin there, but we arrived just as the parade was starting, and they came a half an hour after that. We tried to use cell phones to rendez vous, but the crowds made us decide to meet up after the parade was over. We got a call just after the parade finished from Rob's aunt. His cousin wasn't feeling well, so they were going home. We'd see them when they came up to Portland in a few months. Welp, one more loved one down, one more cancelled plan. We found dinner at a burger place near Devon's, and got back to her place shortly after that.

The next morning Devon and her roommates took off around 11 for a brewery sponsored bike ride through the city, and Rob and I headed for his hometown, Pacifica. We messed around there for a while, then went to Haight-Ashbury for touristy-ness. I got a text from Devon around 2 while we were trying to find a bathroom. She fell off her bike and was at the ER with a suspected broken arm (full story - her bike tire got stuck in the MUNI tracks, she flew over the handlebars, cracked her helmet and broke her elbow. If she hadn't been wearing a helmet she would have been in way worse shape). One more loved one down. Shit.

We wandered around Haight-Ashbury a little more, got some lunch, then drove over to the Castro to do more touristing and find coffee. The Castro was lovely - I think my appreciation of the Castro was intensified by my viewing of 'the Life and Times of Harvey Milk' and 'Milk' over Christmas. The building Castro Camera was once in has a huge mural of Harvey on the wall, and from across the street there is a window painted between the two painted windows, with Harvey leaning out. Beautiful and touching. One of the things I'd decided to get while I was in SF was a keychain, since I lost my keys a couple months ago and hadn't gotten around to replacing my keychain yet. I got a keychain at the HRC store, which is pretty much as San Francisco as you can get. After the Castro we went to Rainbow Grocery, the co-op where Rob's parents met when they were both working there. We got tons of bulk stuff, just because we knew we needed it at home, and pasta for dinner. We came back to Devon's and made dinner for all three of us and watched the Grammies.

The next morning we got out early, made fine time, stopped several places along the way, and made it into Beaverton about 2 am again. No more casualties this time.

THE END! of Rob and Jessie's magnificent trip to San Francisco, complete with pain and suffering of everyone but us, it seems!



This weekend it's off to Vancouver, BC for me, to chaplaincy training. I'm excited! We'll actually have a YA chaplain who regularly comes to con! It's about time!