My West Coast Adventure began last Thursday in my sister city, San Francisco. Robb Green picked me up at 6-ish at the Alaska gate and we headed back to the Casa in the Mission where Mugs was preparing some snacks for the party they were throwing that night. The party was the 3rd installment of Shameless' Adaptor, a filthy electro, techno, breaks and Drum 'n Bass night at Annie's Social Club. The best thing about Annie's is not it's co-owner/manager/bartender/poker dude Sean or its grimy punk rock attitude. Its the back VIP room, a perfect palace for an exclusive burlesque party... my favorite!
Adaptor was great fun to DJ. Robb and I tagged back and forth, setting the stage for Ding Dong, of Brass Tax and TANG! fame. Its was also a great meet up spot for all that were headed the next day on a short road trip for the weekend. We tooled around for a bit in the city on Friday before grabbing our gear and heading to Yosemite National Park for a relaxing weekend getaway.
Up in the mountains, Robb, Megan, Chloe and I stayed at the Redwoods in Yosemite. There we accompanied 12 other adult-kids, 5 actual-kids (all under the age of 10) and 4 dogs (the most mellow ones in the bunch) in two huge cabins with big kitchens and great stone fireplaces. Each night the moon was full enough to keep us captive and each morning there was a batch of bacon to bounce us out of bed. On Saturday many of us adult-kids headed up to hike to the top of Chilnuala Falls. This 9 mile round-trip hike was beautiful each step of the way. We took most of the afternoon to journey to the top, slowed only slightly by our oldest hiker, Sampson -- who is 98 years old!! In dog years, that is. Still, a 14-year old dog hitting a 9-mile hike is no small feet. Sampson receives the Rockstar Award! His legs were almost as sore as mine the next day, but the view at the top was well worth it. We dipped our cups into the crystal clear water, just run off from the last winter's snow. The journey down was far simpler, and back at the cabin we prepared a yummy steak dinner with salad and wine.
Easter Sunday we arrived back in the city early enough to enjoy the end of a day party in Golden Gate Park. The speakers had begun booming at 7am and DJ's spun tunes till sundown. We said hello to a few friends there and made our way down to Ocean Beach to catch the sunset. The sun was shining in the Sunset district, a sight none too common. After finding ourselves in awe of a new extreme sport called Kiteskating, we admired the rest of the sunset and headed to Haight to find some amazing Thai food.
The next few days Robb and I chilled and indulged in the entire first season of Dexter. We set off on Wednesday with Mosaic Santa Cruz to grab some rays before my gig at Qool. Then on Thursday, I'm off to Venice Beach, CA for the second leg of my West Coast Adventure.
View all my photos of San Francisco and Yosemite.
