Yep, We're Still In California

I have a lot to talk about from the past few days. I'll make an attempt to be brief, but we all know that's probably not going to happen. When I last checked in, we had just celebrated Sam's birthday and spent a day in San Diego. Day two in SD was another great one. I slept in to catch up on sleep, and then Sam and Elle came and picked me up from Jess and Alex's place. The three of us, along with Sam's high school friend Evan, drove up to Encinitas to Stone Brewery. If you've had Stone I.P.A. or Arrogant Bastard Ale, then you know what I'm talking about. We hung out there and explored their gardens, took the brewery tour, and of course, indulged in some free taste testing. It was pretty cool, but not QUITE up to par with the Boulevard tour in KC. Clevelanders...if you have the chance to try Arrogant Bastard Ale, do it. It tastes similar to Great Lakes Christmas Ale, only slightly less delicious.

That night we went to the Padres game. There honestly wasn't anything too interesting that happened worth noting. I had already visited Petco Park last year, and it was definitely as cool as I remember. I guess all I remember is that the Padres won and Evan was drunk and yelling at/harassing the Brewers' third baseman. After the game I went back to Jess' and Sam, Elle, and Evan went out and apparently got hammered. There are pictures (and dance moves) to prove it. SO THANKS AGAIN JESS AND ALEX! I HAD A GREAT TIME IN OB AS USUAL AND HOPE THAT I'LL GET THE CHANCE TO VISIT AGAIN SOMETIME SOON!

Needless to say, Saturday morning I drove the early shift. We left about 10am and headed North towards San Jose to visit our good friend from OU, Bob Fenner. It took us longer than expected because we took the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) for about half of the trip. There was more traffic and the route is longer, but the scenery is ABSOLUTELY worth it. Imagine driving hours with nothing but the Pacific on your left and mountains on your right. Gorgeous. We finally arrived in San Jose/Santa Clara at Bob's place around 8ish, and Mr. Bob Fenner Mr. Bob Bob Fenner had a delicious dinner waiting for us. I wouldn't have guessed that Bob is a chef, but now that I know, I'll call him a grill-master. He made beef and chicken fajitas, and the second best guacamole I've ever tasted (see the previous post in LA to read about the best guac ever).

We hung out around his apartment with a few of his buddies from work and shot the shit for a couple hours. We started drinking somewhat heavily and playing card games to prepare ourselves for a lovely evening in Santa Clara at an SCU bar. Bob's buddy Andy had already polished off a bottle of Jack by the time we were ready to hit the bar. The Hut, as Bob likes to describe it, is what came out when Pawpurr's screwed the CI. To paint a picture, it's a college dive bar (our favorite kind) where they have pop-a-shot basketball and everyone pins their business card and a dollar to the ceiling when they get their first job. Now, there's one of Bob's business cards with my name scribbled on it pinned to the ceiling with a dollar...even though I don't have a business card and haven't made my first dollar after college yet.

The rest of the evening can be accurately described in one sentence. "Party like a lobster, party like a lobster." Now those of you who know Bob Fenner know that he's about as generous a man as you'll find anywhere. You also know that he loves the phrase, "Lemme get a whole mess of shots over here." What I didn't expect was for him to open a tab and take care of us for the evening. Bob truly is THE MAN, and he knows how to have a great time and how to show anyone and everyone a great time. Then again, those who know him already know this. What happened the rest of the night gets a little blurry from here. Here are some highlights from the Hut. Bob was on top of a table on the back patio "dancing" with an umbrella. Elle was awkwardly staring at what she called a midget but what most people who don't completely disregard political correctness would call a little person. We took more shots of Jager than I wanted to. Andy passed out on a bench on the patio. The next thing I know, we're walking back to Bob's. On the walk home, Elle asked me to hold her purse. I proceeded to wear it the rest of the walk home and scream, "It's a satchel" every two minutes (hope you've seen The Hangover). People were falling in bushes and tackling each other. I ripped a spider-plant out of the ground and carried it home because Elle wanted to get Bob a housewarming gift. I aggressively challenged Bob's friend Mark to a foot race, but we never did because he wouldn't take off his shoes and race me barefoot. We got back to Bob's apartment and I started challenging people to wrestling matches, and luckily Bob did not take me up on that offer because he would have kicked my ass. When it was time to go to bed, Sam and Elle were apparently invading my personal space because I kept yelling "Give me some effing privacy!" at them. I even climbed into one of Bob's kitchen cupboards to get that "much-needed" privacy. Now Elle has a bunch of pictures on her camera from the walk home that explain a lot of unanswered questions, but I hope those pictures never make it to the public.

The next thing I know, Bob is waking us up at 10:30 to get ready to catch a train at 11 for the Giants game. Coincidentally, it felt like I got hit by a train. We barely made it to the train, rode it an hour and a half into San Francisco, and started drinking about 10 minutes into the ride. I needed one, maybe two beers to activate the shampoo effect (see Sam's previous post for a description). We hit Pete's Sports Bar before the game, drank some PBRs, and got into the Giants game to enjoy our standing room only tickets. I got lost/separated from everyone in the first inning. We met back up, stole some people's seats in the upper deck, and enjoyed (kinda) a great afternoon baseball game. Day games kick ass by the way. The Giants beat Cole Hamels and the Phillies 7-3, and the crowd was way into the game the entire time. I think it was even a sell-out. The coolest part of AT&T Park was looking out at the Bay Bridge and into McCovey Cove where Barry Bonds used to hit HRs. There aren't hundreds of kayaks waiting out there anymore, but there are still a few.

After the game we took a cab down to Fisherman's Warf, what Bob calls the most touristy place in the city. The cab ride was outrageous, complete with a dance party and the best sing-along to Queen's "Somebody to Love" that there has ever been. At the Warf, we saw a bunch of sea lions, walked around, and settled at a restaurant for appetizers and...wait for it...a few more beers. After a long, long, longgg day we caught the train back to Santa Clara. Bob caught up on his sleep (or passed out...depending on how you look at it) on the ride home considering the next day (today) was his first day at his new job. Drinking on a school night is always fun but not always recommended. If anyone can do it gracefully, it's Mr. Bob Fenner. Back at Bob's, we watched a few new episodes of Entourage and crashed early, obviously.

While Bob was rotting away at work and impressing his new co-workers, Elle, Sam and I drove into SF and rented bikes for a couple hours. We toured some of the city and rode out to and across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a good ride and there were some pretty amazing views of the bridge, the city, and Alcatraz. Eventually, we made it to an In-and-Out Burger to see what all the California hype is about. I would say it was good, but not great. Good fast-food burger (better than McD's, BK, and Wendy's for sure), but the fries were nothing to write home about. I'm glad I got to try it, but I wouldn't go crazy about it or probably even ever get it again. All-in-all I'm very impressed by SF and I think it's a really cool city with a lot to see and do. It seems very touristy, but we had a great time hanging around the downtown areas. So we're back at Bob's now, relaxing of course, and re-fueling the batteries for our upcoming adventures in the next few days.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading through this novel. I enjoyed writing it and trying to recap what has happened to us in the past couple of days, so I hope you enjoyed reading it. Once again, I'll try to keep you posted more frequently, but we're still in CA so it's tough to get away from all the fun. And I promise tomorrow I'll put up some more pictures, finally. Talk to you all sometime soon.

Peace,
Matt