Critical Mass

The air was alive with excited energy.  Bells, horns,  and other claxons echoed around me and my party.  We took some pictures of ourselves in front of the horde of cyclists and chatted with a few nearby.

Suddenly the front of the mass surged forward.  People hurried onto their bikes and joined the queue.  I pedaled the cruiser I was riding toward the current.  Critical Mass had begun.

We headed up the main street, pedaling past street cars, the flashing blue lights of San Francisco's finest as our guides.  Quickly we became a massive snake of people and bicycles, slithering through the streets and causing automobile traffic to halt.

We rode up the streets, following the riders ahead of us.  There was no planned course.  Whoever is in the front leads the group.  Occasionally we would form a roundabout allowing those in the rear to catch up.  There was some talk that it was also a form of protest against auto traffic.

I personally conquered some of San Francisco's legendary hills.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  But it could have been better.  I was riding a little road cruiser that only had a couple gears on it.  It definitely not meant for hills, but I made it work.  At one point I was chugging along and the guy in front of me stopped causing me to stop and lose my momentum.  I had to walk the rest of the way up the hill.

Something that struck me was that we seemed to travel great distances in relatively little time.  I remember passing the San Francisco City Hall and what felt like only about 5 minutes later we were on a hill about 2 miles away.  It was very strange and awesome.

The spirit and the energy of Critical Mass is perhaps the best part of the event.  Everyone was charged with positive energy and fun.  I highly recommend this for anyone who goes to San Francisco.

Critical Mass is held every last Friday of the month and starts at 5pm.  Take a good bike and your helmet and enjoy!

Great Trip to the West: San Francisco

Soothing 76 degree days in summer.  Awesome public transportation.  Great restaurants.  Fun loving residents.  These are just some of the ways I can describe San Francisco.  I had come once before and loved it.  This time I experienced more of this great city.

Our first day in the city I participated in Critical Mass, a huge bicycle rally that takes over the streets of San Francisco ever last Friday of the month.  (I'm going to make an entire post dedicated to this later)

We got to see some of the famous fog that plagues the city from time to time.  It almost ruined my wife's view of the Golden Gate though (my cousin took her back later when it was clearer).  We also got to see some of the old World's Fair buildings in their full glory.  They were being renovated the last time.

We bummed around Japantown and became nostalgic.  I had only been here for a little bit on my previous journey to SF.  This time, however, I got to explore and wander about.  I found a rad little toyshop that had some Voltron stuff.  Talk about a time warp!  I also had to summon all my will power to keep from buying a ton of books at the Kinokuniya book shop.  We even had lunch at a nice little teishoku place.  All in all a great time.  Made the wife and I really miss Japan though.

We ate great food at a number of great little restaurants.  None of which I remember the names of.

San Fran is a great city and it deserves more than this paltry blog entry.  Unfortunately I waited too long and most of what I wanted to write has been forgotten.  Sorry.

Summer plans finalized

One of the nice things about being a teacher is the summer vacation.  I'll get roughly 2 months off and it is something that I will greatly enjoy and treasure.  I don't want to just sit around my apartment watching Netflix all summer, so the wife and I are going to do some traveling.

We toyed around with several possible destinations like Yellowstone National Park, Florida, Colorado and Mammoth Caves.  However, we settled on San Francisco, California.  We couldn't decide on a destination.  Until this past Sunday.

Talking to my cousins about my upcoming parenthood the discussion came to our trip (we were originally going to California, but money was becoming a problem).  My cousins offered us a gift of money in order to make the trip.  I was floored.  I hadn't expected this at all.  My excitement level jumped and I had a hard time staying focused.  I wanted to start planning.

Since we are driving I wanted to see as much as possible without doing too much.  We decided that our first stop for the evening will be Amarillo, Texas.  At first it was just a reasonable place to stop and get some sleep.  However, after looking around on the internet I discovered that Amarillo is home to The Big Texan.  We will definitely dine there on our first night out.  I always enjoy eating at famous places or places that have a novelty.  Besides, I hear that the steak is good.  I will, however, not be doing the 72 oz. steak challenge.  I know when to quit.

After The Big Texan we will have a bit of a drive to our next destination:  The Petrified Forest.  I've wanted to see this for about 15 years and finally it seems that I'll be able to see it.  Since the wife's condition we will not be doing any super hiking or anything too strenuous.  I figure we'll spend an hour, two at most at the Petrified Forest.  Our second bed spot will be Flagstaff.

Day three will see us at the Grand Canyon.  I've seen it once, but it's definitely worth another look.  It's also on my wife's list of places she wants to see in the US.  I wish we were able to hike down to the bottom, but that will be for another time.

Our last leg alone will be from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas where we'll meet up with my cousins Mike and Ben.  From there it's up to the Sierra-Nevada Mountains, Yosemite and then finally San Francisco.  I'm sure it'll be a great trip and I'm very excited.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to contact me.