Monday, January 31, 2005

Monkey Road Trip: Successful!

In a fit of last-minute impulsivity, sexyrobot (of Monkeyfilter fame) and I drove up north to the Berkeley MoFi/MeFi meetup this past weekend. We wanted to surprise tracicle, because all previous attempts to meet her in real life completely fell apart. We couldn't have picked a better weekend. The weather was absolutely spectacular and the traffic was fairly painless.

The 5 freeway at places can be the most boring drive on the planet, but all told we had amazing views of snow, rainbows, baby sheep, cows, (moo.) cloud formations, and crazy drivers. Oh, and the most random breakfast stop ever - The Apricot Cafe. Can't find it on google, but they have a truly insane collection of vintage lunch boxes and the foulest smelling bathroom in the history of ever.

Considering that sexyrobot's sense of direction is just about equivalent to mine, (read: utterly nonexistent) it was the most seat-of-the-pants road trip I've ever taken. I both discovered, and then tried to overcome, a complete phobia of driving uphill behind slow drivers, and parking on a grade. I think next time I'll rent an automatic.

We stayed with sexyrobot's friend in San Francisco, and met up with the crazy mefi/mofi group at the appalling Jupiter Cafe in Berkeley. We were there for about 10 minutes when our server began actively plotting our deaths. I don't know what we did to offend the poor woman, but, because we're nice people, we overtipped in the hopes of improving her outlook on life. Here's hoping it worked.

It was lots of fun matching the names & faces of various online folks, and I can safely say a good time was had by all. Other folks have documented the affair better than I have, so follow the links of you're a glutton for yet more punishment: MetaTalk thread. DaShiv's photoblog. MonkeyFilter flickr group. MonkeyFilter thread.

Before we left San Francisco, we did a side trip to the Golden Gate Park. I had no idea that it's the last remaining place in North America where buffalo roam. I was completely enchanted. Sexyrobot was sad because he forgot to bring a supersize bun & A-1 sauce, but I for one will not be consuming buffalo anytime soon. Too bad I can't muster similar compassion for the equally adorable cow.

The drive home was a study in endurance, just because I was completely exhausted by then. Sexyrobot again came through with a fantastic soundtrack of mp3 goodness that got us back to Los Angeles safe & sound.

Thanks to everyone for their hospitality - it was a blast & hopefully next time we can stay a little longer. I really needed this little mini-vacation, if for nothing more than to remember how many possibilities there are out there. Good times.

posted by Space Kitty at 10:08 AM|| Comments (1)