Day 7: California
28 June 2008Most of Friday was spent getting to San Francisco which, personally, I think should have been a lot easier. But it turns out you can’t just drive straight across Nevada, you have to go all the way south through Vegas to head north through California. This baffles me– how is there no highway that just goes straight across? We’re Americans, damnit, this is what we DO. Who did the Las Vegas chamber of commerce pay off in order to reroute all the Utah- California traffic through the strip?
We didn’t stop in Vegas, which I think broke my older brother’s heart. There’s a rogue gambling gene in my family and Bud and my mom are both proud carriers– the last time they were in Vegas together, I got a voicemail from him at 2am (Vegas time, not NY time) saying that he was going to have to put mom in a headlock to get her out of the casino and back to the hotel. They love it, but I’m mostly just confused by it. This is probably because I’ve never done anything more serious than betting oyster crackers at our lunchtime poker game at OldJob, so I’m going to give it a whirl when we hit Reno and see if it’s not something that I could have fun ruining my life with.
I was the one driving when we crossed into San Francisco, which made me a little nervous since the city seems to be built entirely around one way streets and major intersections controlled only by the suggestion of stop signs. Our hotel is 4 miles away from Marie and Kevin’s house, and it took us half an hour to get there after we ran into (almost literally) about a thousand people on bikes blocking traffic. They didn’t seem to be supporting any particular cause aside from waving cheerfully when cars honked at them. I felt like they were all straight out of San Francisco Central Casting, and as hilarious as it was, it made me homesick for new york. “What the hell was that?” I asked Kevin once we finally reached their place and met their perfect baby girl for the first time. “Is it the last friday of the month?” he asked. Affirmative. “It’s Critical Mass. They do it every month. They’re asserting the cyclists’ right to the road.” I really miss New York. Kev and Marie also informed us that we happened to be in San Francisco for the Pride parade on Saturday, and the local news told us that we were also visiting on a day when they’d be trying to set a record for the most same sex marriages officiated on one day. Mazel tov, San Fran!
Here’s 4 minutes of our Critical Mass experience:
Critical Mass from Cristin Stickles on Vimeo.
2 Responses to “Day 7: California”
June 28th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
They totally do Critical Mass in NYC, and I think Boston too!
June 28th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Not that I could hear everything you’re saying but I do admire your patience.