San Fran Bison!

Last week, I took a vacation. A vacation! I guess that word comes from "vacate" which, though I'm too lazy to look it up, means "to leave" or "to exit" or, maybe, "to leave behind." I left the ugly city of New York for the beautiful San Francisco and crossed my fingers for a nice time. Twas.

Michelle and Tim + Madeleine live in the Bay Area and therein lies the rationale for my destination. Michelle and I had/have been going through confusing/difficult times and it was good for me to get out there to see her. It was August when I had last seen her, had left her up there on Haight. Two months and 3,000 miles later, I showed up at SFO and headed towards her.

But the BART had stopped running. Not cool.

The taxi to USF cost $40. But it was a quick drive up the 101 and down into the city and I was excited to be in California. Strange, but just being in the state makes life seem more normal. Michelle was talking to me one day about how the air in different places feels different. How you go to a new city and get out of the plane or the car and you suck in the air and it just feels different, sits differently in your lungs. Heavier sometimes. Stranger. I know what she means. Once you get used to the air a place becomes a little more like "home." Which is how, basically, anywhere in California is for me now. Anywhere not the East Coast. Though, I should say, New York feels like "home" as well, I guess. I can close my eyes and navigate the subways. I know which way is uptown and dowtown and where the food that I like is. Still, I will never feel comfortable with this stale air. The air here is microwave exhaust. Tail pipe hell. Even more horrible than air from home. Home home. Los Angeles. Which, though filled with smog, is the best air on earth.

Anyway, I got to USF and saw Michelle and hugged her for a long time and it was really wonderful to see her.



I slept in her prison of a dorm for a few days and at Tim's over in Berkeley for a few days where I took a picture from his roof (see top) and another one of his new bookshelf scheme:



I went to SFMOMA and saw some wonderful photographs. A Robert Frank print of New Orleans. Some Ed Ruscha stuff. Tim and Madeleine threw a little party shindig and I fell asleep in the other room with winos getting drunk next to me. I took a lot of busses. I saw Kimpossible and Priyesh at Amoeba in Berkeley. Which is nice. To see people from the South Bay in distant lands at random times.

But there were some horrible things. I lost my Canon AE-1. My camera. Left it on the BART when I was transfering. Horrible. Michelle and I fought some. She smoked a lot. A lot a lot. Like Grandma Jack used to. I saw The Departed which was not that great. And I saw Little Miss Sunshine (again) which was (again) great. The scene with the horn honking forever and ever on and on is hilarious to me. I ate good foods. Burritos and things like that. I slept next to a warm body that, though she may not always show it, loves me.

By far, the most awesome moment I had was visiting with the bison in Golden Gate Park. Who knew they had bison? I didn't. Then I looked at this map:



I saw the bison paddock on the map. So, during some freetime, I went there. Took the 5 bus to 36th Ave and walked right in. And there they were. In their paddock:







They didn't move much, those bison, and it was a bit sad. Maybe a bit more than a bit sad. I imagine that it might be some hippie idea to get those big animals to roam about their park. And, truth be told, I've never seen bison so I don't know if they are happier in their natural habitat. But I have to think so. Here, they just ate grass and went "hrmph" a bunch and didn't even seem happy to see me. I watched them for a while though. Tough animals. Don't-fuck-with-me animals. Hefty brutes. I'd like to be friends with bison.

The trip to San Francisco was awesome. Needed. A hickey of a time. A real bruiser. Tim's place looked great. Tim looked pretty swell, too:



And I really liked his roof:



And there were some cool leaves over by Askew Grill, where Michelle works:



Also, there was a woman that talked to us on the 38 bus about how she loves to hike now that her children are gone and grown up. About how she forgave travels for a long time because of them, but now that she's old, she's up to her old tricks again. She was wearing boots and a warm jacket and had just hiked all over some trails by the beach in Marin County.

I want to keep traveling right on through my kids. With them. Should I ever have them.

I'll end now. Here's a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. Many people die after jumping off it:



Al