Day 1, Friday
4:00am – leave home
9/10:am – arrive at The Clancy Hotel in San Francisco
11:00ish – walk to Sweet Green a couple block from hotel for lunch
11:30 ish – stop by Ariscault for croissants on the way to Sacramento
1:00ish – do the Sacramento Capitol Building Tour
2:30ish – head to Fairfield for the Jelly Belly Factory tour
3:30ish – do the Jelly Belly Factory tour
5:30ish – dinner at Lita in Walnut Creek
7:30ish – dessert at Garden Creamery
Back to the hotel
So, as you can see, I had quite a busy schedule planned for myself. Day one was especially packed, nevertheless, I was still going to attempt it.
With all the car trouble shenanigans from the day before, and just packing my shit, I was tired as hell when I woke up on Day 1. So tired, in fact, that I ended up leaving at 6:10am instead of 4am. Those two hours and 10 minutes made a huge difference. For one, I ran into LA traffic, and didn’t clear it until I got outside of Burbank.
About 3 hours into the drive, I felt myself getting sleepy. I was keeping my eyes closed just a little too long while blinking. Plus, I didn’t want my gas to get any lower than a half-a-tank at any time. So I pulled off the freeway in Coalinga, California, which was like the halfway point, got some gas, and then tried to get some sleep. But after stopping to get gas and then parking at the Denny’s, turns out I wasn’t that sleepy. I went down the road a little ways to the Starbucks to use the restroom and get some hot tea. They took forever. I ended up staying at that stop for about 45 minutes before I got back on the road.
When I arrived at the hotel around 1 something, the valet guy asked me where I was coming from. When I told him he said, “wow, you drove six hours all by yourself?!”
I don’t think I thought much of it until he said that. I smiled big and nodded. Perhaps he was angling for a tip, but what the fuck did I care. Flattery will get you everywhere – he eventually got his tip.
The first room I checked into was too dark for my liking, so I called down to the front desk and asked to be moved. The next room they gave me was on the same floor, the third floor, but it was hella far from the elevator – I like to be close to the elevator – plus it wasn’t brighter. But I didn’t have time to complain…well at least not right then, ‘cause you know my ass was gon’ try and get something free out of this. And when I went down to the front desk and dude had an attitude, it was perfect, all the more reason for me to get a free upgrade.
But at the moment, I needed to take a shower, get dressed and still try to make it to the Jelly Belly Factory. It was approaching 2pm and if I had to choose between the state capitol and the Jelly Belly Factory, I’d choose the Jelly Belly Factory almost every time. I called them and they stated as long as you get there by 4pm you can do the last tour. The directions said it was about an hour and a half away. As soon as I got on the freeway, I hit traffic. I was still relying on printed directions from Google maps, and when I took the wrong exit to exchange freeways I knew I was not going to make it.
Sadly I ended up scrapping my Jelly Belly Factory plans and since I was in Oakland, I decided to go to the Ethiopian restaurant I was planning on going to on Day 3. I found parking easily, just a few yards from the restaurant. Though I must admit, I was scared to park, because I heard about the car break-ins in the San Francisco/Oakland area, and how it was so bad people were leaving their doors wide open, just to show brazen thieves, who will take your shit in broad daylight, that there were no goods to be had on board.
This place was sort of a hole-in-the-wall, which by the way, usually has the best food. There were two guys eating on the patio, who said hi when I walked in. The inside of the restaurant was empty. The food took a while to come out, but it was pretty good – nothing to rave about, but not bad. The service wasn’t so great, and for the portion-size and just the general ambiance (or lack there of) of the restaurant, the food was a little expensive for my taste.
I’d found this place by watching Oakland vlogs on YouTube. The couple that went there raved about the food, showing a cleaned plate. I got the meat sampler opting out of the chicken, because I don’t like the drumstick, and going with double lamb curry and beef curry instead. Total = $22.
It was 3 something in the afternoon and I was eating my food there, my first meal of the day, when I realized that they took so long, my meter might have already ran out. I requested a to-go box, packed my food and split, leaving a $2 tip which I regretted giving.
I headed back to where I parked, happy to find that nobody had busted the windows out my loaner car, what’s more – my meter ran out but I had no ticket. Today was a good day.
But uneventful – my first day in the Bay was so far uneventful. I wanted to do something else, but I didn’t know what, then immediately my mind went to food. I could have dessert at Garden Creamery. So I got directions from the phone, no more printed ones, and headed back to SF for ice cream.
When I got there, parking was horrendous like I knew it would be before I even left home. I had to circle several blocks several times before I finally found a spot. I was surprised when I backed into that space and parallel parked like a pro. That big SUV just fit. Then I walked the block and a half or so to the ice cream shop where I got two scoops – black seasame and vanilla with some kind of tropical fruit swirl in it. It was sooo good. Total $6.93. I happily left a tip.
I began eating my ice cream as I walked back to the car, and finished it once I got in the car. It wasn’t until after I’d been sitting there a minute and then finished my ice cream that I realized that the place where I parked was one of those ones where you park there and then walk to the kiosk at the end of the block to pay for parking. I was like, oh shit, let me get up outta here. As soon as I pulled out of that space and drove up a few feet, the cop was their ticketing someone else. Sorry for that guy, but so happy for me.
Once I got back to the hotel, that’s when I encountered the rude front desk guy, to which I ever so calmly requested the manager, and got upgraded to a city view room. The reservation came with a $25 meal credit per day that you had to use daily or lose it. So I couldn’t do like a $75 meal credit on the last day.
After I got settled into my new room with a view on the 9th floor instead of the 3rd, I went down to the restaurant to use my credit. Unfortunately this hotel did not have room service, nor did it have a good selection of food to eat. I ended up going with the garlic fries and the lavender lemonade, though I nixed the lavender and asked for a cucumber lemonade instead. This was not on the menu, but I saw a couple of drinks with cucumber in them on the bar menu, so I figured any bartender worth his margarita salt should know how to whip up a cucumber lemonade, and he did. Total=$21.68, paid with meal credit.
I went back up to my room, ate my garlic fries, finished my Ethiopian food from earlier and drank my cucumber lemonade, all while relaxing in the comfiest bed that I can ever recall laying in. Oh, and watching TV. I was happy to be reintroduced to cable. I hadn’t had it at home in over a year. But they didn’t have that many channels and it was slow as fuck to change. I checked out my view again, now that it was dark then went to sleep.
To Be Continued…
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