San Francisco here we come.
Maldo and I are in the car. It’s Friday. It’s early. It’s the Jetta purring like a kitten kneading his mothers belly for milk.
A gorgeous sun-filled California day. We’re heading north on the 405 to the 101 up the coast all they way to San Francisco – a city I’ve heard so much about in my life. Most importantly, a city compared to Cape Town, South Africa. When I heard that I knew there was no way I wasn’t going to travel there at some point in my life, and quite possible may live there at some point in my life.
After 9 years of speculation, it was time for me to do my due diligence and see what this city had to offer.
The drive up was uneventful. We hit a pit stop around noon, grabbed some sodas with the biggest straws ever (seriously, John Holmes would have been impressed), Maldo takes the wheel over and I grab shotgun. He’s guiding us into SF while I try not to nap - unsuccessfully.
We pass through San Mateo, the birthplace of the great Tom Brady. I roll down the windows to let Maldo know what greatness smells like. I shed a tear. Coincidently, my mom calls me. She’s in love with Tom Brady. She must have known we were there.
As we get near San Francisco we notice a cloud up ahead. We laugh. We say that must be San Francisco. We laugh some more. Turns out that was San Francisco. We weren’t laughing.
For whatever reason, San Francisco’s weather during the summer can be pretty miserable. Cloudy, overcast, rainy, gray, cold (50-60 degrees Fahrenheit). It’s like fall back east.
Luckily, we had been prepared by those in the know, but still until you see it / feel it you’re not quite ready.
It didn’t take away from the visit. In fact, it just made for some great jokes.
We rolled into the bay around 5PM. We meet up with Kim, the girlfriend of Maldo’s college buddy Adam. Adam is at work so we’re going to chill with Kim for a bit.
She’s making some cerviche that’s delicious. We picked up a 12 pack of Dos XX and crack them open. It’s beer o’clock. We can’t argue.
Adam rolls in at around 6pm. He’s got a cookout lined up at his apartment. It’s gonna be a good time.
I invite my friends in San Francisco that I met in South Africa – Mali and Erica. Mali brings a friend. Erica can’t make it.
The cookout turns into a party. Everyone’s having a good time. Beer, liquor, wine, food, everything in excess. Someone rolls up a jay and we’re flying. Life is good. San Francisco may be cold as balls in the summer, but the people don’t let it stop them from bringing the heat.
It’s great to see Mali again. She was one of my housemates while I lived in Cape Town.
There were two type of Americans in Cape Town – those who were studious and those who knew what they were doing. Mali was able to walk both lines really well. A Princeton student who was down to have a good time she was quickly welcomed into the boys club that was Groundswell, Jordan, Simon Jay and Ross. We had a lot of good times together in Cape Town, and it’s always great to see old friends.
Mali is killing it in San Francisco. She’s a lawyer now. All grown up. Stanford law school behind her. And a bright future ahead of her…
We spend a good portion of the night catching up and reminiscing about times in South Africa. It was a great six months that we were there together. So many great stories.
We roll out late night to a corner bar and there isn’t a cute girl in sight. Looks like I’ll be sleeping alone tonight. No surprise there. It’s hard being Groundswell. ;)
We wake up kinda hungover. It’s grey out. It’s cold. We’re wasting no time. We’ve got a sick day lined up. We’re heading north out of the bay towards Hedelsburg. A college buddy of Maldo’s parents have a place in wine country. We’re using that as our base as we head for the Russian river with inner tubes and a cooler full of beer and some snacks.
Life can suck. This is not one of those times thank goodness.
It’s a beautiful day as soon as you roll outside of SF twenty minutes over the Golden Gate bridge. It takes us about an hour to get there. The house is gorgeous. It’s like a house on Cape Cod, but in wine country. Vibrant. I love it.
We get ourselves ready to head out for the river. Sunblock is applied. Maldo is to be thanked. My back is covered. J
The river is a slow moving shallow bit of water that is goodness. There is a bunch of jail bait along the coasts, but I’m not too worried about that. I’m not worried about anything in fact.
This is my first time floating down a river in an innertube, while drinking. It turns out to be something I’m quite good at. I’m like a natural. I’m a little scared about being sun burnt, but we brought 50SPF and I’m not afraid to use it.
As we lazily float down the river we can’t help but have a good time. I can’t begin to tell you what we talk about because it was mostly just random shit that was funny and time appropriate. There are some douche bags playing techno music along the river. We laugh at that.
At about 2 hours into our 4 hour float, we decide it’s time to shotgun a beer. Obviously we’re well into the 24 rack we brought with us. There’s five of us – Maldo, Adam, Nick, Kim, and Groundswell. We stand in a circle. We cheers to life and good times. We hold on to our inner tubes. We down the cold beer, and I stumble down the river for a few feet before I settle back into my inner tube and let nature take over.
If you’ve never floated down a river in an inner tube while drinking with good friends. Do it.
Life is good. Life is short. Life is fun.
We hit the finish line around 5pm. The sun is going down. It’s cooling off. The buzz is wearing off.
It’s time to go back to Nick’s parents house and cook up some food.
We get back. Play some Ping-Pong. Light the grill and cook. The burgers are good. Undercooked, but good.
I shower.
We head back to San Francisco.
We pull over. Maldo pukes. Something didn’t sit right. We head back to the bay.
My plan is to meet up with my friend Erica and her boyfriend. Erica is an old friend I’ve know since my second semester in South Africa. I haven’t seen her in years.
She’s down to hang out though and so am I. The rest of the river crew is calling it a day, but I’m not afraid. I decide to meet up with Mali and some of her friends in the Marine district, and Erica is heading over to meet us.
We end up at some random bar, and the name escapes me. It’s in a much cuter part of town. And by that I mean there are a lot more cute girls. Architecturally speaking, I don’t care.
It’s going to be a good night.
I find Mali in the crowd. We hug get drinks and chill. She’s with a group of her lawyer friends. I’m the one without the law degree.
At one point I get cornered by a girl who’s breath is so bad I can’t take it. Thankfully, Erica and her boyfriend show up just in time to save me from what could only be impending death by asphyxiation.
Erica and the man show up with beer in hand. Props. It’s great to see her again. She’s happy. She’s a lawyer with the EPA. No surprise there. She was a Duke student when we first met and very environmentally conscious. Some might even say hippy-esque. I couldn’t argue, but she was always down to have fun and explore and I liked that.
We took some epic trips together in South Africa, including one that had us drive through Namibia, on our way to Botswana. While in Botswana, we ended up in the Okavango Delta (aka Malaria Country) without a tent – it was left in the car. That was some miscommunication and largely my fault, but Erica, Tim, Jess, and Groundswell pulled through with a great story.
For some reason, I decided that it was a white Russian night. Somewhere between #3 and #4 I fell in love with the bartender. She was sexy. Had a sick tattoo and a cool style. At around #6 when she told me to chug it like I was in college, I responded “I’m still in college.” She walked away saying, “Wow, I feel old.” To make her feel better, I wrote “I <3 U” below where I left the tip. I think we’re destined to be together.
We stumbled out on our way back to Erica’s place. I had to meet her dog and her friend Mary from Humboldt county.
At about 3:30am I got a cab home.
I like San Francisco.
Hungover I was when Sunday started. Luckily, all we had ahead of us was brunch and a car tour of San Francisco – neither of which would disappoint.
The car tour just made me want to come back and explore SF more. Lots of cool things to see and to do there.
Maldo and I were back in the car at 5pm heading south this time. Los Angeles here we come.
The car ride goes smoothly and we pull into LA at around midnight.
I’m exhausted. Maldo is the man. San Francisco is on my list to check out again shortly.
Peace,
Groundswell
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