The last couple of weeks full of travel and eating out having taken their toll on my waistline, I decided to join Emily at the gym this evening. It seems like forever since I’ve gone and I certainly paid the price for being too lazy busy to go for the last month or two.
Home for some putzing around on the computer. Finally uploaded pictures from the San Luis Obispo trip to Flickr for all to enjoy.
Up early; one last free breakfast before checking out.
Returned our rental car and passed through the cutest little security gate at the cutest little airport for our flight back.
Passed through Phoenix again, mostly without incident. Our layover was quite short, however, and we had to resort to dinner at the airport Burger King, which we actually had to eat on the plane.
Got to about halfway through A Clash of Kings on the flight, but got a bit tired of reading by the third hour. I switched on my phone (in airplane mode, of course!) and fired up ScummVM and played The Secret of Monkey Island (one of my favorite PC games as a kid, which now and then I think about how crazy it is that I can play it on my phone) for the last 40 minutes or so of the flight.
We collected our bags and headed home, ready to deal with a messed up sleep schedule for the next few days.
Emily and I went out to explore downtown San Luis Obispo. We toured the Mission and walked around some of the shops. There were quite a few kitschy souvenir shops and (of course) an Apple store, but the highlight for me was two-story toy store full of LEGO sets, puzzles, games, and anything else you can imagine. It also had the most bizarre window display I’ve ever seen. The setup was an Iron Chef style cooking show but the chefs were sock monkeys and the secret ingredient was Smurfs. There was also a little bit where Kirk, Sulu, and McCoy from Star Trek apparently beamed into various inconvenient situations (Kirk in a boiling “hot tub” with some Smurfs, Sulu half sticking out of an Easy Bake Oven, and McCoy materializing in a monkey’s butt. No lie).
Another intriguing find was an alley completely covered in old chewed gum. The walls (and sadly the ground) were lined with it. People had made shapes and messages with it. It was at the same time really gross and really fun. Pity we didn’t have any gum to add to the collection.
Mike, his girlfriend Cristine, and Greg met up with us as we were finishing lunch and we went through the Mission again then walked along the creek before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal.
The rehearsal went, as they are wont to do, with many repetitions of complicated operations such as “finding your escort”, “standing in line” “walking” and “standing still”. It was surprising how many tries it took us to successfully walk down the aisle with a partner but eventually we nailed it and were dismissed to dinner.
After making the mistake of listening to Ted and ending up at the wrong restaurant we made our way to the right place: F. McLintocks in Pismo Beach. Dinner was another steak and I treated myself to another Firestone DBA (never seen it before but they were all over the place in SLO). Emily and I sat with Ted’s father and stepmother and Mike and Cristine. I found out that Cristine is a Pats fan (I had dared to hope otherwise despite her being from Boston) but with much internal struggle I managed to forgive her.
Once the usual merrymaking was finished we were treated to a delightful parlor trick. The tall waiter who’d been doing tricks with his water pitcher all night strapped on a blindfold, climbed onto a chair, placed a cup on Ted’s head, and filled the cup from the pitcher he held a few feet above. It was a sight to behold, even though Ted claims some water made it down his back.
Headed back to the hotel, Ted in tow as he was to crash in Greg’s room tonight. We gathered in Mike and Cristine’s frankly obscenely large suite (the kind that’s so big they have to give it a name and a plaque. Damn Mike and his Hilton Points!) and shot the shit for a few hours before heading to bed.
Kirk and Smurfs Hot TubGum AlleyMcLintock's Blindfolded High Water Head Pour
Up early; to the airport! Headed to San Luis Obispo, CA for Ted and Sara’s wedding.
Breakfast in TGI Friday’s. Pretty decent Western omelette.
Flight to Phoenix was uneventful. Read through about a quarter of A Clash of Kings.
Flight from Phoenix to San Luis Obispo was delayed about an hour. Probably because the air conditioning unit melted in the 110°F heat. They said they fixed it. They lied.
Arrived in beautiful San Luis Obispo. The weather was sunny but not too hot, and the airport was the cutest little thing I ever saw. They have a gate (there is a second one marked, but it doesn’t seem to go anywhere). They also have a cute little metal detector and a cute little rental car desk.
Acquired a car at the cute little rental car desk and drove into SLO. Stopped at Men’s Wearhouse to pick up my tux then drove an absurdly short distance to the hotel. We checked in and dropped off our bags, then met up with Greg at the free cocktail hour in the lobby. Tried a Firestone DBA, which I’d never heard of before. Pretty good and locally made!
Later in the evening Ted joined us and we went out to a nearby steak house (after Google Maps lied to us about the existence of a different restaurant). My sirloin was excellent and I thought I was starving but perhaps due to the time difference my stomach would not take more than half.
After work Emily and I met Oskar at Yo Rita in the South Side for some farewell tacos, as he’s off home to Sweden on Monday. I tried the potato, braised chicken, and calamari tacos. All three were tasty with just the right amount of kick, but the chicken was definitely underwhelming compared to the other two. They went great with an East End Big Hop.
Home to pack for the trip to San Luis Obispo this weekend, and cleaned up my desk. It’s mostly in a usable state, just in time for me not to use it for a few days.
