THE OTHER TRAVEL POST
Prequel - Hampton Thanksgiving
Every year at Hampton house we do a thanksgiving for close friends of us all before the diaspora to the various homelands of each participant, such as New Jersey, California, and Mars, which is the origin of the Turkish Invasion. This year was just as good as the last, and I believe you have already see the invitation in a neutered form:
Now imagine it in 36" x 65" poster form immediately behind the dining table, and you will get a feel for the mood of the event. According to the spies that I had infiltrate each conversation cell, the event went swimmingly and people were entertained. Here, feast your eyes on this:
A decent representation of thanksgiving turkeys pre-slaughter
The accoutrement for the turkey
The main event. Look at that pro as hell turkey breast carving.
Everybody played a part in making the food, and the collaboration payed dividends. From Pirogi to sweet potatoes, we truly ate like kings. And drank like kings. And got Cruuuuunk like kings.
Part 2 - San Fransisco 11/24 - 11/29
This will be a shorter post than the first one simply because I don't have as many pictures and I'm lazy. The trip started out with a ride to the airport (props to Sarp) with my dear friends Baris and Nazli:
Sup.
As well as some random freeloader I met on craigslist:
Probably Canadian. Props on the hat, though. Rawr.
The flight was uncomfortable as always, and when we all arrived in SF together, we temporarily parted ways, with Adrienne and I going to my Dad's and Nazli and Baris going off with their friends. Thus began the chronicles of Dad's house.
Honestly, with all the craziness that has occured there and the fact that this blog is an open forum, I'm going to assume that some of you know what is going on and I don't need to further explain. Also, I'm sure you know how I feel about it. What does need to be said is that the situation wasn't as dire and I was expecting and I was still fully capable of enjoying myself. Thanksgiving day was awesome and the food was once again fantastic. I would have liked to have stayed over longer and with a few more cocktails, but alas, I think the rolling stones commented on this situation rather well.
The next few days were well spent with Adrienne and I exploring various stomping grounds and generally entertaining ourselves with the mere act of being on hallowed earth. There were some obvious things to be done: Go to union square and heckle the performers while waiting for the stupid tree to be lit for an hour, enduring the bitter cold and a bloody nose whilst befriending random asian fathers possessing biting senses of humor and iron-fisted control over their broods, concurrently fighting back the urge to go on a consumerism-induced killing spree using only raindeer entrails and weaponized sleigh bells to reign terror down on an unsuspecting populace (not even sparing the children). Also, bread bowls with clam chowder and wine and cheese at the ferry building.
Almost as good as murder.
We also did a Berkeley visit and met with Chirz and Sarah for ramen, which is still sorely lacking from the Atlanta food scene despite my fervent protests to the mayor and the president of ramen. Adrienne waxed poetic about how much she misses the band and then we got on with our lives and thus ended the dangers of nostalgia. That night we met up with our Turkish friends once more for a comedy show at one of our favorite venues, the Punchline in the Embarcadero. It was a pretty funny show in a I-was-permanently-amused-but-not-totally-gut-rolled way, and I definitely appreciated the last comic, Ron Shock. Check out his 900 foot tall Jesus story. It's super good.
On Sunday, I visited Sam and spent a few hours watching him make lattes for people and regretting picking my only visiting hours as his work hours. At least we found out whose fault it was that we hadn't finished our Carcassonne game for about a month. Suck it. Also, Sam's roommate John is a cool frood. I can't wait for the day when I can live amongst my best friends once more.
The trip concluded with a terrible terrible red eye flight back to Atlanta, made somewhat bearable by two tablets of some drug whose name I can't remember and the resulting hours of fever dreams.
Summary - Excellent trip.
And now, Leo.
-Dt
