You might have asked yourselves, where in the world is Elena? Or
maybe you had not a clue that I was out of town and didn’t blog for a
couple of days. Either way, I was out of town this weekend.
I spent the weekend in Kensington, which is next to Berkeley, in No Cal. Yes, Berkeley, where extreme leftwing liberals go to die. This brings to mind this priceless report by Rob Riggle:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Marines in Berkeley | ||||
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Anyway. I went up to visit my friends Mari and Jeff. Mari is a law school trenches buddy. After we graduated and took the bar, Mari and Jeff moved to NYC for his MBA, and then they moved back to No Cal (they both went to Berkeley undergrad).
On Friday we started out by going to 4th Street in Berkeley. There are lots of cool little shops, including some evil food shops that sell delicious things like Camambert de Nancy (Liza will remember our hostel adventures in Nancy, which included copious quantities of Malibu rum, but perhaps not so much cheese). This particular Camambert, besides being delicious because it’s Camambert, also happens to have a kick to it. Spicy is not the word. Kick is the word.
Mari came to the airport to pick me up with her youngest, Emmett. Emmett is 5 months old and is the Zen Master. You have never seen a happier, quieter kid. Well, he’s not totally quiet, he vocalizes a lot, but he’s just cool. And ALL CHEEKS.
Some folks carry their weight in their butts and thighs, some in their gut, and some in their cheeks.
The other kid, Theo, who’s about a year and a half old, is a blond chimpanzee. He’s lots of fun but he never stops. I think that if he makes it to 25 Mari and Jeff can say they have performed a miracle. Apparently his first word was No. There you have it.
Here’s the whole family together.
Although we must not forget the best dog in the world, Chiqui.
Chiqui was a puppy in Costa Rica when Mari found her. She took her in, and tried to find her a local home, without success, so she returned to the US with puppy in tow. She was my good morning these couple of days: as soon as she saw me stir in the morning, she came over to give my face a good licking. She also licked my camera and my computer, for good measure.
Friday we mostly hung out and got caught up, between baby feedings and actively ensuring Theo’s continued survival. Once Jeff came home, we went to the dog/kid park, but otherwise it was a chill day. I took a nap with the dog at one point in the afternoon.
At this point I want to take a moment to pat myself on the back. At several times during the weekend, I was entrusted with watching one or the other of the kids, and neither of them suffered injuries, near death experiences, choking, vomiting, eating poisonous or sharp things, I didn’t drop them, not even once, and they didn’t once end up in my arms and then start crying at the top of their lungs – that’s always a soul-affirming experience, isn’t it, when the innocent take one look at you and then burst into sobs and screams?
On Saturday morning, we went to see the ducks and then walked around the Berkeley campus a little. In truth, Mari and I have been looking for a particular set of wooden alphabet blocks for a certain baby whose birthday party is this coming weekend. We had no luck, but I am now in charge of finding the things.
Here’s one of the ducks. There were geese, too, and one white dooce: the thing looks like a little bit of duck, a little bit of goose, and white. Way to keep a low profile, dude!
Berkeley is a beautiful campus, as I’m sure anyone who’s been there will agree. I have to say though, things sure are different from when I went to college. I stopped off at a coffee shop to get something to drink, and they did not have regular coffee, they only had espresso. In light of the fact that no one in the US actually makes decent espresso, I would say that it is kinda pretentious to not even offer regular coffee. But whatever. I think when I asked about regular coffee, the barista thought I must be some white trash out-of-towner.
We stopped off at the Berkeley Museum, and I took this photo before being told I couldn’t take photos.
I also got a bunch of photos of the wildlife (plants) on the Berkeley campus, including shots of trees for my mom, who loves trees. But what y’all want to see, I think, is Bear on the Cal campus. I will keep you waiting no longer.
Here are a couple of plant life shots.
And here’s Theo practicing his stairs.
Saturday afternoon we went to the Golden Gate Bridge. I have been to the Bay Area a couple of times in the past, but only in passing and I did not get a chance to see the bridge. I’m really glad we got a chance to go because it is spectacular. We had amazing weather this weekend, with temperatures reaching 90F – this means little or no fog, which is a constant in the SF area. Here are a few shots of the bridge.
Then Mari and I had dinner at Cheesecake Factory, a favorite of ours, where our sever, Dash, apologized for the delay and for making us wait. I hadn't really noticed the delay, but I certainly was entertained by someone named Dash making anyone wait.
And that was it. This morning I came back to LA, but not before stopping by Nabolom Bakery in Berkeley for a gluten free brownie. But if you want more, here's the Flick photo stream.
