Journey to the end of East Bay

I've noticed that while the inhabitants of Berkeley, Oakland, and Marin County use the term Bay Area to describe the geographical area in which they live, the inhabitants of San Francisco tend not to lump themselves in with the rest. Though such a distinction on the part of those in "the city" is likely made for reasons more to do with pretension than cultural difference, the cultural difference is indeed there. I'm from the Bay Area.


The main reason for our trip was to visit my sister Diana and her husband Jon. Jon will be attending dental school in San Francisco this Fall. They were in town just long enough to get unpacked before we (Me, Josh, Zoë, Mom, Dad, brother Jesse, and friend from Catalonia, Júlia) decided to invite ourselves down for a visit. The other reason for the trip was to take a final vacation before my maternity leave ends next week. And what a better way to to spend a vacation than on my old stomping grounds, introducing Zoë to our family friends in Berkeley and Albany?


Zoë slept surprisingly well throughout the whole trip (repeating her 6-hour stretch at least 2 more times). This picture is Zoë after her first night in San Francisco, sleeping in on Jon and Diana's new Ikea hide-a-bed.


Josh was ready to pack up and move, which surprised even him because he is such an ardent defender of the joys of living life in Utah. The Bay Area is a great place to be a vegetarian. We had delicious veggie sandwiches, Indian food, and Josh's favorite salads at Cafe Intermezzo. Last time we were in the Bay Area we got these amazing salads at Intermezzo. It's on Telegraph Ave, near UC Berkeley. Josh claims that he occasionally dreams about these salads, and so was very excited to go back. If you're ever in the area, we highly recommend it.


A close second for Josh was the music. Famous punk venues like the Gilman in Berkeley and The Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. Great live Jazz including Yoshi's in Oakland. And then there are the record stores. Josh couldn't find Epicenter in San Francisco (a store he made a pilgrimage to once in high school), but spent a lot of time in Rasputin Music and Amoeba Records on Telegraph Ave.


We also came close to buying this onsie from a street vendor while on Telegraph, but Josh finally decided against it because "David Sedaris wouldn't approve." If your personal life decisions are based less on the musings of a humorous writer you've never met than Josh's are, visit youngpunks.com to purchase your own election-year onsie for your little Barack Obama supporter.


We also returned to what was our (me and Diana's) favorite park as kids. You bring cardboard to sit on, but if you want to go really fast down this concrete slide (which I swear used to be much bigger), you use the worn piece a local kid hands you like Jon and Diana did.

Other Bay Area highlights included:

Shopping in secondhand baby clothes stores, which are the opposite of the ones in Provo--they offer really nice, hardly worn clothes which is what you get when you wait until late middle age to have your only child.

Finding lullaby versions of several selections from The Ramones.

Hiking up Indian Rock, a huge, well, rock, at the top of the city that provides a great view of the whole area.

Witnessing at every turn what my struggling hydrangeas and jasmine would look like on steroids.

Josh joyously listening to songs about the Bay Area by all of the 90s punk rock bands from the region like Rancid, Green Day, NOFX, AFI, Screw 32, and Operation Ivy.

Attending a very Berkeley-esque book group on the Omnivore's Dilemma with fabulous food (industrial, industrial organic, local organic, and gathered) and fabulous conversation from people in the heart of the local/organic food movement.
We love the Bay Area.