Jelly Beans, Olives, and Weed (CA)

We left San Francisco on the morning of Saturday, June 6th. But before we left town entirely, we had to see the Golden Gate Bridge, since Web had managed to stay in SF for 2 weeks and not see it somehow:


Despite the name "Golden," this suspension bridge is misleadingly red, and even more misleadingly, is technically orange according to Wikipedia. Californians may be color-blind. I suspect "Golden" refers to the fact that California is the Golden State, not the Silver State like Nevada.


Once you cross the bridge, you are out of town. Good-bye San Francisco!


On our way to I-5 to head to Crater Lake we stopped at a Jelly Belly outlet store (since we missed the factory). Jelly Bellies are a native food to Californians, like Ronald Reagan. Apparently the Jelly Belly factory has commemorated Reagan with a portrait made entirely of Jelly Bellies. Neoconservatism has never been so flavorful! But the outlet was nice, since I don't have to put any crappy flavors in my bag (i.e. Licorice, Dr. Pepper, Tutti Frutti, etc.) Instead I loaded up on Juicy Pear, Peach, Margarita, Mango, etc.


The outlets also sell giant 2 lb. bags of their reject beans, entitled "Belly Flops." Since my mom goes out of her way to each the deformed jelly beans, I bought her bag of just funky ones:


Once we got onto I-5 we passed farms, orchards, burbs, but the roadside billboards for the Olive Pit in Corning, CA caught our eye. AKA, caught my eye since I love olives. So we made a stop at the Olive City:


The Olive Pit was awesome. They had 120 types of olive products and tastings. I ended up bringing back three jars: Deep South Cajun Style Pitted, Mediterranean, and Sicilian. Yum! And the brine of the Cajun ones will make for spicy martinis in the future.

After Corning, I passed out for awhile. But I woke up when we were getting near Lake Shasta:


And soon we got closer to Mt. Shasta:


This view was from Weed, California, the junction between I-5 and Highway 97:



They had clever souvenirs like an "I <3 WEED" T-shirt.


Other than that, there is not much in Weed.

Welcome to San Francisco

After eating our In-N-Out and getting out of the 'burbs, we headed back out on I-80. When started seeing a lot of water (the Bay), we new we were getting closer to our destination, San Francisco.


When we passed through Berkeley, we also knew we were in Berkeley by the lone protester on a walkway bridge who was shirtless and holding up a large sign. However, this man could have used a lesson or two in proper activism, since he was holding his sign opposite the direction of oncoming traffic... so whatever he was protesting, it will always be a mystery to us.

Traffic also indicated we were nearing San Francisco:


California used to keep their prisoners here at Alcatraz:


Props to all the escapees that risked falling into the freezing cold water of the Bay. I feel like they should have gotten automatic parole if they managed to escape there.

Interestingly, Treasure Island is actually located outside of SF, unlike the Caribbean like I had imagined:


The treasure wasn't in this tunnel:


Maybe the treasure is San Francisco itself? Here is the skyline from the interstate:


We found out thay many stereotypes about Californians are true in San Fran.

For example, Californians like palm trees:


Californians like to surf:

Californians have the Smug (see South Park), driving hybrid cars and smelling their own farts:


Californians also are Obama voters and drive the official car of lesbians, Subarus:


California is also the last place on Earth where Volkswagen Beetles are cool:


Did I mention they really like hybrid cars? So smug.


Californians may also be perverts...

...since they have a ton of strip clubs:

There are also a lot of Chinese people in California:

Some stereotypes about San Francisco are also true, like that there are many hills:

There are also a lot of gays in San Francisco, even this pug is crossdressing using a feather boa instead of a leash:

But after a little driving we neared Web's sister's neighborhood in North Beach, near the Italian neighborhood (our crash pad for the night). Parking was a bit of a hassle. However, San Francisco is very considerate of your blood pressure needs as well:

Once we actually parked, Jenny, Web's sister, has a cute little apartment and a very friendly and pleasant roommate and cat. How quaint! We chitchatted for awhile then headed to Japantown to go to San Wang's, my mothers favorite Chinese restaurant from when she lived in the heart of SF. It was also on Travel Channel, as is a ton of food for the money. I ordered the San Wang Soup, which was actually a lot like Korean soups I have had. In addition to the kimchi served at the table and the Korean names for some dishes I suspect this resturant may be owned by Koreans or ethnic Koreans from China, since there was some Korean-style Chinese food on the menu.

After San Wang's we retired for the evening, but only after I made a large number of blog posts.

California, Knows How to Party

Not too far from Reno, NV is the California state line.


The driving in California instantly became more difficult as we entered the Sierra Nevada range, and that was before we encountered many California drivers:


Difficult but aesthetically pleasing driving:


The trees start getting good 'n' tall in Cali:


And the elevation is high enough where we saw some more snow:


At some point, I passed out, probably from possibly drugged beef/a food coma in Reno. I woke up when we hit Sacramento, California's state capital. It wasn't too exciting, but traffic got worse for a little bit:


Most of Sacramento, like most of California is urban sprawl though, not compact cities. I joke while canvassing for Measure 49 that if the measure didn't pass, Oregon would look like California. Good thing it passed:


California had some pleasant medians though on the interstate, planted with flowers:


We also passed some orchards. California is where a lot of America's produce is from, so I expect to see orchards like this:


A little urban sprawl can be good though, because it can yield In-N-Out burger franchises, like in Vacaville, CA. This was also Web's first In-N-Out:


The employees at In-N-Out have to wear silly paper hats and aprons:


And very thoughtfully, they give you paper placemats so you don't get burger juices on yourself, aside from wrapping their burgers in paper. Web still managed to take down these defenses and get burger juice on himself:


And aren't they beautiful, and for only $1.50:


Californians also really like palm trees, whether real, fake, or a pattern:


And Web took a picture of me being a glutton: