Saturday morning Kyle and I got up early and headed to San Francisco to meet our friend Robin and his girlfriend Rachel for some birthday festivities. Kyle and Robin's birthdays are within a week of each other, so it was sort of a birthday celebration mash up day.
Our first stop was a car show at Pier 70, which is very unlike the touristy piers of the Embarcadero. It's basically a bunch of old warehouses in the industrial district and an area we had not really explored much before.
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| Clockwise from top left corner: view of the outdoor exhibition area; an Alien vs. Predator themed painted car; some sort of mini Scion thing that reminded us of a tiny Batmobile; a neat all-black car (sorry - I have no idea what make/model); a white Lamborghini |
Growing up with a step-father who built custom street rods and muscle cars for a living, I assumed the car show we were going to was either classic cars or muscle cars, being that those are the two types of car shows I always went to. Boy, was I surprised at the types of cars at the showcase! It was full of modified imports ranging from extremely lowered cars to cars with custom artwork/paint jobs and racing adaptations.
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| The venue from the interior of the warehouse - full of people, cars, and vendors |
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| "Praise the Lowered" - this tickled me :) |
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| There were several "girly" cars with themes like Tokidoki and Hello Kitty and I had to ask myself if those cars belonged to men or women. The car above has a Tokidoki trunk and interior. |
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| My favorite part of the entire show was running into this little guy. It's a miniature pony about the size of a labrador retriever. Ugh - so adorable! |
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| A lowered family van and Kyle looking at it trying to figure it out. We were equally puzzled by the van section. |
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| It was surprisingly hot for a San Francisco day near the water, so we had to hydrate. I have never had "box water" before. Not surprisingly, it tastes exactly the same as water from a bottle, except they charge you twice as much because you are helping the environment and being "ecofriendly." Pshhhh….yeah right. |
Honestly, I can't say I enjoyed the car show. I don't know anything about racing cars or modifying imported cars AT ALL, nor is it a topic I am interested in. When I see cars that are so low to the ground they are practically unable to drive, I have to shake my head and think to myself, "Wow, I just don't get it." But, I am glad that I had the experience of viewing that subculture from the outside. I just have to remind myself that it's not my thing and I don't have to get it. Just being at the show with the loud music, crowds of people, and interesting sights to see made it worthwhile, even if it ultimately made no sense to me.
The crappy part of the show was leaving with a sun burn all over my chest, even though we were only outside for an hour max. I even have outlines from where my necklace was sitting. Thankfully it's not bad enough to be painful, but it is itchy, which is equally annoying.
We were all starving after the car show and instead of doing the smart thing and eating in the immediate area, we wanted to eat at the Rainforest Cafe on the Pier. It took us an hour and half to travel approximately five miles and park. Saturday night traffic was awful!
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| Clockwise from top left corner: statue that looks like the "Atlas Shrugged" art-deco stuff reminiscent of "BioShock;" my fruity alcoholic blended beverage; Kyle and his penguin balloon; the penguin balloon and our devoured dinner and dessert |
Everybody's dinner (except for mine!) was great. We enjoyed the loud ambience and animatronic critter decor. The boys got a happy birthday song and a dessert as well as some cheesy balloon animals. Kyle's penguin fell apart as soon as the balloon dude left our table, but Robin's "Shiraffe" or "Girark" held up well.
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| Robin and his shiraffe - the bottom half is a giraffe and the head is a shark. Kyle's deflated/broken penguin riding on top. |
Right next door to the restaurant is a new attraction called "The San Francisco Dungeons." It's an interactive walk-through historical experience with live actors who try to scare you while educating you about the history of San Francisco. Kyle and I had been to a similar attraction in London, so while it was fun (we are ALWAYS down for spooky horror-filled rides and attractions), it wasn't anything we hadn't experienced before. Still, it was a blast, especially having some friends along to enjoy it with. While they did take some pictures beforehand as souvenirs, they wanted an arm and a leg for them, so no fun photos to show - sorry!
The next post will be about what we did on Kyle's actual birthday - a drag show featuring Bianca Del Rio from RuPaul's Drag Race. Stay tuned!
Until next time!
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