Do They Still Make Rice-a-Roni?

A couple days after Halloween, I bade my sis farewell and found myself speeding across Arizona.

My next destination was California’s Bay Area to visit a friend. This involved a two-day journey, and I included a small detour to cruise through the Joshua Tree National Park just east of L.A. A big reason for this detour was U2’s Joshua Tree album back in the 80’s. Yeah, I’m that old.

Eventually, I arrived in Piedmont. My friend lived there, but we spent a good bit of time living it up in Oakland and San Francisco. This included art galleries, libations, hiking, trips to the beach, Chinatown, running up and down really steep hills and absolutely amazing food. My friend is as fanatic about pumpkin as I am, so we indulged in pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin cookies and pumpkin cream cheese on pumpkin bread. One day, we made a pumpkin pie that we finished eating before it had a chance to cool properly. The next day, we did the same thing. I’m sure our fellow pumpkin fiends out there will understand. Believe it or not, we’re both still criticized for being too skinny.

Incidentally, if you ever find yourself in Oakland, I highly recommend scouting out Uncle Dougie’s sandwiches. Several people, including my host, told me they were the best and I was not disappointed. A storefront supposedly exists somewhere, but we were content to buy them directly from Uncle Dougie himself at his street booth. FYI: Uncle Dougie is an Asian man in California who sells authentic New York style Italian subs. I had to think about that for a bit.

In Santa Fe, I occupied myself by doing landscaping work for my sister. My stay at the bay, then, was the first time since June that I could just chill out someplace without having to work or travel. It felt like the first real vacation I’ve had in ages, and I soaked up every minute of it. And having good company definitey makes any vaca better. By the way, it was also the first time I ever slept in a king size bed. For someone who’s 6’3” and has been spending 30+ years learning to sleep within confines under 6 feet, let me just tell you that KING BEDS KICK ASS!!!

If only I could fit one in the back of my car…