WEEN in California

Mike & I went to CA this weekend with some friends to see WEEN! We left early Friday morning (4:45 a.m. one of the downsides of flying standby) to catch a flight. We flew to Oakland, picked up the rental car, ate some breakfast, and then headed to Livermore, Mike's old stomping grounds. We visited a couple of his old friends and saw his sister for a few minutes. Then we headed back near Oakland to check in to our hotel and rest a little. Then we headed to Santa Cruz for the first show. We had plenty of time to hang out and did a variety of things to kill time: Mike skated for a few minutes at the local skatepark, we ate at a yummy little Italian cafe, we went to the famous Santa Cruz Boardwalk (more on that in a minute), played games at the arcade, and just drove around seeing the town. Almost everything at the boardwalk was closed because it is the off season. We were bummed, we were hoping to ride the roller coasters. We (everyone except Mike who hates the ocean because it is so cold) took of our shoes and shocks and walked in the water. It was soooooooooo COLD! We didn't care it was fun! The one picture is of my footprint next to Mike's shoe print (we convinced him to at least come down to the water). Mike was glad he came down because while we were by the water he looked up and saw someone familiar walking toward us. It was Dave aka Mean Ween, the bass player for WEEN. We talked to him for a few minutes so that was cool. Anyway, the show was at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium and it was awesome! There were seats all the way around and a huge floor area in front of the stage. It was packed! They played for almost 3 hours and played a good mix of brand new and way old with a little of everything in between.

The next morning we slept in, ahhhhhhhh! Then we headed to The Cheese Steak Shop, one of Mike's favorite places to eat. We have to go everytime we visit. They do make the yummiest cheese steak sandwiches! Then we headed into San Francisco to do the touristy thing before the show. We drove down Lombard St (steep, steep brick street, see above pic) which Mike had never done. Then we headed to Pier 39 one of our favorite spots (Mike proposed to me there almost 13 years ago) to shop and eat. We were hoping to go to Alcatraz but all the boats were sold out. We visited the aquarium there, saw the sea lions, and ate clam chowder. We checked out the water in the bay (there was an oil spill there last week and they were busy cleaning up, but you could see it in the water) and tried to show our friends Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was too overcast. It rained the whole day and we were all pretty wet by the time we headed to the show. Ween played that night at the Warfield, which is an old big theatre/opera house. It was really neat, but Mike was bummed because our seats were up in the balcony and he couldn't go down on the floor by the stage. Oh, well the show was even better that night then the night before. They played about 3 hours again and only played a few of the same songs. They started off with an acoustic set that was incredible! They finished the night with one of their great rock songs, Dr Rock! It was a really fun show! I'd have to say out of the 10 times (yes I know that seems a little extreme) I've seen them this show was my favorite so far! Just to let you know Mike has seen them 13 times now and most of the shows for both of us have not been in UT. We are hoping they come to UT again in the spring though.

The kids (what, we have kids?!?!) stayed with my parents and didn't miss us at all. They went to the park, the children's museum, the library, etc. They asked me this morning when we are going to go out of town again so they can go stay at Grandma and Grandpa's. It's so nice to be able to go and know they are being well taken care of and having a great time, not even missing us. THANKS mom and dad!