Palm Springs, CA 2013

Brooke and Marc's wedding was in Palm Springs and while we were there we got to explore  Palm Springs a little. It's a desert resort town, and it was pretty quiet in June. The population is about a third gay and you could tell with all the artsy awesomeness and the good food and coffee. We walked about a mile up and down Palm Canyon Drive, the main street in Palm Springs.

Palm Canyon Drive, the main street in Palm Springs


View of side street off Palm Canyon Drive

We had the chance to grab pastries at Koffi, where they serve really good coffee, and sit outside in the shaded Corridor area. We also had breakfast Green Palms Cafe, which is delicious and has a lot of healthy and/or vegan choices. Our breakfast was somewhat healthy but not vegan. Though I didn't have time to check out the art museum, I took lots of silly poses in front of the huge "Forever Marilyn" statue outside the museum. 

Don Quijote? inside The Corridor area

Marilyn outside the Palm Springs Art Museum

Me and Marilyn!

Even the actual wedding venue was a very "Palm Springs" treat. It's an artist colony, called Colony 29, and soaking in the pool all day is definitely part of what you're supposed to do in Palm Springs! We got a pretty good taste of the city before we head out on our Mojave Desert Roadtrip. We even drove by the huge and alien wind farms on our way out.

Colony 29

Kevin wandering around Colony 29

 

Kevin, me, Marc, and Brooke soaking for 8 hours in a pool at Colony 29

Wind farms of California

U.S. Space & Rocket Center 2010

While we were in Huntsville, Alabama for Sarah and Donald's wedding, we had to hit the biggest attraction in town, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Brian, Roger, Lina, Kevin, and I went after a quick lunch nearby. It was lots of fun.

Brian, me, Kevin, Lina, and Roger outside

They decided to race the length of a space ship because why not?

Haha, Brian didn't really play.

Mandatory couple with rockets picture

I'm concerned

Spacesuits

We had to climb into this rocket and sit upside down

Lina peaking in

Sleeping weightlessly

Checking out the interiors

Those kids are beating Roger and Kevin at the Mars climbing wall 

San Francisco 2010

Our friends were getting married in Sonoma, so Kevin and I went a few days early to enjoy San Francisco. I had never been before and Kevin hadn't been since he was a kid.  We were in San Francisco from Wednesday to Friday.

We took the trolley from Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf.  The trolley was a long wait, crowded, and somewhat lacking in views or entertainment, so skip it.  Fisherman's Wharf was worth it just for the sour dough and clam chowder. Unbelievably good.  We walked around the Port of San Francisco and hit some bars with Briggs who was also there early because of the wedding.

The trolley is silly, skip it.

The San Francisco Giant's AT and T Park is awesome because it faces the water. So beautiful. And the garlic fries are delicious! I really wanted one of the Panda Bear hats because they're cute and reference one of the baseball players on the Giants, but also because San Francisco was cold and foggy and I figured I could just wear the hat around.  Kevin wasn't thrilled with that idea, but in any case, I couldn't find a good hat so he won by default.

The San Francisco Giant's AT and T Park

Andrea and Neil live in SF and came to the game with us

We did some emergency shopping for the wedding in Union Square (probably Kevin's favorite part of the trip).  Chinatown was lots of fun as well, and I did a little shopping there as well.  We went to the famous City Lights bookstore, where I saw my friend Ghita's book Displaced Persons on sale in the front of the store! We ate dim sum at a sketchy place.

Chinatown gate

I heart Chinatown!

My spirit animal.

A nice view of the city

We walked around the Lombard Street Area, and took pictures. And at my request, went to Pier 39 to see the sea lions. I never did adjust to California time so I crashed one night and the boys had a late boys night of pizza and beer.  We had some legitimate Mexican food in the Mission.  And then we had to dash out of town so that Briggs wouldn't miss the wedding rehearsal. Find out if he made it to the wedding in the next post!

The Sea Lions at Pier 39

Kevin, Brady, and Briggs hanging out in The Mission neighborhood

Kevin and I with the Golden Gate Bridge

Brady too!

And then off to Sonoma...