Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Bobby & Pac Bell Park

We had the best visit at the end of July - Bobby! He was in town briefly for work, and we got to spend a day together :) On the special day, Ak and I headed up to SF, picked him up from his hotel, and then headed to Pac Bell Park to see the Giants/Marlins game.

The weather was fantastic - not a cloud in the sky, and a warm sun balanced by a cool breeze. Out tickets were fantastic - club level, and the view was spectacular from our seats.

View from our seats :)

We made friends with the regulars in front of us, and Bobby asked lots of park questions - his goal is to visit every baseball park in the US. Unfortunately, the Giants lost pretty badly, and the game was one of the shortest in history! No matter - we fought the crowds at the Giants store, and emerged with some excellent T-shirts. We then walked out along McCovey Point - the wind really was blowing, and we were no longer sheilded by the stadium. We snapped a few pictures, then headed to the car.

Ak & Bobby with McCovey statue, stadium behind them

Next stop, Crustaceans, for their famous dungeness crabs and homemade garlic noodles. We've taken Bobby here before and he loves it, and requested to eat here again. We got to the restaurant a bit early, so we walked around. We followed Bobby into a Rocky-esque gym to watch a boxer training with a bag, and asked some general questions about the gym. Apparently the boxer is a contender for something - I can't just remember :) Right next to the gym was a crazy smoke shop with a 6-7 foot "tobacco" pipe in the window. Meanwhile, the air had gotten progressively chillier, and I decided I needed a scarf, so I left the boys and headed into "Out of the Closet", the local thrift store. I purchased a scarf (then washed it 3 times whne I got home), declined the offer of a free HIV test, and joined the boys to go feast. It was a delicious meal from beginning to end. We finally rolled out of there, headed south on 101, and dropped Bobby off at SFO for his flight back to the East coast.
I think I 've known Bobby now for 15 or 16 years - WOW!! He is definately a good buddy :)

Drunken Crab and Garlic Noodles

Just a few funnies from our day:

-Bobby trying to get out of our backseat, scrabbling like an old man with the lock, hollering how he can't get out

-3 of us losing each other in the park; literally every 5 seconds

-Bobby trying to get a hotdog from the deaf vendor

-how we got our Giants cups

-our interacting with the "bib" guy...he puts a bib on anyone who orders crab. I think Bobby thought the due was going to rape him, or something

-making Bobby change his shirt at the airport b/c it had crab all over it

Editor's Note: I admit I have not been so swift on the Paris pictures - they are a work in progress. I forgot how MANY we took, and we are trying to weed it down to a decent sized slide show, but it is so hard to pick and choose the photos. Julie sat with us the first time we went through all of them - poor thing fell asleep on the sofa during the 3 1/2 hour slide show! Axel and I opffically turned into those "Look at our vacation pictures" people.