This past weekend, I made a road trip with my roommate, her sister (S), and her best friend (B) up to San Francisco for the Dickens Fair that was at the Cow Palace. Let me just say this: a building used to house animals not cleaned very thoroughly means allergens are ever-present. Me and allergies do not get along well.

San Francisco and Berkeley
The trip started early Friday morning. I got up at 3:50am to get ready for the trip, make sure I was packed and everything. I should also mention that this is my first overnight trip in a very long time without family. It was kind of surreal, but I trust my roommate and her sister and best friend.

We hit the road at 5am sharp and got to B’s house by 5:30am. For a Friday morning, there wasn’t many people on the road, but it could have just been that it was early. Me and my roommate were chatting on the drive up and I guess I distracted her well enough that she missed the on ramp to the freeway to get to B’s house. So we took a scenic detour through LA and still got there early. Packed up the car and went to pick up S.

On the way there, we stopped at a donut shop for a quick grab’n’go breakfast. I got a donut (plain old-fashioned), starving person that I was and later thought maybe I should have gotten a breakfast sandwich. Or a coffee. After loading up the last of our bags, we finally hit the road north.

We stopped at a gas station about 3 hours north. I’m not sure what I was doing to amuse myself. Either I was watching the scenery go by or I was napping. Whichever it was, I gave my parents a call to let them know we were on the road. I didn’t even know where we were, haha. I assume somewhere near the grapevine if not in it.

The other stop we made was for garlic ice cream. My roommate’s idea, not mine. She also likes this garlic roll at one of the sushi restaurants we go to. Blech. Too much garlic for me. But apparently even the ice cream was overpowering for her, otherwise it was good.

We hit San Francisco just after 12. Way earlier than expected. We were able to check in to the hotel early and then we went out to Fisherman’s Wharf. We ate lunch at Boudin, a bread cafe/dinner place that makes sourdough bread in the form of turtles, crabs, lobsters, teddy bears, and more creative shapes. I was debating on getting some bread to give as gifts, but I wasn’t sure how long they would last and decided to not bother.

We wandered around the shops and checked out the sea lions at Pier 39. It wasn’t as crowded as the last time I went (which was on a weekend), so it was a little better in terms of generally moving around and taking pictures. My roommate dragged her sister into a mirror maze while me and B checked out the shops nearby. I was debating on getting gifts from these shops as well, but they were a little more than what I wanted to pay for. My roommate found great pleasure in the lefty shop (since I’m a lefty and she has a fascination with lefties) which was one of the last shop we visited.

Our last stop was to grab dinner from Chipotle after a failed attempt at getting sandwiches from Walgreens. We were trying to validate our parking permit but Chipotle didn’t do validations. Boo. We still got an excellent dinner, though.

B’s brother goes to UC Berkeley and B had a care package from their mom to deliver. Since we still had a good part of the afternoon and evening to kill, we drove down to Berkeley and got a tour from B’s brother. Compared to Irvine, Berkeley has more of that college feel with a stream that runs through campus, hills, and large buildings. They even have a view that overlooks the Bay. Lucky. Anyway, I say it has more of that college feel because I would definitely need a bike to get around that campus whereas at Irvine, I can easily walk where I need to go.

The tour also included Telegraph Rd. and general “college district” which is also missing from Irvine. They had one inlet of restaurants from all over, asian, mediterranean, Mexican, there was something there to satisfy. Definitely don’t have that in Irvine.

We went back to the hotel, braving traffic and the toll bridge that was still busy at 7:30pm. I forced everyone else to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 because I hadn’t seen it yet. I was actually not very impressed with the quality compared to Goblet of Fire, a much earlier movie. I was told Pt. 2 was better.

Dickens Fair
I was hoping to meet up with a couple of people at the Dickens Fair while I was up in norcal, but one couldn’t make it because she had just moved and was getting through that process. My other friend (A) was able to make it, although she slept in and got there late. 50% isn’t bad, right?

We all got up early (5:30am) to check out the lunar eclipse, but it turned out that we had a mountain blocking our view of the moon. After a few minutes of shivering outside, we eventually went back in and went back to bed. I got up around 7 to shower since everyone else had used the shower the previous night. I don’t think anyone really got up until 9. Not wanting to wake anyone, I pulled out my netbook and played Luxor.

We left the hotel a little after 10am to get to Cow Palace, purchase our tickets, and then spend a few minutes in line to get in. Snow was tossed on us on entry, and already my nose was tickling. I couldn’t stop sneezing, then my eyes were watering, and my nose was running. Not a good start, really. B thought it was all the snow, but I later looked it up and definitely animal allergens.

Our first stop was to pick up tickets for the 18+ postcard show. B remarked that a minor was handing out the 18+ tickets and didn’t even bother to ask us for ID. We found this funny. Our next stop was to set a reservation at the tea shop. Originally we were planning on doing the “whole package” but it was $21/person and we decided to just make a regular reservation. While the others were standing in line, I was checking out the nearby shops and to see what the far corner of the tea shop was (it was a grab ‘n go type thing). I came back to the line to find that they had been visited by the Investigator.

After making reservations, we went to the Investigator where we promptly ran around the fair looking for clues about a robber. My allergies were not happy so I was sort of tagging along for the most part. The story was interesting and we actually went into two shops whose proprietors played along. We were eventually left in the “bad part” of London and were told to meet him back at the printer’s shop to continue the story after lunch.

We took the opportunity to grab lunch ourselves and stopped at some shops on the way. The shepherd’s pie shop (since I don’t know what their name actually is) was the same one from the Renaissance Faire and eating there is one of the traditions of going to fairs I suppose. So, we grabbed our food from there and went to the tables near the Odyssey stage to eat. Then, we watched a humorous show of The Three Musketeers, but we couldn’t hear half of it and tall people were in front of us obstructing our view of the stage. Oh, and I was sneezing and sniffling. The show itself wasn’t bad, but sort of wish I could have enjoyed it a little better.

Now left with a good hour to wander, we went and checked out the shops. I noticed there were a lot of the same shops from RenFaire also here. I was planning on getting gifts for the family, but I always felt like I was being shuffled off to another store. There was one shop that sold Oberon Designs goods but my jaw pretty much dropped when I saw how much it was for a simple journal. There were a couple of things I thought would make decent gifts at a reasonable price, but I didn’t see any designs that looked appropriate for the people I’d be giving them to.

Our next stop was tea. They confused green tea with oolong tea, which I found to be a little humorous. My roommate made Thai tea out of her rooibos tea (which is a close substitute to thai tea without the sugar and milk – I’m pretty sure it’s not the black tea that Wikipedia is suggesting). We enjoyed our smoked salmon sandwiches as well. Yum. We also heard from A just as we sat down, so while A and her boyfriend got food, we were enjoying tea.

We met up with A after running to check out the Dickens family house, which was sort of meh. A told us that she and her boyfriend had a fencing appointment at 4pm so we went over to check out the fencing and then ran back through the fair to check out the dancing. Me, A, and her boyfriend got separated from the rest. Eventually we turned back for the fencing appointment. While I was snapping pictures, the others joined us.

With an hour or so to kill, we checked out the other shops we kept running past but never stopping to look at. A had to use the bathroom and that unfortunately was the last we saw of her because she and her boyfriend left early. My roommate realized she was hungry and got another meat pie while me and B stood in line for the postcard show which was wrapping around the street corner already.

The show itself has “artistic” nudity. It’s essentially based on the story of a wealthy citizen recollecting his uncle’s adventures at sea to his wife. There are “postcards” suggesting the actual events that occurred, usually with half naked women although I believe there were some naked men as well. We sat at the end and my view was partially obscured by a woman with a flowery tiara. I’m sure I missed most of the content of the postcards. My roommate said she didn’t get it at all and I told her one postcard showed the sailors at sea and two guys doing it. She said she didn’t see that.

On the way to the dance stage, we got distracted by an elderly lady and her pet eclectus parrot (male). We got to hold him and take pictures with him. Me and my roommate are big bird fans so it was sort of an extra special bonus. (We also saw someone walking around with live chickens tucked under his arms.) He was even falling asleep standing on my hand and fluffed up, showing just how relaxed he was. I wonder if it was because my hands were cold. The owner was talking to another fair goer and saw us leaving and made sure to say goodbye. Wonder if it was because we were really chatty with her.

After that, we went back to the dance stage where my roommate and B had fun dancing Victorian-style. There was a line dance that my roommate’s sister wanted to see and that finally came towards the end. To close out the night, they sung Hallelujah and other carols, but we left after Hallelujah. I was glad to finally get out and breathe in some fresh air, but it was also freezing. By the time we got back to the hotel, my throat was raw and scratchy, a sure sign of dust mites. At least I could still breathe comfortably.

Back to L.A.
I got up early again the next morning because I couldn’t sleep past 7. I was still getting over the allergies, hoping it wouldn’t turn into an actual cold. We left around 9 because we were making a brunch stop in Cupertino to meet up with one of my roommate’s friends. IHOP. Yum.

Then, the ride back was really a race against the incoming rain and snow. My roommate’s mom told them that there was going to be snow in the mountains that we pass through by 4pm. We reached the mountains by 3pm and it was only partly cloudy. We passed a pretty bad accident on the way, but otherwise we made it back in about 7 hours.

Final thoughts
So, overall the trip was a fun one. I think I am much more humorous when I have a lack of sleep and comfortable. I think I cracked a good amount of jokes the first day, but we were all pretty tired the third day. I took half hour naps practically the whole ride back. Haha.

My roommate is thinking about going again but dressing up. The people who were dressed up vs. the people who were not was in favor of dressing up. Some people had really nice costumes as well. I think Victorian dress is easier than RenFaire dress, which would explain the higher ratio. I think if I go again, I won’t bother with dressing up, but I’ll be medicating myself against the allergies so I can enjoy it properly. Maybe wear glasses instead of contacts.