Comments have been switched on

So in the three year life of this blog google have made some upgrades - some I've used without anyone knowing - it's now even easier to update the blog and change the look and feel (although I haven't done that because at least one reader assures me it's fine as it is because she can read it on her blackberry....).  One change they did make that I missed was that anyone can now comment - you don't have to have a blogspot account - so go on, I dare you!  

I've also loaded up my travel map.  I don't really like how it looks but I can't do anything about that right now, so will live with it.  Best of all it's been amazing to think back about the places I have visited and shameful to realize the chunks of the globe I have missed!  Whole continents remain unexplored.  Three places are high on my list: China, Russia, Alaska - gonna make me a plan.

Back up to the big city

So Ruth has been and gone and Michelle and I think we haven't laughed that much in forever - we had a great weekend.  Ruth arrived late Friday - we all stayed at this fab hotel in SF that uses mostly recycled materials for everything, including bedding.  The Good Hotel really was good. Saturday we headed out to Brunch with Marcia taking us to a fab diner - unfortunately I got a work call so after lunch had to go back to the hotel to do some work for an hour or so (how sad is it that I thought ahead and took my work laptop to SF!).  Anyway I met up with Ruth and Michelle and we wandered around the shops for a while then grabbed the car and headed to the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was a fantastically clear day (see the pic) and I realized I'd never driven across the bridge before.  After that we went to The Cliff House - check out the slide show.  Just the most beautiful coastline and near where the old public bathes used to be.  Michelle then took us to her favourite Thai restaurant - food was yum.  

We headed back to the hotel, changed and headed out to The Lex.  The Lex is an iconic Lesbian bar, tiny and jammed packed.  I'd never been before - mostly it is packed with young things but the night we were there the crowd was more mixed.  The pic on the right is the bathroom - they encourage the graffiti but here's the best thing, despite appearances it's possibly the cleanest club bathroom I've ever been in at 1 a.m in the morning.  Following day I drove with Ruth down to Santa Cruz for gay pride (this is my third year so I guess I'm creating routines).  We came down the coastal road, stopping in at Half Moon Bay then going to another local legend for lunch.  Duartes Tavern looks like a dodgy bar when you pull up (Ruth commented as much).  Very typical US experience, you never can tell what's behind that door. As well as its fresh fish it's legendary for it artichoke soup (given we were foreigners the woman who served us brought us a free sample, wasted on Ruth of course but I enjoyed it).  We met up with Michelle and then went to Gay Pride in the park - fun and the San Fran cheerleaders were still the highlight.  After that we dropped Ruth back at SF Airport and came back to Santa Cruz to recover.  All good fun.

Since I seem to be on a social roll (and owed Dee more than one meal) her and I went out for Dinner in San Jose on Wednesday (SJ is about half way between Santa Cruz and SF - where Dee lives - so it was a nice compromise).  Went to the most fab restaurant - Morton's the Steakhouse. I have to confess that when I think about steakhouses I think back to the good old days of Cobb and Co, well let that one go!  This place was to die for (and it's a chain restaurant). The food was fabulous, really lovely surroundings and a wonderful suprise (it was recommended to me so I had some confidence).  We ended up staying four hours chatting and eating - meant I got home around midnight but worth it.

This weekends been very light socially and I've enjoyed lazying around the house.  End of July I am house sitting in San Jose for one of the folk that work for me.  They have a dog and 3 cats and couldn't find anyone to house sit so I volunteered - it will be fun and it's only 7 miles from work so no real commute (that will be a change).  I guess I can think of it as a holiday away from the beach.