LA ROADTRIP - A LITTLE SLIDESHOW AND TRAVELOGUE

Finally getting around to posting some pics from my road trip down to LA for the Unique LA show. Made the trek down with my good friend Teresa who makes beautiful jewelry out of gems and minerals paired with silver, brass and gold.. Seriously, check out her line Stone &Honey, it's gorgeous.
Sooo, We're 2 hours into the drive and I'm ready to get into the drivers seat for awhile when I look down and notice that her car is a manual. I then exclaim, in slo-mo, "Ooooohh Noooo.... I dooon't know how to drive a stiiiiick shiiift!"
The 20 minute lesson that ensued at the truck stop was thwarted by lack of sleep, relentless texts from my ex and my perfectionist nature which tells me "you should just KNOW how to do this, goddamnit!" Needless to say, I ended up back in the passenger seat, in tears, feeling like an ass. Teresa drove the ENTIRE trip. Shit.
(Teresa, I still owe you dinner!)
That said, we managed to amuse our selves with gossip, podcasts, trucker talk, and passers by - like the big white truck that had "Old Dogs, Children & Watermelon Wine" scrawled on the back. (which, apparently, are the only things in life that a man can REALLY count on in this world according to Tom T. Hall")
Onward past the gazillion giant white wind turbines, the rolling hills, and the formidable Mt. Shasta, we finally made it to Oakland for a quick overnight and the best effing pizza I've ever had from Arizmendi co-op bakery. Next morning we trucked on South to LA, and landed at my friend Anna Oxygen's most lovely place in Hollywood... the place, I might add, that also houses my most favorite dog in the world: Buster.
(not shown, amazing underbite)
The Unique LA show itself wasn't exactly the big cash cow that we had hoped for, but most of the vendors said it was "meh", so I didn't feel too bad about it. We still had fun, met some very cool and talented people and came out ahead... It more than paid for the trip so we just chalked it up to "Awesome Road Trip!" My only regret is that we couldn't stay in LA longer. Our last night was a potluck hang with a bunch of old friends at Anna's place the night before we left. We consumed more wine and cheese and bread in those 72 hrs than I'd like to admit, but you just can't go wrong with that kind of thing, you know?
Back in the car.. back to Oakland. It was nice because the next day we actually had a full day off from all the hustle and took the BART to SF. Teresa schooled me in the ways of the Ferry Bldg. Market which I had never been to before. We immediately got cracked out on Blue Bottle Coffee then stood in a very long, though worthwhile line at Il Cane Rosso for one of the best slow cooked pork sandwiches I've ever had. and no, noon is not too early for a bottle of wine. Fueled up and buzzed on a bourgeois speedball, we then headed off to Creativity Explored on 16th - my favorite place to look at and buy art. We easily spent 2 hours there and both left with 2 pieces. Some of my favorite work was by this guy.
Bonus: Needles and Pens is right next door, the best little punk zine shop EVER. Some other faves were Gravel & Gold (home of the famous "boob top"), Paxton Gate (for some entomology, taxidermy, and general oddities), and a detour through Clarion Alley to check out the rad street art. Found some good vintage thrifting too. So much to do in so little time, but we packed it in. Sooo loong Oakland>LA>SF... catch you on the flip-flop! xo