A Travel Story

Great news! My injured chicken survived. Her wound has healed and she doesn't look much different from my other chickens anymore. I was afraid she was going to be a baldy but she's managed to pull off some comb over action without even trying. Go chicken!

Once I was sure she was going to live I was so excited and proud of my life saving skills that I wanted to name her June Bug because it's a cute pet name and we got pretty tight. Where she had once been the biggest scaredy cat out of her litter she now came to me willingly. But then I got this email from my vet:

Now I feel obliged to name her "chicken". Chicken/kitty/puppy are not names I'm that fond of but what's a girl to do?? You decide. Chicken or June-bug?

The pecking catastrophe that Chicken/June-Bug suffered really inspired me to provide more entertainment for my chickens. I went ahead and hung a net with alfalfa and started hanging other stuff for them to peck at.

Big girls

We've got tons of sunflowers and once I showed them how to peck out the pulp from the seeds, they were all over it. My next task is to fence our whole yard so that I can let them out more frequently.

Little girls

Joseph and I had a nice trip to California. In San Diego I hung out on the beach and ate the most delicious strawberries in the world while Joseph worked. Then we flew up to San Francisco for my friend's wedding and some sight seeing. Our arrival was a little shocking. Joseph had booked our hotel for us because I had gone in to decision overload. This happens to me frequently when booking hotels. I find something decent, then I start reading reviews. I swear that every hotel has been accused of bed bugs... So Joseph booked us a decent looking place in the Tenderloin District.

We took the BART from the airport and got off at the stop closest to our hotel. It was dusk and cold as hell. Joseph declared San Fran to be the coldest place in the continental United States and using the weather app on our phones he appeared to be correct.

As we walked the pee scented blocks to our hotel we noticed that everyone appeared to be homeless. Block after block, homeless people were pushing shopping carts and talking to themselves. We finally arrived at our hotel with a curious first (or distant second) impression of San Francisco. Although the neighborhood the hotel was situated in was not ideal, the hotel itself seemed nicely restored and a bit quirky. The staff were friendly and the patrons appeared to be families. I didn't take note of any resident pimps or hookers. Our room was decent enough and we were tired so we went to bed. With no fan or a/c we left the window open for air circulation and background noise.

I may be a country girl now, but I've lived in cities my whole life. Ambulances, car alarms and the occasional scream don't bug me. For years that was my sleepy time white noise. The situation outside our hotel window was unlike any other I had experienced. The corner below our window was apparently one of the most happening in the city. In between cars screeching, people screaming and fighting, and just random yelling, we managed to get some sleep. At around 7am, the corner went to sleep just in time for us to wake up.

Don't get me wrong here. I empathize with the poor, addicted and insane. I prefer them as patients. I just don't want to go on vacation with them or pay to sleep above the busiest corner in San Francisco. I wasn't missing the family reunion of the century to vacation with the crazy crew of San Francisco. This shit wasn't going to cut it.

Thanks to hotels.com and booking at the last minute I got us into a gorgeous hotel on the top of Nob Hill that under normal circumstances we would not be able to afford.

Joseph crowned me the "queen bee" for taking charge and we were back on track to have a good time.

Fancy Pants lobby

The Fairmont had a rooftop garden complete with bee hives!

The green boxes in front of the building within the fence are the bee hives.

That day we walked 15 miles. Ten during the day just checking out neighborhoods and an additional four at dinner when I led us 2 miles in the wrong direction.

This was a beautiful street with no restaurants in sight. Whoops!

The city is full of little mini parks that are packed with beautiful pine and cedar trees. I highly recommend the detours.

Behaving as a proper tourist

The next morning we had time to kill before the wedding. We decided to go to Fisherman's Wharf. Other than good views of Alcatraz, it was a bit touristy for my taste. However, we stumbled upon a gem of a museum, that I highly recommend. It was a giant building full of antique arcade games.

Random

Old school pervy

Lots of fortune telling..

Super Creepy

The great part of this museum was that pretty much everything worked and only cost a quarter or two. It was much more interactive and interesting than your typical museum.

That night we attended my friend's wedding. We had a great time.