pogoism

I miss this stuff too…

Harland and Wolff Cranes, Belfast (Photo by flickr user Jax60)

St. Anne's Cathedral (Photo by flickr user SheepGuardingLlama)

Queen's University, Belfast (Photo by flickr user jazzmoose)

Botanic Gardens, Belfast (Photo by flickr user donnamarijne)

I really miss this stuff.

Oast Houses, Barming (Photo by flickr user llamnudds)

All Saint's Church, Maidstone (Photo by flickr user notquitetrish)

Leeds Castle, nr Maidstone (Photo by flickr user Mike Franklin Photography)

Ye Olde Thirsty Pig (Photo by flickr user nogbad the bad)

Some church in Boxley, nr Maidstone (Photo by flickr user Feuillu)

The Reno Rodeo was in town a few weeks ago. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it was actually a really enjoyable night – great atmosphere, fun, family feel, and all round good entertainment. Here’s some pictures…

Last weekend was Independence weekend, and our last three-day weekend of our time here.

Emily, Peter and I headed to Pyramid Lake for some camping on Friday afternoon. After a mad scramble trying to find exactly what beach everyone else was on, we luckily bumped into Katie on the road, who directed us to the right one. We lugged all our stuff (which, as usual, was far too much) down the steep, sandy hill, and added it to the pile of food. The tent we needed to erect was the same one as last time – the tent which has a pole which has split. Not too much of a problem you might think, but if your hand goes anywhere near this pole, immediately 30 teeny-tiny bits of bamboo implant themselves in your skin. Most unpleasant. especially when you have to camp for 2 days.

So, wonky tent erected, and hoping to God that the thing wouldn’t collapse on top of us in the middle of the night, we set about putting up the volleyball net. Someone had the genius idea of doing this in the lake, so we spent a good chunk of the afternoon attempting that. Eventually, we gave up, and did it on the dry sand instead, by which point no-one had the energy to play anyway.

Then came car-getting-stuck-in-the-sand no. 1. It wasn’t so much stuck in the sand, as raised off the ground from the middle. It took a while to get it out, but we did it in the end. After that, we all had some well deserved drinks, and sat around chatting for the evening and watched some of the (illegal) fireworks over the lake.

Next day we got up, packed up, and left before it got too hit. We were all dirty and tired anyway. After a quick shower and food-buying, we set off to Zephyr Cove at Lake Tahoe. It was fun, we hung out on the (private) beach where we could see the two sets of fireworks. The ones from South Lake Tahoe were probably the best I’ve ever seen. Oh, and btw, Lake Tahoe is seriously one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, even with it covered with white, jock, rich kids.

I promised y’all a post about San Francisco Pride, and here it is! Albeit a week late…

I went with Emily, Alonso, Jaime and Camron on Friday night and we arrived at the hostel. Whenever I go to SF I normally stay downtown or city center, but this time I wanted to stay somewhere different, so we stayed in the Mission District. That’s somewhere I’ve never been before, and there’s not much of SF I haven’t been to on one trip or another. It’s like the multicultural area of the city, like the East End of London, I guess. Anyway, it’s really nice, loads of great places to eat, a buzzing atmosphere and it seems very distinct from the rest of the city.

Saturday consisted of going to Civic Center for the party there (dance music for the first time in 10 months!), doing some shopping and then in the evening we headed to the Castro for the Pink Party. It was phenomenal – they blocked off the Castro at both ends, and the place was filled with gays. It ended at midnight though, so we ended up wandering around finding somewhere to eat and battling through the crowds…

After an unwelcome early start on Sunday, we headed to somewhere near Fisherman’s Wharf to see the parade. It started with some people I mentioned in a previous post, people who have been together for 30-ish years. I always get a little emotional at these things, particularly when I see so many straight people standing around in support, who have made the effort to come down. SF Pride isn’t quite the freak show I had expected, and I get the impression they’ve been told to tone it down. In Belfast and London, and I’m sure most other cities, Pride parades are dominated by drag queens and almost naked men. Which is fine, I don’t mind. But that’s what the media latches onto, and it gives the hideous right-wing idiots something to put in their pathetic email propaganda. Even some of the gays I’ve spoken to who are against the idea of Pride cite this as the main reason. So it was refreshing to see a genuine diversity of people represented in SF.

Here’s some photos! (And there’s loads more over at my Flickr page)

Today was the first nice day in a while, so Emily, Amy and I decided to go for a hike.

We chose to go explore Hunter’s Creek, north of Reno, out through Cauglin Ranch. We couldn’t find the beginning of the trail, thanks to the useless guide we downloaded from the internet, so we decided instead to go our own way. We didn’t make it all the way though, we weren’t really prepared, and we were told along the way that it was an all day hike to the top of the creek and the waterfall. We shall no doubt return.

Here’s some photos! (more over on my flickr)

P.S. My Flickr Pro account lapsed, and I’m a poor student. If you want to be really, really nice, and help me out, feel free to gift me a Pro account.

Last Sunday, Lauren and I went to Animal Ark, near Reno. Animal Ark takes in animals that cannot be released back into the wild for whatever reason, and gives them as realistic an environment as possible. It’s located in the middle of the desert, about 12 miles from Reno.

They house a variety of animals – mountain lions, coyotes, cheetahs, foxes, owls, falcons and badgers, and all the electricity the site uses comes from green sources such as solar and wind.

So, without any further ado… some pictures.

My boyfriend is going to be working in Sacramento a lot more now, and as a result I’m probably going to be spending a lot of time there too. I’d previously only been through Sacramento, as it’s the main stop on the way to San Francisco on the Greyhound. I’ve always thought it looked like a nice city, perhaps like a mini San Francisco.

Alonso had to work on Saturday morning, so we arrived at Rancho Cordova on Friday night, got a burrito (probably the yummiest burrito I’ve had since I’ve been here – which is quite an accolade, ‘cos I’ve had quite a few…), and chilled out in the hotel room.

Next day I got the light rail into downtown Sac. I love public transport in the US because generally it’s a fixed price. One ride, which took about 25 minutes from Rancho Cordova to the Capitol, downtown Sac cost me $2.25. Compare this to a single ride within zone 1 on the London Underground, which is £4.00. That’s almost $6, even with today’s crappy exchange rate.

Armed with the two most essential tools to discovering a new city – my iPhone and a Lonely Planet guide – I got off the train in search of the Capitol building. I couldn’t see it, or find it, despite me being on Capitol Mall, but I ended up near Old Sac at the very impressive looking bridge.

Then I wandered around Old Sac. It felt deserted, and stank of taffy. There wasn’t much to do, and it wasn’t pretty to look at. Cheap, tacky and touristy – almost like Virginia City.

Then it was onwards to downtown Sacramento, which luckily was very close to Old Sac. I found a Starbucks, plonked myself down with a ginger green tea, and studied Lonely Planet in search of something else to do. Tired, and someone disappointed with the place, I waited until Alonso had finished work, then went to meet him.

We had a nice lunch/dinner at Scott’s by the river, which almost didn’t happen, thanks to TomTom taking us totally the wrong way.

Having got a bit bored of downtown, we went in search of the gay district, midtown. This is apparently where stuff happens in Sacramento, where the locals come to hang out. With it being the Saturday before St. Paddy’s Day, there were many, many Americans celebrating their tenuous link to the Emerald Isle. After looking in some expensive lighting stores, we got a drink and panacotta at Lounge ON20.

We wanted some mochi for dessert, so we headed to Osaka Ya (again, after getting totally lost at the hands of TomTom, though, to be fair not actually TomTom’s fault). In case you’re wondering what the heck mochi is, here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

Mochi (Japanese: 餅) is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Mochi is also a prominent snack in Hawaii.

Despite not seeming like I liked Sacramento, I’m actually looking forward to going back. I’m sure there are loads of great places yet to be discovered.

You can see more photos over on my Flickr.

For the third time in just under 2 weeks, I found myself in San Francisco.

I love this city, I really do. It’s the first city I’ve been to that I can imagine myself living in for a long time. It has everything – no matter who you are, no matter what you’re into, San Francisco has something for you. It’s a place where no-one cares what you do or how you act, you can just be yourself – and I can’t think of any other city I’ve been to that has that same ethos.

After a fairly horrendous drive from Reno, thanks to some completely pointless roadworks, we arrived in the city, and checked into our hostel. Originally, I wanted to stay in the hostel I’d stayed at with Sean, despite it being a bit dirty and uncomfortable, it had a great location near Union Square. However, that was all booked up, with it being New Year’s, so we opted for the other HI hostel, City Center. It tuned out that just off Union Square is a touch ghetto-like, but the hostel itself was fantastic – much more comfortable than the other one. The only downside were the 2 people staying in our dorm that insisted on getting up early and rummaging around the room chatting to each other, while the rest of us were trying to sleep after the late New Years Eve.

Melissa and I had come to San Francisco to see The Slackers at Slim’s, so we went in search of 11th Street. That turned out more difficult than we had anticipated, but after re-fuelling on some delicious pizza, we found it eventually. They had a bizarre system for determining who was under 21… if you’re over 21, you get a stamp on one hand, and if you’re under 21, you get a stamp on both hands. Which meant it was incredibly easy to wash one stamp off, to be left with one, and all of a sudden you’re 21. Support came from The Struts (who were okay, but a bit samey), and local band The Impalers (who were fantastic, and in my opinion better than The Slackers). It was a great gig, there was a good vibe, with it being New Years Eve, and a nice mix of people. Anyways, it was a different way to see in the New Year, and we had a fantastic time.

New Years Day, and feeling a bit groggy we headed to the Castro in search of somewhere to eat. Ihad my first Mexican breakfast, and it was delicious - scrambled egg, with onions and peppers. Then we went to the Chocolate shop on Castro for a hot chocolate. Still feeling somewhat sleepy, we caught the streetcar to Fisherman’s Wharf and walked along the ocean front. We ended up looking in some art gallerys, and saw some work by Dr. Seuss, which was cool. Feeling in need of some warming up, we had an Irish coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe, supposedly the first bar in the US to serve the drink. For dinner, we decided to go exploring, and ended up in North Beach. North Beach is essentially Little Italy, jam-packed with Italian restaurants and gelato stores. We ate at Ristorante Ideale, which was amazing, especially the pumpkin ravioli. Highly recommended! Walking back to downtown, we stopped off at the cinema and saw Doubt, which wasn’t as good as I’d hoped…

Friday, our last day in San Francisco, began with walking to the Financial District to go up the Bank of America building, but, as last time, it was shut, and didn’t open until 3pm. I wanted ti go to the Moscone Center, where Macworld will be held in a few days, to see if I could see anything through the windows, but all I could get was the IDG banners on the street, which said “Even the small talk will be big” – perhaps hinting at the long-rumoured iPhone nano? Maybe… but these were IDG banners, and not Apple ones, so I guess we’ll have to wait a few days to find out… Instead, we found ourselves in Chinatown, and did some tea-tasting for a few hours, thenbought some very cheap mugs/tea/therapy balls from a store. Fairly tired, we went back to North Beach, ate, had coffee at Caffe Trieste (the home of the Beat generation) and went back to the car. Our final stop was at Haight Ashbury, which seems a lot like the lanes in Brighton. We didn’t stay long, as it was busy, and we wanted to head home.

Overall, a fantastic few days in San Francisco! I really do love this city, and I feel like I know my way round it well now. Can’t wait to go back, I really can’t get enough of it.

Christmas in Reno was certainly interesting. It was strange not being surrounded by family and doing all the usual things. 

I met Sean at San Francisco Int’l last Thursday, not really being sure what to expect. I’d dated, and was dating other guys, but I promised myself and him that it wouldn’t be awkward. Turned out, that problem got solved fairly quickly, which in a way I’m glad about, because it meant that the next week or so was a lot of fun.

I wrote about what we got up to San Francisco and snowboarding in my previous posts, so I guess I’ll just fill this post with the other stuff we got up to…

One of the things I absolutely love Reno for is it’s eating out. It’s pubs, bars and clubs may be dire, but Reno does dining well. One of my favourite places to eat in Reno is Pneumatic Diner, on 1st and Ralston. It’s fairly difficult to find, it located upstairs in what seems to be a standard apartment block. It’s worth the effort though. Everything on the menu is organic, and the main reason I like it, everything is also vegetarian – a hard thing to find in Reno. The staff are usually very friendly and helpful, and the menu is varied. The food is freshly cooked, and is generally healthy. I had the super burrito, or whatever it’s called. It was lovely, though not really a burrito… Anyway, if you fancy a change, go try Pneumatic Diner. Oh, and I forgot the mention, the decor is really funky.

I also introduced Sean to one of the wonders of Reno – all-you-can-eat sushi. I’ve tried a few places in the past few months – Sushi Plus, Sushi Pier, but for me, Sushi Lover on W 5th is by far the best. For $25 (the standard price around Reno it seems), you can have all you can eat sushi. The service in the place is excellent, and if you go, make sure you get the renee chips and the peanut roll – they’re amazing. I’m still a little unsure of why Reno is so big on sushi though…

I took Sean on a tour of downtown. It’s interesting taking people around Reno, I don’t think visitors are sure what to make of it. You take them along Virginia to the casinos and the arch, and they don’t say anything, probably because it’s so tacky. Certainly for visitors from the UK, it’s likely they’ve never actually been anywhere quite as horrid as downtown Reno. But then you go along 1st, to the newly developed area, and it’s like a totally different city – with coffee shops like Dreamer’s and Java Jungle and shops like La Bussola and Dharma Books, all against the backdrop of the Truckee River, it feels like an entirely different world. And, let’s not forget the Bruka Theater, and the Pioneer Events Center for a bit of culture…

Other than this, Christmas was generally chilled. I needed that, just to hang out with someone from back home – I was going crazy knowing that there wasn’t anyone physically near me that I could trust, so it was nice to have that, if only for 10 days.