Not so B-Town

Last weekend there was a symposium in Berkeley related to my masters project that I could not resist. I also couldn't resist the temptation to try something new, so I took a chance and decided to call my dad's best friend from high school. Ross is something like a close uncle to me, I've known him my entire life, and he often goes on family vacations with us. However, I've never asked a favor of him, nor have I ventured into the realm of his world. I gave him a call and asked if I could sleep on his floor. He gave me my own room. He lives in Oakland, a 5 minute walk from BART, a 10 minute walk from a great street with food, and an hour walk up telegraph to UC Berkeley.

Normally I would stay with my aunt and uncle in Fremont, a healthy drive, and a 1.5 hour BART ride into Berkeley, which would effectively kill any free time in the fun part of the bay area, and force me into the burbs. Instead I drove to Fremont on Thursday, picked oranges from their tree, picked up a loft bed for my sister, gave my uncle a BIG hug, and headed to Ross's house.

We immediately had a beer, headed out for dinner, met up with his partner, talked planning and politics, took a tour of Oakland and Berkeley, then headed home for sleep.

The Friday session of the symposium was incredible. All the big names in theory of landscape architecture and architecture were present if not lecturing. The talks were thought provoking, the audience engaged. The campus: full bloom. The weather: 85 degrees, no clouds.

Ross and Noreen bought us tickets to a funky jazz show, though I backed out in favor of some time with a friend I haven't seen in a long long time. Their stories from the evening were enough to make me smile, even though Ross described it as "the best show I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot of live music". The Time with said friend from college was worth every missed second of the Best Show Ever. We talked about the past 6 years of our lives, and connected as if we had seen each other yesterday. He has a wife and child, and designs bike lights. The things that happen when you blink.

Saturday morning I played hooky, had a lazy breakfast with Ross and Noreen, then wandered in the sun around Berkeley, relishing the soul music on the streets, the people, the smiles, the funk, the diversity. I caught the last half of the schedule for the day: the portion related to my project, which was fantastic.

I then wandered campus, coordinated with a cute boy for a date in the city, and enjoyed the design work in the art building.

A BART back to Ross's a few episodes of Weeds, a glance at a map, and off I went to SFO via tracks, to be swooped up on the other side by a cute boy in a truck. We parked, wandered around the city, found our restaurant, which was closing by the time we got there. We kept walking, enjoying the activity under the moon. We found some seafood and wine, then some ice cream, then some sand and a reflection of the Golden Gate Bridge. We talked of stealing ships, and mountain biking, and moving, and crazy families.

Though I didn't want to leave California in the morning, it had to be done. The drive was a nice transition back to Oregon, back to the clouds and into my new state of permanent daydream.