NorCal and SoCal meetups

I'm still in.

And to be clear, we're meeting at the original Trappist on 8th St., right?

I actually didn't realize there were two, but I can meet at that one. I've never driven through SF before, so it's all the same to me.

Trappist on 8th sounds good! It's a five minute walk from the 12th Street BART station!

Oh, you have so much to look forward too... Like the joys of finding how hard it is to find a parking spot in that city. My advice is park near a mass transit station and just ride it in unless you want to pay $50 for parking.

Yeah, I do remember the trips to Pier 39 and parking about 15 minutes away.

Just so we're clear...

The Trappist is in OAKLAND, not in SF.

Even better, there means I can park in the BART parking lot.

Sorry Paladin, I wasn't going to the Bay Area meet so I didn't pay attention to that part.

Avoid driving if you can.

There are 2 East Bay stations with no parking. Guess which ones.

Blasphemer. Sacramento has half-dozens of adequate semi-decent bars.

@Chad ,you still live on the East Coast? Cuz you can come tomorrow to Oakland if you've come to NorCal.

Have fun tonight, folks. That bar looks fantastic, made even better by the expected company. I have half a mind to hop on a plane right now, well, except for money and stuff. Take pictures, and try to remember enough to regale us with fun stories.

I'll most likely be the most sober one of the bunch, being a lightweight and having stopped by Bordin in SF* an hour ago for bread, so I'll try to record stuff for you.

*SF is every bit as crazy to drive as I've been told, and then some. Apart from hippie kids on bikes, yuppies on bikes, old Asian ladies on bikes and pedestrians walking on red lights, add stop lights so small I could barely tell which were for straight or turning, super narrow roads the likes of which I've never seen outside of Japan and the hills that worked the everloving shit out of my MINI's already much abused breaks. But driving on Lombard street was pretty kickass and worth it. It feels so much longer than one minute to get down and it's far steeper than it looks from YouTube videos.

Wow, this place is packed! The only seats I see with actual space are outside or the three-chair tables in corners.

Also, a pumpk8n/persimmon beer is on tap!

I like this already

have one for me!

I had two

Also, still pretty drunk. I normally don't drink three beers in one sitting, but they were pretty awesome. Perhaps gul has heard of some of them, but the persimmon one paired perfectly with the delicious Reubens that Paladin and I ordered.

All in all a good time. Paladin took a pic with all three of us which he'll post when he gets home, I assume.

Also, @garamet, Ye Old Kings Head still works, correct? I assume there is some kind of free or cheap parking nearby withing ten minutes. I'm also planning on driving home afterwards (home being on base with breathelyzer and my driving gets me stopped as is when sober ) so I was only gonna have one drink or so.

Ye Old King's Head is on Santa Monica Blvd, just below Second Street. Ignore the open lot across the street; they'll gouge you. The city lots (the little green dots at the link below) along Second Street are a much better deal:

http://www.downtownsm.com/parking-map

Manana!

Paladin obviously hasn't made it home yet.

I think he had work early today, and we all had three beers apiece. Dunno about them, but I slept well last night.

Great time hanging with Anna and O2C last night. Here we are near the end of the evening following some alcohol consumption...

Sad, all I see is an X? Is that what you folks look like after 3 beers?

In fairness, I don't think any of the beers were below 8%, maybe 8.5.

That's right. I'm a big guy and, even with food, I was getting pretty buzzed after 3. Anna was pretty gone by that point.

The lowest alcohol content I saw was 5, but it wasn't for anything we drank.

Also,

Currently two hours or so from Santa Monica, and will have to stop at Target for warm weather clothing cuz I didn't pack any.

^Yesterday it was 85 degrees. WTF is this, Sydney?