The evening of 7/10/08 and the day of 7/11/08

Chapter 16: In which Liz is on her own in San Fran, and Ria returns home
I woke up early at the Hostel, but I still bummed around there until just before checkout at 11. Mostly I just spent the time feeding my internet addiction. Josh was working again, the cute guy at the desk. I bugged him a bunch of times, and always got in his line when I had an issue.
I ate breakfast with two people from Austrailia and someone from Palau. The Aussie girl said "I'm glad you're doing this. So many Americans don't travel there own country." A sentiment which I agreed with. I wish more people would us eth national park system, and explore this country a little. there are interesting people out there if you get bored of the ones right by you.
I had a nice chat with my roommate who was from Korea after that. I like the idea of Hostel's and I like that you get to meet so many different people, and it's not much more expensive than some campgrounds.
(The Hostel I stayed at)
The rest of the day I decided to spend walking up Haight street, but not before stopping on Market st to buy earrings that matched my dress, and then having wonderful vegetarian lunch nearby.
I spent the day blowing bubbles. I did my best not to blow bubbles near where people were eating, and almost everyone I met who had a reaction to the bubbles, had a positive reaction. I almost gave them away to a lady who appeared homeless, but when she realized I only had one bottle she said "no you keep em child" A bunch of people gave me smiles or positive remarks like "Everybody should have some of those today"
Whenever I went into stores I hid the bubbles by signs or by a nearby stoop. A couple times I'm pretty sure they were visible, but no one took them. It was a good day for bubbles, and a good day for my happy hippie side walking up Haight st.
I stopped at this store called the love of Ganesha to check it out.
Turns out they had a meditation room inside. So I meditated for a few minutes, and bought an inexpensive mineral afterwards.
I stopped at an anarchist bookstore which only took cash, and bought a few things.
I stopped at the Haight Ashbury intersection again long enough to get this picture
then stopped at the red victorian which is a bed and breakfast/peace cafe for a drink, and a t-shirt. I'm currently wearing the T-shirt which says
peace
not war
generosity
not greed
empathy
not hate
creativity
not destruction
everybody
not just us
(Today while grocery shopping i got a compliment for my t-shirt and had a conversation about San Fran with the lady who complimented me)
Haight St goes pretty much right up to the edge of Golden gate park.
I toured the national aids memorial garden, and found some very nice trees in and around it.
(this last tree might have been elsewhere in the park, but it was a really good tree.)
The aids memorial grove is also where I had the one slightly negativbe comment about my bubbles. It came from a girl who looked about 14 and she said "What are you bored?" in that sarcastic way of young teenage girls. She was in a crowd, and it seemed the comment backfired as one of the boys she was with immediately defended what I was doing. I kept walking, but really thought for a moment about teenagers just randomly hanging out in the aids memorial grove. I wondered how many of them gave a thought to the disease that gave rise to this place. I hoped they occasionally looked at the sign when coming in or leaving, and took a moment to think about it.
I then headed over to the conservatory of Flowers, at which point I left my bubbles outside, and then forgot them upon leaving. I hope someone who would enjoy them found my bubbles.
The Conservatory was a greenhouse with plants of different climates and temperatures. I got some interesting shots. Oh and they had a butterfly exhibit After walking all day I was tired, so i figured out the Muni (with the help of kind locals) enough to ride it close to my mom's friend Parker, who put me up last time I was in the city. This time I just came bearing fudge. He gave me water, for which i was grateful, and we chatted a bit and I showed him a few photos. It was a brief visit, but it was nice. Then I had to head back to the hostel to catch the shuttle to the airport. I took the subway back, and grabbed pizza at a local place.
and got my stuff form the lockers at the Hostel and was off after telling the new person at the desk that he should tell Josh that he was awesome.
When I got to the airport the baggage guy gave me my boarding pass when I told him I had an E-ticket. It was very easy. Security was not as easy, because I had to dump out all the water parker had given me for my water bottle. Part of me recognizes there are risks, but another part of me thinks that this is part of a plot to get you to buy overpriced airport water, because right after the security check-in you can go by any sized water you want.
I had a nice conversation with the mother of a small child who was heading back to the Carolinas. I spent my waiting time plotting out ideas for future trips with my US map, and writing them down in my journal.
Once I did get on the plane, I fell asleep pretty quickly, which is very good for a red eye.
So after plotting out future trips in an airport, my sleeping self sailed into the epilogue of this story back on the east coast.